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1. The permission of evil is an insoluble mystery. Perhaps the only light which ran be thrown upon it is to be found in the words of St. , "God has judged it better to work good out of evil than to allow no evil. For seeing that He is supremely Good. He would in no way permit evil to be in His works, unless He were also Almighty as well as Good, so as to be able to bring good even out of evil. In dealing with evil, He manifests His perfections — as the light of the sun becomes the rainbow with its beauteous colours, when it falls on the dark, dissolving cloud. The wisdom of God, for instance, becomes visible in the way in which, notwithstanding the interruptions and collisions of sin, His purposes are worked out. "Any one can be a pilot on a calm sea."

2. Our thoughts are directed to a very remarkable instance of the permission of evil. It is remarkable, when we remember the description of David from the lips of Samuel, "The Lard hath sought Him a man after His own heart." Some take the expression in its widest extent — one who is in mind and will clearly and fully conformed to the mind and will of God; whilst others seem to interpret it of one trait in David's character — that of benevolence towards enemies. Perhaps the incongruity of the Divine estimate of David and his subsequent conduct is confined to his fall.

I. THE PUNISHMENT FOR SIN.

1. It is first to be noticed that the sin itself had been pardoned. The history shows us that pardoned sin may have penal consequences. The removal of the guilt (culpa) does not necessarily include the removal of the penalty (poena). David was pardoned for the breaches of the sixth and seventh commandments, although the guilt of sin is not transferable (Ezekiel 18:20), the penalty is. The death, which was the penalty of David's sin, was inflicted on the child.

3. Then the necessity for the punishment by the death of the child is traced by the Prophet not only to the intrinsic evil of the sin, but to the accidental aggravation which belonged to it from the circumstance that it was the king and prophet who had done this thing, and therefore had caused grievous scandal — "had given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme" (ver. 14).

4. In this instance, the terrible list of calamities which were to befall David and his house are distinctly traceable to David's sin. They were its punishment and medicine. Suffering was necessary to show the Divine abhorrence of evil; and the Jew, who ever regarded sin and suffering as closely linked together, would be quick to read the signs of Divine wrath.

II. HOW DID DAVID BEAR IT?

1. The child is "very sick." For seven days the glow of life still lingered in the wasting form, and the king fasted and prayed, and fell prostrate upon the earth before his God, neither changing his apparel nor eating bread. This is not only a picture of natural affection, but also of evident anxiety for a sign that the wrath of God was stayed. Whilst we have here what Paley calls the "naturalness" of Scripture, we have also the penitent seeking a mark of restoration to Divine favour.

2. "While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept," etc. It has been asked whether it was right to pray for the continuance of the child's life, after the Prophet's declaration that the child should "surely die." In other words, whether David was trying to change or bend the Divine will into conformity with his will, after that will had been declared. Either David believed the wards of the Prophet, or he did not. If he believed them, and yet prayed, that would be madness; if he believed not, that would be sin (Tostatus). The answer seems to be this: David regarded the declaration of Nathan as minatory. He thought to avert its accomplishment by prayer and fasting and tears. He was not certain about the Divine will: and God's threatenings, like His promises, are conditional.

III. WHAT WAS HIS STAY?

1. Belief in another world. "I shall go to him."

2. No mock immortality could be this — the survival of matter, of fame, of ideas, of race, or of some vague, shadowy existence — a transient air-people." But a solid belief in a continuance of our personal existence, and in future personal recognition — "I shall go to him" — that alone could sustain the mourner in the presence of death.

IV. LESSONS: —

1. Here is an instance of the terrible truth, "Be sure your sin will find you out" (Numbers 32:23), and that temporal penalties follow upon forgiven sin. Hate sin.

2. Let the sinner seek, as David, by prayer and self-affliction and tears, to avert sin's penalties, until there is some irrevocable manifestation of the Divine will.

3. Imitate His constant conformity, when that will has been made clearly known.

4. Let the hope "full of immortality" be our stay in our dark hour. .No "counterfeit immortality," but the continuance, in s higher sphere of being, of the conscious, complete, personal existence, now certified by Christ's resurrection. This can give patience in suffering and solace in death.

(The Thinker.)

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KJV: Howbeit, because by this deed thou hast given great occasion to the enemies of the LORD to blaspheme, the child also that is born unto thee shall surely die.

WEB: However, because by this deed you have given great occasion to Yahweh's enemies to blaspheme, the child also who is born to you shall surely die."