Why is there such a difference in the way King David responded to the death of his newborn son (he didn’t mourn for him) and how he responded to the death of Absalom?
When King David's child from his adulterous affair with Bathsheba died, he did not mourn (2 Samuel 12:20). Yet in 2 Samuel 18:33, we find King David mourning for his grown son, Absalom. David had many sons. Why mourn for a grown man, a warrior, and not for an infant who had not even had a chance to live and grow?
2 Samuel 12:20
ESV - 20 Then David arose from the earth and washed and anointed himself and changed his clothes. And he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. He then went to his own house. And when he asked, they set food before him, and he ate.
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Asked January 02 2022
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Shirley H
Supporter
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Jack Gutknecht
Supporter
Great question, Shirley H.! David knew he would meet the innocent child in heaven, while Absalom, who rebelled to the will of God, would certainly go to hell. --algiogia on stack exchange David's dead 7-day old baby was immediately taken into Paradise-- Abraham's bosom, since the child was not at the age of accountability, not being able to discern right from wrong. God took this baby right into Paradise since the baby was unable to either accept or reject God. However, Absalom, his adult son, most likely rejected the God of his father David. When Absalom died as an unrepentant adult, he went not to paradise but rather into the flames of Hell forever. -- This is my calculated opinion. David knew that he lost Absalom forever, his baby for only a time. Absalom's fate in torment was a horrible grief of mind to King David, far greater than the grief of losing his baby son. David knew that his baby was in the comfort of Paradise, where David, a man after God's own heart, would go himself after death. --Mary Jane, also on hermeneutics.stackexchange.com of which I am a member.
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