2 Samuel 12:15-22

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Samuel 12:20

David arose from the earth , and washed - Bathing, anointing the body, and changing the apparel, are the first outward signs among the Hindoos of coming out of a state of mourning or sickness. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Samuel 12:22

Who can tell - David, and indeed all others under the Mosaic dispensation, were so satisfied that all God's threatenings and promises were conditional, that even in the most positive assertions relative to judgments, etc., they sought for a change of purpose. And notwithstanding the positive declaration of Nathan, relative to the death of the child, David sought for its life, not knowing but that might depend on some unexpressed condition, such as earnest prayer, fasting, humiliation,... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Samuel 12:15-23

( THE PALACE AND THE TABERNACLE .) David's behaviour in affliction. In one of the chambers of David's palace his little child lies smitten with a fatal malady. In another the king, divested of his royal robes and clothed in sackcloth, prostrates himself in profound sorrow and abasement. He prays, weeps, fasts, and lies all night upon the ground. His oldest and most confidential servants endeavour to comfort him, and beseech him to take food, in vain. At length the blow falls;... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Samuel 12:15-31

The facts are: 1 . The child born to David becoming very sick, he entreats God for its life by prayer and fasting. 2 . He persists in refusing the consolations which the elders of his household offer him. 3 . The child dying on the seventh day and David observing the whisperings of his servants, at once ascertains by direct inquiry the certainty of it. 4 . His servants noticing that, on ascertaining the fact of the child's death, he lays aside the tokens of grief and resumes... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Samuel 12:16

David … went in. He went, not into the sanctuary, which he did not enter until after the child's death, but into some private room in his own house. There he remained, passing his nights stretched on the ground, and fasting until the seventh day. His fasting does not imply that he took no food during this long interval, but that he abstained from the royal table, and ate so much only as was necessary to maintain life. Now, what was the meaning of this privacy and abstinence? Evidently it was... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Samuel 12:20

Then David arose from the earth. If David's grief had been occasioned by love for the child, then its death and the consciousness that, while his guilt had caused its sickness, his prayers had not availed to save it, would have aggravated his anguish. There was much personal regard for the child, which had been made the more precious by these very eyelets. But David's sorrow was, as we have seen, that of penitence, and not that of natural affection. When, therefore, the threatened penalty... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Samuel 12:22

God ; Hebrew, Jehovah, usually rendered "Lord." Similarly in Genesis 6:5 in the Authorized Version we find God in capital letters, as here, for the Hebrew Jehovah. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Samuel 12:22-23

An infant's illness and death. This part of the narrative introduces us to a spectacle which, in its main features, is common enough. A child sickening and dying, a parent striving with God in prayer and fasting for its life, but striving in vain. But there are peculiar circumstances here which give the scene a special interest. I. THE CHILD 'S FATAL SICKNESS . 1 . The cause of it. The sufferings and deaths of little children are painful to witness, and awaken many... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 2 Samuel 12:16-17

The death of the infant child of one of the numerous harem of an Oriental monarch would in general be a matter of little moment to the father. The deep feeling shown by David on this occasion is both an indication of his affectionate and tender nature, and also a proof of the strength of his passion for Bath-sheba. He went into his most private chamber, his closet Matthew 6:6, and “lay upon the earth” 2 Samuel 13:31, rather “the ground,” meaning the floor of his chamber as opposed to his couch. read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - 2 Samuel 12:15-16

2 Samuel 12:15-16. The Lord struck the child With some sudden and dangerous distemper. David besought God for the child Supposing the threatening might be conditional, and so the execution of it prevented by prayer. And went in Namely, into his closet to pray, solitarily and earnestly. Or, perhaps, into the sanctuary, where the ark of God was; where he lay all night on the earth Humbling himself, mourning, repenting, weeping, praying, with all the agonies of the most bitter grief. read more

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Samuel 12:20

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Samuel 12:22

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Samuel 12:15-23

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Samuel 12:15-31

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Samuel 12:16

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Samuel 12:20

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Samuel 12:22

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Samuel 12:22-23

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 2 Samuel 12:16-17

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - 2 Samuel 12:15-16

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