Bible in One Year Day 130 (2 Samuel 12, 1 Chronicles 16, Psalm 51)

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Day 130 Nathan Condemns David 

Agape Bible Study 

2 Samuel 12 

 Chapter 12: God's Judgment for David's Sins

2 Samuel 12:1-6 ~ Nathan's Story and David's Response

Verse 1 is the thirteenth and last time the word "sent" is used in the David and Bathsheba narrative. It signals the coming judgment of their sin. Yahweh sends His prophet to accuse David of his sin; it is not an easy job for a prophet to confront a king. The prophet Nathan tells David a parable, but he presents the story as though it is a genuine event where an injustice has taken place involving two men in David's kingdom.

Question: What is the contrast between the two men in Nathan's story? What crime did the one man commit against the other?
Answer: One man is wealthy and the other is poor. The wealthy man has stolen the one thing of value the poor man possesses. But the lamb the rich man has taken was more than a possession to the poor man because he loved it like a child.

Question: What is David's reaction? What article of the law does he refer to? 
Answer: David is furious when he hears of the injustice that has been committed by the rich man against the poor man. He pronounces that the rich man deserves to die because in addition to the theft the rich man has shown no compassion for the poor man's love for the animal. But under the law, the man must provide a four times restitution, providing four sheep for the one that was taken.

Nathan, on the right, with King David (Matthias Scheits)

2 Samuel 12:7-15 ~ Nathan Delivers God's Judgment
 

Nathan's rhetorical trap is complete with David's pronouncement of judgment against the "rich man." Imagine David's shock when Nathan tells him: "You are the man!"
Question: What is ironic about David's judgment in verses 5-6? Who are the main characters in Nathan's parable?
Answer: It is ironic that David has pronounced judgment on himself.

1. David is the "rich man."
2. Uriah is the "poor man."
3. Bathsheba is the "little ewe lamb" the poor man loved.

Up to this point in David's life, God has blessed and protected him.
Question: What are the ways God lists that He has blessed David?
Answer:

1. God anointed David king of Israel.
2. God saved David from Saul's attempts to kill him.
3. God gave David Saul's kingship over Judah and Israel, including Saul's wives.

This is the first time we have heard that David took possession of Saul's harem. We knew that he demanded the received the return of Saul's daughter Michal (2 Sam 3:13, 16). It was the practice in the ancient Near East for the new king who is not an heir of the former king to take the throne and the royal wives/daughters of the former king.

Now God will lift his hand of protection and David will reap what he has sown in his sin against Uriah and the other innocent men who lost their lives because of Joab's plan.
Question: What is God's judgment against David in verses 10-12?
Answer:

1. David's family will never be free from violence.
2. David will experience betrayal from within his own household.
3. His betrayer will even sleep with David's wives.

Question: What is David's reaction to God's judgment against him for his sin? To whom can David's response to being accused of sin by God be compared? 
Answer: David, without making excuses, immediately confesses his sin which he acknowledges is ultimately a sin against Yahweh. His confession of guilt is unlike Saul who argued and made excuses for his behavior in failing to put the Amalekites under herem (curse of destruction) as God commanded.

Question: Why does David say he sinned against Yahweh in verse 13a? 
Answer: When one sins it is not just a violation of the moral or social order between human beings. Sin is primarily a breach of the personal relationship between man/woman and God (see Gen 39:9; Ps 51:1; Is 59:2) which only God can reestablish (Ps 65:3; Mk 2:5).

Question: What is God's response to David's admission of his sin and what is the fourth judgment for David's sin?
Answer: God forgives David's sin, but the child he has with Bathsheba must die.

Confession leads to repentance and contrition and contrition leads to forgiveness and reestablishment of fellowship with God (CCC 1450-51, 1455). But there is also the matter of justice being served through the sinner's penance for the sins he committed (CCC 1459-60). The death of the innocent child seems a harsh judgment, but we must remember that God is the author of life. It is God's prerogative to give life and to take it away. The child will reside with the righteous in Sheol until the coming of the Redeemer-Messiah when he will be liberated from death and restored to eternal life in heaven.

There is also another way to see the law fulfilled in the fourfold restitution that David must suffer in penance for his sin even though Uriah is not alive to receive restitution. The prophecy of death and violence from within his family during his lifetime will come through four events that fulfill God's judgment in verses 10-12:

1. The death of his son with Bathsheba (2 Sam 12:18).
2. The rape of his daughter Tamar (2 Sam 13:1-22)
3. The murder of his son and heir Amnon (2 Sam 13:28-29).
4. The betrayal and death of his son Absalom (2 Sam 15:10-12; 16:22; 18:28-29).

