Useful Bible Studies > 2 Samuel Commentary > chapter 12
Nathan described David’s crime as God saw it.
That was different from David’s opinion of his own behaviour. In David’s opinion, he had simply followed his body’s desires. He saw an attractive woman so he had an affair with her. He needed to keep that affair secret, so he made plans for her husband (Uriah) to die in the war. Many men were dying in the war - in David’s opinion, that man’s death was hardly different from the death of any of the other soldiers (11:25). In David’s mind, David had made his evil deeds seem to be minor matters.
In God’s opinion, however, these evil deeds were extremely serious. David had chosen, on purpose not to obey God’s commands (Exodus 20:13-14). Only a person who, in his heart, hated God’s word, would choose to do such a thing.
In addition, David had killed Uriah in a manner that he knew to be cruel and nasty (compare 2 Samuel 3:26-39). In God’s opinion, it did not make the matter less severe that the soldiers from Ammon had actually killed Uriah. Rather, it was even worse. It was not a friend who killed him (compare 1 Samuel 20:8). It was a terrible enemy army that was well-known for its acts of cruelty (1 Samuel 11:1-2).
David arranged Uriah’s death because he wanted to marry his (Uriah’s) wife. So David did not only murder Uriah; he also stole his wife from him.
Next part: The troubles that David had brought into his family (2 Samuel 12:10)
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