By James M. Rochford

Unless otherwise stated, all citations are taken from the New International Version (NIV).

2 Samuel 11 (David’s Fall)

Summary: David was idle—not going out to war as he should have been (v.1). David saw Bathsheba—the wife of Uriah (vv.2-3). They slept together almost immediately (v.4), and she got pregnant (v.5). David pulled Uriah off of the battlefield, and told him to go home to be with his wife (v.8). Uriah couldn’t bring himself to go to the comfort of his house when his comrades were out in battle (v.11). David even tried to get him drunk to get him to go home, but he wouldn’t (v.13). David told Joab to put Uriah out front, so that he will be killed (v.15). David then married Bathsheba, but this displeased God (v.27). Uriah was one of David’s closest warriors (2 Sam. 23:39), and he betrayed him and stole his wife!

(11:1) In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, David sent Joab out with the king’s men and the whole Israelite army. They destroyed the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained in Jerusalem.

“Spring” was a good time for war, because the roads were in good conditions, the weather was good, and there was plenty of food for the horses and men.^[1] Specifically, wheat and barley were ripening at this time of year.^[2] This is why it is an ideal time for “kings to go off to war.”

David should’ve been keeping busy serving God as the king. Youngblood writes, “Leading his troops into battle was expected to be the major external activity of an ancient Near Eastern ruler.”^[3] But instead, he became idle. This is one of many precursors that led to his fall.

(11:2) One evening David got up from his bed and walked around on the roof of the palace. From the roof he saw a woman bathing.

David had nothing to do. Here we see him taking an afternoon siesta that lasts until “evening” (!!). Then, he strolls around the roof of his palace, which would’ve involved “going backwards and forwards, getting nowhere, a sense conveyed by the Hebrew verb form.”^[4] It’s in this state that he begins to look out over the walls at Bathsheba.

Later, David’s son Absalom would have sex with David’s concubines on this same roof (2 Sam. 16:22). David’s lack of moral integrity led to his son’s downfall as well.

Why was Bathsheba on the roof? The Israelites didn’t have running water. So, they either bathed in a private “enclosed courtyard that was a part of many Israelite houses” or “openly near the city’s public water source.”^[5] Perhaps she bathed on the roof because the water was warmer in the heat of the sun. Youngblood writes, “A pottery figurine of a woman bathing in an oval bathtub, found at Aczib in 1942 and dating from the eighth or seventh century BC, illustrates the domestic bathtub of the kind that Bathsheba might have used. Royal families and the wealthy also had luxurious bathrooms in their elaborate houses.”^[6]

Was Bathsheba trying to seduce a man by bathing publicly? We are not told this. So, we are engaging in speculation. That being said, we agree with Bergen when he writes, “There is no indication in the text that the woman deliberately positioned herself so as to entice David.”^[7] Indeed, she waited until “evening” which would mean that it would be hard for anyone to see her. Moreover, by being on the roof, no one could see her from above—except the king from his high palace roof.

(11:3) The woman was very beautiful, and David sent someone to find out about her. The man said, “She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.”

Bathsheba was the wife of Uriah—one of David’s closest friends (2 Sam. 23:39). She was the daughter of Eliam—one of David’s best fighters (2 Sam. 23:34). She was the granddaughter of Ahithophel—one of David’s most trusted counselors (2 Sam. 16:23; 23:34).

David had an opportunity to escape the temptation right here (1 Cor. 10:13). One look isn’t a sin, but two looks results in crossing the line. David lingers to the point where he takes this sin to the next level.

(11:4) Then David sent messengers to get her. She came to him, and he slept with her. (Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.) Then she went back home.

“David sent messengers to get her.” The plurality of “messengers” implies that David’s followers were obeying him more than God. They were turning a blind eye to David’s sin. No one had the moral fortitude to stand up to David.

“Now she was purifying herself from her monthly uncleanness.” This is foreshadowing: Bathsheba was not on her period, so she was able to become pregnant (v.5). This also shows that Uriah was definitely not the father.^[8]

(11:5) The woman conceived and sent word to David, saying, “I am pregnant.”

Bathsheba’s message that she is pregnant is the only time she speaks in the narrative. Moreover, she is merely called “the woman,” which is hardly a title of endearment. She is a mere fling to satisfy David’s lust.

What will David do? Turn to God? Repent? Confess? None of the above…

Cover-Up #1. Send Uriah home to sleep with Bathsheba

(11:6) So David sent this word to Joab: “Send me Uriah the Hittite.” And Joab sent him to David.

