Why did God take the life of this child since its parents sinned?
"That the child should be punished for what David did seems wrong. We need to remind ourselves, however, that even today innocent children suffer from the things their parents do. The more pointed question deals with whether God should be credited with the cause of the suffering. I once sat at the funeral of a child who had been accidentally killed by a drunk man riding through the community on a motorcycle. In the funeral message the minister tried to convince those of us present that God had a purpose in the child's death as though it were something God had planned. I was revolted by what he said because he took an evil event and made God the cause. In understanding Nathan's interpretation of the child's illness we need to separate the physical cause and the religious interpretation or application. Whatever the child's illness, both Nathan and David saw it as connected with David's sin and raised no questions about it as we do."205
"When David slept with the woman and created new life, the woman did not belong to him but to Uriah. The child cannot belong to David. He cannot enrich himself through his sin, and in a sense, justice is done to Uriah."206
David prayed for the child's recovery, lying on the ground as Uriah had previously slept (11:9, 11). However when God took its life, David knew the time for praying was over. Praying for the dead finds no support in this passage or anywhere else in Scripture. David's servants apparently believed he would become hysterical with grief when he learned the child had died (v. 19). The king was probably referring to the grave rather than to heaven when he said, "I shall go to him . . ."(v. 23). In the context the issue was the inevitability of death, not what happens after death. The child could not come back to life, but David would someday join him in death. Scripture is silent on the eternal state of dead infants, but we can find great comfort in knowing that the Judge of all the earth will do right (Gen. 18:25).
The birth of David and Bathsheba's second son, Solomon (whose name comes from the Hebrew word shalom, peace), was a blessing from the Lord. He had another name, Jedidiah (lit. beloved of Yahweh). The former was perhaps a throne name that David gave him to anticipate his reigning as king.207Solomon was born about 991 B.C. The fact that God allowed him to live and even made him David's successor on the throne is testimony to God's great grace to David (cf. Rom. 5:20). The statement, "Now the Lord loved him,"(v. 24) is the Hebrew way of saying the Lord chose him.208
