2 SAMUEL 12


6 And he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.

Fourfold Reparation


Strict justice was to regulate the dealings of man with man, even over the behaviour of their animals (Ex 21 verses 28-36). The property of others was to be treated with absolute respect. Theft was condemned as a hateful thing. Any stolen article if found in the thief's possession had, as a minimum, to be restored double (22 : 7): if the thief had cynically proceeded further in crime and had disposed of the stolen article, punishment was again to be adjusted to the crime - if relatively slight, then it was to be four sheep for one

Law and Grace Ch 6



7 Thou art the man. Thus saith Yahweh Elohim of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;

Why cannot we understand how human beings can grievously stumble? Are we so perfect?

We should have no difficulty in understanding how any sin or weakness could occur, except for constant vigilance and prayer. Our difficulty-our marvel-should be to understand the greatness of God's mercy and patience and love toward constantly erring man.

The more we understand why the mighty Elijah should flee for his life; why the great John the Baptist should question and doubt: why James and John should seek pre-eminence: why Peter should curse, and swear and deny?

We must look upon David's great sin-as upon the trials of Job and indeed as upon all the sufferings of Christ-as the necessary fire of affliction to develop them to the highest beauty and desirability in God's sight.

We cannot begin to compare ourselves with Job and David-these men were rare giants in the eternal purpose of God-but in our small way we can learn from their experiences the basic lessons of godliness. Job, when his trial was over, said:

"I abhor myself in dust and ashes."

So did David.

Sin permeates the constitution of all mankind. It must be burnt out by suffering, and the greater the man, the greater the necessary suffering-and the greater the resultant beauty of the vessel prepared for God.

David's great sin, and also his lesser ones, were necessary to his development. He had weaknesses to overcome by bitter experience. He had to be tried to the utmost to learn his own weaknesses, and sin's mighty power and terrible evil.

He had to be taught, by the bitterest experiences, that man-however noble, however capable, however devoted to God, however blessed and used in the purpose of God-is still a very weak, flimsy, erring, precarious creature of flesh, laden with the latent leprosy of sin.

Bro Growcott - BYT 1.18/ 4.7.



9 Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment [Davar ] of Yahweh, to do evil [the rah] in His sight [eyes]? thou hast killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword [Uriyah the Chitti with the cherev], and hast taken his wife [isha] to be thy wife [isha], and hast slain him with the sword of the children of Ammon [cherev of the Bnei Ammon].

David was not a deliberate hypocrite. This is the least possible thing we could believe. Somehow he was able to square his conscience. He had to have some way of living with himself for that long, dark year before he was exposed. Here is the deceitfulness of sin.

It may have been a combination of self deception on his part with judicial blinding on God's part. And the more time passed without anything terrible happening, or any condemnation from God, the more his conscience would be lulled, and his self-justification confirmed.

But the day of account, though long delayed, came inexorably at last, just as it always does, and always will.

Bro Growcott - BYT 1.18/ 4.7.



10 Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife.


"Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. Make me to hear joy and gladness, that the bones which Thou hast broken may rejoice" (Psa. 51:8).

The usual, natural reaction to David's great sin with Bathsheba is that we "just cannot understand how David could do such a thing." Whenever there is anything in Scripture we "cannot understand," it should flash a warning: why cannot we understand? Wherein have we failed in preparing ourselves to understand? Let us in humility examine ourselves and confess our fleshly inadequacies, and not unconsciously assume that our natural capacity to understand is the ultimate standard of judgment.

Paul bluntly told the Hebrew and Corinthian brethren and sisters that there were marvels and glories and beauties and mysteries of God and the Scriptures that he longed to impart to them for their joy and upbuilding, and their deeper and richer communion together -- but that they were utterly incapable of comprehending them. Because of lazy spiritual slothfulness, they were dull of understanding; they were mentally retarded in spiritual things (1 Cor. 3:1-3; Heb. 7:11-14).

When they, through ample opportunity, should have been teaching these deep things to others, they were -- because of sloth and negligence -- needing to be retaught the first principles themselves. Instead of giving their whole life and energy to divine things as commanded, they gave them to present things; saying of the wonders of God's Word: "It is too deep for us" (meaning, rather, "We are too shallow for it").

Our natural shallow reaction that we "just cannot understand how David could do such a thing" should open our eyes to many things. It should show us that we have much to learn, and perhaps vital to our salvation. If we understood sin and human nature as God understands it, we could clearly understand all instances of sin, and we would be wiser and sadder men.

"We just cannot understand how David could do that!"

