In 2 Samuel 12:7-12 Nathan’s brings God’s word against David
for his sin. This word includes “Now therefore the sword shall never depart
from your house because you have despised Me …” (verse 10).
David then in verse 13 says I have sinned and Nathan says
that God has put away your sin. He then says “because by this deed you have
given great occasion to the enemies of the Lord to blaspheme, the child also
who is born to you shall surely die (verse 14).
The question which arises from vs 13 is “If David’s sin was
put away by God, why was the punishment of vs 10 not put away?”
Is the punishment like Karma, a must that cannot be avoided
and only escape from banishment to hell the only protection in Jesus Christ? That
is not acceptable in the light of Jonah’s preaching turning away the
destruction of Nineveh, at least temporarily.
Is there then an alternative understanding of verse 10 not
as a punishment but a prophecy of the consequence of the sin? Just as excessive
drinking leads to a ‘cirrhosis of the liver’ so the despising of God by David
led to despising of God by his children and resultant internecine fighting. Can
verse 10 be interpreted as a prophecy instead of a judgement? Or possibly both?
Does that mean that the consequences cannot be reversed
while the punishment can? That would be pushing God into a box. I would rather
say that the ‘cirrhosis’ can be cured miraculously and so the consequence
avoided, but this is not the norm by which God works. Usually we go through the
consequences with God at our side.
I think there is a difference between penalty of sin and consequence of sin. Penalty of sin is death. Romans 6:23. While the consequence of sin is what follows due to sin in this life. Again Galatians says a man will reap what he sows.
ReplyDeleteThere are actually 3 different events the last two of which may overlap. Punishment, consequence and chastisement. The first is when we do not come to God. The third when God is calling me back. The second is consequential. Now verse 10 is not the first. The fact that it was not cancelled on David's return to God shows it is not the third. It would then appear to be a prophecy of the consequence.
ReplyDeleteGod forgives our sins and save us from eternal separation (hell). on this earth punishment and consequence of sin is death, physical death. Physical death is a process, human body/cells is dying over the time. The observer should see entirety of a human life, full life time span, not the selected interval of time. Then the consequences of sin is very evident in human death process.
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