Sermon Tone Analysis

Lesson 10

(NIV) NATHAN CONDEMNS DAVID DEVOTIONAL

Nathan was a prophet in the Bible who lived during the reign of King David in Israel.

God spoke to David through Nathan on several occasions.

Nathan was a member of David’s royal court and one of his closest advisers.

Nathan apparently also knew Bathsheba well enough to speak to her about Adonijah’s attempt to usurp David’s throne from her son, Solomon (1 Kings 1:11) and to enlist her help in bringing the matter to the king.

There are three or four stories in the Bible featuring Nathan that occurred during some of the darkest and most emotional times in David’s life.

The first mention of Nathan establishes his relationship with David as a trusted adviser.

David decides to build God a house, because the king is living in a beautiful cedar palace and thinks it wrong that the Ark of the Covenant should be housed in a lowly tent (the tabernacle).

David tells Nathan about his plans to build a house for God, and Nathan says he should go ahead and do it because the Lord is with him (2 Samuel 7:2–3).

Then God visits Nathan in a vision and tells him to return to David and inform him that God doesn’t need the king to build him a house; rather, God would establish David’s dynasty, through his son, forever.

His son Solomon would be the one to build God’s house (2 Samuel 7:4–17).

Nathan relays this important message to the king, and David utters a grateful and beautiful prayer to God for His grace (2 Samuel 7:18–29).

The next time Nathan is mentioned, it is after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba and brought about her husband’s death to hide her pregnancy (2 Samuel 12:1).

At that point, David had made Bathsheba his wife and had seemingly gotten away with his sin, but the Lord knew about it and told Nathan to rebuke David.

Nathan went to David and wisely told the king a fable about a rich man and a poor man: the rich man was visited by a traveler, so he took the poor man’s only possession, a little ewe lamb that he loved as a pet, to feed his guest—rather than taking a lamb from his own extensive flocks.

David was enraged at the story and declared that the rich man had no pity and deserved to die.

Nathan then points to David and says, “You are the man!” (2 Samuel 12:7).

Nathan reveals that David’s sin was like that of the rich man, because David took away Uriah’s wife.

Nathan then prophesies to David, in God’s own words: “I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul.

And I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah.

And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more.

Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight?

You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites.

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” (2 Samuel 12:7–10).

David confesses to Nathan that he has sinned against the Lord, and Nathan comforts him, saying that the Lord has forgiven his sin and that David’s life will not be required of him.

Nonetheless, David’s child by Bathsheba was to die.

David, under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, pens Psalm 51 after this encounter with Nathan the prophet.

After the death of David’s child, his wife Bathsheba became pregnant again, this time with a son whom they named Solomon.

The Lord sent Nathan to David again, this time to say that the Lord loved his son Solomon, and they called Solomon “Jedidiah,” a name that means “beloved of the Lord” (2 Samuel 12:24–25).

Solomon later built God’s house, the temple, and became an ancestor of the Lord Jesus Christ.

First Chronicles 3:5 reveals the fact that King David and Queen Bathsheba named one of their sons born to them in Jerusalem “Nathan.”

No doubt, the child’s name is a reflection of the royal couple’s appreciation for the prophet Nathan’s faithfulness, friendship, and tough love through the years.

READING: 2 Samuel 12:1–9, 13–15 BACKGROUND

SCRIPTURE: 2 Samuel 12 2 SAMUEL 12:1–9, 13–15 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 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 traveler 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 traveler 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.”

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.”

15 After Nathan had gone home, the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife had borne to David, and he became ill.

Who wrote the book?

Together, 1 and 2 Samuel form one book in the Hebrew Bible.

The Greek translation of the Bible, the Septuagint, was the first version to divide the material into two parts.

Though named after its main character, the prophet Samuel, the book does not claim an author.

However, Samuel may have written, and he certainly supplied, the information for 1 Samuel 1:1–24:22, which is a biography of his life and career up to his death.

First Chronicles 29:29 notes that Samuel, along with Nathan and Gad, recorded the “acts of King David.”

Evidence in the writing suggests that the books of 1 and 2 Samuel were compiled by someone from the prophetic school who used documents from Samuel, Nathan, and Gad.1

I. Tale of Two Men

(2 SAMUEL 12:1–6)

A. Contrasting Fortunes (vv.

1–3)

1a.

The LORD sent Nathan to David.

Biblical narratives often present people’s actions without offering God’s evaluation of their deeds.

But the writer of 2 Samuel could not resist the arresting understatement, “The thing that David had done displeased the Lord” (11:27).

Nothing is known of the prophet Nathan other than what is recorded in conjunction with David’s reign (2 Samuel 7; 1 Kings 1; 1 Chronicles 29:29).

Prophets existed in Israel’s history before the monarchy, but their number and role seem to have increased after a human king was enthroned.

True prophets were called directly by the Lord (example: Jeremiah 7:1–8).

Among their important roles was to hold Israel’s civil authorities in check (examples: 1 Samuel 13:11–14; 1 Kings 21:17–29).

All in all, the prophet Nathan demonstrated respect for the Lord’s anointed and fear of the Lord that led him to take on a potentially suicidal mission before David.

Now God is the one talking to Nathan in a dream , remember on sunday when i said that God will talk to us one way or another and i did mention Dreams he will come to you in dreams and you can rest assure that you will know when he comes.

so he came to nathan in a dream to go to david .

1b.

When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor.

Nathan could have chosen a more direct approach to confronting David, but he chose to start with a parable.

Old Testament prophets often used metaphors and symbolism to speak against evil in their nation (examples: Isaiah 5:1–7; Jeremiah 2:20–30) or even to entrap the king with his own ruling (2 Samuel 14:1–20; 1 Kings 20:35–43).

The description of two men in a certain town primed David for a story of conflict.

The fact that one [was] rich and the other poor further heightened the likelihood of conflict, especially of injustice based on disparity of power.

What Do You Think?

How can a story help prepare a person to face a confrontation?

Digging Deeper In what situations is this technique appropriate?

using Parables was something Jesus did a lot in the gospel’s when he spoke to the people and to the Pharisees and Sadducees it is to make them think so they can figure it out for themselves before the real explamation comes forth we sometimes start our conversations the same way when we are trying to help someone we start out with a story hoping they can understand before we tell the real thing like getting them prepared for whats really coming.

2–3a.

“The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing

Since farm animals were an indication of wealth (example: 1 Samuel 25:2), the difference in power and status between the two men was made more apparent from the description of what both men possessed.

Nathan’s choice of sheep and cattle as the principal indicator of wealth likely resonated with David, who grew up working as a shepherd for his family (16:11; 2 Samuel 7:8).

It also set up the potential conflict between the two as more emotional than if only gold was at stake.

in a sense this is a story that David can relate to since he started out as a Shepard he knows the value of raising animals , this is to help David along to better understand where nathan was coming from so late say that this is a story protraying me and Van rounans .

they were a rich family in warrenton that my Grand mother worked for and they had lots of land and cattle,money and i had had nothing .

i had to work for everything i got.

and still working.....

3b.

“except one little ewe lamb 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.

With expert rhetorical flair, Nathan piled on more detail about the nearness and dearness of the one little ewe lamb to the poor man.