David's Son, David's Savior

Third Sunday after Pentecost
Ruskin Heights Lutheran Church
June 13, 2010

2 Samuel 11:26—12:10, 13-15
“The Lord has forgiven you, and you won't die. Nonetheless, the child that is born to you shall die."


This story from Second Samuel is disturbing. There are some things I like, and one thing I detest.

- The courage and cleverness of the prophet in confronting the king; I like that.

- The king’s repentance and public confession; I like that.

- Both men - king and prophet - are justly remembered for this extraordinary moment, when the Word of the Lord came to the king; I like that.

But that baby boy.
It seems unfair, unjust that the father’s sin kills the child.
The boy doesn't even have a name.
I wish we had a name for this son of David.

This story has caused no small problem for theologians.
This infant stands with Job.
Their stories bear witness against facile answers to questions of God’s goodness and righteousness.

“The Lord has forgiven you, and you won't die."
Hooray for God's mercy.
"Nonetheless, the child that is born to you shall die."
No cheering here; only a stunned and pensive silence. “David’s son shall die.”
The sinner is forgiven and escapes with his life.
Yet the innocent son of David dies.

And in the Book of Job, Job suffers not because he has sinned, but exactly the opposite.
Job is innocent - the story says so - and it is in his innocence that God gives leave to Satan’s cruelty.
What was the point of Job’s suffering?
There is none . . .
. . .except to show that the Lord of heaven and earth is also the Lord of Satan.
That too is a disturbing story.

I wish that scripture eased my distress by providing a word of comfort or hope, or at least that it might have paid some more attention to this son of David.

Lots of Biblical commentators have tried to find a way to get God off the hook for what just does not seem right.

Some commentators say the child’s death was necessary because it was conceived through sin.
It would have been intolerable for a child conceived in this way to rule the nation. So God did what was necessary to preserve the Kingdom of Israel.
Yet “conceived in sin” is something known by all the children of Adam, kings and commoners.
It is not a satisfactory answer.

Others have pointed to the child’s death and David’s genuine distress (2 Sam 12:16-17).
This was a punishment given by God that was - for David - greater than David's own death.
Maybe.
But this still avoids the question of suffering inflicted upon the child, who hadn't done anything wrong except get born.

Some commentators take refuge in the mystery of God’s wisdom and goodness.
I call it “funeral home bromide.”
Conversations that go this way and that responding to senseless death, all to the effect that God's ways are holy and just and merciful; we just need to have faith.
End of discussion.

In this case, it is said, we have no way of knowing what suffering the child would have experienced had he lived.
How might this child have been marked off for early murder by palace intrigue or worse as David's illegitimate child?
This infant death imposed by God may very well have been God's mercy, preserving this child from something far worse.
So perhaps God was being merciful.
And trusting in God’s ultimate goodness, maybe we should simply say “The child is in a better place.”
I don’t like this either.
Senseless death by definition is senseless, and sometimes stupid, and a thing ought to be named for what it is.

This story of the death of David’s son has no satisfactory ending.
There is nothing happy or edifying, no lesson to take away, not if we look at it straight on.

As in the Book of Job, here too we are left with the impression God is capricious, arbitrary. Left by itself, God is capricious and arbitrary.

Everyone wants to explain suffering, to make the best of death. To explain it is to explain God.
Yet some things have no explanation. They do not yield to human rationalism. Some things are endured, and nothing else.

The best we can do with such a troubling story – with all the troubling stories of this life – is to look for Christ first in the places of brokenness we cannot understand.

Forget Christmas. Christmas is not the first place to seek Christ.
Forget Easter. Easter is not the first place to seek Christ.

The first place to look and the last place to look is always at the foot of the cross.

This son of David, condemned to death by the word of the prophet Nathan, should call to mind yet another Son of David, condemned to death by the word of Capiaphas, high priest in Jerusalem.

This little son of David died for the sins of one.
A greater Son of David died for the sins of all.
Like this little one, Jesus of Nazareth bore the death of sin for another.
And the purposes of God are fulfilled in this way, this strange and terrible and wonderful way.

Both lives served to unmask sin.
Both lives served the holy call to repentance and redemption.
Both suffered and died unjustly. Between these two sons of David there is a common bond in the purposes of God, fulfilled for salvation.

And if the Jesus we know through faith is real, this innocent little baby is truly redeemed.
This son of David is a forerunner of the Christ.

This small son of David has no name in Scripture.
Yet I think his name must be Yeshua – Jesus.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.