2 Samuel 12:23

23 But now he [is] dead. Why [should I be] fasting? [Am] I able to return him again? I [am] going to him, but he cannot return to me."

2 Samuel 12:23 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 12:23

But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast?
&c.] And pray; it is to no purpose, no end can be thought to be answered by it:

can I bring him back again?
from the state of the dead, bring him to life by fasting, and praying, and weeping; that is not to e expected:

I shall go to him;
to the state of the dead, to the grave, where his body was, or would be; to heaven and eternal happiness, where his soul was, as he comfortably hoped and believed: from whence it appears, that the Old Testament saints did not suppose an annihilation at death; but believed the immortality of the soul, a future state after death of eternal life and bliss:

but he shall not return to me;
in the present mortal state, though at the resurrection they should meet again.

2 Samuel 12:23 In-Context

21 Then his servants said to him, "What [is] this thing that you have done? While the child [was] alive, you fasted and wept; [now] that the child has died, you get up and eat food!"

22 He said, "When the child [was] still alive, I fasted and I wept because I thought, 'Who knows? Yahweh may have mercy on me that the child will live.'

23 But now he [is] dead. Why [should I be] fasting? [Am] I able to return him again? I [am] going to him, but he cannot return to me."

24 David consoled Bathsheba his wife, and he went to her and slept with her. She bore a son, and he called him Solomon, and Yahweh loved him.

25 He sent [word] by the hand of Nathan the prophet, so he called him Jedidiah because of Yahweh.