Am I the man? I AM the man. Part II

OK, so in part II of this short series about King David, we are going to look specifically at the story that the Prophet Nathan used to confront David with his sin in II Samuel chapter 12.

And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor. The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds: But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter. And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him; but took the poor man's lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.
2 Samuel 12:1-4

Let’s begin by breaking down the story into its main characters:

1. The Rich Man
2. The Poor Man
3. The Cherished Lamb

These are the characters in the story that always receive the attention in every sermon I have ever heard about this story.  Their parallels in real life are easily identifiable as David (Rich Man), Uriah (Poor Man), and Bathsheba (Cherished Lamb).

But there is another character in the story that doesn’t seem to get much attention.  A character whose parallel in real life is a little less obvious than the rest.

Look with me again in verse 4:

And there came a traveller unto the rich man, 2 Samuel 12:4a

We find here our fourth character in this story:

4. The Traveller

Who is this traveller?  We aren’t given very much information about him in the story, he just arrives at the home of the Rich Man and the Rich Man is compelled to feed him.

Let’s review briefly what happens in the story as it is written:

1. The rich man is rich, he has many flocks and herds.
2. The poor man is poor but he has a lamb that is loved and cherished.
3. A traveler comes to visit the rich man and needs to eat.
4. In order to feed the Traveller, the rich man chooses to take away the cherished lamb from the poor man instead of taking one of the many lambs in his own flocks.

Now let’s imagine the story played out in a different way, and I think this will help us to identify who The Traveller represents:

1. The rich man is rich, he has many flocks and herds.
2. The poor man is poor but he has a lamb that is loved and cherished.
3. A traveler comes to visit the rich man and needs to eat.
4. In order to feed the Traveller, the rich man simply takes one of the many lambs from his own flocks.

In this imagined version of the story, there is no problem right?  No harm, no foul.  The Rich Man is happy.  The Poor Man is happy with his Cherished Lamb.  The Traveller is happy and full of delicious lamb chops.

The point is this: The arrival of The Traveller set things in motion, but the simple fact that the traveller arrived at the house of the rich man was not in and of itself anything bad.  It could have ended up differently than it did.

This is getting long.  So stay tuned for Part III coming soon!

Who do you think The Traveller represents in the real life story of David?  Who do you think The Traveller represents in our lives?