David immediately brings Uriah off the battle line.

(11:7) When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab was, how the soldiers were and how the war was going.

To avoid suspicion, David makes small talk about how the battle is going. He pretends that he’s bringing Uriah home to get military intelligence. After all, he needed to call Uriah off the battlefield for some reason. Otherwise, this would garner suspicion.

(11:8) Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and wash your feet.” So Uriah left the palace, and a gift from the king was sent after him.

“Wash your feet” was a way of telling him to relax in this culture (Gen 18:4; 19:2; 24:32; 43:24).^[9] A modern idiom might be to “put your feet up.” The real purpose, however, was to get Uriah to go home to sleep with his wife. David butters up Uriah to get him to sleep with Bathsheba—even sending a kingly gift to his house. In reality, David wasn’t a giver—but a taker—of Uriah’s wife!

(11:9-11) But Uriah slept at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants and did not go down to his house. ¹⁰ David was told, “Uriah did not go home.” So he asked Uriah, “Haven’t you just come from a military campaign? Why didn’t you go home?” ¹¹ Uriah said to David, “The ark and Israel and Judah are staying in tents, and my commander Joab and my lord’s men are camped in the open country. How could I go to my house to eat and drink and make love to my wife? As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!”

“Uriah slept…” Where? Not with Bathsheba! He slept “at the entrance to the palace with all his master’s servants.”

Why would Uriah refuse to go home to his wife? David had taught Uriah too well! (1 Sam. 21:4-5) David taught his men to put the Lord and his people first above personal comfort (2 Sam. 23). Baldwin writes, “David had expected and hoped that Uriah would prove to be like himself; instead he proved to be a man of integrity, whose first loyalty was to the king’s interests rather than to his own pleasure.”^[10]

“As surely as you live, I will not do such a thing!” Uriah swears by David’s life, but David ends up taking Uriah’s life.

Cover-Up #2. Get Uriah drunk to sleep with Bathsheba

(11:12-13) Then David said to him, “Stay here one more day, and tomorrow I will send you back.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day and the next. ¹³ At David’s invitation, he ate and drank with him, and David made him drunk. But in the evening Uriah went out to sleep on his mat among his master’s servants; he did not go home.

David hopes some alcohol will loosen Uriah’s convictions, but it doesn’t work.

Cover-Up #3. Kill Uriah!

Adultery was a capital crime (Lev. 20:10; Deut. 22:22). So, it was either kill or be killed. David chose the former rather than the latter.

(11:14-15) In the morning David wrote a letter to Joab and sent it with Uriah. ¹⁵ In it he wrote, “Put Uriah out in front where the fighting is fiercest. Then withdraw from him so he will be struck down and die.”

This scheme is truly diabolical. David writes this letter to Joab, and Uriah has to be the one to deliver it. Sometimes letters were sent on ostraca—pieces of pottery. However, letters were often written on papyrus or parchment and were “sealed with the royal signet ring so that its contents would have been unknown to anyone.”^[11] Consequently, David “made Uriah carry his own death warrant.”^[12]

(11:16-17) So while Joab had the city under siege, he put Uriah at a place where he knew the strongest defenders were. ¹⁷ When the men of the city came out and fought against Joab, some of the men in David’s army fell; moreover, Uriah the Hittite died.

Joab cooperates with the scheme, and Uriah is shot to death with arrows (v.20) or perhaps a sword (2 Sam. 12:9).

“Some of the men in David’s army fell.” Others needed to die in order for David to carry out this scheme.

Joab sends his report

(11:18-21) Joab sent David a full account of the battle. ¹⁹ He instructed the messenger: “When you have finished giving the king this account of the battle, ²⁰ the king’s anger may flare up, and he may ask you, ‘Why did you get so close to the city to fight? Didn’t you know they would shoot arrows from the wall? ²¹ Who killed Abimelek son of Jerub-Besheth? Didn’t a woman drop an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?’ If he asks you this, then say to him, ‘Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.’”

Joab anticipates that David would be angry at the other Israelite losses (v.17). But Joab includes in his military report that, “Uriah is dead.” This would please the king.

The event of Abimelech’s death occurred in Judges 9:50-54. Joab knows that David is a military history buff, and he would remember this account of Abimelech. Subtly, Joab is showing that David was the one to kill Uriah (“Who struck down Abimelech…” and thus “Uriah,” v.21).

