2 Samuel 12 Study Notes

12:18-20 David threw his whole being into his prayers for his son but accepted God’s negative reply in faith.

12:21 David’s behavior after his child died contradicted what his servants thought might happen. Fasting normally followed the death of a loved one, but David ate food.

12:22 The king replied that he had been holding out hope that the Lord might let him live. One never knows the full extent of God’s grace (Jl 2:14; Jnh 3:9).

12:23 The king’s words I’ll go to him, but he will never return to me may be understood as meaning David would one day join his infant child in heaven. Another possibility is that David was affirming that he would join him one day in death, but the child would never join him in this life again.

12:24 God’s grace began anew in the lives of David and his wife Bathsheba. Their next child was Solomon, who would become Israel’s next king. Another mark of God’s grace was that the Lord loved Solomon.

12:25 Jedidiah, another name for Solomon, means “Beloved of the Lord.”

12:26 The account of Joab’s battle with the Ammonites that began in 11:1 now resumes. The royal fortress probably designates the part of the city where the palace stood.

12:27 Capturing a city’s water supply ensured that its defeat was imminent. Cities that anticipated a siege would use extreme measures to guard their water (2Ch 32:3-4,30).

12:28-29 Joab wanted David to lay siege to the city and finish the job he had all but accomplished. The distance from Jerusalem to Rabbah was about forty miles, but Joab was eager for the king to receive credit for the victory.

12:30 The placing of the former king’s crown . . . on David’s head symbolized the transfer of power from the Ammonite king to the king of Israel. David also dedicated the plunder to the Lord for the future temple’s construction (1Ch 29:2-5).

12:31 David enslaved the captive Ammonite citizens and put them to work with saws, iron picks, and iron axes, and to labor at brickmaking. All these tasks were heavy labor. They suggest that David was fortifying key cities and areas throughout his territory.