Useful Bible Studies > 2 Samuel Commentary > chapter 12
Nathan was a prophet, a holy man. He visited David because God had given him a message for David. The contents of that message were both serious and severe.
David had given his judgment against a rich man who stole something precious from a poor man. Now Nathan had to show David that he, David, was the guilty man. Nathan was risking his own life as he did that. If David had not turned back to God, he would have ordered Nathan’s death. David was already angry.
However, Nathan respected God more than he felt fear of David. It was Nathan’s serious duty to declare God’s message in a true and accurate manner. Nathan could not change that message. He must only speak what God had told him to say.
In that message, God reminded David of the many good things that he, God, had done for David. David did not become king by his own skill or power. Rather God chose David, and God’s Holy Spirit came powerfully upon David (1 Samuel 16:13). Saul, the previous king, hated David and he (Saul) tried to kill David. David did nothing to oppose Saul, but God still rescued David from Saul.
God gave to David the whole of Saul’s nation, both the northern part called Israel, and Judah in the south. God gave David wealth and possessions and wives. God was ready to give David even more than this.
However, instead, David’s desire was for something that God had not given to him. David wanted, and took for himself, another man’s wife.
Next part: God's opinion of David's crime (2 Samuel 12:9)
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