But now he is dead, why should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.
All Commentaries on 2 Samuel 12:23 Go To 2 Samuel 12
Ambrose of Milan
AD 397
Holy David lost two sons. One was guilty of incest, the other of fratricide. To have had them caused him shame; to have lost them brought him grief. He also lost a third, a child whom he loved. He wept over him while he was still alive, but he did not long for him after he died. For so we read that when the boy fell sick, David besought the Lord for him and fasted and lay upon sackcloth, and, although the elders approached him and tried to make him get up from the ground, he resolved neither to rise nor to eat. After he learned that the boy was dead, however, he arose from the ground, bathed upon the spot, anointed himself, changed clothing, worshiped the Lord and took food. Since this seemed strange to his servants, he answered that while the child was still alive, he had rightly fasted and wept, because he justly thought that God might pity him and was certain that he who could restore the dead to life could surely preserve the life of one still living. But now that the child was dead, why should he fast, since he could not bring him back from death and restore him to life. “I shall go to him rather;” he said, “but he shall not return to me.”
What greater consolation to a mourner! What a true judgment from a wise man! What wonderful wisdom exhibited by a servant! [Thus] no one should protest that some misfortune has befallen him and complain that he has been afflicted contrary to his merit. For who are you to proclaim your merit beforehand? Why do you desire to anticipate your judge? Why do you snatch the verdict from the mouth of him who is going to pronounce it?
