2 Samuel 12:15-31

Grieving in a Godly Manner

Introduction:

MPs

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[1] the reality of God’s judgment (vv. 15-19)

[2] the comfort of God’s presence (vv. 20-23)

[3] the promise of God’s restoration (vv. 24-25)

[1] the reality of God’s judgment (vv. 15-19)

[Text]

The result of sin.

The Lord strikes. The power of the Lord’s judgment on display.

Deuteronomy 32:39““ ‘See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.”

“became sick” incurable, sick, woeful. Unsure of what the exact illness was. Text makes it clear by word usage that it was incurable. Only used here and nowhere else in the OT.

Seeking after God amidst suffering

Joel 2:12–14““Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord your God?”

Principle reasons for turning to the Lord, knowing He is gracious and able to receive us back into his arms.

Fasting.

(v. 18) the child dies on the seventh day. The child was one day away from receiving the sign of circumcision.

Importance of sevens in the Bible.

(vv. 18-19) The hesitancy of the elders and servants to tell David what happened indicate the tragedy of the event which unfolded. Almost as if they were fearful - having seen David’s piety - to give him the bad news.

You can feel the weight of what David realizes when he makes eye-contact with his elders. Everyone has had that experience, of knowing by the look in someone’s eye that they were about to deliver bad news.

[Doctrine]

Sovereignty in Suffering and Affliction.

Sin affects not only ourselves but those around us. David’s sin carries over to his firstborn son from Bathsheba.

We need to remember that all that we are given is not actually ours. Everything is of the Lord’s. Even spouses, children, or close family.

God was within his justice to take everything away from Job.

Job 2:10“But he said to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” In all this Job did not sin with his lips.”

We are too scared to admit to ourselves that God is incredibly holy and deserves our affections when we do indeed suffer. There is nothing owed to us in this life.

[Application]

Use 1. Suffering pushes us to seek after God.

Redirection of our own worship. Job 1:20“Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped.”

We cannot be fearful if our prayers are not answered in according with our own desires. God’s ways are mysterious and beyond our human comprehension. God ordains all things according to the counsel of His will.

Use 2. Suffering comforts us that God is in control.

We have a serious problem if God is not in control or if the world is not upheld by his power.

Use 3. Suffering reminds us the earth is not our home.

Reminder of the nature of heaven. We are pilgrims. Christ raising children and young men from the dead. Only God can give life back to those who are dead.

Luke 23:43 “And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.””

1 Corinthians 15:51–55 “Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?””

[2] the comfort of God’s presence (vv. 20-23)

David had every reason to stay in a state of lament. His son died. And the full weight of his sin has come crashing down upon him. Yet David does something surprising and uncommon for Christians.

David washed himself. Prior to his sin with Bathsheba, David is observing her washing of purification following her period of uncleanness. This washing leads to his grievous sin.

Then, as Uriah comes home from battle, David urges him to wash himself, as if he needed to purify himself. David’s hope in covering up his sins would be that Uriah would wash himself from battle and have relations with his wife.

Now, David washes himself of the detrimental sin that he has caused. The washing here is similar to the washings in the Pentateuch which were to clean a priest to go into the temple, or in other uses, to clean oneself before entering a house.

David is preparing himself to go into the presence and warm embrace of the Lord’s comfort.

Likewise, we are told that David anoints himself. It is a priestly anointing. It is like David is being reinstated as prophet, priest, and king, having repented of his sins.

“It is significant that David did not break his fast until after he had worshiped God; David’s hunger for a right relationship with God exceeded his desire for culinary delights.” (Robert D. Bergen, 375).

Use 1. Sacraments provide assurance in God’s promises.

“God told Abraham, “I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you” (Gen. 17:7). Here, David confidently states, “I shall go to him, but he will not return to me” (2 Sam. 12:23). With these words, David expresses confidence that his son will be waiting in heaven when the time comes for David to arrive there after his own death.

There is no reason to suppose that David had some special revelation concerning this child. Rather, he realized that covenant children have a relationship to God’s grace through the faith of their parents (see 1 Cor. 7:14). It is because of their covenant membership as children that we rightly baptize the children of believers in infancy, as the Israelites circumcised their baby boys.” (Richard D. Phillips, 243).

Use 2. Suffering evokes heartfelt worship to the Lord.

Psalm 73:23–26“Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

[3] the promise of God’s restoration (vv. 24-25)

Scripture switches to the name Bathsheba when speaking of Solomon’s birth. Now that the marriage is “official” or “allowed” the Bible speaks of her as David’s wife by using her first name.

Solomon indicates that the Lord will still uphold the promises that he made to David in 2 Samuel 7. Solomon’s name indicates the peace that will finally be accomplished in the land when he is king.

The temple will finally be rebuilt as a physical structure. Solomon will be given wisdom without measure.

Renaming of Solomon to Jedidiah also indicates the close relationship with the Lord. Jedidiah is translated as the “beloved of the Lord.”

When David committed his sin against the Lord, he was absent from his place of duty. Remember the king was to go out with his people to fight their battles. This time, David goes back out on the offensive.

Shows a demonstration of repentance following his sin and confession. He goes back to doing the duty he was supposed to.