WOMEN OF CHRISTMAS - BATHSHEBA - DAVID, YOU ARE THE MAN!

2 Samuel 12 (KJV)

BATHSHEBA – DAVID, YOU ARE THE MAN!

2 Samuel 12:1 And the Lord sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. 2 The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds:

3 But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.

Nathan the prophet was sent by God to point out David’s sin. He did so by telling the parable above about a poor man with a sweet, little pet female lamb, and a rich man who had plenty of sheep. The pet lamb would have never been slaughtered by the family of the poor man because they had grown to love it as a member of their family.

2 Samuel 12:4 And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.

Wait a minute! Why would the rich man steal the poor man’s lamb when he has plenty of his own to kill and serve to the traveler. That makes no sense except that the rich man is a miser and selfish, only looking out for number one. The rich man had no regard for the poor family and abused his power to take what was theirs.

2 Samuel 12:5 And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the Lord liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die: 6 And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.

The law called for restoring a stolen, slaughtered lamb fourfold, but David initially said the heartless man should die. The penalty for both adultery and murder was death under the law. In the story, the lamb represents Bathsheba and the man represents Uriah whom David had murdered.

2 Samuel 12:7a And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man.

Uh oh! David had pronounced what should have been his punishment – death for the sins of adultery and murder. Ultimately, he did lose fourfold of what he had stolen as four of his sons were killed.

John MacArthur Study Bible:

12:6 fourfold. Exodus 22:1 demanded a 4-fold restitution for the stealing of sheep. There is an allusion here to the subsequent death of 4 of David’s sons: Bathsheba’s first son (v. 18), Amnon (13:28, 29), Absalom (16:14, 15), and Adonijah (1 Kin. 2:25).

2 Samuel 12:7b Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul; 8 And I gave thee thy master's house, and thy master's wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would moreover have given unto thee such and such things.

Nathan recounted the goodness of God to David, blessing by blessing by blessing. God used Nathan to remind David of all the blessings he seemed to have forgotten, how good God had been to him.

2 Samuel 12:9 Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the Lord, to do evil in his sight? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, and hast taken his wife to be thy wife, and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon.

Basically, Nathan told David he had despised God’s word and His precepts even to the point of stealing Uriah’s wife and murdering one of his loyal, mighty men. God had informed Nathan the prophet of all of David’s sinful actions.

2 Samel 12:10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife. 11 Thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will raise up evil against thee out of thine own house, and I will take thy wives before thine eyes, and give them unto thy neighbour, and he shall lie with thy wives in the sight of this sun. 12 For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.

God, through Nathan, predicted that chaos would reign in the midst of David’s own household because of his choice to take Bathsheba, to choose his way instead of God’s way. His own sons would rebel against him. One of them even slept with David’s concubines on the roof of the palace for all the people to see! David had sinned in secret but the results of that sin would be public knowledge.

John MacArthur Study Bible:

12:11 adversity…from your own house. David had done evil to another man’s family (11:27). Therefore, he would receive evil in his own family, such as Amnon’s rape of Tamar (13:1–14), Absalom’s murder of Amnon (13:28, 29), and Absalom’s rebellion against David (15:1–12). lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. This prediction was fulfilled by Absalom’s public appropriation of David’s royal concubines during his rebellion (16:21, 22).

2 Samuel 2:13 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. 14 Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.

David does the first right thing in this entire account of the “Uriah the Hittite Incident.” He confesses that he has sinned against his God and Lord. David confessed more completely in Psalms 32 and 51. He never attempted to justify his sin. Nathan tells him that God has “put away” which means forgiven his sin. However, the sin would still have consequences. One immediate consequence would be the death of the baby Bathsheba conceived during their adulterous encounter. This is not cruel to the baby who would be with the Lord upon death. In God’s mercy, he would not live to be taunted and gossiped about because of being the product of adultery.

2 Samuel 2:15-23 Summary:

The Lord caused the son of Bathsheba and David to become deathly ill. David fasted and prayed, lying on the floor, and his most loyal servants could not coax him to eat. He prayed the Lord in His mercy might decide to spare the child, but the newborn died after seven days which as noted before may have actually been a merciful act on God’s part by sparing the child the notoriety that would come from his conception. As far as we know this child was never given a name by his parents. I would like to hypothesize that the Lord chose to name him Himself, so that the child’s identity would be in God and not associated with the sin of his parents. This is Susan’s hypothesis, but it sounds logical. God’s word does not tell us whether the child was named, and if not, why not. After the child died, David bathed, anointed with fragrant oils, and had a meal. There was no more reason to fast and plead with God. David told his servants that someday he would be reunited with his son. This demonstrates his faith that God had forgiven him, and that the child, being before an age of accountability, would be immediately with the Lord.

2 Samuel 2:24 And David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her: and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon: and the Lord loved him.

We are not given the details of Bathsheba’s mourning her firstborn baby, just the fact that David comforted her. They conceived again and named the baby boy Solomon which means “Peace.” God loved him and eventually made sure Solomon would be the next king on David’s throne. (For further research on the children of David, read 1 Chronicles chapter 3).

2 Samuel 2:25 And he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet; and he called his name Jedidiah, because of the Lord.

The Lord through Nathan named the baby Jedidiah which means “Beloved of the Lord.” God’s grace is seen throughout this portion of Israel’s history. Solomon was born after David and Bathsheba were husband and wife but their union still originated from adultery. However, God was gracious and blessed another of Bathsheba’s sons by making him the one to inherit the throne and thus be in the lineage of Jesus. The specifics of how the Lord orchestrated the succession to the throne NOT going to David’s firstborn of his first wife will be told in the next lesson.

Ponder this: God forgave David for committing both adultery and murder, but there were still consequences related to his sin. Sometimes people think the Lord’s forgiveness means they can live as they please and ask forgiveness later. This is a bad plan because even though the Lord in His mercy and grace forgives us our sins, there are still natural consequences that result from out sinful actions. When considering any action, we must weigh the consequences, good or bad. Living according to God’s commands results in joy whereas the opposite results in strife. Choose obedience and joy today!