2 Samuel 12

CHAPTER 12THEME: Nathan faces David with his sins; David repents

2 Samuel 12:1

NATHAN FACES DAVID WITH HIS SINSThe critics who say that God allows David to get by with his great sin apparently haven’t read the whole story. Friend, we need to keep on reading. When Nathan confronts David with his sin, David repents. In spite of that, Nathan pronounces God’s judgment upon David. David must learn that a man reaps what he sows. God’s man may get in sin, but he will not stay in sin. That is what distinguishes God’s man from the man of the world. A sheep may fall in the mud, but he will struggle out of it as soon as he can. A pig will stay in the mud and enjoy it. God has said that men, like pieces of pottery, can be marred. One flaw can ruin a valuable piece of pottery. A valuable article is put on sale because the merchant sees a flaw in it. I am a great one for sales as I go about the country. When I see that a sale is on, I rush down to the store. Usually I find that first-grade merchandise has become second-grade merchandise because of a flaw.

It is marked down because of a little defect. Now David will have to be marked down because of his sin. In chapter 11 we saw David’s sin in all of its blackness and ugliness. The Word of God does not soft-pedal it. The Word of God does not whitewash David’s actions. His sin is as black as ink, and as dark as night, and as low as the underside of Satan and the bottomless pit, and as deep as hell.

David sinned. What David did displeased the Lord, and God is going to do something about it. You see, God did something about man’s sin. He gave Jesus Christ to die on the Cross and pay the penaltysin is that heinous. It is God who says that sin is so black that it required the death of His Son. If you turn your back on God, you are lost. However, if you are God’s man and you drop into sin, God is going to deal with you. In chapter 11 we left David sitting on his throne in smug complacency. He thought he had gotten away with his sin, but he was wrong. David is going to live to regret that he ever committed that awful sin. The first verse introduces us to Nathan, one of the bravest men in Scripture. David could have merely lifted his scepter and without a word could have condemned Nathan to execution for his audacity. This, however, did not stop Nathan. Nathan is going to tell David a story. It is a story that will reveal David as though he were looking in a mirror. The Word of God is a mirror that reveals us as we really are. Nathan is going to hold up a mirror so that David can get a good look at himself. There was probably a lull in state business when Nathan came. Since Nathan was God’s prophet, David said to him, “Do you have anything from the Lord for me?” He did. He told Nathan a story about two men in one city. One man was rich and the other man was poora typical city with its ghetto and its rich estates.

2 Samuel 12:2

The story of the rich man and the poor man sounds very familiar. The rich had many flocks and herds. The poor man had one little lamb. It was a pet and dearly loved by the family. They fed itit was probably a fat little fellow. It was all the poor man had. What a contrast. This has been the continual war between the rich and the poor. I personally think the outstanding problem today is not the racial problem, but the conflict between capital and labor, the rich and the poor.

2 Samuel 12:4

Nathan is telling a story that is quite familiar, is it not? The poor man had nothing but the little ewe lamb; the rich man had everythingyet he was a skinflint. I do not often discuss politics, but I would like to put down a principle in this world of sin today. I recognize that political parties say they have the solutions for the problems of the world because they want their candidates to be elected to office. I have no confidence in men. I do not believe that any politician today is going to champion the poor. This never has been done, and it never will be done. Let us not kid ourselves about that. It is quite interesting about the government poverty programs. Do they tax the rich? No! Taxes go up for the rest of us. I tell you, they are surely taking my little ewe lamb, friends.

2 Samuel 12:5

David thought Nathan had brought before him a case for someone in the kingdom and was asking for David to rule upon it. David had a sense of right and wrong. He also had a sense of justice. He is redheaded and hotheaded. When he heard Nathan’s story, he probably sprang to his feet and demanded, “Where is this man? We will arrest him. We will execute him!” It is interesting how easily you can see the sin in somebody else, but you cannot see it in your own life. That was David’s problem.

2 Samuel 12:6

David sounds like a preacher, doesn’t he? It is so easy to preach to the other person, tell him his faults, analyze him, and tell him what to do. Most of us are amateur psychologists who put other people on our own little critical couches and give them a working over. That is David. David says, “Wherever that man is, we are going to see that justice is done.”

