2 Samuel 12:3
But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.
The poor man owned only one little lamb that he had bought and raised as part of his family, feeding it from his own food, letting it drink from his own cup, holding it close, and loving it like a daughter. It stood in stark contrast to the rich man with very many flocks and herds, so that taking that one cherished lamb was a shameful act of wrong and oppression. The lamb pictured what David seized from another man, Uriah's wife, exposing his guilt in taking what was not his while he failed to see himself in the rich man. God sent plain reproof through His messenger, laying the case before David in this figure so his sympathies were engaged and he condemned himself, and when it was applied to him he awoke, felt his sin, and confessed without excuse. Because he humbly repented God forgave his sin and spared his life through the blood of Christ, yet He still punished him because he had given God's enemies great occasion to blaspheme and showed that transgression is never excused.
Lamb and Its Setting
The poor man had nothing else except one small female lamb, which he had purchased and fed and tended until it matured alongside him and his children as part of the family. It shared his own food and drank from his own cup and rested against his chest, and it was loved and treated as a daughter. That one cherished creature stood in sharp contrast to a rich man who owned very many flocks and herds in abundance. To seize the single lamb under those conditions was a grave injustice, a deed of wrong and oppression that cried out for redress.
In the parable the lamb stands for what David took from another man, namely Uriah's wife. The figure set David's crime before him in vivid and shameful colors and laid bare his wrongdoing concerning Uriah. Yet while hearing it David did not recognize himself in the rich man's actions.
The verse belongs to the account of David's sin in bringing about Uriah's death and in the case of Bathsheba. David had received kingly power from God to be exercised only in harmony with God's law in judgment and justice to all, but in ordering Uriah to be placed where he would be killed he departed from God and for the time became an agent of wrongdoing while still holding his God-given position and authority. That command was contrary to God's law, so that to obey it, as Joab did, was itself sin, because allegiance is owed to God above a king. One wrong step in taking more than one wife and departing from God's arrangement had prepared the way for the next, and forsaking God's word sullied a previously fair reputation and led into sin and its consequences.
Reproof, Repentance and Pardon
The little ewe lamb belongs to a reproof sent by a just and impartial God who did not sanction or excuse the offense but portrayed it plainly in living colors. He gave the message to Nathan as His messenger and watchman, though the words were contrary to Nathan's nature and terrible in severity, and Nathan delivered it unflinchingly with heaven-born wisdom. It was not given with sensational songs or humorous anecdotes, but by laying before David all the favors God had bestowed upon him and upbraiding him for abusing and misapplying mercy. The king's own case was placed before him in a figure of the rich man and the poor man, engaging his sympathies and arousing his conscience so that he was led to pass sentence upon himself before the word was applied directly to him as his own sin in "Thou art the man."
David had blinded himself and excused his course until it seemed passable, with only flashes of guilt on his conscience and no compunction working heart repentance. When the story was applied to him he awakened as from a dream and felt his sin, having no heart or face to stand out against the message. He recognized and confessed his guilt with remorse and sincere grief, without excusing or palliating his course as Saul had done. His willingness even to hear the vivid and shameful exposure of his wrong over Uriah showed that he still feared and respected God's word.
He learned from God's dealings, accepted the reproof humbly and meekly, and was helped to put his sins away. He bowed under chastisement and before the prophet without resisting or hating him, showing profound humility and sincere penitence. Afterward he repented bitterly, with his transgression continually before him.
Because of that repentance and humble confession God forgave his sin, averted part of the threatened calamity, and spared his life. Pardon came through reliance for the broken law upon the efficacy of the blood of Christ. Yet He still punished David because he had given great occasion for the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, an occasion improved from that day until the present by skeptics to assail Christianity and ridicule the Bible, and He permitted evils to rise up against him from his own house. This shows that God in no degree justifies transgression of His commandments but will surely punish the guilty, however righteous and favored they once were while following the Lord in purity of heart, for when the righteous turn from righteousness and do evil their past righteousness will not save them from the wrath of a just and holy God. David is described as a man after God's own heart only when pure and walking in God's counsel, not when he departed and stained his character, and God's displeasure at his plurality of wives was shown by visiting him with judgments.
Faithful Reproof for Today
Nathan's telling of the poor man's cherished lamb concealed a rebuke so that David would pronounce judgment on himself before recognizing his own guilt, and Christ later used that same approach with Simon. The rebuke was hidden in a parable about another case, leading the hearer to judge the case fairly and then to see himself in it. In Simon's case as in David's, the personal reproof came through a story that drew out self-condemnation before direct application.
God's way of bringing a sinner to true repentance is shown in sending His prophet to reprove and convict David for transgressing His law. That work was not done with sensational songs or humorous anecdotes, but by placing David's own case before him in the figure of a rich man and a poor man, letting him pass sentence upon himself, and then declaring Thou art the man. Such heart work led David to repent before God whose law he had broken and to rely for pardon on the efficacy of the blood of Christ. David had stolen Uriah's wife from her husband to satisfy only his own pleasure, an inexcusable theft and adultery that was sin and only sin, with covetous thoughts as well as words and deeds registered in the books of heaven. Nathan as God's servant laid the charge of sin heavily upon David without glossing over the matter at all, and the same sin must not be cloaked or passed in silence but must be openly reproved and acted upon, lest the offense rest upon the church, for remaining on Satan's ground gives him control and cause for exultation and brings deepest affliction and misery.
The poor man's one ewe lamb was deeply cherished, nourished and cared for as part of his household and treated like a daughter. Taking that sole and precious lamb while having ample resources pictures the wrong of diverting funds raised for the Southern field. It is the injustice of taking from a field that has little while keeping buildings, machinery, and workers for oneself. It leaves its owner to bear the loss after what was dedicated to his need has been taken away.