2 Samuel 12:15b-25 ~ The Death of the Child
Notice that is verse 1 Bathsheba is still called "Uriah's wife," as she is in Matthew's genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1:6b. She will not be called "David's wife" until 12:24 when Solomon/Jedidiah is born.

Question: To what three acts did David commit himself when the child became ill?
Answer:

1. He committed himself to intercessory prayer
2. He fasted
3. He wore sackcloth and slept on the floor as acts of penance

Question: How did David explain his change in behavior to his servants after he learned the child had died?
Answer: His behavior was not a sign of grief but of repentance and supplication. While the child was still alive he had the hope that God would take mercy on him and spare his child, but when the child died he accepted and submitted to God's judgment which he demonstrated by going into God's presence to pray.

Question: What did David mean when he said the child could not come to him but one day he would go to his son and they would be together in verse 23b? 
Answer: David believes that life is eternal and that one day, when he dies, that he will be reunited with his son in Sheol. It is the same sentiment Jacob expressed when he believed his son Joseph was dead when he said they would be reunited in death in Sheol/Hades.

As a sign of God's forgiveness, God gave them another son born from their legitimate union. For the first time Bathsheba is referred to as David's "wife" in verse 24. Bathsheba named the son Selomoh, a name derived from the Hebrew word for "peace," salom, which the inspired writer of Chronicles makes clear: Look, a son will be born to you. He will be a man of peace, and I shall give him peace from his enemies on all sides; for Solomon [Selomoh] is to be his name, and in his days I shall give Israel peace and tranquility (1 Chr 22:9). Solomon will be his throne name. But God, through His prophet Nathan, gave the boy the personal Hebrew name Yedidiah, a theophoric which means "Yahweh's beloved." You will recall that David's name means "beloved" but this child is known by name as "Yahweh's beloved" in fulfillment of God's covenant promise to David in chapter 7:12-16.

See the parallel passage in 1 Chronicles 20:1-3.
2 Samuel 12:26-31 ~ Israel's Victory over the Ammonites at Rabbah

Joab sent word to David that the capital of the Ammonites was about the fall. He told David to come immediately to take charge of the army in the final assault on the city so the credit will be his. Joab may be ruthless but he is also completely loyal to David. That Joab has captured the water supply means the inhabitants of the besieged city cannot hold out against the Israelites without water.

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           A Daily Defense 
            DAY 130 The Nature of Saints

CHALLENGE: “The Catholic Church shouldn’t refer just to people in heaven as saints. All believers are saints.”

DEFENSE: The term “saint” is used in multiple senses, even in Scripture.  The term “saint” (Hebrew, qadosh; Aramaic, qaddish; Greek, hagios; Latin, sanctus) means “holy one.” Anyone who is in some sense holy or sanctified is in that sense a saint. This leads to many uses of the term in Scripture, though this is partially masked because English translators sometimes render the word as “saint” and sometimes as “holy one.” The Israelites were a people holy to God (Lev. 20:26), so the Old Testament describes them as saints (Ps. 34:9; Dan. 7:18, 8:24). Thus, Paul tells Gentile Christians that they have become fellow citizens “with the saints” (Eph. 2:19). 

Christians are also holy to God (1 Peter 1:16), so the New Testament often refers to them as saints (2 Cor. 1:1, Eph. 1:1, Phil. 1:1). The Catholic Church acknowledges this usage. After reviewing various passages in the New Testament that refer to Christians as saints, John Paul II noted, “All these cases refer to Christians, or to the faithful, that is, to the brethren who have received the Holy Spirit” (General Audience, August 16, 1989).

Jewish people were sanctified by their participation in the Mosaic Covenant, and Christians are sanctified by their participation in the New Covenant of Christ, so this represents two different forms of sanctification or sainthood. There are others. Thus the holy angels are also referred to as saints (Ps. 89:6, 8; Dan. 4:13, 17, 23, 8:13). In popular speech, a person of notable holiness is often referred to as a saint, and we find this usage in the Bible as well (cf. Isa. 4:3–4, Matt. 27:52–53). Very surprisingly for English speakers, Jesus is described as the Saint or Holy One of God (Mark 1:24; Luke 4:34; John 6:67–69), and God is described as the Saint or Holy One of Israel (Ps. 71:22, 78:41, 89:18; Is. 1:4; Jer. 50:29).

Since there is no single, privileged definition of the term, it is reasonable to use “saint” to refer to those who have their sanctification—or “saintification”—completed by dwelling with God in heaven. This is thus one way the Church uses the term, both for those in heaven who have been canonized and those who have not.

Jimmy Akin, A Daily Defense: 365 Days (Plus One) to Becoming a Better Apologist