2 Samuel 12:20

20 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.

2 Samuel 12:20 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 12:20

Then David arose from the earth
From the floor on which he lay:

and washed, and anointed [himself], and changed his apparel;
neither of which he had done during his time of fasting:

and came into the house of the Lord, and worshipped;
went into the tabernacle he had built for the ark of God, and then in prayer submitted himself to the will of God, and acknowledged his justice in what he had done; gave thanks to God that he had brought him to a sense of his sin, and repentance for it, and had applied his pardoning grace to him, and given him satisfaction as to the eternal welfare and happiness of the child, as appears from ( 2 Samuel 12:23 ) ;

then he, came to his own house;
from the house of God, having finished his devotion there:

and when he required;
ordered food to be brought in:

they set bread before him, and he did eat:
whereas before, while the child was living, he refused to eat.

2 Samuel 12:20 In-Context

18 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?”

19 When David saw them whispering, he realized what had happened. “Is the child dead?” he asked. “Yes,” they replied, “he is dead.”

20 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.

21 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.”

22 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.’

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew anointed himself.