How’s Your Judgment?

Two men offered judgments in 2 Samuel 12:1–7 (NIV). One was a king, and the other was a prophet.

The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, “There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor. The rich man had a very large number of sheep and cattle, but the poor man had nothing except one little ewe lamb he had bought. He raised it, and it grew up with him and his children. It shared his food, drank from his cup and even slept in his arms. It was like a daughter to him.

“Now a traveler came to the rich man, but the rich man refrained from taking one of his own sheep or cattle to prepare a meal for the traveler who had come to him. Instead, he took the ewe lamb that belonged to the poor man and prepared it for the one who had come to him.”

David burned with anger against the man and said to Nathan, “As surely as the Lord lives, the man who did this must die! He must pay for that lamb four times over, because he did such a thing and had no pity.’”

Then Nathan said to David, “You are the man!”

Can you imagine the sucker punch David must have felt? Here he was upset about the theft of a lamb, and it turns out Nathan was confronting him about his theft of Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah.

We don’t know how quickly David realized Nathan’s story was designed to help him examine his own heart, but David does humbly confess his sin. Verse 13 is a beautiful summary of God’s grace:

Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

Nathan replied, “The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die.”

My Bible Study Fellowship notes summarize verse 13 this way: “The prophet’s words pierced David’s defenses. The Holy Spirit is at work whenever a hard heart stops hiding sin and repents.”

Nathan and David’s two judgments stand in contrast to each other.

We don’t know what Nathan’s opinion was regarding David’s sin and its consequences. I can’t imagine that Nathan wasn’t angry; the king of Israel had committed heinous sins against God. But he confronted David out of obedience to God and delivered God’s judgment. And I believe Nathan’s obedience paved the way for the Holy Spirit to work.

David, on the other hand, thought the story Nathan was telling him was true, and he was willing to kill the thief of the lamb. David was called a man after God’s own heart, but he was still human, and one thing we’re all capable of as humans is having a short fuse.

The New Testament warns us to avoid impulsive judgments like David’s. James 1:19–20 says, “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires” (NIV). And Matthew 7:5 says “You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye” (NIV).

While David didn’t have the New Testament to guide him, he did have the opportunity to pause and inquire of the Lord before condemning someone to death. He also could have taken time to listen a little longer to make sure he understood the whole story.

I wonder if David would have been so quick to pass such harsh judgment on the thief of a lamb if first he had done a little soul searching and examined his own sins.

As I consider Nathan and David in 2 Samuel 12, I have to ask myself what steps I can take to make sure my judgment mirrors Nathan’s rather than David’s.

Here are my observations:

1. Nathan went to David at God’s command and delivered God’s judgment.
2. Nathan was quick to listen to David’s confession and extend God’s grace.
3. After he did what God told him to do, Nathan went back to his job.
4. When David came to the temple with Solomon, Nathan blessed the child. He didn’t hold a grudge or continue to shame David for his past.

Second Samuel 11 and 12 are tough chapters in David’s history. He made a series of bad choices and foolishly thought he could cover them up, but God redeemed him because he repented.

We all need people like Nathan in our lives, those who are willing to help us examine our hearts and help us repent when we offend the Lord. I believe the lesson we learn in 2 Samuel is that while God might ask us to confront a fellow believer, we are not to substitute our opinion of appropriate consequences for his. As James 1:20 says, “Human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires” (NIV). Thankfully, God’s grace covers me as I learn to be more like Nathan.

Beth Walker is a football coach’s wife and mom of two energetic boys. She strives to encourage those around her to pursue their best lives in Jesus whether she is near the game field, in church, or at the local coffee shop. As a writer, Beth has been striving to find her voice through seeing Jesus in the ordinary and extraordinary of daily life. She blogs at Lessons from the Sidelines.

Photograph © Aaron Burden, used with permission