Big Healing Book - 2 Samuel 12:13-18

2 Samuel 12:13-18:

And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.
Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.
And Nathan departed unto his house. And the LORD struck the child that Uriah’s wife bare unto David, and it was very sick.
David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth.
And the elders of his house arose, and went to him, to raise him up from the earth: but he would not, neither did he eat bread with them.
And it came to pass on the seventh day, that the child died. And the servants of David feared to tell him that the child was dead: for they said, Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spake unto him, and he would not hearken unto our voice: how will he then vex himself, if we tell him that the child is dead?

Notes on 2 Samuel 12:13-18:

This passage seems problematic. It may seem unfair that a child died for the sins of his father. However, this is consistent with other Scriptures that talk of how your “seed” (children) will be blessed if you serve the Lord but cursed if you don’t serve the Lord. Deuteronomy 28 states both explicitly. David had turned from God’s ways and his child was cursed instead of blessed. (You are probably aware that David and Bathsheba conceived the child in adultery.)

Perhaps the more troublesome fact is that David is told that God has put away his sin. If his sin was put away, why did the child die anyway? How could God even remember the sin at that point?

These would be good New Testament issues, but David lived under an inferior covenant. When his sin was “put away” so that he would not die, this only meant that he would not be stoned to death for his particular sin – which would have been his rightful punishment under the Law. However, there were still consequences. David’s life from this point on was full of bad harvests from the bad seed he planted during his adultery, his murder of Uriah the Hittite and his subsequent “Bathshebagate” cover-up.

David had put the law of sin and death into motion. Because he was not under the New Covenant, he was not redeemed from the law of sin and death. Sin leads to death.

Under the New Covenant, you can reap what you sow in this life even though you’re forgiven. It is far better not to sin in the first place. For example, you can become a famous minister, commit adultery and repent. You’re forgiven and you can be restored to the ministry. However, you will have trouble for the rest of your life over it and your ministry will never be what it could have been. This has nothing to do with not being forgiven. This is further discussed under Sickness as Chastening and Judgment in the Old Testament.

But back in this Old Covenant passage, the other thorny issue here is that the LORD, not Satan, killed David’s child with a sickness. Satan was not the source of that sickness – GOD was. I know I’ve probably just ruined some readers’ theology, but it’s plain as day in Scripture. God DOES have “evil angels” who smite people with sickness and death, even in the case of Herod in the New Testament (Acts 12:21-23). (See Sickness as Chastening and Judgment in the New Testament for more cases of GOD smiting people with sickness.) The Bible says what it says, not what we sometimes WANT it to say. GOD made that child sick and GOD killed him. This was David’s punishment – he did not die himself over the incident, but he did lose his child. He had dishonored God in front of everyone, including people who hated Israel. God determined that this was the price he would have to pay. It was similar to the case where Moses was not allowed to enter the promised land because he HIT a rock that he was only supposed to SPEAK to. (It seems that the rock symbolized Christ, who was only sacrificed ONCE for everyone. David was told to hit the rock on a prior occasion. But the second time, he was only supposed to speak to it. I believe that this was God’s way of saying that Christ only had to be sacrificed ONCE, and now all the blessings bought by that sacrifice are yours by SPEAKING in agreement with God’s Word. Jesus does NOT have to continue to be re-sacrificed, as the Roman Catholic Church teaches in error, believing that every “mass” is a literal re-sacrifice of Christ.)

The next issue people would have is that the child was innocent. However, God promised to bless children of the righteous but punish children of the wicked. You will have to take the matter up with Him if you have a problem with it.