And Nathan departed unto his house. And the LORD struck the child that Uriah's wife bare unto David, and it was very sick.
The Lord struck the child ... and it was very sick. The first visible chastisement inflicted on David appeared on the person of that child which was the evidence and monument of his guilt. His domestics were surprised at his conduct, and in explanation of the singularity it is necessary to remark that the custom in the East is to leave the nearest relative of a decreased person to the full and undisturbed indulgence of his grief, until, on the third or fourth day at farthest (John 11:17), the other relatives and friends visit him, invite him to eat, lead him to a bath, and bring him a change of dress, which is necessary, from his having sat or lain on the ground. The surprise of David's servants, then, who had seen his bitter anguish while the child was sick, arose apparently from this, that when be found it was dead, he who had so deeply lamented, arose of himself from the earth, without waiting for their coming about him, immediately bathed and anointed himself with perfumes, as Orientals do when they go into society (Psalms 45:8; Proverbs 7:17; Amos 6:6), instead of appearing a mourner, and, after worshipping God with solemnity, returned to his accustomed repast, without any interposition of others.
In this short passage the divine names are used with greater variation than usual: 2 Samuel 12:15 has х Yahweh (H3069)], Jehovah (the Lord); 2 Samuel 12:16 has х haa-'Elohiym (H430)], God; and in 2 Samuel 12:22 the Hebrew text has х Yahweh (H3069)], Jehovah (the Lord), where in our version is God. Whether the sacred historian was guided in the employment of these names by some unknown principle, or he used them indiscriminately, it is difficult to decide. But certainly their application in this narrative is not explicable on any theory yet propounded at all events not by that of Hengstenberg ('Pentateuch on the Names of God,' 1:, pp. 213-231).