II SAMUEL 12:14-31 Lesson # 13
JUDGMENT AND GRACE
I. Introduction:
Q Who paid for your mistakes when you were a kid?
Q Did your parents ever have to pay for some of your mistakes?
Q Has your sin ever caused other humans to pay?
Note: Sin is never completely private. No man is an island. What we do affects others.
II. Judgment: The Taking of the Child. II Samuel 12:15-23.
A. God’s Strikes the Child: II Samuel 12:15-18
>>>> Have some one read II Samuel 12:15-18.
Q What was David’s reaction to the child’s illness?
An = He pleaded with God for the child. He fasted, prayed, and spent nights lying on the ground for seven days. He really wanted this child to live.
Q What were the servants worried about in 12:18?
An = David was so upset and distraught with the child’s illness that they feared he would harm himself when the child died.
B. David’s reaction to the Child’s Death: II Samuel 12:19-20.
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 12:19-20.
Q What is surprising about David’s reaction?
An = David did three surprising things. 1) He changed his physical action: he got off the ground, washed, anointed himself and changed clothes. 2) He then went in and worshipped the Lord. 3) Then he broke his fast and asked for food to be brought to him.
When the child died it was like he stopped mourning. Usually, one mourns seven days, and David did the acts of mourning but before the death and not after it.
C. The Interaction With David and His servants: II Samuel 12:21-23.
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 12:21-23.
Q What did the servants want to know?
An = In their eyes David seemed to have mixed the order up. The pre-death actions should not have been reversed with the post-death actions. They wonder why he is not now beginning to fast and weep now that the child is dead.
Q How does David answer them?
An = David says they were misunderstanding what he was doing. He was not grieving before the child died but rather praying for the child. He was doing more than grieving: He was trying to serve.
Q Has David’s repentance brought him back into the realm of being a true king and person again? How?
An = He serves, he has become a giver again. David did all that he could for the child. No one ever knows if the Lord will turn from His fierce anger.
Once the child was dead, David felt that he could do no more. He is not necessarily speaking of an after-life, but he could be referring to one. It is unclear he if believed he would see the child again, or that he was just saying that no one can go back and forth into the realm of death.
Q What kind of man is David, as revealed by these actions?
An = Again, David does not fit convention. He deeply loved this child. Instead of the child being an embarrassment that he wanted to get rid of, it is a child he deeply wants. Indeed, he is willing to struggle in prayer at great length to save the child.
Note: David shows us that God’s wrath is predictable but not grace. David knows this about God and therefore with hope prays for the child. David tells them: “Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.” Only the negative side of God’s judgment is predictable, not His grace.
Grace is the wild card. It is the hope of men.
>>>> Have someone read Psalms 103:9-14.
Q When we sin, do we often like to hide the fact from others?
Q Why is it that the illegitimate child is shunned or hidden?
Q Why has David acted differently?
An = Because he has truly interacted with the Living God. He knows he has been forgiven and he does understand grace. He is not trying to hide his sin, but since he acknowledge his sin, he can boldly face the consequences of his actions with Uriah and now wants to redeem all of the situation that he can. True repentance does that to a man.
Q Why will David later go and comfort Bathsheba (12:24)?
An = A good man does not make a sexual mistake and then abandon the girl because she brings back embarrassing memories. David does not sin and then take off. The Bible shows us not only how to avoid misery but also how to deal with the horror we have caused by our first disobedience.
III. Grace: The Gift of Another Son and Victory For the People: II Samuel 12:24-31.
A. The Birth of Solomon: II Samuel 12:24-25.
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 12:24-25.
Note: Psalm 103 is correct, but the grace comes in a manner different from what David had anticipated.
Note: This is the first time that Bathsheba is called by her name since we first received her name in 11:3. From that point on she was usually referred to as the “wife of Uriah”.
Q What is Nathan’s response to this event? What does this tell us about Nathan?
An = Nathan was “the giver of Bad-news” in 12:1-12, but that is because that is what needed to be said. He was also the bringer of good news in chapter 7, and now he is able to be the bearer of good news again. A true prophet is not someone who likes telling people they are going to hell.
Note: Our author does something very unusual again. In 11:27 we have a direct statement as to exactly how God felt about the situation. That type of statement is very rare in I and II Samuel. In this verse we do not have to infer and deduct anything. It plainly says: “But the thing David had done displeased the Lord”.
Q Now in 12:24-25 we have another of these rare and unusual statements directly stating the viewpoint of Almighty God. What is it?
An = Here the statement is not one of displeasure but of grace: “The Lord love him; and because the Lord loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah.” This word “Jedidiah” literally means “loved by the Lord”.
B. The Victory Over Rabbah: II Samuel 12:26-31.
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 12:26-28.
Q What is Joab trying to do for David?
An = Keep David’s reputation intact. Joab is an interesting man. He is ruthless, vindictive, jealous of his power base, but incredibly loyal to David. As Brueggemann reminds us, p. 284, Joab could have betrayed David, even blackmailed him, etc. but Joab is loyal to David’s image. “We must pause again before a David who could command such profound loyalty”.
Q Who sends for whom in this exchange between the king and his military commander? What does this mean?
An = David is sent for. Joab is the advice giver and David is the receiver of “council”. David will do Joab’s bidding.
>>>> Have someone read II Samuel 12:29-31.
Q Again, what is the sign of anointing?
An = It is military victory. It looks like David is indeed the recipient of grace. David is truly forgiven.
Note: I believe the end of the chapter is deliberately written to counter balance 12:15-23. David is both judged and forgiven. Both parts of 15-31, judgment and grace, are a part of the fulfillment of 12:13-14.
Q What does 12:14 mean if God has forgiven David?
An = God is not only the God of David, but also the God of Uriah.
Q Does God love Uriah also?
An = He is not only the God who loves David, but who loves Uriah the foreigner.
Q Have you ever thought of what Uriah’s mother and father must have felt?
Note: God is gracious, but He must also be just. God will also carry out the former verdict mentioned in 12:10-12. God truly forgives David, but He must also act in justice.
Q What about the statements of judgment in 12:9-12? Will these be brought to pass, now that David is forgiven and given tangible signs of grace in the birth of Solomon and the victory over Rabbah?
An = Yes. God indeed loves David and indeed does forgive him. It is in spite of David’s sin that he is eventually called the man after God’s own heart. He will pick other repentant sinners in the New Testament to lead His people after David.
Q Who is that?
An = Remember the betrayal by Peter?
Note: However, the Lord who especially loves David is also the God of the whole world. He also loves Uriah. The next few chapters will show us that God indeed does not play favorites, even when His special, particularly selected and loved servant is involved. If people have hurt you, it does not matter who they are. You will receive justice.