(11:22-24) The messenger set out, and when he arrived he told David everything Joab had sent him to say. ²³ The messenger said to David, “The men overpowered us and came out against us in the open, but we drove them back to the entrance of the city gate. ²⁴ Then the archers shot arrows at your servants from the wall, and some of the king’s men died. Moreover, your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead.”

The messengers bring the report to David. They keep repeating, “Uriah your servant is dead” (v.21, 24, 26).

(11:25) David told the messenger, “Say this to Joab: ‘Don’t let this upset you; the sword devours one as well as another. Press the attack against the city and destroy it.’ Say this to encourage Joab.”

David continues to fake appearances with the messengers. A literal translation is, “May this thing/matter not be evil in your eyes.”^[13] In reality, this event was heinously evil.

David offers a platitude: “The sword devours one as well as another.” This makes it sound like this death in war was accidental, rather than intentional. In the wake of his friend’s death, he might just as well have said, “That’s the way the cookie crumbles.” This shows the seared conscience and spiritual insensitivity of David.

(11:26) When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband was dead, she mourned for him.

“She mourned for him.” Where are David’s tears for Uriah? He has grown cold to the death of his close and loyal friend. Youngblood comments, “Although David had ‘mourned and wept and fasted’ for the fallen Saul and Jonathan and their troops, as well as for Israel as a whole (see 1:12 and comment), unlike Bathsheba he apparently sheds no tears for Uriah (not to mention the other mercenaries).”^[14]

(11:27a) After the time of mourning was over, David had her brought to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son.

David quickly marries Bathsheba so that it appears that he legally impregnated her as his wife, rather than committing adultery.

We are speculating, but David may have told people that he was fulfilling the “kinsman-redeemer” role for Bathsheba (Gen. 38:8; Deut. 25:5-6; Ruth 4:5). Uriah was a foreigner, so he didn’t have a brother to marry his widowed wife. David may have told people that he was going to play this role. Bergen writes, “Such a pretext would have made David’s actions toward Bathsheba following Uriah’s death seem truly noble and would have accounted nicely for the birth of the son.”^[15]

All of the servants in the household must’ve been involved in a conspiracy of silence. David must’ve created a corrupt environment where everyone was keeping quiet.

But there was just ONE BIG PROBLEM with David’s scheming…

(11:27b) But the thing David had done displeased the Lord.

David had everyone fooled. With all the cunning of a mafia boss, David ties up all of the loose ends. But he forgot about the One who can see everything: God! When God chose David, he said, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (1 Sam. 16:7). God knew everything that David was thinking, feeling, and doing. Nothing was hidden from his sight.

Later, David would realize this: “Against You, You only, I have sinned and done what is evil in Your sight” (Ps. 51:4). Baldwin writes, “The Lord in his infinite grace had allowed David’s attempt at cover-up to fail, and was about to confront him.”^[16]

God wasn’t fooled by David’s cunning, and God comes after him in the next chapter. This is the only mention of God in this entire chapter.

2 Samuel 12 (Nathan Busts David)

Summary: God uses Nathan—the prophet—bust David. He gives David the illustration of a rich man and poor man. The poor man only had one little ewe lamb, but the rich man stole this from him (v.3). David said that the rich man should get capital punishment for the crime, or he should pay for it four times over (v.5). Nathan turns the table on David, and he tells him that he knows what he did. God opens up by telling him all that he had done for him, and he says, “If that had been too little, I would have added to you many more things like these!” (v.8) As judgment, God promises David warfare and his wives being taken from him (v.11). While David deserved death, Nathan told him, “The Lord also has taken away your sin; you shall not die” (v.13). He also told David that the child would die (v.14). The child dies and goes to heaven (v.23). The next son that they have is Solomon (v.24). David continued to conquer the neighboring nations, and he put the people to work (v.31).

Nathan’s prophetic rebuke

(12:1) The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor.”

Nathan wasn’t just a savvy or courageous man. It was “the Lord [who] sent Nathan to David.”

(12:2-4) The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, ³ but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him. ⁴ “Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”

Nathan gives the parable (or story) of a man who took a poor man’s precious ewe lamb to slaughter, rather than many of his own. The purpose of the story is to arouse David’s moral indignation by making it a separate, hypothetical situation. David might have remembered what it was like to be poor himself (1 Sam. 18:23).

In verse 3, all three verbs were used regarding Uriah’s refusal to “eat… drink… lie…” with his wife (2 Sam. 11:11).

Why did Nathan pick a villain who was a shepherd? This would take David back to his younger days when he was a good shepherd in the hills of Israel (1 Sam. 16:11).