This is usually a moral judgment, also. Translated into what we really mean, we are saying: "I could never do such a thing! It is unthinkable!" This is what Peter said: "I could NEVER deny thee!" We loudly proclaim our pious shock, which is just a backhanded way of giving ourselves a lift in self-esteem. It's unconscious self-glorification.

Perhaps it would be more profitable to turn the light inward on ourselves: why cannot we "understand" how poor weak human beings can grievously stumble? Are we so perfect? Our difficulty -- our marvel -- should be to understand the greatness of God's mercy and patience and love toward constantly erring man.

But our unconsciously self-satisfied inability to understand the great sin of David -- while partly due doubtless to the physical limits of our basic understanding capacity -- is principally due to our need for learning and instruction from the Word of God. The more we understand the Word, its message of sin and righteousness, of death and life, then the more our shallow "cannot understand" will change from self-congratulation to a humble, sympathetic fellowship with David in his weakness.

Can we understand why the mighty, fearless Elijah should suddenly flee for his life? Why the great John the Baptist should question and doubt? Why James and John should seek the pre-eminence? And why Peter should curse and swear and deny?

We must look upon David's great sin -- as upon the trials of Job, and indeed as upon all the sufferings of Christ -- as the necessary fire of affliction to develop them to the highest beauty in God's sight.

We cannot begin to compare ourselves with Job and David -- rare giants in the eternal purpose of God -- but in our small way we can learn from their experiences the basic lessons of godliness. Job, when his trial was over said "I abhor myself in dust and ashes." So did David.

Sin permeates the constitution of all mankind. It must be burnt out by suffering. And the greater the man, the greater the required suffering -- and the greater the resultant beauty of the vessel for God.

Bro Growcott - BYT 1.18/ 4.7.



David's great sin, and also his lesser ones, were necessary to his development. He had weaknesses to overcome by bitter experience. He had to be tried to the utmost, to learn his own weaknesses, and the mighty power and terrible evil of sin. He had to be taught, by the bitterest experiences, that man -- however noble, however capable, however devoted to God, however blessed and used in the purpose of God -- is still a very weak, flimsy, erring, precarious creature of flesh, laden with the latent leprosy of sin.

Bro Growcott - BYT 1.18/ 4.7.



To him was the great promise that the Saviour of mankind should come from his loins, and be known for eternity as his Son. And looking back at his incredible record of faith and courage and suffering, and patience and kindness to his enemies, and his tremendous accomplishments for God in war and government and music and praise, he could almost be entitled to feel that he had earned this high distinction in the purpose of God.

And in a limited sense -- in a relative, comparative sense -- he had. He alone, a boy, had stood in perfect faith when all Israel's mighty men had cowered and trembled before the huge man of the flesh. And from that point on he had served God with unswerving devotion and pre-eminent distinction; and had been made the medium of the Spirit's deepest and most beautiful songs of praise and holiness.

But he must learn to the fullest and bitterest depths and natural depravity and deceptiveness of the human heart, the great need for that Saviour who, by the grace of God, was to come through him -- not only to eternally establish his (David's) kingdom, but to conquer and destroy his sin, and the sin that lies at the root of all mankind's sorrow and suffering and evil.

David was not caused to sin -- either in the numbering or in the case of Bathsheba. But he was permitted to sin. He was put in a position where his weakness would be exposed and tested. God could again have sent an Abigail to stop him, if He had so chosen, but this time he was allowed to fall.

Comparing himself with all around him -- his faith, his accomplishments, his sufferings, his fortitude and obedience under the extremities of totally unjust persecution by the king and people he had selflessly served; and then his great public honour and recognition by God -- he could well feel natural confidence, even complacency, as he settled into his later years; could easily be tempted to relax his guard against the untiring assaults and subtle deceptiveness of sin.

A balance was needed; a thorn in the flesh; something to ever remind him of the pitiful weakness and insecurity of the best and strongest of human nature. This sin changed the whole course and pattern of David's subsequent life, both internally within himself, and externally in his experiences and circumstances--

Bro Growcott - BYT 1.18/ 4.7.




"The sword shall never depart": Tamar, Amnon, Absalom, Adonyah: on and on and on.

David's sins tied his hands in dealing with the sins of others, as he had responsibility to do. This is one of sin's worst aspects: it is self-breeding. It hurts others in a continuing chain. He could not deal properly with Amnon, or Absalom, or Shimei, or Joab. How could he punish his sons for what he knew were judgments on his own sin?

