2 Samuel Week 8

September 22, 2026

All Scripture are in NIV format unless otherwise noted.

2 Samuel 12:5-6

“5 David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”

David hears this story and he is irate and he tells Nathan that whoever did this must die and he must pay back four times what he had taken. David also says that there should be no pity for this man, and David, without even knowing it, he is calling down these things on himself.

2 Samuel 12:7-8

“7 Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man! This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you from the hand of Saul. 8 I gave your master’s house to you, and your master’s wives into your arms. I gave you all Israel and Judah. And if all this had been too little, I would have given you even more.”

Nathan then clearly tells David, this is the very thing that you have done, just on a higher-level scale, and with human beings. Nathan then continues with what the Lord said. He had given David everything he could ever want or need, and he said, if you had wanted more, I would have given you that also. I gave you the throne, I took everything from Saul and gave it to you, I would even have given you more.

2 Samuel 12:9-10

“9 Why did you despise the word of the Lord by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own. You killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. 10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’”

despise – Hebrew word is “BAZAH” which means to treat someone as worthless.

God is saying to David; you treated My word, My commands, Me as worthless. God said you did evil in my eyes, you slept with a married woman, which was represented by the ewe lamb in the story, when you had wives and concubines already, which represents the rich man with more than enough. Obviously, taking her was not enough. David murdered an innocent man because he got Uriah’s wife pregnant to take something that was not his to take. Because of this, the sword will never depart from his house. When it says the sword will never depart from his house it means that because of what David did, there will be a continual, and long lasting, violence and bloodshed within his own family.

We see here again, as I have said many times before, when somebody sins, it affects more than just the person. This sin will affect David’s family for all future generations to come!

2 Samuel 12:11-12

“11 This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”

There is yet another punishment for David we see here, it talks about how the wives of David will be slept with by someone close to him, this ends up being his son Absolom. We will get to that later, but listen, God is going to bring shame on David for what he did in private, by making his sons actions a disgrace for all to see. People who knew David most likely figured out something fishy happened, but when they see the consequences come forth, and these very shameful consequences, they will figure out what happened.

2 Samuel 12:13-14

“13 Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.” Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die. 14 But because by doing this you have shown utter contempt for the Lord, the son born to you will die.”

After Nathan confronts David, it is like a light bulb goes on and he realizes what he has done. Listen, pleasing the flesh, combined with power and money, can blind you from the truth, and we see it here with David and how he did something very wicked and had no remorse or conviction. David responds correctly though, he says, “I have sinned against the Lord.” I want you to notice, when God sent Nathan to David, there was nothing said about sinning against Uriah or Bathsheba, David was called out for sinning against the Lord. I have said this before, and I still believe it, we cannot sin against a sinner, we can wrong them, but we can only sin against one who has never sinned before, and this kind of shows that, does it not?

Back then the law said that if you took an innocent life your life had to be taken from you, but God forgives David for his transgression. The worst part is though; there is another consequence for what David did. The son born to him by Bathsheba, will die. Listen, we have seen that the sword will not part from David’s family and his son will sleep with his wives in broad daylight, and now his newest son is going to die. Over and over, many people suffer for one man’s sinful decision. This is why we must always count the cost, especially if it comes down to pleasing the flesh.

2 Samuel 12:15-17

“15 After Nathan had gone home, the Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill. 16 David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground. 17 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.”

After Nathan prophesies and leaves, David and Bathsheba’s son became very ill. You have to love the response of David here, knowing his God, even though Nathan said the boy would die, David goes into fasting and praying with the hope that God may change His mind. In fact, David refused to get off the ground or to eat anything, he just continued to press into God! It says it had been days, this is why his servants tried to get him to eat, but David would hear nothing of it.

2 Samuel 12:18

“18 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.”

After seven days the child dies. It is interesting that the number seven is God’s number of completion, which means the punishment, the consequences for David’s sin, has been fulfilled except the pain in his heart, and Bathsheba’s heart, for the death of their child. The attendants were afraid to tell David though. They saw how David would not listen or eat anything while the child was alive, so they were afraid David might do something drastic, maybe even commit suicide.

2 Samuel 12:19-20

“19 David noticed that his attendants were whispering among themselves, and he realized the child was dead. “Is the child dead?” he asked. “Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.” 20 Then David got up from the ground. After he had washed, put on lotions and changed his clothes, he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to his own house, and at his request they served him food, and he ate.”

David takes notice and he knows his son has died. He is a smart man, and everybody was acting differently. He then asks his servants if his child had died and they told him yes, but like it says, David already knew.

What happens next shocks everybody; they saw David so desperate while his son was sick, but after David finds out his son is dead, he gets up, he washes himself and cleans up, changes his clothes and does what we all can learn a lesson from: he goes to the temple, the house of his God, and he worships.

worshiped – Hebrew word is “SHACHAH” which means he bowed down and prostrated himself.

