The King Who Pleased the Lord.April 22, 2015, Urawa Home Meeting
Gotthold Beck
2 Samuel
12:13 At this point, David told Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan responded to David, “There’s one other thing: the Lord has forgiven your sin. You won’t die.
12:14 Nevertheless, because you have despised the Lord’s enemies with utter contempt, the son born to you will most certainly die.”
12:15 Then Nathan went home. After this, the Lord afflicted the child that Uriah’s wife had born to David, and the child became very ill.
12:16 David begged God on behalf of the youngster. He fasted, went inside, and spent the night lying on the ground.
12:17 His closest advisors at the palace got up, remained with him, and tried to help him get up from the ground, but he would not do so. He also wouldn’t eat with them.
12:18 A week later, the child died, and David’s staff was afraid to tell him that the child had died. They were telling themselves, “Look, when the child was still alive, we talked to him but he wouldn’t listen to what we said. Now what kind of trouble will he bring on himself if we tell him that the child has died?”
12:19 But as David observed his staff whispering together, he perceived that the child had died, so he asked his staff, “Is the child dead?” They replied, “He has died.”
12:20 At this, David got up from the ground, washed, anointed himself, changed his clothes, and went into the Lord’s tent to worship. Then he went back to his palace where, at his request, they served him food and he ate.
[International Standard Version]