The Second Book Of Samuel. Day 38, The Death Of David's Son

Today's text is going to be difficult. We are not going to be able to come up with an explanation that satisfactorily answers all our questions about it. One thing I think we can keep in mind as we go through this passage is something my pastor reminded the congregation of in church the other day: "It is appointed to all of us to die." (Hebrews 9:27) When Adam fell from grace, sin entered the world. It could be said that sin "polluted" the world and that the entire human race and the whole creation has been affected by this pollution. As the Apostle Paul put it, "Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people, because all sinned." (Romans 5:12) Ever since sin entered the world, people have been dying, and not always at a good old age. People die as newborns, as very elderly people, and at all ages in between. People die as the result of their own actions. People die as the result of other people's actions. And people die simply because this is a fallen world where bad things happen. Today we're going to study the death of a child born into a fallen world where bad things happen.

But as we study this death we must remember that although death entered the world when the first man sinned, through the Lord Jesus Christ redemption is offered to us. "Through the obedience of one Man the man will be made righteous" and will "bring eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord". (Romans 5:19,21) Because of our sins we deserve physical death and spiritual death (eternal separation from the presence of the holy God) but because of our faith in Christ we receive the salvation of our souls and will spend eternity with Him---not because of anything good we've done but because of what He did on our behalf. And although David will lose the child he conceived in sin with Bathsheba, we see a picture of the Lord's redemptive mercy in the way the Lord deals with David and Bathsheba in the future, for the Lord Jesus Christ will be born from a branch of their family tree. The Redeemer will come from among the descendants of a child that David and Bathsheba will later have together. 

All is not lost! These two people made a terrible mistake but their mistake is not able to separate them from the mercy of the Lord. They don't remain in their mistakes, wallowing in an ever-deeper pit of sin. They turn back to the Lord. In yesterday's passage we found David confessing that he had sinned against the Lord, and there is no doubt David truly loved the Lord and was sincere in his repentance. We can love the Lord and still make a shocking mistake; what matters then is whether we remain in sin or whether we repent of it. David repents of it (tomorrow we will study the psalm he wrote about his sorrow over his sin) and because he repents of it the Lord forgives him and helps him not to make the same mistakes again. 

In yesterday's text we found the prophet Nathan warning David that the child he had with Bathsheba would not survive. This is where we pick up today. "After Nathan had gone home, the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife had borne to David, and he became ill." (2 Samuel 15) It's disturbing to think of the Lord "striking" anyone with illness. This could simply be a turn of phrase used by the author since ancient people viewed calamities such as illness, death, and natural disasters as coming directly from the hand of God or from "the gods". It may be that the child was born with a condition that would lead to death if the Lord did not intervene and heal him, and the Lord did not heal him. Or it may be that the child contracted a virus or a bacterial infection after birth, and the Lord allowed this to happen and did not heal him. Infant mortality rates were very high in David's time. They were still quite high in the United States less than a hundred years ago, especially before the discovery of antibiotics. My maternal grandmother's firstborn child and only son died at the age of two from double pneumonia, just a few years before the discovery of penicillin which might have saved him. If my grandmother had lived in David's time, and if someone were writing about her life, they might have said the Lord "struck" her son so that he died, but this doesn't mean the Lord literally pointed His finger at her son and made him sick. It's the way people of ancient times would have perceived and phrased such a thing. All we can say for certain is that David and Bathsheba's son was born into a fallen world---into a world polluted by sin---and that he died of one of the many illnesses that exist in this world.

"David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground. The elders of his household stood beside him to get him up from the ground, but he refused, and he would not eat any food with them. On the seventh day the child died. David's attendants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they thought, 'While the child was still living, he wouldn't listen to us when we spoke to him. How can we now tell him the child is dead? He may do something desperate.'" (2 Samuel 12:16-18) David knows the Lord told the prophet Nathan that the child would die. But still he pleads with the Lord for seven days because he knows God is merciful and might turn things around. Many a parent has pleaded for the life of a sick child; some have had their situations turned around and some have not. We cannot, in our frail and mortal minds, hope to fully understand why such things happen. Why is it the Lord's will to heal one person and to allow another person to pass on? We don't know the answer and we won't know the answer until we are in His presence, I don't believe. At that time I think we will understand His plan and will see why things had to be the way they were. Until then we are asked to trust Him and live in faith, difficult as this can be when it involves the death of a loved one.

In tomorrow's text David will be informed of the death of his loved one. He will not react in the manner his servants expect him to react. Instead he will make a statement of faith---a statement regarding the eternal life of the soul. 

As we close today we will speak briefly about why it was necessary for David to be disciplined in a way that would be known by the whole nation. We've spoken before about some of his palace staff being aware of his night of sin with Bathsheba. If Bathsheba had any servants or family members living with her, no doubt they were aware of the nature of her visit to the palace. People talk. Gossip spreads quickly, especially when it's the "juicy" kind, and gossip about the king of Israel and a married woman is the kind of gossip that would be considered juicy. Besides that, even those who never knew about Bathsheba's visit to the palace might have thought her child was born a bit too soon after her wedding to David. We don't know how widespread was the knowledge that something illicit had gone on between David and another man's wife but some scholars suggest it was very well known in Jerusalem and in the surrounding area. Some even think it was known all over the country. David's private sin became publicly known. His discipline had to be publicly known too. If the Lord had not disciplined David, how many others might have fallen into sin due to his poor example of godliness and due to him getting away with it? Or how many might have lost respect for him and refused to follow his orders? Or how many might have wanted to see him dethroned and another put in his place? After all, the Lord took the kingship away from Saul for lesser sins than those David committed. On top of all these potential problems, how many people would have lost faith in the Lord if He didn't judge adultery and murder? Might some not have turned away from serving Him? Might some not have concluded He doesn't exist at all?

The Lord didn't take David's life or Bathsheba's life for their sins. Except for this one extremely shocking period in David's life, he has been faithful to the Lord and has helped the citizens of the nation be faithful to the Lord. Unlike King Saul who did not have a heart for the Lord, David has a heart for the Lord and he has a heart for the people. Now that he has repented, he can again be a godly example to them. He can also be an illustration of the grace of God, for he is living proof that there is no sin so bad that it can't be forgiven. There is no sinner so wretched that God can't save him. 

Why, though, did the Lord allow the baby to die? I have no fully satisfactory answer for this except to say that the child went immediately to be with the Lord and has been in His presence ever since; there is some comfort in knowing that. Indeed, that is how David will comfort himself in tomorrow's text. And also the death of David's child caused the hearts of the people to turn to him in pity and compassion. They know he is suffering what is probably the deepest grief there is. They cannot find it in their hearts to be angry that he let them down by committing two very grievous sins. They cannot find it in their hearts to feel as if he has not been punished enough. They can imagine no greater grief than the loss of a child (many of them have experienced this loss themselves) and instead of looking down on David and disrespecting him they feel sorry for him. In addition, their sense of justice has been satisfied. God has judged the case and has handed down a sentence. The case is closed and the people trust His judgment. They are willing to move forward and leave David's wrongdoings in the past.