David's secret sin is recorded in full sordid detail for all future generations of sinners to leer and mock at. It was necessary in God's purpose and wisdom that it be so. The great men of God in Scripture lived out for us the realities of life, in both strengths and weaknesses. And all is recorded without concealment or modification, that we may be inspired by the strengths and warned by the weaknesses.

The point is not: How could such a man do such a thing? The point is: If such a man could do such a thing, how vigilant must we be to constantly strengthen our defenses against the deceptiveness of sin. Jesus said to Peter:


"Watch and pray, lest ye enter into temptation"


--and Jesus himself, strong as he was, constantly followed this course. 

...Contemplation of David's sin should carry us deeper and deeper into a comprehension of the hopeless sinfulness of all mankind, and the wonderful wisdom and love of God in the plan of redemption whereby man is -- all at the same time -- purified, humbled, glorified, and filled with the effulgence of thanksgiving and reciprocal love. That love is in proportion to our recognition of forgiveness--


"To whom much is forgiven, the same loveth much" (Lk. 7:47).


Then we shall more and more understand how it could happen to such a man, and we shall feel a deep fellow feeling with him in it all, and we shall be increasingly kind and compassionate and understanding to the sins and failures and weaknesses of all.

We shall not increase our tolerance toward sin. Much the reverse. We shall more and more realize its terrible, destructive evil power; we shall recognize it more and more as the great, common, implacable enemy of us all. And we shall perceive that if a man is sincerely struggling against it, only God can judge the seriousness of his failures, and the victory of his successes. And the more concerned and anxious we shall be, by prayer and study, to fortify ourselves--


"Watch and pray, lest YE enter into temptation."


Bro Growcott - BYT 1.18/4.7


David had no thoughts of despising God when he sinned the sin which God condemned.‭ ‬He merely yielded to pleasant desire in the first instance,‭ ‬and then sought to screen himself from shame in the second.‭ ‬David feared God exceedingly and had not changed his mind towards God at all.‭ ‬Yet this was God's construction of his act:‭ ‬that in going contrary to the commandment God had given for the guidance of human action,‭ ‬David had‭ "‬despised God.‭"

Men do not think of this when every day in their lives they do the things God has forbidden to be done,‭ ‬and leave undone the things He has commanded to be done.‭ ‬What a fearful accumulation of guilt lies upon the children of disobedience‭! ‬What a fearful crime for men to despise God.‭ ‬Those despise God who despise His word:‭ ‬and those practically depise His word‭ (‬in God's estimation‭) ‬who neglect it or disobey it.‭ ‬They do so with impunity now.‭ ‬No harm seems to come to their negligence.‭

It would be foolish to be misled by appearances.‭ ‬It was so with Israel for a long time.‭ ‬It did not seem to matter whether they observed the law of Moses or not.‭ ‬The sun rose,‭ ‬the rain came,‭ ‬the harvest matured,‭ ‬prosperity reigned as much as when the first generation of their fathers feared the commandments.‭ ‬Yes,‭ ‬for a while‭; ‬but mark the expression

‭ "‬He will now‭ ‬remember their sin.‭"

Look out upon their calamitous history and see what this means.‭

Sunday Morning‭ ‬182, Seasons 2: 52



12 For thou didst it secretly [baseter]: but I will do this thing before all Israel [kol Yisroel], and before the sun [shemesh.

13 And [Dovid] said unto Nathan [Natan], I have sinned against Yahweh. And [Natan] said unto [Dovid], Yahweh also hath put away thy sin [chattat]; thou shalt not die.

We say this was a terrible sin -- a major sin. When is a sin large or small? Who is to say? Any sin is sin. Any conscious, deliberate sin, even the most trivial, is a complete break in our life line of love that unites us to God, and upon which everything depends.

The magnitude of a sin is no direct measure of the heart, or of a man's relative wickedness. A small, mean sin, done consciously and deliberately, and brushed off with a belittling of its seriousness, and with excuses and self-justification when pointed out -- can reveal a far more sordid and poverty stricken state of heart than a great failure that is sincerely and bitterly and openly repented of.

We cannot judge degrees of guilt, or magnitudes of sin. We do not know how severely God is testing a man, or what great work God is preparing him for. We can, and must, determine between factual right and wrong. And we must follow the scripturally-required course in relation to it. But we cannot judge or condemn, we cannot discern motives, or relative degrees of guilt. That is God's prerogative.

It is quite likely, and far more in keeping with his character, that David had no intention of going as far as adultery when he first sent for Bathsheba to visit him. The deadly, downward course had begun, and God was watching and controlling. But David, presuming on his own strength and goodness, may have intended to go only so far.

