Section Nine

David and his First Child

with Bathsheba

A very thought provoking passage concerns David and the first child he had with Bathsheba. The famous story of David sleeping with Bathsheba after seeing her from a roof top is found in 2 Samuel Chapter 11. David conspires to get Bathsheba’s husband killed. Then, a man called Nathan is sent by God to speak to David. David then realises that he has sinned (2 Samuel Chapter 12 verses 1 to 12). In verses 13 and 14 of 2 Samuel Chapter 12, Nathan then says that David will not die for his sin. Instead, because David had shown ‘contempt’ for God, David’s first child with Bathsheba will die. After Nathan leaves, the child becomes ill. David pleads with God for six days - he fasts and spends the nights lying on the ground in sackcloth. On the seventh day, the child dies. After this, David and Bathsheba have another child - Solomon. This passage is both difficult to understand and to explain. It seems to ask us to hold in tension a kind, loving, forgiving God and the need for sin to be punished - a tension that is evident in more of the passages mentioned in this section.