2 Samuel 12:20

20 David stood up from the ground and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothing. Then he went [to] the house of Yahweh and worshiped, and he went to his [own] house. He asked, so they served him food, and he 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 It happened on the seventh day that the child died, and the servants of David [were] afraid to tell him that the child [was] dead, for they said, "Look, when the child [was] alive, we spoke to him, but he would not listen to our voice. How can we tell him, 'The child [is] dead'? He may do [something] evil."

19 When David saw that his servants [were] whispering together, he realized that the child [was] dead. Then David said to his servants, "[Is] the child dead?" And they said, "He [is] dead."

20 David stood up from the ground and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothing. Then he went [to] the house of Yahweh and worshiped, and he went to his [own] house. He asked, so they served him food, and he ate.

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.'