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SERIES J --- THE WARRIOR KING --- LESSON 19

DAVID REBUKED

HOW THE KING WAS PUNISHED

From 2 Samuel 12;1 Chronicles 20:1-3

Who dares to tell a king when he has sinned and how he will be punished? Adonai gave that job to the prophet Nathan. One day he went to see King David and told him this story: ‘In a certain city a rich man and a poor man lived near each other. The rich man had many flocks of sheep and herds of goats. The poor man owned nothing but one little lamb which he and his children took care of. It ate his food, drank from his cup and he held it in his arms like a daughter. When a traveller visited the rich man’s home, he did not kill an animal from his own flocks; instead, he took this poor man’s only lamb and killed it to make a meal for his guest.’ King David was very angry when he heard this. ‘That man should be put to death,’ he declared. ‘He must pay back four times what he took from the poor man and for showing such lack of pity.’ ‘You are that rich man!’ Nathan said sternly to David. ‘Adonai says, ‘I made you king over Israel and saved you from Saul’s power. I gave you his household and his wives and put the entire nation in your power. If that was not enough, I would have given you much more power and riches. So why have you turned against My Commandment by doing what you have done? Why have you murdered Uriah the Hittite and stolen his wife? Because you have gone against Me, I will cause your family to go against you. As you have taken another man’s wife in secret, I will cause another man to take yours publicly. Your sins have been in secret, but your punishment shall be open to all.’ ‘I have sinned against Adonai,’ David cried out. ‘Yes, but death will not be your punishment,’ Nathan answered. ‘However, you have given Adonai’s enemies cause to ridicule Him. For that, your baby son will die.’ Nathan returned home and Bathsheba’s child became very sick. David cried out to Adonai for Him to spare the little boy. He began a long fast and lay on the bare ground all night long. The king’s counsellors tried to encourage him to get up, but he refused. He also refused to eat any food. This went on for seven days and then the boy died. David’s attendants were afraid to tell him about the boy’s death. ‘He wouldn’t listen to a word we said while the child was alive,’ they said. ‘He may even do some drastic harm to himself if he learns that the child is dead.’ David however, saw the men whispering and he suspected what had happened, ‘is he dead?’ he asked them. ‘Yes, he is dead,’ they answered. Then David arose from the ground, washed and put on scented oil, changed his clothes and went to the tabernacle to worship. When he returned to the palace, he ordered food to be brought and he sat down and ate it. The attendants were surprised by all this. ‘We don’t understand it,’ they said. ‘While the child was alive, you fasted and wept. But when the child died, you got up and ate!’ David answered, ‘I fasted and wept while the child was alive because I was pleading for Adonai to spare him. But I cannot bring him back from the dead now, no matter how much I fast and weep. I can go to him, but he can never return to me.’ David visited Bathsheba and comforted her. Later David and Bathsheba had another son and they named him Solomon. Adonai loved this child and sent a message through Nathan to call him by another name, Jedidiah, which meant: ‘Adonai’s Beloved.’ While all this was going on, Joab and his army had almost completed the siege of Rabbah, capital city of the Ammonites. Joab sent a message to David, ‘we have almost completed the conquest of Rabbah, for we have cut off its water supply. Now you may bring more troops and capture the city yourself so that you will receive the honour, instead of me, of having it named for you.’ David brought troops to Rabbah and completed its conquest. He took the king’s crown of gold and jewels, which weighed ninety-two pounds and placed it on his own head. He also took plunder from the city in great quantities. He made the people his shaves, putting them to work with saws, picks and axes and forcing them to work in the brick kilns. This was what he did to all the cities of the Ammonites. After that, David returned to Jerusalem with his army.

COMMENTARY

PARABLES OF THE OLD TESTAMENT

Would YHVH overlook David’s sin with Bathsheba? Nathan the prophet was sent by YHVH to confront David and announce judgment. David immediately and publicly confessed his secret sin. David had done wrong, but his heart was still responsive to YHVH. A parable paints a picture in words, colouring the scene with details from daily life. It tells a story using familiar features drawn from nature, the animal world or human experience. But a parable is more than a form of entertainment. It is a time-honoured way of teaching that uses familiar things to help make unfamiliar things easier to understand. It compares what the listener already knows with the lesson he has yet to learn. A parable may be only two or three sentences long, but its very shortness adds to its effectiveness. It catches the attention of the listener and leaves a vividly colourful impression on his memory. Yeshua was the most famous teacher to use parables, but He was not the first to instruct this way. Parables were a familiar form of teaching among the ancient Israelites. The prophets frequently used them to speak to their reluctant audiences. Many of the parables they gave have been preserved for us in the writings of the Old Testament.

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