2 Samuel 12.
The governmental dealings of God with His children is a very real thing; Jacob found it out as the result of his deceit toward his father (Genesis 27); Moses learned it through his disobedience at the rock of Merihah (Numbers 20:1212And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. (Numbers 20:12); Deuteronomy 4:2121Furthermore the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, and sware that I should not go over Jordan, and that I should not go in unto that good land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance: (Deuteronomy 4:21)). Eli proved it in the sad end of his children foretold in 1 Samuel 2:27-3627And there came a man of God unto Eli, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Did I plainly appear unto the house of thy father, when they were in Egypt in Pharaoh's house? 28And did I choose him out of all the tribes of Israel to be my priest, to offer upon mine altar, to burn incense, to wear an ephod before me? and did I give unto the house of thy father all the offerings made by fire of the children of Israel? 29Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice and at mine offering, which I have commanded in my habitation; and honorest thy sons above me, to make yourselves fat with the chiefest of all the offerings of Israel my people? 30Wherefore the Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the Lord saith, Be it far from me; for them that honor me I will honor, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. 31Behold, the days come, that I will cut off thine arm, and the arm of thy father's house, that there shall not be an old man in thine house. 32And thou shalt see an enemy in my habitation, in all the wealth which God shall give Israel: and there shall not be an old man in thine house for ever. 33And the man of thine, whom I shall not cut off from mine altar, shall be to consume thine eyes, and to grieve thine heart: and all the increase of thine house shall die in the flower of their age. 34And this shall be a sign unto thee, that shall come upon thy two sons, on Hophni and Phinehas; in one day they shall die both of them. 35And I will raise me up a faithful priest, that shall do according to that which is in mine heart and in my mind: and I will build him a sure house; and he shall walk before mine anointed for ever. 36And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left in thine house shall come and crouch to him for a piece of silver and a morsel of bread, and shall say, Put me, I pray thee, into one of the priests' offices, that I may eat a piece of bread. (1 Samuel 2:27‑36); and now David was to have it impressed on himself in many painful circumstances almost to the end of his life.
David confessed his sin (verse 13), and was forgiven (see 1 John 1:99If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)), but the little baby must die, and the sword should never depart from his house because he had despised God (verse 10). We learn how he felt at this time in the fifty first Psalm, not a word is there of excuse for himself, but the deepest contrition, and David prayed to be washed thoroughly from his iniquity, and cleansed from his sin.
“My sin,” said he, “is ever before me. Against Thee, Thee only, have I sinned and done this evil in Thy sight .... Wash me and I shall be whiter than snow.”
David besought God for the life of the baby, but when it died, he knew that his prayer could not be answered, and with deepened faith, and chastened spirit, he said to his servants who did not understand what was in his mind, “I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.”
Out of the sad marriage with Bathsheba, however there was to be blessing, for Solomon, David’s glorious son, was hers, and he called his name Jedidiah “the beloved of the Lord.” David went to the war with the Ammonites wherein he had failed before (verse 1 of chapter 11). He dealt with them with uncommon ferocity; was it of God? That judgment should have fallen on them is certain, and as a foreshadowing of the day of Gods unsparing judgment of the wicked, it may well stand.
He had received the gift of God, eternal life, and was no more in the position of a sinner, but a sinning child of God.
ML 01/16/1927