Scripture: 2 Samuel 12:1-25 (NKJV)
1 Then the LORD sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him:
“There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor. 2 The rich man
had exceedingly many flocks and herds. 3 But the poor man had nothing, except
one little ewe lamb which he had bought and nourished; and it grew up together
with him and with his children. It ate of his own food and drank from his own
cup and lay in his bosom; and it was like a daughter to him. 4 And a traveler
came to the rich man, who refused to take from his own flock and from his own
herd to prepare one for the wayfaring man who had come to him; but he took the
poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the man who had come to him.”
5 So David’s anger was greatly aroused against the man, and he said to Nathan,
“As the LORD lives, the man who has done this shall surely die! 6 And he shall
restore fourfold for the lamb, because he did this thing and because he had no
pity.” 7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! Thus says the LORD God of
Israel: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of
Saul. 8 I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your
keeping, and gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if that had been too
little, I also would have given you much more! 9 Why have you despised the
commandment of the LORD, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the
Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have
killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. 10 Now therefore, the sword
shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me, and have
taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ 11 Thus says the LORD:
‘Behold, I will raise up adversity against you from your own house; and I will
take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall
lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For you did it secretly, but I
will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.’”
13 So David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said
to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. 14 However,
because by this deed you have given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD
to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die.”
15 Then Nathan departed to his house. And the LORD struck the child that
Uriah’s wife bore to David, and it became ill. 16 David therefore pleaded with
God for the child, and David fasted and went in and lay all night on the
ground. 17 So the elders of his house arose and went to him, to raise him up
from the ground. But he would not, nor did he eat food with them. 18 Then on
the seventh day it came to pass that the child died. And the servants of David
were afraid to tell him that the child was dead. For they said, “Indeed, while
the child was alive, we spoke to him, and he would not heed our voice. How can
we tell him that the child is dead? He may do some harm!”
19 When David saw that his servants were whispering, David perceived that the
child was dead. Therefore David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” And
they said, “He is dead.” 20 So David arose from the ground, washed and anointed
himself, and changed his clothes; and he went into the house of the LORD and
worshiped. Then he went to his own house; and when he requested, they set food
before him, and he ate. 21 Then his servants said to him, “What is this that
you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, but when
the child died, you arose and ate food.” 22 And he said, “While the child was
alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who can tell whether the LORD will be
gracious to me, that the child may live?’ 23 But now he is dead; why should I
fast? Can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to
me.”
24 Then David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in to her and lay with
her. So she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. Now the LORD loved him,
25 and He sent word by the hand of Nathan the prophet: So he called his name
Jedidiah, because of the LORD.
Devotion
What a thunderclap it must have been for David to hear the words, “You are the
man!” He is immediately confronted with the truth that God knows everything he
has done. His delusions that he had gotten away with it, that God did not see
or did not care, are blown away. The shock must have been paralyzing for a
second. Then Nathan declares God’s judgment and it all sinks in. In this book
all we hear of David’s repentance at that moment is the confession, “I have
sinned against the LORD.” But this was genuine and profound. This was no
perfunctory confession. And we hear God’s absolution through Nathan’s mouth,
“The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die.”
But there was a unique problem. David was God’s chosen, and if God did not
punish him, many would think that God was wicked or did not exist. David’s sin
would turn people away from God if there were no consequences. All men have an
innate sense of justice. God must be just, or the world will make no sense. In
fact, the Gospel must have the Law for it to make sense. The condemnation of
the Law is what makes the Gospel so sweet.
While none of us looks forward to the consequences of justice being carried out
against us, we can at least be thankful when we suffer punishment for our
wrongdoing because God’s world is still understandable, and we have the hope of
a perfect life in Heaven.
Posted by The Reverend Jeffrey A. Ahonen on behalf of the Evangelical Lutheran
Diocese of North America, publisher of the Lutheran Herald.
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