2 Samuel 12:13

And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord,.... Which confession, though short, was a full one, arising from a thorough conviction of the evil of the sin he had been guilty of,

For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun. No JFB commentary on these verses.

I have sinned against the Lord; I now freely confess that sin which I have hitherto so wickedly smothered; and I have deserved all these and far heavier judgments for it; and I am more troubled for my sin against my sovereign Lord and gracious God, than for the shame and punishment that follow it. How serious and pathetical this confession was, we may see, Psalms 51. The Lord also hath put away thy sin, i.e. so far as concerns thy own life and eternal salvation; both which were forfeited by this sin. Thou shalt not die, as by thy own sentence, , thou didst deserve, and as thou mightest expect to do by my immediate stroke; though possibly thou mightest elude the law before a human judicature, or there be no superior to execute the law upon thee.

2 Samuel 12:13 And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.Ver. 13. I have sinned against the Lord.] He saith not Perii, but Peccavi; not I am undone, but I have done amiss. A short word, but passionate. The greatest griefs are not always the most verbal. Saul confessed his sin more largely, but less effectually; because his confession of sin was not joined with confusion of sin, as Proverbs 28:13. "I have sinned," said he; "yet honour me before the people": and he sped accordingly, as shall be showed. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin.] Dominus transtulit, The Lord hath translated thy sin upon Christ’ s back, as Mr Bradford translateth it; thou shalt not die. This was the voice of the gospel, awarding life to repentance for sin; and this was David’ s comfort: like as David, He shall surely die, was the voice of the law, awarding death to sin; and this was Saul’ s doom. It is wittily and pithily observed by Bernard, that Saul repented, and his word was Peccavi, I have sinned: David likewise repented, and his word is the same. The answer to Saul was Dominus transtulit, "the Lord hath taken away": the answer to David was the very same, "the Lord hath taken away." They were both kings and sinned, both were warned by prophets, both repented, both confessed, both were answered. Both their words were alike to the prophet, both their answers alike in part from the prophet, Dominus transtulit: yet never so much difference betwixt words as betwixt these two answers; for to David the answer was Transtulit peccatum, the Lord hath taken away thy sin: but to Saul a double Transtulit, but a curse with both. Dominus transtulit regnum, the Lord hath taken away thy kingdom. Again, Dominus transtulit Spiritum, God hath taken from thee his Spirit; and this latter was the greater. Thou shalt not die.] As thou hast deserved to do, both temporally, by some sudden stroke of God’ s hand, ex proprio iudicato, and externally, since hell is the just hire of the least sin; how much more of such heinous crimes as thou hast committed! But all is remitted, and thou art rectus in curia, acquitted, and accepted. God hath his pardons ready sealed for true penitentiaries. Homo agnoscit, Deus ignoscit. Serm. of Rep., p. 54. The Lord hath caused thy sin to pass over from thee to Christ.

(13) I have sinned.—The same words were used by Saul (1 Samuel 15:24; 1 Samuel 15:30), but in a totally different spirit. Saul’s confession was a concession to the prophet for the purpose of securing his support, and with no real penitence; David, in these few words, pours out before God the confession of a broken heart. Thou shalt not die.—David had committed two crimes for which the Law imposed the penalty of death—adultery (Leviticus 20:10) and murder (Leviticus 24:17). As an absolute monarch he had no reason to fear that the sentence would be put in force by any human authority; and the Divine word is to him of far more importance as an assurance of forgiveness than as a warding off of any possible earthly danger. The phrase is thus parallel to, and explanatory of, the previous clause, “The Lord also hath put away thy sin.”

Verse 13. The Lord - hath put away thy sin] Many have supposed that David's sin was now actually pardoned, but this is perfectly erroneous; David, as an adulterer, was condemned to death by the law of God; and he had according to that law passed sentence of death upon himself. God alone, whose law that was could revoke that sentence, or dispense with its execution; therefore Nathan, who had charged the guilt home upon his conscience, is authorized to give him the assurance that he should not die a temporal death for it: The Lord hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. This is all that is contained in the assurance given by Nathan: Thou shalt not die that temporal death; thou shalt be preserved alive, that thou mayest have time to repent, turn to God, and find mercy. If the fifty-first Psalm, as is generally supposed, was written on this occasion, then it is evident (as the Psalm must have been written after this interview) that David had not received pardon for his sin from God at the time he composed it; for in it he confesses the crime in order to find mercy. There is something very remarkable in the words of Nathan: The Lord also hath PUT AWAY thy sin; thou shalt not die; גם יהוה העביר חטאתך לא תמות gam Yehovah heebir chattathecha lo thamuth, Also Jehovah HATH CAUSED thy sin TO PASS OVER, or transferred thy sin; THOU shalt not die. God has transferred the legal punishment of this sin to the child; HE shall die, THOU shalt not die; and this is the very point on which the prophet gives him the most direct information: The child that is born unto thee shall SURELY die; מות ימות moth yamuth, dying he shall die - he shall be in a dying state seven days, and then he shall die. So God immediately struck the child, and it was very sick.

13. I have sinned against the Lord] True confession needs but few words. Cp. Luke 18:13. There is no attempt to excuse or palliate the sin. Saul too could say “I have sinned” (1 Samuel 15:24; 1 Samuel 15:30), but he felt no real contrition, and his chief desire was to save his own reputation with the people: David is crushed by the sense of his guilt in the sight of God. Cp. Psalms 32:5; Psalms 51:4. Cp. August. c. Faustum, xxii. 67. “In simili voce quam sensus humanus audiebat, dissimile pectus erat quod divinus oculus discernebat.” “Though the words heard by the human ear were alike, the heart seen by the eye of God was unlike.” See Keble’s poem for the Sixth Sunday after Trinity in the Christian Year. thou shalt not die] The sentence which he had pronounced on himself (2 Samuel 12:5) should not be executed, though he deserved to die as an adulterer and murderer (Leviticus 20:10; Leviticus 24:17). The punishment of death would certainly not have been inflicted on the king, who was supreme in the state, by any human authority: but God might Himself have inflicted it. The context shews that temporal death is primarily meant, and though we may now read in the words a reference to spiritual life and death, it may be doubted whether they could be so understood at the time.

For a comment on David’s words, read Ps. 51; Psalms 32:1-11. Thou shalt not die - Not spoken of the punishment of death as affixed to adultery by the Mosaic Law: the application of that law Leviticus

13. I have sinned against the Lord — David’s heart is now laid open to his eyes, and he sees, and shudders at, his enormous crimes, and feels that death is his just desert. But for him there is yet a voice of mercy.