“And when the mourning was past, David sent and fetched her to his house, and she became his wife, and bare him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.”
My Notes
What Does 2 Samuel 11:27 Mean?
The narrator's verdict on David's sin with Bathsheba is stated with devastating simplicity: "But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD." After the adultery, the murder of Uriah, the cover-up, and the marriage—narrated over twenty-seven verses without a single word of divine commentary—the narrator finally speaks: God was displeased. The Hebrew is more visceral: "the thing was evil in the eyes of the LORD" (vayera ha-davar asher-asah David be-einei YHWH).
The placement of God's verdict at the end—after everything has happened, after the sin seems to have succeeded, after David appears to have gotten away with it—creates the most theologically important gap in 2 Samuel: the silence between the sin and the verdict. Twenty-seven verses of human action without divine comment. And then: God saw. God evaluated. God was displeased. The silence wasn't absence. It was observation.
The word "displeased" (ra'a, to be evil, to be wrong) means David's action was evil in God's sight. Not unfortunate. Not regrettable. Evil. The man after God's own heart did an evil thing. The greatest king in Israel's history committed something God categorizes as ra'—the same word used for the moral corruption that produced the flood. David's sin is placed in the same category as the world's worst evil.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Has God's silence about your sin felt like approval? What if the silence is observation, not acceptance?
- 2.David's sin appeared to succeed. Have you experienced sin that 'worked'—where the consequences didn't arrive immediately?
- 3.God categorized David's action as 'evil.' How do you respond when Scripture uses stronger language about sin than you're comfortable with?
- 4.The silence before the verdict is the most dangerous space. Are you currently in that space—between the sin and the confrontation?
Devotional
"But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD." After twenty-seven verses of adultery, murder, and cover-up—narrated without a single word from God—the narrator finally breaks the divine silence: God saw. And God was displeased. The Hebrew is blunter: it was evil in God's eyes.
The silence during the sin is the most terrifying part: David committed adultery, arranged a murder, married the widow, and life went on. No thunderbolt. No plague. No immediate consequence. The sin appeared to succeed. The cover-up appeared to work. The marriage appeared to normalize. And through all of it: silence from heaven. Until this verse.
The silence wasn't approval. It was observation. God watched. God evaluated. God categorized. And when the narrative finally records His assessment, the assessment is comprehensive: evil. Not a mistake. Not a lapse in judgment. Evil in the eyes of the LORD. The man who wrote psalms of devotion committed an act that God categorizes with the same word He uses for the corruption that destroyed the world.
If your sin has been met with silence—if God hasn't responded visibly, if the consequences haven't arrived, if everything seems to have worked out—David's story warns: the silence isn't approval. The verdict is forming during the silence. The observation is happening during the delay. And when the assessment finally arrives—through Nathan the prophet in the next chapter—it will be as devastating as the silence was deceptive. The silence is not safety. It's the calm before the confrontation.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
And when the mourning was past,.... The seven days were at an end, or sooner; for he stayed not ninety days from the…
When the mourning was past - Probably it lasted only seven days.
She became his wife - This hurried marriage was no…
When David's project of fathering the child upon Uriah himself failed, so that, in process of time, Uriah would…
fet her See note on ch. 2Sa 9:5.
But the thing that David had done displeased theLord] The divine sentence on David's…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture