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2 SAM Intro C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24
12 So Yahweh sent Natan to David to tell him, “Once there was a rich man and a poor man living in the same city.[ref] 2 The rich man had a large number of flocks and herds, 3 but the poor man only had one little female lamb that he’d bought. It grew up with him and his sons, and would eat his left-overs and drink from his cup and lay down in his lap—it was like a daughter to him. 4 One day the rich man had a visitor, but instead of taking one of his own animals for a meal, he killed the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the meal for his guest.”
5 David got very angry listening to that and told Natan, “By the life of Yahweh, the man that did that definitely deserves to be put to death! 6 He must pay back four lambs for doing that and for having no pity on that poor man.”
7 Then Natan said to David, “You are that rich man. Yahweh, the god of Yisrael, says to you: ‘I myself anointed you as king over Yisrael, and I myself kept you safe from Sha’ul. 8 I gave you the house that belonged to your master, as well as his wives. I made you king over both Yisrael and Yehudah. And if that wasn’t enough, I’ve given you more and more. 9 So why have you despised my commands by doing what you knew was evil? You had Uriyyah the Hittite killed with an Ammonite sword and you took his wife for yourself. 10 So now, because you despised me and took Uriyyah’s wife as your own, war and violence will never go away from you and your descendants. 11 I will cause a disaster to hit you from within your own household—I’ll take your wives and give them to a family member right in front of your eyes, and he will let everyone know that he’s sleeping with your wives.[ref] 12 You did what you did in secret, but I myself will do all this in public before all Yisrael.’ ”
13 “Yes, I’ve sinned against Yahweh,” David responded to Natan.
“Yahweh has taken away your sin,” Natan replied. “You won’t die. 14 Nevertheless, because you have utterly disrespected Yahweh in this matter, also your new son is certainly going to die.” 15 Then Natan went home.
12:16 David’s son dies
Then Yahweh caused the baby (that Uriyyah’s wife had given birth to) to get sick. 16 David pleaded with Yahweh for the boy’s sake, and he fasted, and he spent the entire night lying down on the ground. 17 The influential members of his household got beside him to try to get him up from the ground, but he wouldn’t budge, and he wouldn’t eat anything they brought. 18 Then on the seventh day, the baby died, but David’s servants were afraid to tell him because after seeing his response when the child was sick, they were afraid of what he might do to himself when he found out that his son had died.
19 However, when David noticed his servants whispering together, he realised that the baby must have died, and he asked them, “Did the baby die?”
“Yes,” they answered, “he passed away.”
20 Then David got up from the ground and washed, and he rubbed lotions on and changed his clothes, then he entered Yahweh’s tent and worshipped him. Then he went back home and asked for food to be served, and he ate.
21 His servants queried him, “We don’t understand what just happened: when the baby was alive you fasted and wept, but yet when he dies, you get up and have a meal?”
22 “While the child was still alive,” David replied, “I fasted and I wept, because I thought, ‘Who knows? Yahweh might be gracious to me and let him live.’ 23 But now that he’s dead, there’s no more reason to fast—I can’t bring him back again. One day I’ll go to him, but he’ll never come back here to me.” 24 Then David comforted his wife Batsheva.
Then David went to Batsheva and slept with her, and in due course she gave birth to a son. David he named him Shelomoh (Solomon), and Yahweh loved that boy 25 and sent the prophet Natan to name him Yedidyah[fn] (which means ‘loved by Yahweh’) for Yahweh’s sake.
26 Then Yoav fought the Ammonites at Rabbah and captured their palace, 27 then he sent messengers to David to tell him, “I’ve fought against Rabbah and I’ve overthrown the city’s water supply. 28 So now, gather the rest of our fighters and lay siege to the city and capture it. Otherwise I’ll do it and then it’ll be named after me. 29 So David gathered all his warriors and went to Rabbah, where he attacked the city and captured it. 30 He took the king’s crown off his head (it was gold and weighed around 30kg), and it was placed on his head. A lot of other plunder was also taken from the city. 31 The inhabitants of Rabbah were brought out and assigned to work at the brick kiln with saws, iron picks, and axes. (He did that to all the Ammonite cities.) Then David and all his people returned to Yerushalem.
12:25 That name didn’t seem to stick because this is the only mention of it in the Bible.
12:9 OSHB variant note: ב/עינ/ו: (x-qere) ’בְּ/עֵינַ/י֒’: lemma_b/5869 a n_1.3 morph_HR/Ncbdc/Sp1cs id_10ttW בְּ/עֵינַ/י֒
12:20 OSHB variant note: שמלת/ו: (x-qere) ’שִׂמְלֹתָ֔י/ו’: lemma_8071 n_1.1 morph_HNcfpc/Sp3ms id_10rXs שִׂמְלֹתָ֔י/ו
12:22 OSHB variant note: יחנ/ני: (x-qere) ’וְ/חַנַּ֥/נִי’: lemma_c/2603 a morph_HC/Vqq3ms/Sp1cs id_10cdx וְ/חַנַּ֥/נִי
12:24 OSHB variant note: ו/יקרא: (x-qere) ’וַ/תִּקְרָ֤א’: lemma_c/7121 morph_HC/Vqw3fs id_10Yoz וַ/תִּקְרָ֤א
12:31 OSHB variant note: ב/מלכן: (x-qere) ’בַּ/מַּלְבֵּ֔ן’: lemma_b/4404 n_1.2 morph_HRd/Ncmsa id_10NgL בַּ/מַּלְבֵּ֔ן
2 Samuel 8:1-8; 10:1-19; 12:21-31; 1 Chronicles 18:2-11; 19:1-19; 20:1-3
The accounts of David’s greatest military victories stand like bookends around the record of David’s most grievous sins. Sometime after David brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem and the Lord promised to establish his dynasty over Israel, David achieved a series of victories over virtually all of Israel’s neighboring nations. These began with David’s capture of Metheg-ammah (likely Gath) and all of Philistia and was followed by his victory over Moab. Then Nahash king of Ammon died, and David sent envoys to express his condolences to Nahash’s son Hanun, who had now become king. Hanun, however, intentionally humiliated David’s envoys, shaving off half their beards and cutting off the bottom half of their garments before sending them back to Israel. When David heard of it, he sent word to his envoys to remain at Jericho until their beards grew back. In the meantime, the Ammonites called upon several Aramean nations to help them fight against Israel, which was likely their original intent for humiliating David’s envoys. Warriors came from Beth-rehob and Zobah, which lay between Israel and Hamath farther north, as well as from Maacah (see “Geshur and Maacah” map) and Tob. The writer of 1 Chronicles also notes that soldiers came from Mesopotamia as well. David sent his commander Joab to fight this coalition at Rabbah. The writer of 1 Chronicles consistently speaks of the battle occurring at Medeba, rather than Rabbah, but the town of Medeba south of Heshbon seems an unlikely location for the battle. Perhaps Rabbah was also referred to at times as Medeba. In any case, Joab and his brother Abishai divided their forces into two groups, with Joab leading the fight against the Arameans to the north and Abishai leading the fight against the Ammonites just outside the gates of Rabbah. As Joab advanced, the Arameans fled, which in turn led the Ammonites to retreat behind the walls of Rabbah. After this Joab (and probably his forces) returned home to Israel. But the Arameans regrouped and added more troops from Aramean nations beyond the Euphrates River. David met them in battle at Helam (likely modern Alma) and won a great victory over them, even killing their commander Shobah (or Shophach). After this the Arameans made peace with Israel. Sometime later David also subjugated the Edomites, who lived to the south of Moab. It was likely sometime after this that David engaged in adultery with the wife of Uriah, one of his own valiant warriors (see “David’s Mighty Men” map), and then he tried to cover up his sin by arranging for Uriah’s death in battle. His sin was later exposed by Nathan the prophet, and David repented. After this Joab returned to Rabbah to finish capturing the city, and when victory was close at hand he called for David to come and finish taking the city. Thus the Ammonites became subject to Israel as well. From all these conquered nations David took many spoils and dedicated them to the Lord’s service, including great amounts of bronze from the towns of Tebah (also called Betah and Tibhath), Berothai, and Cun.
