2 Samuel 12:20 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
2 Samuel 12:20
Then David arose from the earth, and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel, and came into the house of the LORD, and worshipped: then he came to his own house; and when he required, they set bread before him, and he did eat.
a dress · noun, common feminine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
came
וַיָּבֹ֥אvai.ya.Vo'
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
house
בֵיתveit-
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine singular construct
LORD
יְהוָ֖הYah.weh
H3068
Jehovah · proper noun, a title
worshipped
וַיִּשְׁתָּ֑חוּvai.yish.Ta.chu
H7812
to depress · conjunction + verb, sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
came
וַיָּבֹא֙vai.ya.Vo'
H935
to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
house
בֵּית֔וֹbei.To
H1004
a house (in the greatest variation of applications · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
required
וַיִּשְׁאַ֕לvai.yish.'Al
H7592
to inquire · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
set
וַיָּשִׂ֥ימוּvai.ya.Si.mu
H7760
to put (used in a great variety of applications · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
bread
לֶ֖חֶםLe.chem
H3899
food (for man or beast) · noun, common masculine singular absolute
eat
וַיֹּאכַֽלvai.yo.Khal
H398
to eat (literally or figuratively) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Job 1:20 Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,
Ruth 3:3 Wash thyself therefore, and anoint thee, and put thy raiment upon thee, and get thee down to the floor: but make not thyself known unto the…
Lamentations 3:39-41 Wherefore doth a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
2 Samuel 7:18 Then went king David in, and sat before the LORD, and he said, Who am I, O Lord GOD? and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hithert…
Job 2:10 But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not r…
Ecclesiastes 9:8 Let thy garments be always white; and let thy head lack no ointment.
Matthew 6:17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
2 Samuel 6:17 And they brought in the ark of the LORD, and set it in his place, in the midst of the tabernacle that David had pitched for it: and David of…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on 2 Samuel 12:15-25
Nathan, having delivered his message, staid not at court, but went home, probably to pray for David, to whom he had been preaching. God, in making use of him as an instrument to bring David to repentance, and as the herald both of mercy and judgment, put an honour upon the ministry, and magnified his word above all his name. David named one of his sons by Bath-sheba Nathan, in honour of this prophet (Ch1 3:5), and it was that son of whom Christ, the great prophet, lineally descended, Luk 3:31. When Nathan retired, David, it is probable, retired likewise, and penned the 51st Psalm, in which (though he had been assured that his sin was pardoned) he prays earnestly for pardon, and greatly lamen…
the Lord struck the child . . . and it was very sick--The first visible chastisement inflicted on David appeared on the person of that child which was the evidence and monument of his guilt. His domestics were surprised at his conduct, and in explanation of its singularity, it is necessary to remark that the custom in the East is to leave the nearest relative of a deceased person to the full and undisturbed indulgence of his grief, till on the third or fourth day at farthest (Joh 11:17). Then the other relatives and friends visit him, invite him to eat, lead him to a bath, and bring him a change of dress, which is necessary from his having sat or lain on the ground. The surprise of David's s…
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.
John Gill on 2 Samuel 12:20
Then David arose from the earth,.... From the floor on which he lay:
and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel; neither of which he had done during his time of fasting:
and came into the house of the Lord, and worshipped; went into the tabernacle he had built for the ark of God, and then in prayer submitted himself to the will of God, and acknowledged his justice in what he had done; gave thanks to God that he had brought him to a sense of his sin, and repentance for it, and had applied his pardoning grace to him, and given him satisfaction as to the eternal welfare and happiness of the child, as appears from 2 Samuel 12:23,
then he, came to his own house; from the house o…
The Church Fathers
Thus David wept for his son who was about to die; he did not grieve for him when dead. He wept that he might not be snatched from him, but he ceased to weep when he was snatched away, for he knew that he was with Christ. And that you may know what I declare is true, he wept for his incestuous son Amnon when he was killed, and he mourned for the parricide Absalom when he perished, saying, "My son Absalom, my son Absalom!" He did not think the innocent son should be mourned, because he believed that the others had perished for their crime but that the latter would live on account of his innocence.Therefore, you have no reason for grieving excessively over your brother. He was born a man, he was subject to human frailty.
Holy David lost two sons. One was guilty of incest, the other of fratricide. To have had them caused him shame; to have lost them brought him grief. He also lost a third, a child whom he loved. He wept over him while he was still alive, but he did not long for him after he died. For so we read that when the boy fell sick, David besought the Lord for him and fasted and lay upon sackcloth, and, although the elders approached him and tried to make him get up from the ground, he resolved neither to rise nor to eat. After he learned that the boy was dead, however, he arose from the ground, bathed upon the spot, anointed himself, changed clothing, worshiped the Lord and took food. Since this seemed strange to his servants, he answered that while the child was still alive, he had rightly fasted and wept, because he justly thought that God might pity him and was certain that he who could restore the dead to life could surely preserve the life of one still living. But now that the child was dead, why should he fast, since he could not bring him back from death and restore him to life. "I shall go to him rather;" he said, "but he shall not return to me."What greater consolation to a mourner! What a true judgment from a wise man! What wonderful wisdom exhibited by a servant! [Thus] no one should protest that some misfortune has befallen him and complain that he has been afflicted contrary to his merit. For who are you to proclaim your merit beforehand? Why do you desire to anticipate your judge? Why do you snatch the verdict from the mouth of him who is going to pronounce it?
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Bath, Bathing — This was a prescribed part of the Jewish ritual of purification in cases of accident, or of leprous or ordinary uncleanness, (Leviticus 15; 16:28; 22:6; Numbers 19:7; 19; 2 Samuel 11:2,4; 2 Kings…
David — Beloved, the eighth and youngest son of Jesse, a citizen of Bethlehem. His father seems to have been a man in humble life. His mother’s name is not recorded. Some think she was the Nahash of 2 Sam.…
Solomon — Peaceful, (Heb. Shelomoh), David’s second son by Bathsheba, i.e., the first after their legal marriage (2 Sam. 12). He was probably born about B.C. 1035 (1 Chr. 22:5; 29:1). He succeeded his father…
Afflicted Saints · Examples of afflicted Saints:: David — Examples of afflicted Saints:: David
Anointing · Omitted in mourning — Omitted in mourning
Bereavement · Of his child by Bath-sheba — Of his child by Bath-sheba
Children · Resignation manifested at loss of — Resignation manifested at loss of
Church · HOUSE OF THE LOR — HOUSE OF THE LOR
Parents · .David — .David
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
David's Penitential Grief, and the Birth of Solomon. - Sa2 12:15. The last-mentioned punishment was inflicted without delay. When Nathan had gone home, the Lord smote the child, so that it became very ill.
Sa2 12:16-17
Then David sought God (in prayer) for the boy, and fasted, and went and lay all night upon the earth. וּבא, "he came," not into the sanctuary of the Lord (Sa2 12:20 is proof to the contrary), but into his house, or into his chamber, to pour out his heart before God, and bend beneath His chastising hand, and refused the appeal of his most confidential servants, who tried to raise him up, and strengthen him with food. "The elders of his house," judging from Gen 24:2, were the ol…
The series of actions described here show David resuming normal life activities. That he did so this soon after his son’s death amazed his advisers (12:21).
Rashi on 2 Samuel 12:17
And he did not eat. [A word] denoting eating like [we find], "I will eat from her hand."7Later, 13:6.