Nathan doesn’t even reach the point where he asks David’s opinion on the matter. Rather, David interrupts the story and pronounces judgment.

David’s reaction

(12:5) David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die!”

David’s conscience seems to be working well for others. In fact, he is even harsh in judgment toward this hypothetical man. When people are living for sin, it’s amazing how self-righteous they can be.

When David declares that the man “deserves to die,” this is literally that the man “is a son of death.”^[17] This could be a play on words with what will happen to David’s own son.

(12:6) “He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”

This “fourfold” punishment later comes back to haunt David. This concept of a fourfold punishment for civil crimes comes from Exodus 22:1.

Nathan turns the tables on David

Imagine how scary it would be to make this rebuke to the king. After all, David had just gone through an intricate plot to kill Uriah. Nathan might’ve wondered if David would kill him as well.

(12:7-8) 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.”

“I gave… your master’s wives into your arms.” When a new king was coronated, he inherited everything that belonged to the old king. Therefore, this is not teaching that God approves of adultery. Rather, it is a general statement that God gave the kingship to David, and all that it included. God “gave” (nātan) these wives to David, but later we read that God will “give” (nātan) these same wives to Absalom (v.11; cf. 2 Sam. 16:21-22). Copan writes, “Surely this kind of ‘giving’ has the broad sense of permission—not divine blessing and approval… All that belonged to Saul was automatically transferred to David’s household… In the language of the prophet Nathan’s lamb parable (2 Sam. 12:1-5), David had everything—including a ‘flock’ of women—but he nevertheless forcibly took another’s ‘lamb’ (Bathsheba).”[18]

Nathan’s setup works on David. He turns the tables and reveals that David is guilty of far worse.

God had rescued David from Saul. But now, David was turning into Saul.

God reminds David of all of the ways that he had blessed him, and God would’ve kept on blessing him. Yet, when we are in the flesh, no amount of blessing is enough!

(12:9) “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.”

Nathan specifically calls out the sin. He doesn’t allow it to be vague; he names the specific sins.

Saul had been rejected by God for rejecting God’s word as well (1 Sam. 15:23).

Consequences for David

(12:10) “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.”

This is a reference to constant warfare. David’s casual and insensitive words at the death of Uriah (“the sword devours one as well as another”) now come back to haunt him (2 Sam. 11:25). God is going to lift his protection off of David’s life and kingdom.

(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.’”

This is later fulfilled in his son Absalom (2 Sam. 16:20-22). All three of David’s sons learn their sexual sin from their father: Amnon raping Tamar (2 Sam. 13:8-14), Absalom having an orgy with the women in the harem (2 Sam. 16:20-22), and Adonijah trying to take David’s concubine after David’s death (1 Kings 2:13-17).

Just as David “took” Bathsheba, God will “take” David’s wives.

(12:12) “You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”

This is reminiscent of Moses’ words: “Cursed is he who strikes his neighbor in secret” (Deut. 27:24). Nathan is saying that God’s blessing will be replaced by a divine curse.

David’s response

In other nations, the king would’ve simply killed this measly prophet. For example, when Thomas More confronted Henry VIII for his illicit sexual activity and immoral divorce, the king had him beheaded! While most kings throughout history practiced rex lex (“the king is law”), David practiced lex rex (“the law is king”). That is, the king submitted to God (Deut. 17:15, 20). King Saul never received the rebukes of the prophet Samuel very well (1 Sam. 13:12; 15:13, 20). It would’ve been easy for David to merely say, “Off with his head!” He could’ve kept resisting God’s conviction by hiding his sin further or by making a display of power. How will David react?

(12:13-14) 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.”

David responds with repentance (Ps. 51:4), and God forgives him for the sin (v.13). Yet, the consequences still remain (v.14). Youngblood comments, “The fact that God does not hesitate to strike people down for what might be considered lesser infractions makes his forbearance in David’s case all the more noteworthy.”^[19]

Why does David make the focus of his sin against God—not people? Bergen writes, “Had David not rebelled against the Lord’s Word, these persons would not have been murdered or abused.”^[20] Furthermore, God is the ultimate good, and he loves all people. So, if we sin against people, we have sinned against God far, far more. If someone hurts my son, this enrages me far more than if they hurt me personally. Indeed, I would take it far more personal if someone tried to harm my son! And I am merely a sinner like the other 8 billion people on the planet. God, however, has never sinned, and he sees everything. David knew that his sin was ultimately against God, and only derivatively against people.

David’s son dies

(2 Sam. 12:15) Why did God kill David’s boy for David’s sin?