The Battle with the Ammonites and the Arameans
The Battle with the Arameans
2 Samuel 8:1-8; 10:1-19; 12:21-31; 1 Chronicles 18:2-11; 19:1-19; 20:1-3
The accounts of David’s greatest military victories stand like bookends around the record of David’s most grievous sins. Sometime after David brought the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem and the Lord promised to establish his dynasty over Israel, David achieved a series of victories over virtually all of Israel’s neighboring nations. These began with David’s capture of Metheg-ammah (likely Gath) and all of Philistia and was followed by his victory over Moab. Then Nahash king of Ammon died, and David sent envoys to express his condolences to Nahash’s son Hanun, who had now become king. Hanun, however, intentionally humiliated David’s envoys, shaving off half their beards and cutting off the bottom half of their garments before sending them back to Israel. When David heard of it, he sent word to his envoys to remain at Jericho until their beards grew back. In the meantime, the Ammonites called upon several Aramean nations to help them fight against Israel, which was likely their original intent for humiliating David’s envoys. Warriors came from Beth-rehob and Zobah, which lay between Israel and Hamath farther north, as well as from Maacah (see “Geshur and Maacah” map) and Tob. The writer of 1 Chronicles also notes that soldiers came from Mesopotamia as well. David sent his commander Joab to fight this coalition at Rabbah. The writer of 1 Chronicles consistently speaks of the battle occurring at Medeba, rather than Rabbah, but the town of Medeba south of Heshbon seems an unlikely location for the battle. Perhaps Rabbah was also referred to at times as Medeba. In any case, Joab and his brother Abishai divided their forces into two groups, with Joab leading the fight against the Arameans to the north and Abishai leading the fight against the Ammonites just outside the gates of Rabbah. As Joab advanced, the Arameans fled, which in turn led the Ammonites to retreat behind the walls of Rabbah. After this Joab (and probably his forces) returned home to Israel. But the Arameans regrouped and added more troops from Aramean nations beyond the Euphrates River. David met them in battle at Helam (likely modern Alma) and won a great victory over them, even killing their commander Shobah (or Shophach). After this the Arameans made peace with Israel. Sometime later David also subjugated the Edomites, who lived to the south of Moab. It was likely sometime after this that David engaged in adultery with the wife of Uriah, one of his own valiant warriors (see “David’s Mighty Men” map), and then he tried to cover up his sin by arranging for Uriah’s death in battle. His sin was later exposed by Nathan the prophet, and David repented. After this Joab returned to Rabbah to finish capturing the city, and when victory was close at hand he called for David to come and finish taking the city. Thus the Ammonites became subject to Israel as well. From all these conquered nations David took many spoils and dedicated them to the Lord’s service, including great amounts of bronze from the towns of Tebah (also called Betah and Tibhath), Berothai, and Cun.
The Battle with the Ammonites and the Arameans
The Battle with the Arameans
If you ask someone today what biblical prophets did, they will likely tell you that they divinely foretold of future events. While this was often the case, most prophets in the Bible focused as much on “forthtelling” God’s messages as they did on “foretelling” the future. That is, their primary role was to simply “forthtell” divinely acquired messages to leaders and groups of people, and at times that included foretelling of coming judgment, blessing, rescue, etc. Also, though plenty of prophets (sometimes called “seers” in Scripture) often spoke in confrontational or eccentric language that put them at odds with kings and religious leaders, the biblical writers also applied the term prophet to people who communicated God’s messages in ways that many readers today might not think of as prophecy, such as worship leaders appointed by David to “prophesy with lyres, harps, and cymbals” (1 Chronicles 25:1). Similarly, the books of Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings are typically categorized as history by Christians, but in the Hebrew canon they belong to the category of Former Prophets. The Lord raised up prophets throughout all of biblical history, from the giving of the law under Moses to the revelation of the last days by the apostle John, and the kings of Israel and Judah often recognized and supported specific people as official prophets of the royal court and consulted them to find out God’s perspective about official matters. Following is a list of nearly everyone designated as prophet or seer in the Old Testament and the primary area of their ministry.
• Deborah (1216 B.C.) [Judges 4:4] => Baal-tamar?
• Samuel (1070 B.C.) [1 Samuel 3:20; 1 Chronicles 29:29; 2 Chronicles 35:18] => Ramah
• Gad (1018 B.C.) [2 Samuel 24:11; 1 Chronicles 21:9; 29:29; 2 Chronicles 29:25] => Masada?
• Nathan (1000 B.C.) [2 Samuel 12:1; 1 Chronicles 29:29; 2 Chronicles 29:25] => Jerusalem
• Asaph (1000 B.C.) [2 Chronicles 29:30] => Jerusalem
• Ahijah (935 B.C.) [1 Kings 11:29; 2 Chronicles 9:29] => Jerusalem
• Shemaiah (930 B.C.) [2 Chronicles 12:2-15] => Jerusalem
• Iddo (913 B.C.) [2 Chronicles 9:29; 12:15; 13:22] => Jerusalem
• Jehu son of Hanani (890 B.C.) [1 Kings 16:1-7; 2 Chronicles 19:2] => Samaria?
• Azariah (890 B.C.) [2 Chronicles 15:1-8] => Jerusalem
• Elijah (860 B.C.) [1 Kings 18:36] => Samaria
• Micaiah (853 B.C.) [1 Kings 22:8-23; 2 Chronicles 18:7-22] => Samaria
• Jahaziel (853 B.C.) [2 Chronicles 20:14] => Jerusalem
• Eliezer (853 B.C.) [2 Chronicles 20:37] => Mareshah
• Elisha (850 B.C.) [1 Kings 19:16; 2 Kings 2:15] => Samaria
• Joel (835 B.C.) [Joel 1:1] => Jerusalem
2 SAM Intro C1 C2 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10 C11 C12 C13 C14 C15 C16 C17 C18 C19 C20 C21 C22 C23 C24