David's Fasting for His Son's Recovery and Restoration
David's fasting for his son's recovery is recorded in 2 Samuel 12:16, where it is written that "David pleaded with God on behalf of the boy and David fasted. He went to spend the night and lay upon the ground" [1]. This act of fasting and mourning was undertaken in the hope that God might spare the child's life, as David reasoned that "who can tell whether God will be gracious to me, that the child may live?" [2].
The biblical account indicates that David's fasting was accompanied by weeping and prayer, as he "besought God for the child" and "lay all night upon the earth" [3]. This intense period of prayer and fasting was a demonstration of David's deep distress and his desire to see the child spared. According to John Gill, David's actions were motivated by the possibility that God's threat to take the child's life might be conditional, and that He might "repent of the evil he had threatened" [2].
After the child's death, David arose from the earth, washed, anointed himself, and changed his apparel, before going to worship in the house of the Lord [4]. This change in behavior has been interpreted as David's submission to God's will and his acknowledgment of the justice of God's judgment. Matthew Henry notes that Nathan, the prophet who had delivered the message of judgment to David, likely prayed for David during this time, highlighting the importance of prayer and intercession in times of crisis [5].
The example of David's fasting and prayer in 2 Samuel 12 has been seen as a model for Christian practice in times of sorrow and distress. However, it is also noted that fasting is not an indispensable Christian obligation, but rather an outward expression of sorrow and separation from worldly enjoyments, in order to give oneself to prayer [7].
David's actions demonstrate a deep reliance on God's mercy and a willingness to humble himself in prayer and fasting. This episode in David's life highlights the complex interplay between prayer, fasting, and God's sovereignty, and has been the subject of reflection and interpretation throughout Christian history [2, 3, 6].
Sources
- II Samuel “II Samuel 12:16 (LEB) — David pleaded with God on behalf of the boy and David fasted. He went to spend the night and lay upon the ground.”
- 2 Samuel (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on 2 Samuel 12:21: And he said, while the child was yet alive,.... And so there was hope it might be continued: I fasted and wept; or sought the Lord by prayer, and fasting, and weeping, that the threatening might not take place, that the child's life might be spared: for I said; within himself, thus he reasoned in his own mind: who can tell whether God will be gracious to me, that the child may live? and in hope of this he kept praying, fasting, and weeping; he could not tell but God might repent of the evil he had threatened, as in some cases he has done; see Joe 2:13. Abarbi”
- 2 Samuel (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on 2 Samuel 12:15: David therefore besought God for the child,.... Perhaps went into the tabernacle he had built for the ark, and prayed to the Lord to restore the child, and spare its life; for though the Lord had said it should die, he might hope that that was a conditional threatening, and that the Lord might be gracious and reverse it, Sa2 12:22, and David fasted: all that day: and went in; to his own house from the house of God: and lay all night upon the earth; would neither go into, nor lie upon a bed, but lay on the floor all night, weeping and praying for the child's l”
- 2 Samuel (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on 2 Samuel 12:19: Then David arose from the earth,.... From the floor on which he lay: and washed, and anointed himself, and changed his apparel; neither of which he had done during his time of fasting: and came into the house of the Lord, and worshipped; went into the tabernacle he had built for the ark of God, and then in prayer submitted himself to the will of God, and acknowledged his justice in what he had done; gave thanks to God that he had brought him to a sense of his sin, and repentance for it, and had applied his pardoning grace to him, and given him satisfaction as t”
- 2 Samuel (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on 2 Samuel 12:15: Nathan, having delivered his message, staid not at court, but went home, probably to pray for David, to whom he had been preaching. God, in making use of him as an instrument to bring David to repentance, and as the herald both of mercy and judgment, put an honour upon the ministry, and magnified his word above all his name. David named one of his sons by Bath-sheba Nathan, in honour of this prophet (Ch1 3:5), and it was that son of whom Christ, the great prophet, lineally descended, Luk 3:31. When Nathan retired, David, it is probable, retired likewise, and pe”
- 2 Samuel (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on 2 Samuel 12:21: 12:21-23 David grieved before his son’s death, hoping to ward off punishment.”
- Daniel (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Daniel 10:2: mourning--that is afflicting myself by fasting from "pleasant bread, flesh and wine" (Dan 10:3), as a sign of sorrow, not for its own sake. Compare Mat 9:14, "fast," answering to "mourn" (Dan 10:15). Compare Co1 8:8; Ti1 4:3, which prove that "fasting" is not an indispensable Christian obligation; but merely an outward expression of sorrow, and separation from ordinary worldly enjoyments, in order to give one's self to prayer (Act 13:2). Daniel's mourning was probably for his countrymen, who met with many obstructions to their building of the temple, f”