What is the context?
The LORD sends Nathan to David with a story. A rich man has many animals, while a poor man cherishes one ewe lamb as part of his household. When a traveler arrives, the rich man takes the poor man’s lamb for the meal instead of using his own.
David burns with anger, declares that the man deserves to die, and orders repayment four times over. He recognizes the cruelty of someone who has plenty taking another person’s treasured possession. He has not yet recognized himself in the story.
How is this passage commonly understood?
Henry reads the story as a careful way of bringing David to judge his own conduct before he realizes the application. Nathan approaches the king indirectly, then will identify the wrong plainly.
Wesley notes the contrast between David’s severity toward another person and his indulgence toward himself. The fourfold repayment fits Exodus 22:1, but David’s declaration that the man deserves death goes beyond that law’s penalty for taking a sheep. His anger at another person’s lack of pity stands beside his own treatment of Uriah.
What is our position?
We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.