2 Samuel 12:13 And David said to Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said to David, The LORD also has put away your sin… I. AS THE SIN HAD BEEN PUBLIC, SO WAS HIS REPENTANCE, His penitent confession is recorded to the end of time, to be read by every child of God, and be made the vehicle of hearty confession by every penitent sinner until the day of judgment. II. HE PUTS UTTERLY OUT OF THE ACCOUNT ALL HIS FORMER FAITHFUL SERVICE; there is not so much as a hint of it; and if a person did not know how David had hitherto walked before the Lord, and been his faithful minister on many trying occasions in the Church of God, he could not have guessed it from any expression here. The truly contrite heart gives glory to God for all the good, and takes shame to itself for all the evil. Here is one of the difficult things in true repentance; how unwilling is the heart to lose sight of any thing which it can set against its sin! Even when it sees the vanity and sinfulness of doing this, it still clings to a lurking comfort in the thought of some merit; it is unwilling to forego every support of self-righteousness, to place itself at the bar of God's judgment, and to be found speechless without one word of defence; yet so David did. III. HIS REPENTANCE FOLLOWED UP BY ACTIONS. See the utter resignation with which he submits to the first instalment of his punishment in the death of the child; see, again, how humbly he bears the curse of Shimei, when he cries out, "Come out, come out, thou bloody man, and thou man of Belial;" thus cruelly reminding him of the very sins which we have been considering. How utterly dead was the spirit of self-justification in the heart of the man who could speak and act thus! IV. REPENTANCE IN ITS TRUE NATURE IS NOT THE WORK OF A CERTAIN NUMBER OF DAYS OR YEARS; IT LASTS THROUGH LIFE. As David says, "My sin is ever before me," and as David showed by his humbleness of heart to the end of his life. V. THE SIGHT OF HIS FORGIVENESS. God, who seeth the heart of man, saw the real worth of Erase words, "I have sinned against the Lord." He saw in them the deeds which followed them; He knew that they were not showy blossoms, that would soon drop off, without any setting of fruit, like flowers in an unsuitable climate; He saw in them the earnest of much and good fruit, as in a tree that is in its proper soil and genuine climate. The beginning and the end are at once in the sight of God, and He knew that the words came from a heart which would make them good by the help of His grace; and therefore He accepted David's repentance, and commissioned the prophet Nathan to say unto him, "The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die." (B. W. Evans, B. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. |
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