Nathan the prophet

Friday July 16, 2021

Nathan the prophet

The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life. Proverbs 10:17

The prophet Nathan appears in 2 Samuel 7. He will become a prophet of great spiritual stature under the reigns of David and Solomon.

A prophetic word

David tells Nathan about his desire to build a temple to house the ark of the Lord. Nathan immediately nods : Go ahead, do whatever you have in your heart, for the Lord is with you (2 Samuel 7:3). David's request and Nathan's response are sincere, but God does not accept either. Nathan will discover it in a vision the same night : it is not David who will build a temple to the Lord, but God who will build a house for David, that is to say, to found for him a royal dynasty. permed. And it will be for one of his descendants, Solomon, to build the house to the Lord, not to David.

Nathan, a true prophet endowed with the authority of God, faithfully communicates the words of God. Although contrary to his noble desire, David bowed in acknowledging the grace of God. May God raise up such men among his people today !

A terrible and courageous word

The second time Nathan intervenes, the scene is quite different (2 Samuel 12). David sinned by taking Uriah's wife and killing her. God instructed Nathan to go to David and say a terrible word to him this time. Realizing the greatness and the holiness of God, he said to him : Why then have you despised the word of the Lord, and done that which was evil in my sight ? You killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword, you took his wife back to make her your wife, and he killed him with the sword of the Ammonites (v.9). These courageous words, clear and terrible, but faithful, pierce the hardened conscience of David : he recognizes his sin.

A word of forgiveness

David repents, so Nathan can now pass on a word of forgiveness : The Lord forgives your sin, you shall not die (2 Samuel 12:13).

Will there still be Nathans today to faithfully convey the thoughts of God ? Courageous men aware of the holiness of God to tell our generation of its sin, but also to proclaim the grace of God who forgives confessed faults.

Source (Pleasing the Lord)