In 1 Samuel 12, King David’s infant son dies (v18).
That in itself is hard for most readers. After we suffered a similar loss, my son asked me why God lets babies die. Our hearts naturally recoil at something so devastating. But the explanation for this particular death raises even more issues for the reader of the Bible. God tells David through the prophet Nathan that “Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the Lord, the child who is born to you shall die” (v14).
We are told that the Lord “afflicted” the child, who then became sick (v 15). David prayed and fasted, but to no avail. It is not simply that God allowed David’s son to die, but God made this a consequence of David’s sin and saw it through. This is enough to make the Christian reader wince, let alone the skeptic who will seize this passage and cry, “See—what kind of God do you worship?!”
How, then, do we treat such a passage and others that weigh heavily upon us?
Reading Difficult Bible Passages
First, remember that God is the author and interpreter of his word. We shouldn’t take away from his word by ignoring such passages or denying their inspiration. We also shouldn’t add to his word by providing “takes” that aren’t clearly evident in Scripture. Instead, we should approach these passages with humility and prayer.
Second, seek to understand the context. People do violence to the Bible when they cherry-pick proof texts. What is happening in the immediate context of the passage? How about in the broader biblical and redemptive history?
Our passage comes in the aftermath of David’s affair with Bathsheba, scandalous cover-up, and eventual murder of Bathsheba’s husband (and one of David’s mighty men), Uriah. And that episode was all the more tragic because David had finally become king, by God’s grace, after years of wandering and suffering.
At the height of David’s newfound reign over Israel, the prophet Nathan shared with him a promise from the Lord:
When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.— 2 Samuel 7:12–13
In other words, the offspring promised to Adam and Eve, who would eventually crush the head of the serpent, the offspring promised to Abraham, through whom the nations would be blessed—this offspring would also be king forever. This is what God promised to David through the prophet Nathan.
Now, David has failed catastrophically. And Nathan has the sad responsibility of delivering the bad news. David is guilty. He has betrayed a good and loving God, as well as sinning against Uriah and Bathsheba. He will see strife consume his family…and his baby will die.
A Look Into God’s Justice
Why did this baby die? How is it fair that a baby would die instead of David?
This is a fair question, and it is natural for us to ask it. Why? Because we are made in God’s image, instilled with a sense of justice and compassion for others made in his image—especially the weak and vulnerable. There is nothing wrong with recoiling at the death of a baby. In fact, we should all respond this way.
So this passage is problematic for us—but maybe the problem is the point. Let’s lean into that question that all of us ask: “Why did the baby die instead of David?” Keep asking it. David was guilty, not the baby. “Why did an innocent baby die instead of guilty David?” Keep going. “Why did this innocent, firstborn son die in the place of the guilty party?”
Oh.
In 2 Samuel 7, we are given a promise of a future king. In 1 Samuel 12, we are given a picture of what he would do…and why he would have to do it. Like David, we have all turned aside and have done what is evil in God’s sight (2 Sam. 12:9; Rom. 3:10-18). We are all conceived and born in the sin and guilt of Adam (Ps. 51:5). We don’t only need a king, but a savior-king.
Even David’s lost baby can rest in the One to come
Thus, we find ourselves confronted by a cross, where the greatest injustice that mankind could proffer was swallowed up by God’s perfect justice and mercy, intermingled. We ponder the cross, and recoil at the image of the innocent dying for the guilty. We ponder the cross and rejoice that he did it for you and me.
Even as the effects of sin extend into the very hiding places of the womb, so do the covenantal promises of God. As Peter reminded the crowd at Pentecost, “...the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself” (Acts 2:39). Though not David's greater son, that little baby’s salvation—like our own—will forever be bound to the Son of David whose grace knows no barriers.
“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21).
