Nathan Rebukes David

II Samuel 12:1–14
» View this passage in NIV (Bible Gateway)

The critics who say that God allowed David to get by with his great sin apparently haven’t read the whole story. God’s man can get in sin, but he will not stay in sin. That is what distinguishes God’s man from the man of the world. God left David in his guilty state for almost a year. He then sent the prophet Nathan to rebuke the sinful king. He chose to use a parable in order to get David to see his sin. The parable was simple. A poor man and rich man lived beside one another. While the rich man had many flocks and herds, the poor man had only a little lamb which was a family pet. When a traveler came to the rich man he was unwilling to feed him from his own flock or herd. Rather he took the poor man’s pet lamb and made a meal of it for his guest (vv. 1-4).

David’s anger boiled as he heard the story which he took to be a real occurrence. He ordered that this man make a fourfold restitution for the stolen lamb (vv. 5-6). Nathan then made the devastating application."You, David, are the man!” You have pronounced judgment upon yourself. David was as guilty of murder as if he had struck Uriah with his own sword. He then had taken to himself the wife of the man whose death he had orchestrated. David had despised the Lord by taking Bathsheba and denied by his conduct the omniscience of his God (vv. 7-10).

The penalty for David’s sin is twofold. First, the sword would never depart from the house of David (v. 10). Second, God would raise up evil against David from within his own house. Third, one of David’s associates would take his wives from him and lie with them in full public view (vv. 11-12). David was moved deeply by the words of the prophet. He made no excuses for his conduct. He acknowledged his sin. Nathan accepted the confession. He announced that God would not take David’s life on account of the sin. However, God would punish him by taking the child which had recently been born (vv. 13-14).

Application

I need to remember that the consequences of my actions will reach farther and deeper than I can ever imagine. It is true that God will forgive me and restore my relationship with Him but this will not eliminate the consequences of my wrongdoing.