2 Samuel 12:5
And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die: And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As the LORD liveth, the man that hath done this thing shall surely die:
David's outburst belongs to the reckoning after he took Bath-sheba for his own pleasure and caused Uriah the Hittite to be killed in battle. God sent Nathan to reprove the ruling king with a message of terrible severity, and with heaven-born wisdom Nathan hid the charge in a parable of wrong and oppression to engage the king's sympathies and lead him to judge his own conduct before the guilt was brought directly home. As the divinely appointed guardian of his people's rights David's anger was greatly kindled and he angrily condemned the rich man on oath to death, blinded by sin so that he judged another without recognizing himself and in doing so pronounced sentence of death upon himself. When the application awakened him he faced his defects and confessed his transgression of God's law with remorse instead of excusing himself, and God forgave him and spared his life but did not excuse his crimes, with punishment following because he had given the Lord's enemies occasion to blaspheme. Such taking of another's spouse is not at all excusable but sin and only sin, with greater guilt when high position and great talents are involved, and it is met only by open penitence that trusts in God's mercy and the efficacy of Christ's blood for pardon, published for the instruction of after generations.
Setting and Self-Condemnation
The verse belongs to the reckoning after grievous sin involving Bath-sheba and causing Uriah the Hittite to be killed in battle, David having stolen Uriah's wife from her husband thinking only of his own pleasure. After ordering Uriah's death, Joab sent a carefully worded account of the fighting that would not implicate himself or the king, expecting the king's wrath to arise over lives wasted in the attack and directing the messenger to turn it aside with the news that Uriah was dead also. David answered without displeasure that the sword devours one as well as another and told Joab to make the battle stronger and overthrow the city.
David's kingly power was given by God to be exercised only in harmony with the divine law, but in commanding what was contrary to God's law he departed from God and for the time became Satan's agent while still holding the position and authority God had given him. Joab sinned in obeying the king's command rather than obeying God, since when a ruler commands what is contrary to God's law it becomes sin to obey. God sent Nathan as messenger, watchman and herald to reprove and convict David for transgressing God's law, with a message of reproof terrible in its severity such as could cost a reprover his life before a sovereign, though David was a ruling king. Nathan's words were not his own but given him by God even though contrary to his nature, laying before David all the favors God had bestowed on him and rebuking him with abused and misapplied mercies.
With heaven-born wisdom Nathan concealed the accusation in a figure, parable and illustration of wrong and oppression demanding redress, engaging the king's sympathies and arousing his conscience to lead him to judge and condemn his own conduct before the guilt was brought directly home to him as the man. He did not use sensational songs or humorous anecdotes, and Christ likewise later used a parable to make Simon recognize his own guilt. As the divinely appointed guardian of his people's rights, David's anger was greatly kindled and he angrily condemned the rich man in the story on oath and sentenced him to death, unaware that the course described represented his own conduct toward Uriah and exposed his own sin. Sin had so blinded him to his own character and hardened his heart that he judged another without recognizing himself, while ready to see and condemn another's faults, and in doing so he pronounced sentence of death upon himself.
David had flashes of guiltiness with God's reproof on his conscience and did not have the heart to stand out against God's message, but he felt no compunction that worked heart repentance until the reproof came directly home to him.
Repentance, Pardon, and Warning
When the parable's application brought his guilt home and awakened him, David recognized his departure from God, faced his defects, and confessed with remorse for transgressing God's law instead of excusing himself. That self-condemnation is true heart work in contrast to excited, emotional religion. He repented before God whose law he had transgressed and relied for pardon on the efficacy of Christ's blood, and through Christ found pardon.
God forgave David and spared his life but did not excuse his crimes, and punishment followed in part because he had given the Lord's enemies occasion to blaspheme. His case shows that God's favor does not justify transgression and that past righteousness cannot save a person who turns from it and does evil. David was firm when he kept God's Word before him, but forsaking its teachings stained his reputation and brought retribution.
David bore the plain rebuke and humbly acknowledged all with which he was charged instead of taking the faithful reprover's life as an unconverted man or the rulers of surrounding nations would have done, which is evidence that he still feared and trembled at the word of the Lord. Nathan's faithful and truthful portrayal made him aware of his sins and helped him put them away, and he learned from God's dealings, accepted the prophet's counsel meekly, humbled himself before God, did not turn against the prophet or resist God's will, with God's rebuke meant to lead him to repentance and not despair. His strength lay in sincere penitence, trust in God's mercy, and accepting God's decision as just and merciful.
He repented openly in dust and ashes and entreated forgiveness without concealment before great men and servants, composed and published a penitential psalm confessing his transgression and trusting in loving-kindness and tender mercies to blot out his sin, wash him and deliver him from blood guiltiness so that after generations might be instructed by his sad history. He repented bitterly and continued to feel his transgression as a burden, with his confession and cries showing the gravity of the offense he had judged. Such conduct as taking another's spouse for pleasure is not at all excusable but sin and only sin, with greater guilt when position in close connection with God's cause and greater talents and entrusted capital of intellect and acquired ability are involved.
Playing the lover and taking liberties registers both persons in the books of heaven as adulterers, where not only covetous thoughts but words and deeds are revealed, while those on Satan's ground give him cause to exult over their defiled condition. It requires sorrow joined with action, not cloaking the thing and saying nothing, lest the offense rest upon the church and Satan keep control to cause deepest affliction and misery.