What is described as the 1st Payment of David's Punishment?

• A. The child died
• B. David has to retreat from Jerusalem
• C. Amnon desires and rapes Tamar
• D. Absalom murders Amnon in revenge

Answer: (A)

The key idea here is that the punishment begins with a direct, God-ordained consequence for David’s sin with Bathsheba and the murder of Uriah. In the prophet Nathan’s confrontation, God declares that because David despised Him, “the child that is born to you shall die.” This establishes the death of the child as the first payment or immediate consequence of David’s actions. The child’s illness and eventual death fulfill that specific judgment.

Later troubles in David’s household—such as the events surrounding Amnon, Tamar, Absalom, and the political fallout that leads to David fleeing Jerusalem—are serious consequences that unfold afterward, but they are not the first punishment announced and carried out.