שמואל ב, פרק י״ב, פסוק ט״ז

In a moment of deep crisis, King David refuses to simply accept the divine decree regarding the death of his young child [ביאור שטיינזלץ]. Even though a prophet has already explicitly informed him that the boy will die, David chooses to fight for the child's life through prayer and fasting. He holds a deep belief that prayer has the power to overturn a harsh decree [רד״ק, מלבי״ם]. Having already endured other severe punishments, David hopes that God will show him mercy and spare him from the specific tragedy of losing this child [רד״ק]. Recognizing that the ultimate purpose of the decree is to cleanse his own sin, David attempts to substitute the boy's death with his own personal suffering and fasting [מלבי״ם].

A deeper spiritual perspective suggests that the child's soul carried a burden from a previous life, originating from a time when the soul belonged to a young man old enough to be held accountable for his actions. The impending death of the child is therefore meant to achieve a dual purpose: atoning for the soul's ancient sin while simultaneously atoning for David's recent failure. Through his intense prayer and self-affliction, David hopes to achieve this double atonement entirely on his own, thereby sparing the child's life [אלשיך].

To express his profound repentance, David engages in an intense fast. The primary approach among commentators is that David spends the entire day in the house of God, fasting and praying. When evening arrives, he returns home, spends the night without eating, and lies directly on the ground. Another perspective understands his actions not as a physical return to his house, but as an entry into a continuous, unbroken state of fasting. In this view, David accepts the fast while it is still day and carries it seamlessly into the night, remaining on the ground in uninterrupted prayer and self-denial [אלשיך].