Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 164
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IMMERSE
•
KINGDOMS
2S
| 12:11-28
time on, your family will live by the sword because you have despised me
by taking Uriah’s wife to be your own.
“This is what the Lord says: Because of what you have done, I will cause
your own household to rebel against you. I will give your wives to another
man before your very eyes, and he will go to bed with them in public view.
You did it secretly, but I will make this happen to you openly in the sight
of all Israel.”
Then David confessed to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”
Nathan replied, “Yes, but the Lord has forgiven you, and you won’t die
for this sin. Nevertheless, because you have shown utter contempt for the
word of the Lord by doing this, your child will die.”
After Nathan returned to his home, the Lord sent a deadly illness to the
child of Dav id and Uriah’s wife. Dav id begged God to spare the child.
He went without food and lay all night on the bare ground. The elders
of his household pleaded with him to get up and eat with them, but he
refused.
Then on the seventh day the child died. David’s advisers were afraid to
tell him. “He wouldn’t listen to reason while the child was ill,” they said.
“What drastic thing will he do when we tell him the child is dead?”
When David saw them whispering, he realized what had happened. “Is
the child dead?” he asked.
“Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.”
Then David got up from the ground, washed himself, put on lotions,
and changed his clothes. He went to the Tabernacle and worshiped the
Lord. After that, he returned to the palace and was served food and ate.
His advisers were amazed. “We don’t understand you,” they told him.
“While the child was still living, you wept and refused to eat. But now that
the child is dead, you have stopped your mourning and are eating again.”
David replied, “I fasted and wept while the child was alive, for I said,
‘Perhaps the Lord will be gracious to me and let the child live.’ But why
should I fast when he is dead? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him
one day, but he cannot return to me.”
Then David comforted Bathsheba, his wife, and slept with her. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son, and David named him Solomon.
The Lord loved the child and sent word through Nathan the prophet that
they should name him Jedidiah (which means “beloved of the Lord”), as
the Lord had commanded.
Meanwhile, Joab was fighting against Rabbah, the capital of Ammon, and
he captured the royal fortifications. Joab sent messengers to tell David,
“I have fought against Rabbah and captured its water supply. Now bring