Saturday's Scripture Story
David and Nathan
King David has sinned by committing adultery with Bathsheba and then committing murder of her Husband Uriah to cover it up. He has seemingly got away with it – until the God who sees all reveals David’s sin through the prophet Nathan.
In the story we see Nathan, a disciple of God by all accounts, called to restore David from a place of sin to a place of repentance and God-given holiness in the place of that sin.
It is a delicate thing to approach a king about his shortcomings and sins. Remember the lesson of the fable "The Emporer’s New Clothes?" Who wants to tell the king about his problem? But God wants His man (David) restored. Read 2 Samuel 12 and find out how Nathan opens David’s eyes to his sin.
2 Samual 12:1-15
Nathan Rebukes David
12 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. 10 Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’
11 “This is what the Lord says: ‘Out of your own household I am going to bring calamity on you. Before your very eyes I will take your wives and give them to one who is close to you, and he will sleep with your wives in broad daylight. 12 You did it in secret, but I will do this thing in broad daylight before all Israel.’”
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.
Prayer
Father God, sometimes I am in the position of David. May You and I always have a Nathan to help me see – and repent. Sometimes Father You want to put me in the position of a Nathan. Let me be willing, gentle and spiritual enough to help the Davids whom You are calling out of sin and back to lives of holiness. I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.