I Will Go to Him
16 David therefore begged God for the child; and David fasted, and went in and lay all night on the ground. 17 The elders of his house arose beside him, to raise him up from the earth; but he would not, and he didn’t eat bread with them. 18 On the seventh day, the child died. David’s servants were afraid to tell him that the child was dead, for they said, “Behold, while the child was yet alive, we spoke to him and he didn’t listen to our voice. How will he then harm himself if we tell him that the child is dead?” 19 But when David saw that his servants were whispering together, David perceived that the child was dead; and David said to his servants, “Is the child dead?” They said, “He is dead.” 20 Then David arose from the earth, and washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothing; and he came into Yahweh’s house, and worshiped. Then he came to his own house; and when he requested, they set bread before him and he ate. 21 Then his servants said to him, “What is this that you have done? You fasted and wept for the child while he was alive, but when the child was dead, you rose up and ate bread.” 22 He said, “While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept; for I said, ‘Who knows whether Yahweh will not be gracious to me, that the child may live?’ 23 But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.” 24 David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in to her, and lay with her. She bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. Yahweh loved him; 25 and he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet, and he named him Jedidiah, for Yahweh’s sake. 26 Now Joab fought against Rabbah of the children of Ammon, and took the royal city. 27 Joab sent messengers to David, and said, “I have fought against Rabbah. Yes, I have taken the city of waters. 28 Now therefore gather the rest of the people together, and encamp against the city and take it; lest I take the city, and it be called by my name.” 29 David gathered all the people together and went to Rabbah, and fought against it and took it. 30 He took the crown of their king from off his head; and its weight was a talent of gold, and in it were precious stones; and it was set on David’s head. He brought a great quantity of plunder out of the city. 31 He brought out the people who were in it, and put them to work under saws, under iron picks, under axes of iron, and made them go to the brick kiln; and he did so to all the cities of the children of Ammon. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem.
Seven days on the ground, then a washed face and a meal — and a second son whom God names Beloved.
David therefore begged God for the child; and David fasted, and went in and lay all night on the ground.
He has been told the child will die and he prays anyway, for seven days, refusing food and refusing to be raised from the floor. The sentence was announced by a prophet and David still treats God as free — who knows whether Yahweh will not be gracious to me? 2 Samuel 12:22. It is the same logic Nineveh's king used Jonah 3:9: while there is breath there is asking.
Then David arose from the earth, and washed and anointed himself, and changed his clothing; and he came into Yahweh’s house, and worshiped. Then he came to his own house; and when he requested, they set bread before him and he ate.
The servants expected collapse and got composure, in an order worth noticing: he washes, then worships, then eats. The worship comes before the meal and after the loss. His explanation is the plainest statement of grief's arithmetic in Scripture — while there was a chance, he fasted; now there is none, and fasting cannot reverse it 2 Samuel 12:23.
"But now he is dead. Why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me."
The last clause has comforted bereaved parents for three thousand years, and it is worth being careful about what it says and does not say. It says the child will not come back and that David is going where the child has gone — the common language of Scripture for death, where the dead sleep and wait Job 3:13 Psalms 13:3 John 11:11–14. It is not a claim about a conscious reunion in the moment of dying; it is a bereaved man's certainty that death is a road he will travel too, and that the child is at the end of it. The hope Scripture attaches to that road is resurrection 1 Thessalonians 4:13–16, and David's comfort is real without needing more than it says.
24 David comforted Bathsheba his wife, and went in to her, and lay with her. She bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. Yahweh loved him; 25 and he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet, and he named him Jedidiah, for Yahweh’s sake.
David comforts Bathsheba — the first time the account records him doing anything for her — and the son born of the marriage is given a second name by God through the same prophet who brought the indictment. Jedidiah means beloved of Yahweh. The house under sentence is not abandoned; the next king of Israel is born into it, and the covenant of chapter seven holds exactly as it promised 2 Samuel 7:14–15.
The chapter closes at Rabbah, where Joab has taken the city and pointedly summons the king to finish it so it will not be called by a general's name 2 Samuel 12:28. David comes, takes the crown, and puts the population to forced labor. The war that framed chapter eleven ends, and the king is back where kings go out — a year late.
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