2 Samuel 12:22

22 David replied, "While the child was alive I fasted and wept because I thought, Who knows? The LORD may have mercy on me and let the child live.

2 Samuel 12:22 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 12:22

And he said, while the child was yet alive
And so there was hope it might be continued:

I fasted and wept;
or sought the Lord by prayer, and fasting, and weeping, that the threatening might not take place, that the child's life might be spared:

for I said;
within himself, thus he reasoned in his own mind:

who can tell [whether] God will be gracious to me, that the child may
live?
and in hope of this he kept praying, fasting, and weeping; he could not tell but God might repent of the evil he had threatened, as in some cases he has done; see ( Joel 2:13 Joel 2:14 ) ( Jonah 3:9 Jonah 3:10 ) . Abarbinel thinks that David fasted and wept to hide this matter from his wife, and his servants, and did not let them know that this was in his punishment, that the child should die.

2 Samuel 12:22 In-Context

20 Then David rose from the ground, bathed, anointed himself, and changed his clothes. He entered the LORD's house and bowed down. Then he entered his own house. He requested food, which was brought to him, and he ate.

21 "Why are you acting this way?" his servants asked. "When the child was alive, you fasted and cried and kept watch, but now that the child is dead, you get up and eat food!"

22 David replied, "While the child was alive I fasted and wept because I thought, Who knows? The LORD may have mercy on me and let the child live.

23 But he is dead now. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? No. I am going where he is, but he won't come back to me."

24 Then David comforted his wife Bathsheba. He went to her and had sex with her. She gave birth to a son and named him Solomon. The LORD loved him