2 Samuel 12:12 - Printer Friendly

ESV: For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.’"

NIV: You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’ "

NASB: Indeed, you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, and in open daylight.’?'

CSB: You acted in secret, but I will do this before all Israel and in broad daylight.’"

NLT: You did it secretly, but I will make this happen to you openly in the sight of all Israel.'

KJV: For thou didst it secretly: but I will do this thing before all Israel, and before the sun.

NKJV: For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel, before the sun.’ ”

David's sin was supposed to be secret. He sent servants to bring Bathsheba to him at night when her husband Uriah was away at war. He slept with her and sent her back. When she sent word that she was pregnant, David recalled Uriah from the front, thinking he would go home, sleep with his wife, and accept the child as his own. Uriah didn't, so David secretly arranged to have him murdered in the middle of a battle. David married Bathsheba and claimed the child was legitimate (2 Samuel 11).

Despite David thinking the issue was over, God knows all. God sends the prophet Nathan to confront David and declare God's judgment. David will suffer the same fate as Uriah, but more intensely and more publicly (2 Samuel 12:1–11).

When Saul chased David, David never fought back. He trusted that God would give him justice, which came when Saul died after a battle. When the northern tribes refused to accept David as their king for seven years, David didn't try to conquer them. He waited for God's timing.

So, he must accept God's sentence, which brings justice to Uriah and Bathsheba. David will experience betrayal and violence in his household (2 Samuel 12:10). Because David took Bathsheba, his usurper will take his own wives in public. This happens when David's son Absalom sleeps with David's concubines on David's roof (2 Samuel 16:22). In addition, God will take the life of David and Bathsheba's son (2 Samuel 12:14).

Bathsheba's justice arrives in a way that seems uncompelling to modern Western culture. God restores to her a husband who cares enough to comfort her in her grief (2 Samuel 12:24). He gives her four sons (1 Chronicles 3:5). And He makes one of her sons, Solomon, king of Israel.

David's sins against Uriah and Bathsheba are sins because they break God's commands. David has sinned most against God (Psalm 51:4). But even though David repents (2 Samuel 12:13; Psalm 51), he can't give God justice. Only Jesus can do that. When David repents, God applies Jesus' sacrifice to David's sin and forgives him (2 Samuel 12:13). Jesus' death on the cross gives God justice for David's sins.

Second Samuel 12:7–14 records the repercussions to come from David's sin. He thought no one who mattered knew he had taken Bathsheba and murdered Uriah (2 Samuel 11). Nathan told a parable describing David's sin, revealing that David's secret is out. The boy who faithfully followed God's will has now defiled God's law. David repents and will be spared. But Uriah and Bathsheba still deserve justice. David will experience versions of his own crimes against Uriah: loss of a child, violence, and humiliation.

In 2 Samuel 12, David learns the consequences of his sins against Bathsheba and Uriah (2 Samuel 11). David thought no one of consequence knew what he'd done. Nathan the prophet reveals that God knows; the Lord demands justice for David's victims. David's household will rebel, and Bathsheba's son will die. David humbly repents, and Bathsheba later conceives Solomon, the future king. Joab, about to defeat the Ammonites, calls David to finish the fight. In 2 Samuel 13, the seeds of the promised rebellion are sown. Psalm 51 is David's expression of remorse for his sins.

David begins to lose control of his seemingly perfect situation. While the respected soldier Uriah was fighting Ammonites with Joab (2 Samuel 10), David slept with Uriah's wife, Bathsheba. To cover her pregnancy, David arranged for Uriah to die in battle (2 Samuel 11). Nathan, the prophet, confronts David over his crimes. God takes the child's life and will allow David's household to rebel against him. This begins when David's son rapes his own half-sister, Tamar (2 Samuel 13), starting a series of events that will result in another son, Absalom, taking the throne from his father (2 Samuel 14—16).