(12:15-17) 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.

David prayed for the consequences to be revoked. While David was forgiven (v.13), the consequences remained.

David sleeps exactly where Uriah had slept in faithfulness to David and the Lord (2 Sam. 11:9).

The people urging David to eat are similar to the people urging Saul to eat after his judgment from Samuel (1 Sam. 31).

(12:18) 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.”

There could be some significance to the fact that the child dies on the “seventh day.” Hebrew boys were circumcised on the eighth day. Bergen writes, “David’s son was conceived as a result of David’s contempt for the Lord’s covenant (cf. v. 9), so it was painfully fitting that the child should be permanently excluded from Israel’s covenant community (cf. Gen 17:14). This seventh-day death may also explain why the child is never referred to by name; perhaps the child never received a name, since under normal circumstances naming might not occur until after the child received the covenant sign (cf. Luke 1:59-62).”^[21]

(12:19) 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.”

David discerned that his child had died. He must’ve been picking up on their hushed tones and avoiding eye contact with him.

(12:20) 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.

This judgment from God didn’t cause David to become bitter. Instead, it caused him to turn to God in worship and prayer.

Confusion from the servants

(12:21) 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!”

The servants have a good question: “Why would you stop mourning and fasting now that the child has died?”

(12:22-23) 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.”

David must have believed in an afterlife—even for newborn babies. He wasn’t simply comforted by death (after all, why would this be comforting?). David was comforted by the thought that he would one day be reunited with his son.^[22]

(2 Sam. 12:23) If infants go to heaven, does this justify infanticide?

The birth of Solomon

(12:24-25) 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.

Even though God wouldn’t revoke the consequences for David’s sin, God continued to bless David’s life. In fact, Solomon would become David’s most godly son.

David didn’t seek his own comfort, but rather, he comforted Bathsheba.

The fact that God “loved” Solomon seems to harken back to the Davidic Covenant articulated earlier (2 Sam. 7:11-16). God promised to discipline David’s line, but never forsake them. Jedidiah means, “Loved by the Lord.”^[23]

This is the first time that God calls this David’s wife—even though they’d been married for a year.

Joab continues to fight on the frontier for Israel

(12:26-27) 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.

This whole narrative began with David staying home, while his men fought against the Ammonites (2 Sam. 11:1). Even though David was suffering at home, the battle still continued.

(12:28) “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.”

Joab wants reinforcements. Otherwise, he is going to take full credit for this battle by naming the city after himself. After all, Joab did all of the fighting.

(12:29-30) 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 learns his lesson that a king should be going out to war (contra 2 Sam. 11:1). David wins the battle with the Ammonites and takes the gold from the Ammonite king. This battle could have been avoided if the Ammonites hadn’t rejected David’s initial kindness (2 Sam. 10:2).

(2 Sam. 12:31) Why did David torture his enemies like this?

(12:31) David took a great quantity of plunder from the city 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.

What led to David’s moral fall?

David lacked control in this area for years. Earlier, we read, “David took more concubines and wives in Jerusalem, and more sons and daughters were born to him” (2 Sam. 5:12-13). David had six wives at this point (e.g. Michal, Ahinoam, Abigail, Haggith, Abital, Eglah). Yet, the Law stated, “[The king] must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray” (Deut. 17:17). He had been losing this battle for years.

David was living a lazy lifestyle. One of the reasons for losing it spiritually is that we are not keeping busy with the ministry God has given us (v.1). Paul writes, “Walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh” (Gal. 5:16). This isn’t the trial of failure, but the trial of success.

David missed his way of escape. First, he caught a glance of Bathsheba naked. He could’ve walked away, but he gazed at her.

Next, he began asking about her. What was the purpose of this? Maybe he thought, “If she’s single, I’ll just take a seventh wife. No big deal… I already have five more than I should… What’s the harm with six more?” Yet, he found out that she was married to his close friend, and she was the daughter and granddaughter of loyal friends. This would’ve been the time to walk away. But once the lust started going, even these answers didn’t dissuade him.

Finally, he had her over for dinner. “After all,” he must’ve thought, “what’s wrong with two people getting dinner? I don’t want to be legalistic or anything.”

David had many opportunities to escape having a fall. But he refused to exercise his free will and choose the “way out.” As Paul writes, “The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure” (1 Cor. 10:13 NLT).

