2 Samuel 12:1
ESV
And the Lord sent Nathan to David. He came to him and said to him, "There were two men in a certain city, the one rich and the other poor.
NIV
The Lord sent Nathan to David. When he came to him, he said, "There were two men in a certain town, one rich and the other poor.
NASB
Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. And he came to him and said, 'There were two men in a city, the one wealthy and the other poor.
CSB
So the Lord sent Nathan to David. When he arrived, he said to him: There were two men in a certain city, one rich and the other poor.
NLT
So the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to tell David this story: 'There were two men in a certain town. One was rich, and one was poor.
KJV
And the Lord sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.
NKJV
Then the Lord sent Nathan to David. And he came to him, and said to him: “There were two men in one city, one rich and the other poor.
What does 2 Samuel 12:1 mean?
David has grossly sinned against one of his great warriors and the man's wife. He thinks no one knows the extent of his betrayal. He thinks no one will confront him (2 Samuel 11).Ever since Abiathar witnessed Saul's massacre of the priests of Nob and escaped to David and his ragtag group of fighting men, David has consistently asked priests, prophets, and seers to seek God's will (1 Samuel 22:5, 18–21; 23:1–5; 2 Samuel 5:19, 23–24). This time, it appears David isn't listening—or, at least, he's not taking an active role. So, God tells Nathan to initiate the conversation.
In keeping with God's wisdom, Nathan isn't direct. There's no telling how an ancient Middle Eastern king would react if Nathan stomped into the throne room and began casting accusations. Nathan needs David to correctly judge the situation. Ideally, David needs to pronounce sentence himself. So, Nathan uses a parable: a simple story revealing a profound truth. Even more cleverly, Nathan reaches into David's shepherding roots (1 Samuel 17:34–35) with a tale about a young, defenseless lamb.
By the end, David will have accepted the message: Bathsheba was stolen from her rightful lover. Uriah was brutalized. David is a cruel man who can only be brought to justice by someone with a great amount of power and authority.
