2 Samuel 12:1-23 - Powerful Confession
- Chad Werkhoven
- 2 hours ago
- 5 min read
David found freedom from guilt for two key reasons.
CONTEXT: Last week we read about the failures of Biblical saints like Abram, Moses, Peter, and also King David, whose adulterous affair ended in murder. This week, we'll be seeing how it is that the LORD remained faithful to these sinners, and so be reminded that He remains faithful to sinners like us as well.
2 Samuel 12:1–23 (NIV)
12 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. 2 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.”
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! 6 He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.”
7 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. 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. 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.’
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. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’ ”
13 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.”
15 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.
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.”
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.”
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.
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!”
22 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.”
Canons of Dordt
Point 5 - Perseverance of the Saints
Article 5: The Effects of Serious Sins
By such monstrous sins [that saints often fall into], however, they
greatly offend God,
deserve the sentence of death,
grieve the Holy Spirit,
suspend the exercise of faith,
severely wound the conscience,
and sometimes lose the awareness of grace for a time—
until,
after they have returned to the right way by genuine repentance,
God’s fatherly face again shines upon them.
Summary
Nathan's proclamation of you are the man! hit King David like a ton of bricks. That's what's so shocking about this sad story: David's cold callousness and seeming lack of guilt. Internally, we know David's bones were being crushed by his conscious (Psalm 51:8), but externally he doesn't seem to have a care in the world. Afterall, it had been almost a year since those awful events, and he seemed to have gotten away with it.
David likely thought the prophet Nathan just dropped by to say hi. Apparently Nathan needed the king's help bringing a sheep swindling noble to justice, but just like that, BAM! Everything changed in an instant as God's messenger leveled His indictment.
Yet David's demeanor at the beginning of this episode isn't the only mysterious element; his reaction becomes even stranger after his newborn son, the product of his sin, died, having taken the brunt of the punishment that should have been due to David. His servants were so terrified to tell him for fear he'd commit some sort of self harm, but after deducing the baby's death on his own, David immediately washes up and resumes life.
What's going on here?
Dig Deeper
David could break free from the guilt and move after his son's death for two key reasons:
1) His confession
After Nathan levels the boom, David immediately came clean. He didn't offer pathetic denials, or make flimsy excuses. He simply and humbly admitted he had sinned against the LORD. And as the child lay sick and David fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground, he penned the Bible's model confession of sin in Psalm 51. Total and complete confession is the key to experiencing total and complete forgiveness.
2) His theology
David understood the value of his confession because he knew so well the God he confessed his sin to. He knew exactly what it is that the Canons have reminded us of this week: that as he returned to the right way by genuine repentance, God’s fatherly face would again shines upon him.
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Our Father, who has mercy according to His unfailing love (Ps. 51:1);
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Confess your sins to your Father, knowing that in doing so He will restore to you the joy of your salvation and grant you a willing spirit to sustain you (Ps. 51:12);
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
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