David trusted his past victories too much. He might’ve thought that he was too godly to have a fall like this. After all, who here is more spiritually minded than David? He felt guilty for just cutting off Saul’s robe (1 Sam. 24:5), and he wrote 73 of the psalms. God even called him a man after his own heart. But look at him now! What does all of this mean? If David could fall, then so could you and me.

How did sin affect David’s mind?

Sin always leaves us wanting more. How many wives do you need before your sexual lust will be fulfilled? David had six wives at this point (e.g. Michal, Ahinoam, Abigail, Haggith, Abital, Eglah), and he had many concubines (2 Samuel 5:12-13). But that still wasn’t enough. When we sin, we become enslaved to it (John 8:34).

Sin distorts the future. He couldn’t see the consequences accurately. One night of sex ruined his leadership, family, etc.

Sin took David to lengths that he could’ve never imagined. Adultery, murder, lying, conspiracy, etc.

Sin made David extremely self-righteous. Theft wasn’t a capital crime (2 Samuel 12:5).

How was David restored?

He didn’t blame-shift, minimize, etc. He simply admitted fault (2 Samuel 12:13).

He focused on God—not people. He said he sinned “against the LORD” (2 Samuel 12:13).

He stopped the image management. Think of how much effort, energy, and tragedy went into covering up his sin?

He had a good friend who spoke the truth. David’s accountability really changed when he lost Jonathan from his life. How could no one see David falling in sin with Bathsheba? He must’ve been neglecting his wife and family. He must’ve surrounded himself with “yes” men. He must’ve created a “culture of compromise.” Where were David’s peers? Joab—his general—participated in the cover up. Only Nathan had the courage to step up. Do you have friends who do this? This doesn’t happen on Snapchat.

Concluding insights

There’s no sin so small that it doesn’t warrant damnation, but no sin so big that it cannot be forgiven.

It’s interesting how God fixes a bad situation. He doesn’t call on David and Bathsheba to divorce. He does take the kid from them, but he ushers him into heaven.

This passage shows the bold courage of Nathan to call out David—even though Nathan could’ve died in the process. We often have to speak the truth in love in a form of confrontation—yet we never worry that the person would kill us!

Nathan doesn’t just bring prophetic words of judgment, but also prophetic words of grace (vv.13-14) and comfort (v.25). Nathan returns in 1 Kings to make sure Solomon will secure the throne (1 Kings 1).

This passage also shows David’s humility. He could’ve doubled down on his schemes and his cover-up with Uriah. But instead, he humbled repents before God and Nathan.

Pastor Chuck Smith notes that David develops a moral passivity from this point forward. He is never the same after this event. Pastor Joe Focht frequently notes that David was a worse king after this fall into sin, but he was a better psalmist.

David names one of his sons after Nathan (1 Chron. 3:5).

^[1] Ronald F. Youngblood, “1, 2 Samuel,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992), 928.

^[2] Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel, vol. 7, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 363.

^[3] Ronald F. Youngblood, “1, 2 Samuel,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992), 928.

^[4] Joyce G. Baldwin, 1 and 2 Samuel: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 8, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 248.

^[5] Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel, vol. 7, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 364.

^[6] Ronald F. Youngblood, “1, 2 Samuel,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992), 931.

^[7] Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel, vol. 7, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 364.

^[8] Ronald F. Youngblood, “1, 2 Samuel,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992), 930.

^[9] Ronald F. Youngblood, “1, 2 Samuel,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992), 933.

^[10] Joyce G. Baldwin, 1 and 2 Samuel: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 8, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 249.

^[11] Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel, vol. 7, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 367.

^[12] Joyce G. Baldwin, 1 and 2 Samuel: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 8, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 249.

^[13] Ronald F. Youngblood, “1, 2 Samuel,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992), 937.

^[14] Ronald F. Youngblood, “1, 2 Samuel,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992), 937-938.

^[15] Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel, vol. 7, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 368.

^[16] Joyce G. Baldwin, 1 and 2 Samuel: An Introduction and Commentary, vol. 8, Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1988), 251.

^[17] Ronald F. Youngblood, “1, 2 Samuel,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992), 943.

[18] Paul Copan, Is God a Vindictive Bully? (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2022), 159, 160.

^[19] Ronald F. Youngblood, “1, 2 Samuel,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992), 946.

^[20] Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel, vol. 7, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 373.

^[21] Robert D. Bergen, 1, 2 Samuel, vol. 7, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1996), 375.

^[22] Ronald F. Youngblood, “1, 2 Samuel,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992), 949.

^[23] Ronald F. Youngblood, “1, 2 Samuel,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, ed. Frank E. Gaebelein, vol. 3 (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1992), 949.