Samuel's note_Chapter 12

The Lord sent Nathan to David. Nathan came to David and said to him, There are two people in a city, one wealthy and the other poor.

Rich households have many herds of cattle and sheep.

The poor have nothing but a little ewe lamb bought to support them. The lamb grew up with his children in his house, eating what he ate and drinking what he drank, sleeping in his arms, and appearing to him like a daughter.

A guest came to this wealthy household. The wealthy were reluctant to take one of their own cattle and sheep to prepare for the guests to eat, but they took the poor man’s lamb and prepared it for the guests to eat.

David was very angry with the man and said to Nathan, “As the Lord lives, those who do this will die.”.

He will repay the lamb four times. Because he did this without compassion.

Nathan said to David, “You are that person.”. This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: I have anointed you king over Israel and saved you from the hands of Saul.

I will give you your master’s inheritance, give your master’s wife into your arms, and give you the houses of Israel and Judah. If you still think it’s not enough, I will give it to you twice as much.

Why do you despise the commands of the Lord and do what is evil in his eyes? You killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites and married his wife.

Since you have despised me and married Uriah the Hittite, the sword will never leave your home.

Thus says the Lord, I will raise up trouble against you from your house. I will give your concubines to others in your sight, and they will sleep with them under the sun.

You have done this in secret, but I will repay you before all Israel under the sun.

David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. Nathan said, The Lord has taken away your sins, and you will not die.

But by doing this, you have given the enemy of the Lord a great opportunity to blaspheme. Therefore, the child you have obtained will surely die.

I picked up the bill and went home. The Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife gave birth to David, causing him to fall seriously ill.

So David pleaded with God for this child, fasted, entered the inner chamber, and lay on the ground all night.

His old courtiers came to his side to help him up from the ground, but he refused to get up and did not eat with them.

On the seventh day, the child died. David’s servants dared not tell him that the child was dead, because they said, While the child was still alive, we advised him, but he refused to listen to us. If we tell him that the child is dead, wouldn’t it be even more sad?

When David saw his servants whispering to each other, he knew that the child had died. He asked his servants, “Has the child died?”? They said, dead.

David got up from the ground, bathed, anointed, changed his clothes, and went into the temple of the Lord to worship. Then he returned to the palace and ordered the people to prepare the meal, and he ate it.

My servant asked him, “What do you mean by what you have done?”. When the child is alive, you fast and cry. The child is dead, you can eat upside down.

David said, the child is still alive, and I fast and cry. Because I think it is unknown whether the Lord will have mercy on me and keep the child alive.

The child is dead, why should I fast? How can I make him return? I will go to him, but he cannot come back to me.

David comforted his wife Bathsheba and slept with her. She gave birth to a son and named him Solomon. The Lord also loves him,

And he gave him a name by the prophet Nathan, called Jedidia, because the Lord loved him.

Joab took Rabbah, the capital of the children of Ammon.

Joab sent messengers to David, saying, I have attacked Rabbah and taken its water city.

Now gather the rest of the army and besiege this city, or else I will take it and it will be named after me.

So David gathered all his army and went to Rabbah to attack the city, and he took it,

He took away the golden crown worn by the king of the children of Ammon, which weighed one talent of gold and was adorned with precious stones. And they put this crown on David’s head. David took a lot of wealth from the city,

Pull out the people from the city and put them under saws, iron rakes, or iron axes, or have them pass through brick kilns (or force them to use saws, iron tools for threshing grain, or iron axes for work, or to serve in brick kilns). David treated the residents of all the cities of Ammon in this way. Afterwards, David and all the army returned to Jerusalem.