About Nathan
Nathan the Prophet had the difficult job of telling King David an uncomfortable truth: that the ugly behavior he tried to cover up was not hidden to God and there would be consequences. Nathan is an inspiration to those of us that need to be the bearers of bad news or sound a warning to our leaders.
Backstory
Nathan built a reputation with David as a trustworthy advisor and messenger, over a number of years. In 2 Samuel 7: 1-17 and 1 Chronicles 17:1-15, we see that David told him his plan to build the temple. At first, Nathan encouraged him to do whatever was in his heart, since God was with him. But later he retracted that advice, bringing him a prophetic word from God saying that he was not to build the temple since his hands had shed blood. However, his son would.
Later, Nathan brings David a more difficult message. David committed adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, one of his soldiers. She got pregnant so David arranged to have Uriah killed in battle and married her in order to cover it up.
In 2 Samuel 12:1-15, Nathan tells David a story about a wealthy man who was hungry and, rather than taking a sheep from his own flock, takes the only lamb of another man. As a former shepherd, David is outraged and orders the man punished. That’s when Nathan says his famous line: You are that man. The consequence would be the death of the child and bloodshed among his descendants.
David is stunned and initiates a fast but the baby dies anyway. So he washes his face and seems to move on. Nathan is shocked and asks David about it. But David says at this point he can’t change the outcome anyway.
Confrontations like the one Nathan had with David risk rupturing relationships. But here, the friendship appears to deepen. When Solomon is born, Nathan gives him the name Jedidiah (2 Samuel 12:25), which means the beloved of God. Later, David names another of their sons Nathan (1 Chronicles 3:5).
Bathsheba turns to Nathan for help securing the succession of the throne to Solomon (1 Kings 1:5-14, 22-27). And he is part of anointing him king and two of his sons become key leaders for Solomon (1 Kings 1:32-45).
In addition to being a prophet, Nathan is also an administrator (1 Chronicles 29:29, 2 Chronicles 9:29). He kept the chronicles and assisted David in the organization of the tabernacle (2 Chronicles 29:25).