2 Samuel 12:7

It took courage for Nathan to say this to David. In my judgment he is the bravest man in the Bible. I know of no one who can be compared to him. He said, “David, you are the guilty one.” What is David going to do? He is going to do something unusual, I can assure you of that. Dr.

Margoliouth has said this: “When has this been donebefore or since? Mary, Queen of Scots, would declare that she was above the law; Charles I would have thrown over Bathsheba; James II would have hired witnesses to swear away her character; Mohammed would have produced a revelation authorizing both crimes; Charles II would have publicly abrogated the seventh commandment; Queen Elizabeth would have suspended Nathan.” Years ago, the Duke of Windsor would have given up his throne for her. We have had some presidents who would have repealed the Ten Commandments and appointed Nathan to the Supreme Court. David did not do any of these things. His actions will reveal his greatness. God would have given David anything his heart wanted, but David longed for something that was not his. The new morality today says it was not sin. God still says this is sin, and the man after God’s own heart cannot get by with it.

2 Samuel 12:9

Nathan spells out the sins in no uncertain terms. Don’t you imagine, friends, that the court was shocked when they heard what Nathan said to David? There were undoubtedly many present who did not know what had happened. They hear Nathan accuse David of the most brutal crime written in the books. David has done the things that God said, “Thou shalt not do.” Is he going to get by with it?

2 Samuel 12:10

May I say, Christian friend, that when the question arises, “Can a Christian sin?” the answer is yes. But when you sin, you despise God. God says that that is what you do. When David took Uriah’s wife to be his wife, he was despising God.

2 Samuel 12:11

Evil is going to arise against David out of his own house. And friends, in the next chapter a scandal breaks out among David’s children that is an awful thing. It becomes a heartbreak to this man. But you will never find him whimpering or crying out to God about it, because David knew that God was putting the lash on his back. All that David wanted was what is written in Psa_42:1, “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.”

2 Samuel 12:13

DAVID REPENTSDavid should have died for this crime. God spared David’s life and put away his sin, but David’s baby died. God is not going to let David get by with his sin.

2 Samuel 12:14

And friends, the enemies of the Lord still blaspheme God because of what David did. When I was a pastor in downtown Los Angeles, there were many times when some unbeliever or skeptic came to me and said, “How could God choose a man like David?” They would actually leer at me while waiting for my reply. The enemy is still blaspheming. God is going to take David to the woodshed.

2 Samuel 12:15

David went before God and pleaded for Him to spare the little fellow’s life. Finally they brought word to David that the child was dead.

2 Samuel 12:19

David’s servants are astounded. When the child was alive, David was in sackcloth and ashes. When the child died, he should have been beside himself with grief. Instead, he got up, took a shower, and changed his clothes, then went to the house of God to worship. His servants ask for an explanation.

2 Samuel 12:22

David knew that the little baby was saved. He said, “I will go to him someday.” David knew that when death came to him, he would be reunited with his son. A child dying in infancy goes to be with the Lord. Mat_18:10 says, “Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven.” The word angels in this verse should be translated “spirits.” When a little baby dies today, that baby goes immediately to be with the Lord. That is the teaching of the Word of God. I don’t know about you, but this means a great deal to me because I have a little one up there, and I am looking forward to one day being with her. David could rejoice when his infant son died because he knew that one day he would see him again. That was not the case when his son Absalom died many years later. Absalom was a heartbreak to David. When he died, David wept and mourned. Why? David was not sure Absalom was saved.

2 Samuel 12:24

THE BIRTH OF SOLOMONThe name Jedidiah means “beloved of the Lord.” This name was given by God through Nathan to Solomon.

2 Samuel 12:26

DAVID AND JOAB TAKE RABBAHDavid is now back out in the field where he should have been all along. David’s kingdom continues to be extended and expanded, and David becomes a great ruler of that day. What about his sin? Did he get by with it? In the next chapter we will find out that David had a son that committed an awful crime. He raped his half sister, a daughter of David. Absalom, a full brother of the girl who was raped, killed him. Say, that was a scandal! Can you imagine how that news spread over Israel? The people said, “Look at the king ruling over us. He cannot even rule his own household!” Poor David. Before we get through with the life of David, I feel like saying to the Lord, “You have whipped him enough. Why don’t you take the lash off his back now?” But, you know, David never said that. David went into the presence of the Lord and cried: “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit” (Psa_51:1-2, Psa_51:12). David wanted to be brought back into fellowship with his God.