2 Samuel 12:25

And he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet; and he called his name Jedidiah, because of the LORD.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(25) Jedidiah.—It does not appear that this name (beloved of the Lord) was intended to do more than express the Divine acceptance of Solomon; and it never came into use as a personal title.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

12:15-25 David now penned the 51st Psalm, in which, though he had been assured that his sin was pardoned, he prays earnestly for pardon, and greatly laments his sin. He was willing to bear the shame of it, to have it ever before him, to be continually upbraided with it. God gives us leave to be earnest with him in prayer for particular blessings, from trust in his power and general mercy, though we have no particular promise to build upon. David patiently submitted to the will of God in the death of one child, and God made up the loss to his advantage, in the birth of another. The way to have creature comforts continued or restored, or the loss made up some other way, is cheerfully to resign them to God. God, by his grace, particularly owned and favoured that son, and ordered him to be called Jedidiah, Beloved of the Lord. Our prayers for our children are graciously and as fully answered when some of them die in their infancy, for they are well taken care of, and when others live, beloved of the Lord.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Solomon - Or "peaceable," a name given to him at his circumcision. Compare Luke 1:59. The giving of the name Jedidiah, by the Lord through Nathan, signified God's favor to the child, as in the cases of Abraham, Sarah, and Israel. The name Jedidiah (which contains the same root as the name David, namely, "to love") indicated, prophetically, what God's Providence brought about actually, namely, the succession and glorious reign of Solomon over Israel.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

2Sa 12:24, 25. Solomon Is Born.

24, 25. Bath-sheba … bare a son, and he called his name Solomon—that is, "peaceable." But Nathan gave him the name of Jedediah, by command of God, or perhaps only as an expression of God's love. This love and the noble gifts with which he was endowed, considering the criminality of the marriage from which he sprang, is a remarkable instance of divine goodness and grace.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Either because of the Lord’s love to him, as the name signifies; or because the Lord commanded him to do so.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet,.... Either David did; he sent by him to Bathsheba, to acquaint her with the name of the child, that it was to be Solomon; which is not so likely: or "he, David, delivered it into the hand of Nathan the prophet"; to educate it, instruct it, and bring it up in the nurture of the Lord; or rather the Lord sent a message by Nathan the prophet to David, that he loved Solomon:

and he called his name Jedidiah, because of the Lord: that is, David also called him by this name, because of the love of the Lord unto him; for Jedidiah signifies "the beloved of the Lord"; a name and character which well agrees with the Messiah, Solomon's antitype, Matthew 3:17.

Geneva Study Bible

And he sent by the hand of Nathan the {p} prophet; and {q} he called his name Jedidiah, because of the LORD.

(p) To call him Solomon.

(q) Meaning, David.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

25. he sent by the hand of Nathan, &c.] Jehovah commissioned Nathan (for the phrase cp. Exodus 4:13) to give the boy a second name, which he did accordingly. This is the meaning of the text as it stands: but some commentators would alter it slightly in accordance with the Vulgate, and render he (David) committed him to the hand of Nathan, that he might take charge of his education. But the explanation is doubtful, and there is no further trace of the fact, though it has been very generally supposed that Nathan was Solomon’s tutor.

Jedidiah] That is Beloved of Jah. Cp. Deuteronomy 33:12; Psalm 127:2. It is derived from the same root as David, which means beloved or darling. The name was given “because of the Lord,” i.e. because Jehovah loved the child; and it served as a pledge to David that he was again fully received into God’s favour.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 25. - He sent. Some commentators make David the subject of the sentence, and translate, "And he, David, sent in the hand of Nathan, and called," etc. They suppose that this means that Nathan was entrusted with Solomon's education; but "in the hand" is the ordinary Hebrew preposition, meaning "by," and the sense plainly is that God sent a message by Nathan. David had already called the child Solomon, and now Jehovah, some years afterwards, gives him an indication of his special favour by naming him Yedidyah. The word is formed from the same root as David, that is, "lovely," with the addition of the Divine name. As we have already pointed out, this was no slight matter, but the virtual selection of Solomon to be David's successor, and probably, therefore, was delayed until he had given indica of his great intellectual gifts. His elder brothers would not be passed over without valid reasons. 2 Samuel 12:25

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

2 Samuel 12:23 is paraphrased very correctly by Clericus: "I shall go to the dead, the dead will not come to me." - 2 Samuel 12:24. David then comforted his wife Bathsheba, and lived with her again; and she bare a son, whom he called Solomon, the man of peace (cf. 1 Chronicles 22:9). David gave the child this name, because he regarded his birth as a pledge that he should now become a partaker again of peace with God, and not from any reference to the fact that the war with the Ammonites was over, and peace prevailed when he was born; although in all probability Solomon was not born till after the capture of Rabbah and the termination of the Ammonitish war. His birth is mentioned here simply because of its connection with what immediately precedes. The writer adds (in 2 Samuel 12:24, 2 Samuel 12:25), "And Jehovah loved him, and sent by the hand (through the medium) of Nathan the prophet; and he called his son Jedidiah (i.e., beloved of Jehovah), for Jehovah's sake." The subject to ויּשׁלח (he sent) cannot be David, because this would not yield any appropriate sense, but must be Jehovah, the subject of the clause immediately preceding. "To send by the hand," i.e., to make a mission by a person (vid., Exodus 4:13, etc.), is equivalent to having a commission performed by a person, or entrusting a person with a commission to another. We learn from what follows, in what the commission with which Jehovah entrusted Nathan consisted: "And he (Nathan, not Jehovah) called his (the boy's) name Jedidiah." And if Nathan is the subject to "called," there is nothing to astonish in the expression "because of the Lord." The idea is this: Nathan came to David according to Jehovah's instructions, and gave Solomon the name Jedidiah for Jehovah's sake, i.e., because Jehovah loved him. The giving of such a name was a practical declaration on the part of Jehovah that He loved Solomon, from which David could and was intended to discern that the Lord had blessed his marriage with Bathsheba. Jedidiah, therefore, was not actually adopted as Solomon's name.