2 Samuel 12:1-14 (CLICK HERE FOR BIBLE VERSES)
Hi GAMErs,
Today’s passage is 2 Samuel 12:1-14. As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first. See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below. Let’s go!
2 Samuel 12:1 (NIV)
1 The LORD sent Nathan to David…
On verse 1a: Nathan the prophet was David’s friend and pastor. Previously it was through Nathan that God spoke some powerful and encouraging promises to David about his future (2 Samuel 7:4-17). Now Nathan was to confront David to speak the truth in love regarding David’s adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah, Bathsheba’s husband.
I like what Pastor Jon Courson puts it:
“God didn’t send an enemy of David to talk to him about his sin. He sent a friend. This is most often the way of the Lord. When He has a word of correction to bring us, inevitably it will be by someone who has a heart for us. Conversely, unless your heart is filled with compassion for the person you are about to correct, it is probably not your responsibility to correct him.” [1]
We live in a culture where people are very quick to judge, condemn, and speak out against people they don’t even know. While we need to speak out against injustice, many people have a tendency to take it to an extreme, doing so without compassion and grace and without knowing all the facts. God is a righteous judge who hates injustice more than anyone else, but at the same time, no one loves us and has compassion for us more than God does. In our desire to judge, we must also look with eyes of compassion and mercy, knowing that we need compassion and mercy as much as anyone else.
2 Samuel 12:1-7 (NIV)
1 …When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor.
2 The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle,
3 but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.
4 “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”
5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the LORD lives, the man who did this deserves to die!
6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”
7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!…
On verses 1b-7a: To indirectly illustrate David’s sin against Uriah, Nathan tells David a story about how a poor man’s beloved lamb was stolen and slaughtered by a cold-hearted rich man. David gets so wrapped up in the story that he condemns the rich man for his actions and says that the rich man deserves to die. David was unknowingly pronouncing a death sentence on himself (“You are the man!” said Nathan).
What can we learn from this? Sometimes we can be the most critical of those who commit the same sin we ourselves struggle with, whereas Jesus, who was free of sin, is gentle and merciful toward us who are full of sin.
2 Samuel 12:7-8 (NIV)
7…’I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul.
8 I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you the house of Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more.
On verses 7b-8: Here we see how much God loved David and wanted to bless him. After listing the incredible things God had done for David, God even says, “and if all this had been too little, I would have given you more”. What can we learn from this? God is not in the business of depriving us. God knows how much blessing we can handle and how much we need. His supply will never be too little or not enough. Like David, we need to learn to appreciate what God has already given us, not be greedy, and realize that God is for us, not against us.
2 Samuel 12:9a (NIV)
9 Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes?…
On verse 9a: When we sin against God, we are essentially telling God that we think we know better than Him. In doing so, we despise His Word and show contempt for His commands. When we sin we are basically saying, “God, Your way is not as good as my way, and Your thoughts are not as high as my thoughts”. Yet the truth is God’s ways are always better than our ways, and His thoughts higher than our thoughts.
2 Samuel 12:9b (NIV)
9 …You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.
On verse 9b: David used Israel’s enemies to kill Uriah, who was an Israelite and a member of God’s people. He also stole Uriah’s wife. Even when David was pretending to run with the Philistines, David had never killed an Israelite. But now David had stooped to a new low. David was anointed by God, yet David let himself be used by Satan to steal, kill and destroy a brother’s life.
What can we learn from this? Just because we are anointed by God and have a relationship with Him does not mean that we are immune to sin’s influence. We must still be careful. For if we allow sin to reign in our hearts, like David we will do regretful things unbecoming of God’s people.
2 Samuel 12:10 (NIV)
10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’
On verse 10: God now begins to declare the consequences for David’s sins. First, the sword will never depart David’s house (v10). In other words, just as David caused violence to Uriah, David’s own family would be the victims of violence. For example, four of David’s sons would later die premature deaths – the unnamed son that Bathsheba would give birth to, Amnon (13:29), Absalom (18:14-15) and Adonijah (1 Kings 2:25). This correlates with verse 6 when David angrily condemns the rich man in Nathan’s story and says, “He must pay for that lamb four times over”. It’s a sobering lesson that we should be careful when casting judgment on others, for as Jesus says, “with the measure you use, it will be measured to you” (Matthew 7:2).
2 Samuel 12:11-12 (NIV)
11 “This is what the LORD says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity upon you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight.
12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.'”
On verses 11-12: As a second consequence of David’s sin, God says that just as David had an affair with another man’s wife in private, someone from David’s household would have an affair with David’s wives in public. Here God seems to be exercising “eye for an eye” retaliatory justice. Does God still do that today? I believe the situation is different today because Jesus Christ has absorbed all of God’s wrath for our sin. God’s anger toward our sin has been exhausted at the cross. Now God waits to see how we will respond to His Son Jesus. There will be consequences based on our response. I don’t believe God wants to retaliate against others for their sin as much as He is waiting for them to repent and to respond in faith to Jesus.
2 Samuel 12:13-14 (NIV)
13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” Nathan replied, “The LORD has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.
14 But because by doing this you have made the enemies of the LORD show utter contempt, the son born to you will die.”
On verses 13-14: David repents of his sin (v13a). Though he deserved to die for his sin of adultery, the Lord had mercy on him and said “the Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.” (v13) However, “the son born to you will die” (v14). I believe God is not just speaking here about the baby boy that Bathsheba would give birth to. Even more, He is referring to Jesus Christ the Son of David, who would be born to David and die on the cross in David’s place and our place for our sins. What can we learn from this? While we deserved to die for our sin, God had mercy on us and instead let Jesus the Son of David die in our place.
Father, thank You for Jesus Christ who died for me when it was I who deserved to die for my sins. Thank You for sparing my life in Your mercy. Help me please to realize that You are not a God who deprives me of what I need. Rather help me to see how abundant Your grace already is in my life. Help me to learn to appreciate what You have already given me, not to be greedy, and to realize that You are for me, not against me. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
[1] Courson, Jon. Jon Courson’s Application Commentary – Jon Courson’s Application Commentary Old Testament Volume 1. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 2005. WORDsearch CROSS e-book.
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