2 Samuel 12 – Study

For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Passage: 2 Sam 12:1-14

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. 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 that 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 traveller 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 traveller 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 shall 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.’

A. Find Out:    

1. Who went to whom and why? v.1
2. What story did he tell? v.1b-5
3. What was David’s response to the story? v.5,6
4. How does Nathan apply it? v.7-9
5. What does he say will happen? v.10-12
6. How does David respond and what is he told? v.13,14

B. Think:

1. What was the object of Nathan telling that story?
2. How does the Lord emphasize the responsibility He had given David?
3. Note the specifics of the judgement on David.

C. Comment:

     David has sinned and the Lord will not ignore it, so He sends His prophet, Nathan, to talk to David. Nathan tells David a story which immediately stirs David’s sense of justice – and he condemns himself out of his own mouth!

     Then the Lord emphasizes how David has abused his position. The Lord had anointed him king, had saved him from Saul, had given Saul’s household over to him, had given the nation over to him and would had even gone on to give him much more, yet in one foolish act David despised all this and threw it away when he had Uriah killed.

     Sin always has consequences. God ALWAYS punishes sin. Either we take it or allow Jesus to take it. Yet there is still punishment in civil law that has to be taken. If we steal and repent, we may yet have to go to prison. There are often natural consequences we must take. If we commit adultery, there may yet be STDs to contend with. Thus, now David is going to have to bear the consequences: there will be conflict in his family, his family will rebel and the son to be born will die. You might say the family will follow his example and disregard authority.

  This sin has opened the way for more to follow, but that which follows will act as judgement on David. Unrestrained sin, is allowed by the Lord to act as discipline.

D. Application:

1. A man reaps what he sows (Gal 6:7). We often have to live with it.
2. Repentance averts God’s anger but there may still be effects.