There is much greater pertinence and significance in the lesson for us if it were a matter of presumption on his strength, and of foolish playing with fire, rather than the cold, deliberate, premeditated commission of a vile and despicable sin. Surely few, if any, claiming to be Christ's brethren would deliberately set out to commit a deadly sin. But any could very easily be trapped in a self-made net that began with a very small act of folly.

David doubtless repented, or thought he repented, of the adultery into which he had stumbled. But it is clear that he must have had a completely perverted and self-justifying concept of the sordid sequence of events that followed, as he struggled to break out of the net that was gradually tightening upon him.

David's whole motive in the subsequent terrible chain of events may have sincerely been to save Bathsheba from shame and Uriah from sorrow -- or he may have convinced himself that was his motive.

Or he may have, in his heart, excused himself by blaming Bathsheba, as Adam blamed Eve. And it is quite conceivable that in the development of the events, there was some justiflcation for him so doing, though we have no reason to assume so. Clearly the responsibility was David's. He was the one exclusively called to account and judged.

David was not a deliberate hypocrite. This is the least possible thing we could believe. Somehow he was able to square his conscience. He had to have some way of living with himself for that long, dark year before he was exposed.

Here is the deceitfulness of sin. It may have been a combination of self deception on his part with judicial blinding on God's part. And the more time passed without anything terrible happening, or any condemnation from God, the more his conscience would be lulled, and his self-justification confirmed.

But the day of account, though long delayed, came inexorably at last, just as it always does, and always will.

Bro Growcott - BYT 1.18/4.7





14 Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies [oyevim] of Yahweh to blaspheme [ni'etz (deride, ridicule, revile, blaspheme)], the child [haben (the son)] also that is born unto thee shall surely die.

The jeers of a hundred generations have since attested the truth of this declaration. At the present moment, there is nothing more cutting and withering in the way of infidel opposition to the Bible than the taunts inspired by David's sin. Is there nothing, touching the ways of providence, in the fact that David's sin should be punished by the open exhibition of it to all generations in the full and unvarnished narrative written in the Scriptures?

When David stands before "the great white throne" in the day of the judgment of the living and the dead, he finds that every individual in the mighty assembly is informed of his disgrace, and that the world has in every age resounded with the bitter taunt of the scoffer, shouting and execrating his name.

But David was "a man after God's own heart" notwithstanding, -his broken-hearted submission and abasement in this matter being witness. In the day of recompenses, his, not less than the holiest of the sons of God (and who is without sin?) will be the song:

"Thou hast loved us and hast washed us from our sins in thine own blood."

Ways of Providence Ch 17



23 But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.

The King of Terrors

H.L.B.—"The king of terrors claimed his victim in our little family recently. A beautiful and promising little girl of five years was carried away by that terrible scourge, diphtheria. It is a fiery ordeal to have to stand by and see a loved one's life ebb away never to return."

Ah! death is no friend we can all feel, when loved ones of any relation are torn from our side. It is truly described in the Scriptures as an "enemy," the "last enemy" in fact that Christ will eventually destroy. The truth alone reconciles us to the situation of sadness, in which our lot is cast with the rest of mankind.

We know something of the reason of things, and that helps us the better to bear what otherwise would crush us like a moth: sin has entered the world, and death by sin. We wait, in joyful hope, the appearing of the life-giver, and the arrival of the age when

"there shall be no more thence an infant of days;" and when they shall not "bring forth for trouble; but when Israel shall be blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them" (Isa. 65:20, 23).

Israel so blessed will be like life from the dead upon the rest of the world (Rom. 11:15). Till then the exhortation to every sorrowing son of Abraham, and every grief-stricken or bereaved daughter of Sarah—

"cast thy burden on the Lord, he will sustain and comfort thee."

Think of Abraham on his way to offer up his only son and heir at the bidding of the Lord; then think of David, and how he fasted and prayed while the child was alive, peradventure God might have mercy upon him and the child; then the child dead, behold him rising from his sadness, washing and anointing his head, taking food, and assuming altogether a cheerful countenance again.

His servants were surprised, but David's explanation contained the sum and substance of all reason. Then look at God himself, who, like Abraham, withheld not His only son, but freely delivered him up for us all. Something comes to break the heart and spirit of all; it is grievous but profitable chastening to all those who are rightly exercised by it. It belongs to the present night of weeping—joy cometh in the morning, sweet and lasting as the sun.

The Christadelphian, Sept 1888



24 And David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her: and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon: and Yahweh loved him.

