2 Samuel 12:1, commentary and pictures

The Lord sent Nathan to David after David had arranged Uriah's death and felt no remorse, to confront him with a story of a rich man and a poor man that appealed to him as guardian of his people's rights. Nathan veiled a severe rebuke in that parable so David would unknowingly pass sentence on himself, and only then brought it home directly with the charge that he was the guilty man. The sending shows a just God who does not sanction or excuse transgression even in a ruling king, but lays the sin before him in its truly abominable character without glossing it over. Awakened as from a dream, David did not excuse himself like Saul but humbly acknowledged his sin and entreated forgiveness, and because of that repentance God forgave him and spared his life yet still punished him with evils rising from his own house. The verse therefore charges those entrusted as watchmen to reprove sin in sharp, resolute words even in rulers, for a king is to be obeyed only as he follows Christ and it becomes sin to obey a command contrary to God's law.

Context of Nathan's Sending

The sending comes after arrangements had been made through Joab for the death of Uriah the Hittite and after the receipt of a carefully worded battle report that hid the guilt of both commander and king. There was no remorse, but the death was treated as the common chance of war, with word sent back that Joab should not be displeased but should make the battle stronger against the city and overthrow it.

At this time David had departed from God and yielded himself to the wicked one, becoming for the time the agent of Satan while still holding the position and authority given him to be exercised only in harmony with divine law. Heretofore his record had been to execute judgment and justice to all his people, and his integrity had won the confidence and fealty of the nation, but he now used God-given authority to claim an obedience that would imperil the soul of him who yielded it by commanding what was contrary to God's law. Joab, whose allegiance had been given to the king rather than to God, transgressed God's law because the king had commanded it. When a ruler commands what is contrary to God's law it becomes sin to obey, for though the powers that be are ordained of God they are not to be obeyed contrary to God's law, and leaders are to be followed only as they follow Christ.

David had become blinded to his departure, excusing his own sinful course until his ways seemed passable, with one wrong step preparing the way for another. That departure included turning from the wise arrangement by taking many wives like the idolatrous kings around him, and later turning from God's Word and its doctrines sullied his previously fair reputation, while he had been immovable when he kept God's Word before him. The verse opens the parable about two men in one city, the one rich and the other poor. It is an appeal to David as the divinely appointed guardian of his people's rights, setting forth a story of wrong and oppression that demands redress.

The parable continues with the rich man taking the poor man's one ewe lamb. The taking is covetousness, which is idolatry, and it applies to taking resources entrusted for another's need, as when money raised for the Southern field was diverted and the consequences left to others.

Nathan's Parable Method

The sending itself shows a just and impartial God who would not sanction or excuse David's heinous crime in the case of Uriah and Bath-sheba, because he had transgressed the commandment of the Lord. For that reason Nathan was sent with reproof and heavy denunciation that set the offense before David in living colors and in its truly abominable colors. God sends such reproof even to a ruling king through His appointed messenger, and Nathan came as God's servant and prophet to confront David. He came after David had stolen Uriah's wife thinking only of his own pleasure, and he laid the charge of sin heavily upon him without glossing over the matter at all. He left him without excuse, because his course was sin and only sin.

That terrible rebuke in its severity was the kind that could have cost the reprover his life when addressed to a king. Nathan therefore veiled it in a story used as a figure and illustration of David's own case. He delivered it unflinchingly, yet with heaven-born wisdom meant to engage the king's sympathies and arouse his conscience. He did not use sensational songs or humorous anecdotes or appeal to feeling.

By the story Nathan led David to pass sentence upon himself and thereby to condemn himself. David condemned the rich man without recognizing that the judgment applied to himself, being blind to his own guilt concerning Uriah. Only after David had pronounced that judgment did Nathan directly identify him as the guilty man. That direct application brought the reproof home so that David saw his sin as God saw it, like a mirror that convicted him.

The reproof also laid before the sinner all the favors and mercies God had bestowed that had been abused and misapplied, so that guilt flashed upon the conscience. Yet heart repentance that will not maintain and vindicate sin comes only when the reproof from God is brought home directly to the individual.

Repentance Forgiveness and Warning

Nathan's coming woke David as from a dream to feel his sin, and unlike Saul he did not excuse or palliate it but with remorse and sincere grief bowed and humbly acknowledged all with which he was charged. He did not rebel against God for the stern correction nor hate the prophet for it, but accepted the faithful reproof rather than silencing him. In this he did not show the spirit of an unconverted man or of the rulers of the surrounding nations, who would have taken the life of the faithful reprover. Though holding a lofty throne and unlimited power, he bore the reproof and accepted the counsel meekly. He humbled himself before God in dust and ashes and openly entreated forgiveness before the great men and even the servants of his kingdom. He composed a penitential psalm to instruct after generations in whom is trust and hope for pardon.

His humble acknowledgment is evidence that he still feared and trembled at the word of the Lord. What marked his character was humility and sincere contrition, not sinlessness, for he trusted God's mercy and accepted God's decision as just and merciful. Through God's dealings with him he learned wisdom, for Nathan's faithful portrayal of his true state made him aware of his sins and helped him put them away. This work produced true heart conviction leading him to repent before God whose law he had transgressed and to rely for pardon on the efficacy of the blood of Christ, in contrast to surface conversions produced by excitement. The parable served as a mirror that convicted him and led him to lasting repentance, making him see his sin as God saw it.

Sinners likewise must recognize the seriousness of their sin before they can truly repent and be converted. Without that conviction they would continue in sin and be ruined, and people mistake harmful conduct for doing good when they fail to see their own character truly. Because of that repentance and humble confession God declared through Nathan that He would forgive the sin, avert part of the threatened calamity, and spare David's life. Yet God did not excuse the sin or avert all its consequences, and David must still be punished with judgments and evils rising up against him from his own house, including for plurality of wives. By giving great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, David furnished an occasion still used from his day to the present by skeptics to assail Christianity, ridicule the Bible, and falsely assert that God justified David's polygamy and his sin with Uriah and Bath-sheba.

The rebuke proves David was called a man after God's own heart only when pure and walking in God's counsel, not when he stained his virtuous character by crime. It proves God justifies no one in transgressing His commandments but surely punishes the guilty however righteous and favored they once were in purity of heart. For when the righteous turn from righteousness to do evil their past righteousness will not save them from the wrath of a just and holy God. Those placed in responsible positions as God's watchmen and heralds must faithfully discharge that God-given responsibility and reprove sin in keen, sharp, resolute words given by God and not their own, even when contrary to their nature, and not connive at it like Eli. Or God will hold them accountable for the sins that exist and the evils resulting from them. True friends are those who tell faults, while those who make light of sins grievous to God and encourage bold resistance under reproof are agents of the devil. The reproof lays before the sinner all the favors and mercies God has bestowed that have been abused and misapplied, so that guilt flashes on the conscience, but heart repentance that will not maintain and vindicate sin comes only when it is brought home directly to the individual.