2 Samuel 12

Egypt on the south, to the Euphrates River on the north, and on the east he conquered Edom, Moab, and Ammon, and on the north defeated the Arameans and the Syrians, including Hamath. Because of God’s gifts and help, David undoubtedly became Israel’s greatest king and greatest military genius. He was blessed with courageous men like Joab and Abishai, plus his “mighty men” (2 Sam. 23; 1 Chron. 11:10–47).

Unlike the average campaign biography or press release, the Bible always tells the truth about people. It should encourage us to know that even the best men and women in the biblical record had their faults and failures, just as we do, and yet the Lord in His sovereign grace was able to use them to accomplish His purposes. Noah was a man of faith and obedience, and yet he got drunk. Twice Abraham lied about his wife, and Jacob lied to both his father, Isaac, and to his brother Esau. Moses lost his temper when he struck the rock, and Peter lost his courage and denied Christ three times.

Here we see David, the man after God’s own heart, who committed adultery and then murdered a man in a last-ditch effort to cover his own sin. For at least nine months, David refused to confess his sins, but then God spoke to Him and he sought the face of the Lord and made a new beginning. But he paid dearly for his sins for, as Charles Spurgeon said, “God does not allow his children to sin successfully.” Alas, David suffered the consequences of his sins for the rest of his life, and so shall we if we rebel against Him, for the Lord chastens those He loves and seeks to make them obedient. The good things that we receive in life, we pay for in advance, for God prepares us for what He has prepared for us. But the evil things we do are paid for on the installment plan, and bitter is the sorrow brought by the consequences of forgiven sin.

These two chapters describe seven stages in David’s experience. As we study, let’s remember Paul’s admonition, “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. 10: nkjv).

Chastening is not punishment meted out by an angry judge who wants to uphold the law; rather, it’s difficulty permitted by a loving Father who wants His children to submit to His will and develop godly character. Chastening is an expression of God’s love (Prov. 3:11–12), and the Greek word used in Hebrews 12:5–13 means “child training, instruction, discipline.” Greek boys were taken to the gymnasium early in life and taught to run, wrestle, box, swim, and throw, exercises that were assigned so the boys would develop “a sound mind in a sound body.” In the Christian life, chastening isn’t always God’s response to our disobedience; sometimes He’s preparing us for challenges yet to come, like a coach preparing athletes for the Olympics. If there were no painful consequences to sin or subsequent chastening from the hand of God, what kind of a daring and irresponsible world would we be living in?

Bathsheba delivered the son that Nathan had predicted would die, but David still fasted and prayed and asked God for healing for the child. The Lord didn’t interrupt David’s prayers and tell him to stop interceding; after all the sins David had committed, it didn’t hurt him to spend the day in prayer. During those months of silence and separation from God, David had a lot to catch up on! The baby lived only a week and the parents weren’t able to circumcise and name their son on the eighth day. Their son Solomon ended up with two names (vv. 24–25), but this son didn’t even have one.

Why would a loving and just God not answer a grieving and repentant father’s prayers and heal the child? After all, it wasn’t the baby’s fault that his father and mother had sinned against the Lord. For that matter, why did God allow Uriah and some fellow soldiers to die at Rabbah just so David could marry Bathsheba? Keep asking similar questions and you will end up with the ultimate question, “Why does a loving God permit evil in the world?” Eventually David looked back and saw this painful experience as God’s “goodness and mercy” (Ps. 23:6) both to him and to the baby. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” asked Abraham (Gen. 18: nkjv). When he heard the bad news of God’s judgment on his family, even backslidden Eli confessed, “It is the Lord. Let Him do what seems good to Him” (1 Sam. 3: nkjv). There are no easy answers to settle our minds, but there are plenty of dependable promises to heal our hearts, and faith is nurtured on promises, not explanations.