David went in and gave God glory and thanks because David knows God is holy and righteous and so are His judgments, David knew this had to happen, and through it all, David still loved and worshipped the God he had committed his life to! AMEN! We could all learn here, when things are really bad, when really bad things happen, when really difficult challenges come up, no matter what happens, or is going on, God is still worthy of praise and we need to continue to press in, get on our face before God, and give Him all the glory. After David worships, still in his act of fasting while at the temple, David goes home and he finally eats and probably starts to process all that has happened!

2 Samuel 12:21-23

“21 His attendants asked him, “Why are you acting this way? While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat!” 22 He answered, “While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, ‘Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.’ 23 But now that he is dead, why should I go on fasting? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”

The attendants then inquire of the king, why are you acting this way, meaning, a little while ago it seemed you might take your life, but now, you seem fine and you are worshipping God! All you did was weep, fast, and pray! David then explained what was in his heart: while the child was alive, I had a reason to plead with God and see if it could cause God to change His mind on things and let my son live, but now that my son is dead, now that God has shown me what He has decided, there is nothing left to fast and pray for in this situation. It is time for me to get up and go worship the very holy and righteous God who has declared His decision. I cannot bring my son back if I keep praying, life goes on and I must press on.

2 Samuel 12:24-25

“24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba, and he went to her and made love to her. She gave birth to a son, and they named him Solomon. The Lord loved him; 25 and because the Lord loved him, he sent word through Nathan the prophet to name him Jedidiah.”

David then does what he needed to do, and should have done, he comforts his wife. I am sure she is heartbroken and falling apart with the loss of her son, so David comforts her, and they come together in intimacy. God shows David and Bathsheba favor, God gives them a child, and wouldn’t you know it, he turns out to be the one most favored by God, the one who builds the temple and one of the wisest men ever to walk the earth! Interestingly here, most people know Solomon by that name, but Nathan named Solomon Jedidiah.

Solomon – Hebrew word “SHLOMO” means peace, routed in the word shalom.

Jedidiah – Hebrew word “YEDIDYAH” means “Beloved of the Lord.” or “Loved by Yahweh.”

Solomon, Jedidiah, was destined to be blessed with having these names spoken over him. So, why does it say that the Lord loved Solomon? I believe this was all about the reconciliation with David and God after David did what he did. God is showing His grace, as He does with us, even after David did what he did. As we know, Solomon is the one that the lineage of the Messiah would come through.

2 Samuel 12:26-28

“26 Meanwhile Joab fought against Rabbah of the Ammonites and captured the royal citadel. 27 Joab then sent messengers to David, saying, “I have fought against Rabbah and taken its water supply. 28 Now muster the rest of the troops and besiege the city and capture it. Otherwise, I will take the city, and it will be named after me.”

While all of this is going on with David, Joab is out fighting a battle at the capitol city of Rabbah which was where the Ammonites lived. Joab tells David to muster some troops, get out here and take the city, or I will take it for myself. This is a gutsy thing to say to the king, but remember, again, they are family. David could have had Joab put to death, but we have concluded two things: one, he is family, and two, Joab could fight battles, and David needed a man like that to lead. So, what does David do?

2 Samuel 12:29-31

“29 So David mustered the entire army and went to Rabbah, and attacked and captured it. 30 David took the crown from their king’s head, and it was placed on his own head. It weighed a talent of gold, and it was set with precious stones. David took a great quantity of plunder from the city 31 and brought out the people who were there, consigning them to labor with saws and with iron picks and axes, and he made them work at brickmaking. David did this to all the Ammonite towns. Then he and his entire army returned to Jerusalem.”

David gets his entire army together and goes down to attack the city and captures it. I can imagine this army is at least 30,000 soldiers or more, so I do not think the Ammonites had a chance.

It says David went in there, took the crown off of the head of the king and it was placed on his head, meaning he was king over this city and these people, the Ammonites. These people would now be subject to David and the Israelites, and we see that with the jobs they had been given. They were put to work with hard labor by being given iron picks, axes, and they also made bricks, all of this would be used to build the cities for David. It also says David went and took all of the towns of the Ammonites. Once the main city was taken, and the king was defeated, it was just a simple task to take all the surrounding towns. We see again how David and God had their relationship restored through these victories alone!

Let me say this to everybody, it does not matter what you have done, or are doing, God wants to forgive you and restore you. If you are involved with sin, turn from it and turn back to God. If you have done something, repent, ask God to forgive you, and move on. Are there consequences? No doubt about it! But God wants to still use you and restore you. You just have to turn back to HIM, AMEN!!!!