Nathan’s Story

Nathan’s Story

Q: In the story Nathan told David, what was the only thing the poor man had?

• a. his home and children
• b. two donkeys
• c. one little lamb

David is described in the Bible as a man after God’s own heart, but that doesn’t mean he never sinned. David tried to follow God’s ways, but he messed up at times. One of those times was with Bathsheba.

Even though Bathsheba was married to someone else, she became pregnant with David’s child. David tried covering it up by having Bathsheba’s husband, Uriah, moved to the front battle lines where the fighting was most fierce so he’d be killed. After Bathsheba’s time of mourning for her husband Uriah was up, she married David and gave birth to their son.

The prophet Nathan told David a story. There were two men; one was rich and one was poor. The rich man had many sheep and cattle, but the poor man had only one lamb. When a traveler visited the rich man, instead of killing one of his many sheep to feed the guest, the rich man killed the lamb belonging to the poor man.

David was angry. He demanded the rich man repay the poor man with four lambs. Then Nathan told David the rich man represented David, and the poor man represented Uriah. David was wealthy and had more than one wife, but he’d taken Uriah’s wife and had Uriah killed.

David realized how wrong he’d been. He confessed his sin but still had to face the consequences. The baby born to David and Bathsheba died. It was a sad time, but it was also a reminder that although God forgave David, his sin had consequences.

For You

It’s better to confess your sins and face the punishment than try to cover them up and face even worse consequences later. It may be hard to be truthful about something you’ve done, but confess it and move on.

Answer: c

One day a guest arrived at the home of the rich man. But instead of killing an animal from his own flock or herd, he took the poor man’s lamb and killed it and prepared it for his guest.   2 Samuel 12:4

(The Whole Story: 2 Samuel 11:1–12:20)