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From: 2 Samuel 12:7-10, 13

David’s Repentance (continued)

[7] Nathan said to David, “You are the man. Thus says the LORD, the God of Is-
rael, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul;
[8] and I gave you your master’s house, and your master’s wives into your bosom,
and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah; and if this were too little, I would
add to you as much more. [9] Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to
do what is evil in his sight? You have smitten Uriah the Hittite with the sword,
and have taken his wife to be your wife, and have slain him with the sword of the
Ammonites. [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.’

[13] David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said
to David, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die.

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Commentary:

12:1-25. Nathan’s intervention (vv. 1-15), David’s repentance (vv. 16-19), and the
birth of Solomon (vv. 20-25) are the main subjects in this chapter. Nathan makes
an appeal to David with one of the most beautiful parables in the Old Testament
and gets the king to condemn his own conduct: “the man who has done this de-
serves to die” (v. 5). In reply, Nathan tells him the penalty the Lord has decreed,
which in line with the law of vengeance or retaliation has three parts to it, corres-
ponding to David’s triple crime—murder, adultery and the fact that the victim was
a blameless man. On account of the murder, the sword will not depart from Da-
vid’s house (V. 10): this punishment will affect his eldest sons, Amnon, Absalom
and Adonijah, who will die violent deaths. For the adultery, his wives will be vio-
lated in public (v. 11), which will happen when Absalom takes his father’s harem
(cf. 16:20-23). And for the killing of an innocent man, his own recently born son
will not survive (v. 14).

David’s repentance is exemplary (vv. 16-19): he weeps for his sin, and fasts and
pleads for his little son: so, in spite of his weaknesses and sins, he still trusts
in the Lord and shows himself to be “a man after (the Lord’s) own heart” (1 Sam
13:14). David is a model of penance because, by acknowledging his sin, he ob-
tained divine forgiveness. His repentance finds expression in Psalm 51, which
so beautifully and piously records the sinful king’s supplication to the Lord:
“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love; according to
your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from
my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!” (Ps 51:1-2).

The birth of a new son (vv. 20-25) brings this account to an end and makes it
clear that Solomon was born within marriage; his birth causes David great joy
and he is given a second name in a message from Nathan—”Jedidiali” (v. 25);
beloved of the Lord. This means that, from birth, Solomon is the one chosen
by God to advance his plan of salvation for Israel.

Great was David’s sin, and heartfelt his contrition. But God’s forgiveness is grea-
test of all. “In the course of its history, Israel was able to discover that God had
only one reason to reveal himself to theirs, a single motive for choosing them
from among all peoples as his special possession—his sheer gratuitous love.
And thanks to the prophets Israel understood that it was again out of love that
God never stopped saving them and pardoning their unfaithfulness and sins”
(”Catechism of the Catholic Church”, 218).

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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.