Nathan
Prophet in Jerusalem under David and Solomon. He brought David the promise of a lasting dynasty, confronted him over Bathsheba and Uriah, and helped to secure the throne for Solomon.
Nathan first appears when David proposes to build a temple. He brings the answer that the Lord will instead build a house, a dynasty, for David (2 Samuel 7:1–17). After David took Bathsheba and had her husband Uriah killed (2 Samuel 11:2–5, 14–17), Nathan told him a story of a rich man who seized a poor man’s only lamb. When the king condemned the man, Nathan said, “You are the man” (2 Samuel 12:1–10). David confessed, and Nathan told him that he would live but that the child would die (2 Samuel 12:13–14).
In David’s old age Nathan and Bathsheba moved the king to name Solomon his heir against the claim of Adonijah, and Nathan took part with the priest Zadok in Solomon’s anointing (1 Kings 1:11–14, 32–40). Chronicles cites a “history of Nathan the prophet” among its sources for both reigns (1 Chronicles 29:29) (2 Chronicles 9:29). He is not the Nathan who was David’s son (2 Samuel 5:14), through whom Luke traces the descent of Jesus (Luke 3:31).
In the timeline
- about 1000 BC, traditional dateGod’s Covenant with David
David proposes to build a temple for the ark. Through the prophet Nathan he is told instead that God will build him a house, a dynasty whose throne will stand for ever. The promise becomes the root of the hope for a Messiah.
- about 995 BC, traditional dateDavid, Bathsheba and Nathan
Samuel tells how David takes Bathsheba, the wife of one of his warriors, and when she is pregnant has her husband Uriah killed in battle. The prophet Nathan confronts him. The child dies; a second son, Solomon, is born.