This much is sure: David’s week of fasting and prayer for the baby showed his faith in the Lord and his love for Bathsheba and her little son. Very few Eastern monarchs would have shed a tear or expressed a sentence of sorrow if a baby died who had been born to one of the harem “wives.” In spite of his many sins, David was still a tender shepherd and a man after God’s own heart; he had not been “hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb. 3:13). He washed himself, changed his apparel, worshipped the Lord, and returned to life with its disappointments and duties. In Scripture, washing oneself and changing clothes symbolizes making a new beginning (Gen. 35:1–2; 41:14; 45:22; Ex. 19:10; Lev. 14:8–9; Jer. 52:33; Rev. 3:18). No matter how long or how much the Lord chastens us, “He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep his anger forever” (Ps. 103: nkjv). Because of God’s grace and mercy, we can always make a new beginning.

David’s words in verse 13 have brought great comfort to people who have experienced the death of a little one, but not every Old Testament student agrees that the king’s words are a revelation from God. Perhaps he was just saying, “My son can’t come back from the grave or the world of departed spirits, but one day I shall go there to him.” But what kind of comfort does it bring us to know that everybody eventually dies? “He shall not return to me” states that David believed that his dead son would neither be reincarnated nor would he be resurrected before the Lord’s time. It also affirms that David expected to see and recognize his son in the future life. Where was David eventually going? “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Ps. 23: nkjv; see also 11:7; 16:11; 17:15).

No matter how devastated the chastening hand of our loving Father makes us feel, there is comfort available from the Lord (see Isa. 40:1–2, 9–11, 28–31). Before her son died, God called Bathsheba “Uriah’s wife” (v. 15), possibly because that’s who she was when the boy was conceived; but in verse 24, she is David’s wife, which suggests that, like David, she is also making a new beginning. What an evidence of God’s grace that “the wife of Uriah” is mentioned in the genealogy of Messiah (Matt. 1:6), along with Tamar (v. 3; Gen. 38) and Rahab and Ruth (v. 5; Josh. 2 and 6:22–25; Ruth 1, 4; Deut. 23:3).

At least nine months are compressed into verses 24 and 25, nine months of God’s grace and tender mercy. It was God who caused the conception to occur and who saw to it that the baby would have the “genetic structure” that he would need to accomplish God’s will (Ps. 139:13–16). In a very special way, “the Lord loved him” and even gave Solomon (“peaceable”) a special name, “Jedidiah—loved by the Lord.” Since “David” means “beloved,” father and son were bound together by similar names. God had told David that this son would be born and that he would build the temple (7:12–13; 1 Chron. 22:6–10), and He kept His promise. Every time David and Bathsheba looked at Solomon, his very presence reminded them that God had forgiven their past and guaranteed their plans for the future.

The conquering (12:26–31; 1 Chron. 20:1–3) But there was still kingdom work for David to do, including helping Joab finish the siege of Rabbah (10:14; 11:1; 12:26–31). Little by little, the Israelite army had taken over the city, first the area where the royal palace stood (v. 26), and then the section that controlled the water supply (v. 27). Joab was now ready for that final assault that would bring the siege to an end, but he wanted the king to be there to lead the army. Whatever his faults, Joab at least wanted to bring honor to his king. David went to Rabbah and led the troops in the final foray that brought the city to its knees.

No king could wear a crown very long that weighed from fifty to seventy-five pounds, so David’s “coronation” was a brief but official act of state, claiming Ammon as his territory. (The imperial state crown used by the kings and queens of England weighs less than three pounds, and monarchs have found wearing it a bit of a burden!) The crown was very valuable, so David took it along with the abundant spoil he found in the city. Most of this wealth probably went into the Lord’s treasury and was used in the building of the temple.

David put some of his prisoners of war to work with saws, picks, and axes, and others to making bricks. God in His grace gave David this victory even though he had been a rebellious man. He and his army then returned to Jerusalem where he would experience further chastening, this time from adult members of his own family. He had forced the Ammonites to drop their swords, but now the sword would be drawn in his own family.