...and called him Jedidiah, Beloved of Yahweh, from the same root as David, Beloved. Why, of all David's sons, did God specially choose and love Solomon, son of Bathsheba, apparently the first surviving child of this sin-founded union -- choose him for the throne of Israel, as the great royal type of Christ and his Kingdom, and first link in the royal chain to Christ?

We would think it much more in keeping with the principles of holiness to carefully avoid any connection with -- and seeming approval of -- this questionable union, rooted in sin and lust, and stained with adultery and murder; and rather choose the next king and subsequent lineage from one of David's legitimate and faithfully-acquired wives. Certainly God had a deep purpose and lesson in this for us. And certainly it was not to condone or belittle the dreadfulness of David's sin, which God terribly condemned and terribly punished.

Perhaps it was another beautiful illustration of the divine principle that if there is true repentance, God will bring good out of the evil, after there has been appropriate punishment, humbly and faithfully submitted to. When God must punish heavily, He compensates.

Contrast these two children of Bathsheba. The first manifested His wrath: it must die, because of David's sin. But Solomon it is especially recorded that God loved, and personally named him to commemorate that love. Would it not be to show the fullness of God's forgiveness -- the fullness of the restored communion and fellowship?

The fellowship of God was the most important thing in the world to David. It was life itself--

"There is none on earth I desire before Thee."

The especial choice and favoring of Solomon would be a gracious and greatly needed gesture of love from God that reconciliation was now complete. As the wise woman of Tekoah said to David, in words that -- like Caiaphas -- go far beyond the meaning and understanding of the original speaker, even to encompass the whole sweep of God's purpose--

"Neither doth God respect any person: yet doth He devise means that His banished be not expelled from Him."

Bro Growcott - BYT 1.18/4.7



25 And he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet; and he called his name Jedidiah, because of Yahweh.

Jedidiah. (Y'dhiydh-yah.) Beloved of Yahweh.

"This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."—(Matt. 3:17.)

The Christadelphian, June 1873



31 And he brought forth the people that were therein, and put them under saws, and under harrows of iron, and under axes of iron, and made them pass through the brick-kiln: and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon. So David and all the people returned unto Jerusalem.


The Treatment of Captives in David's Wars

It would be pleasant to suppose that 2 Sam. 12:31 meant that David put the captured Ammonites to their several trades, "under saws and harrows of iron and axes." But the way for this explanation seems barred by the statement in 1 Chron. 20:3, that he

"cut them with saws and with harrows of iron and with axes."

We might even get over this in view of the word "them" (italics) being absent in the original, and suppose that "he made them cut with saws," &c. But other statements make it plain that destruction, and not use, was what took place in such cases.

In 2 Sam. 8:2, we read that in the case of Moab,

"he measured them with a line, casting them down to the ground: even with two lines measured he to put to death, and with one full line to keep alive."

And in the case of Amaziah, we read (2 Chron. 25:12) that

"ten thousand (of the children of Seir) left alive did the children of Judah carry away captive and brought them unto the top of the rock, and cast them down from the top of the rock that they all were broken to pieces."

-The question is (accepting these occurrences in their most painful form), how are we to understand them in harmony with the reputation which the Kings of Israel had acquired as "merciful Kings" (1 Kings 20:31); and more especially, how are we to reconcile them with the spirit of kindness enjoined by the law of Moses?

There is an explanation. It is often said that men do in battle what they would never dream of doing in private life. 'Tis true in other directions. Men in a judicial capacity will do what they could not do as individuals. David, as King of Israel, in dealing with the idolatrous races of Canaan, has to be looked at as God's magistrate.

A divine mandate had given over these peoples to destruction in the days of Joshua. The duty of destroying them was left as a legacy to Israel, in the execution of which, they were remiss, to God's displeasure (Judges 1:27-36; 2:1-5). David was faithful where Saul was slack-handed. To modern ideas of humanitarianism, it seems shocking. When the divine right to destroy the wicked is recognised, and the divine participation in the events recorded, is conceded, all difficulty vanishes.

The Christadelphian, Oct 1898

"It would be pleasant to suppose that 2 Sam. 12:31 meant that David put the captured Ammonites to their several trades"- some other translations including Youngs and the Amplified versions give the sense of setting to work, also for 1 Chro 20: 3."He brought out the people who were in it, and put them [to work] with saws, iron picks, and axes. David dealt in this way with all the Ammonite cities"."and put them to work with saws and iron picks and iron axes", NKJV

The meaning of the verse 2 Sam. 12:31/1 Chro 20: 3    is ambiguous due to the differences in translations.