SAMUEL - Week 6

In lieu of a blog last week, we have a two for one today. But more than convenience, there are two passages of huge importance to reflect on – one from last week’s readings and one from this week.

In 2 Samuel 7, David surveys his surroundings and, in a moment of rest, feels a sense of discomfort.

He is living in a palace of cedar, but the ark of God is still dwelling in a tent. His instinct is to build a house for the Lord, a structure worthy of divine presence. It seems noble. Nathan, the prophet, initially agrees. But then God intervenes.

God’s response might surprise you.

 “Are you the one to build me a house to live in?” (2 Sam 7:5, NRSV).

It becomes clear that God is not in need of David’s construction project. Instead, the promise is reversed: God will build David a house. Not a physical building, but a dynasty. The play on the word “house” becomes central. David offers a structure; God promises a future.

This covenant is pivotal. It anchors the Davidic line in God’s plan for Israel, and ultimately for the world. It is not based on David’s achievements, but on God’s own commitment. The initiative is entirely divine -David receives rather than earns. This has resonated through centuries of Jewish and Christian reflection on kingship, messiah, and grace.

However, covenant does not exempt David from failure. In fact, the strength of the promise seems designed to withstand it.

A few chapters later, we get this slightly ominous opening to chapter 11:

 “In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle… David remained at Jerusalem” (2 Sam 11:1).

This is a deliberate signal. David is not where he is meant to be, and what follows unfolds accordingly.

He sees Bathsheba bathing. The language is clinical, with little emotional detail. Bathsheba is identified as “the wife of Uriah” (v.3) even after the encounter, reinforcing her identity not as a romantic interest but as someone else's spouse. David knows it. The narrative knows it. But he proceeds anyway. David sends for her, ‘lies’ with her, and soon after learns she is pregnant.

His response is not repentance, but a cover-up that escalates into the orchestrated death of Uriah.

It is a story of power misused. Uriah, a foreigner and a soldier of integrity, refuses to enjoy comfort while his comrades are at war. David, by contrast, shows a failing of judgement and reveals a darker part of his heart. “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting… then draw back from him,” he tells Joab (v.15). The command is calculated and cold.

And yet the turning point arrives with stark simplicity:

“But the thing that David had done displeased the Lord” (v.27).

This is more than moral disapproval. It is divine rejection of behaviour that violates both justice and covenant.

Nathan’s confrontation in chapter 12 is amazing. I don’t know if you’ve ever been in a situation where you’ve had to pull someone up on something they’ve done, but you’d have to be fairly bold to follow Nathan’s example. He uses a bit of creativity to make his point.

He tells a parable about a rich man stealing a poor man’s only lamb. David, outraged, declares that the man deserves to die. Then Nathan delivers the line: “You are the man” (12:7). There is no escaping the accusation.

“I have sinned against the Lord” (v.13). David’s response is brief, but appears sincere. Nathan replies that David’s life will be spared, but the consequences will still come. The child born of the affair dies. The sword will not depart from David’s house. Yet even here, God does not revoke the covenant. The promise stands, not because David is righteous, but because God is faithful.

These chapters force us to hold together grace and accountability. The Davidic covenant is not a reward for moral excellence. It is a divine decision to work through human history, with all its mess and failure. David’s actions in chapters 11–12 do not cancel the promise of chapter 7, but they do bring pain, both to himself and others.

The narrative invites reflection on the kind of “house” God values. David wants to build a structure; God is more interested in building a people, a future, and a story of redemption.

Sometimes, the most significant work God does is not through our projects, but in spite of them.