In yesterday's text Nathan the prophet confronted David with his sins. Next he prophesies some consequences that will be the result of David's sins.
Yesterday we closed with Nathan relaying this message from the Lord to David, "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. 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." (2 Samuel 12:9b-10) David tried to keep his affair with Bathsheba as much of a secret as possible but we know that at least some of his servants were aware that she came to the palace and stayed in his private chamber with him until the early morning hours. No doubt at least some of those servants talked to their family members and friends about what they saw. Then those family members and friends talked to others about it. We don't know how widespread the rumors may have been about David and Bathsheba. We don't know whether anyone suspected Uriah's death in battle wasn't arranged on purpose. We don't know whether anyone felt pretty certain that the child David conceived with Bathsheba was conceived while she was still married to Uriah. But when Nathan comes to David and accuses him of adultery and murder, he's not speaking of suspicions he has. He's speaking of facts. He knows beyond a doubt that David did these things because the Lord revealed to him that David did these things.
The message from the Lord contains some bad news. David's household will never be a peaceful household because he interfered with another man's household. David will deal with treachery from his own family members because he seduced Bathsheba into committing treachery against her husband. "This is what the Lord says: 'Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.'" (2 Samuel 12:11-12) David will have several rebellious sons. His son Amnon will rape a half-sister named Tamar, after which he will throw her out of his house and refuse to marry her though the law commanded that he marry her (and the law said he could never divorce her because he took advantage of her). David will take no action against Amnon for his crime, even though it is his duty as both a father and as a king, and his son Absalom will murder Amnon for the rape of Tamar. Absalom will make an attempt to usurp the throne from David and, to symbolize his intention to take everything that is his father's, will sleep with his father's concubines in a tent on the rooftop of the palace in broad daylight. Later on another son of David's, Adonijah, will make a bid for the throne and will refuse to accept his father's decision to pass the crown down to Solomon instead of to him.
"Then David said to Nathan, 'I have sinned against the Lord.'" (2 Samuel 12:13a) He's not stubborn like King Saul. Whenever the prophet Samuel would confront Saul with his sins, Saul would either deny wrongdoing or make excuses for not following the Lord's instructions to the letter. David admits his sin and sincerely repents of it and the Lord forgives him. He can now say again, "It is well with my soul." But that doesn't mean there won't be any earthly consequences for his actions. Even when we repent and are forgiven, there are sometimes still natural consequences to deal with. For example, if a person is unfaithful to their spouse and is sorry for it and repents of their sin to the Lord, the Lord forgives them but that doesn't mean their spouse won't divorce them. Another example might be if a person is caught stealing from work. They may be sorry for their actions and repent to the Lord and to their employer. The Lord accepts their sincere prayer of repentance but their employer may still fire them. One more example might be if a person abuses their health for many years with drugs and alcohol, then they turn to the Lord for help and are set free from their addictions. They are sober now but some of the damage they did to their body might be permanent.
Nathan is almost finished with his message to David but the last part of the prophecy is the worst part. "Nathan replied, 'The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die.'" (2 Samuel 12:13b-14) Adultery was a capital crime in ancient Israel. Murder was a capital crime in ancient Israel, as well as in many other nations of that day and of our own day. But the Lord is going to spare David's life. He could have struck him dead for behaving in such an ungodly manner as the king of Israel. David is in such a position of authority and influence that his sins have the ability to affect far more people than if an ordinary citizen had committed these sins. The Lord could have made an example of David and taken his life as a reminder to all the people that a person cannot live in this manner and get away with it. The Lord is merciful to David by allowing him to remain alive and on the throne of Israel. By and large, he is a good king for the nation except for this one shocking foray into the depths of depravity. But the Lord has to administer some discipline to David---public discipline---so the citizens will know that a person cannot flaunt His laws and commandments and get away with it. If David had suffered no personal consequences of his sin, this would have enticed others to live in opposition to the word of God. So for the rest of his life, David will deal with strife in his family. And he will suffer the death of his son, which we will look at in tomorrow's study as we strive to understand such a difficult passage in the Scriptures.
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