Judging Sin by Killing a Child (2 Samuel 12)

2 Samuel 12 contains the story of Nathan the prophet confronting David the King. The confrontation pertained to David's sin of sending one of his most trusted soldiers, Uriah, to a certain death for the purpose of making Uriah's wife Bathsheba his wife. Starting in verse 9, the Bible states:

9 'Why have you despised the word of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon.

10 'Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.'

11 "Thus says the LORD, 'Behold, I will raise up evil against you from your own household; I will even take your wives before your eyes and give them to your companion, and he will lie with your wives in broad daylight.

12 'Indeed you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and under the sun.'"

13 Then David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." And Nathan said to David, "The LORD also has taken away your sin; you shall not die.

14 "However, because by this deed you have given occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born to you shall surely die."

15 So Nathan went to his house. Then the LORD struck the child that Uriah's widow bore to David, so that he was very sick.

What David did was wrong on many levels. The Lord has designed the world so that our choices have consequences. People are not stupid, especially those who knew David best. I believe it was fairly obvious that David had a thing for Bathsheba. When David sent Uriah into an impossible situation, it would not have taken a large leap of logic to figure out what David did, especially, when he subsequently married Bathsheba. David set a bad example for his peers and his family. He set the example of: If you want something or someone it is OK to do what you got to do to get it or them. As a result, the choices of the people around David reflected his example.

Nathan's statement in verses 9-15 reflect the attitude of Israel of how God designed the world. If you sin, God forces bad things to judge your sin. Verses 11&12 state that God would send evil into David's household, He would force David's wives and his companions into sin in order to judge David's sin. Israel and Nathan's attitude goes against the importance of free will in God's economy. Nathan was a prophet, but, he was still a man. A man subject to the misconceptions of his time.

Another misconception, in verses 13-15, David repents, so God spared his life. According to Nathan, the Lord further judged David by killing David and Bathsheba's first child. Killing someone for another's mistake is injustice. We are all precious in his site. God does not kill to judge. His ways are much higher because of the way God designed the system in which we live. You reap what you sow. I believe God may have shown Nathan that the child was going to die. I also believe that Nathan, the man, made the connection between the child's death and judgment on David.

We must be careful how we approach what the Bible contains. I am also a man subject to the misconceptions of his time. Don't just take my word for it. Ask the source of Truth. Ask Jesus.

Do you have a relationship with Him? If not, just ask and begin a relationship today.