But though David had done all this secretly, an all-seeing Eye had watched each step in this dreadful crime, and punishment quickly appeared at the door. The prophet Nathan was sent to him, and with wonderful tact roused the royal attention by the well-known Parable of the _Rich man and the Poor man’s ewe lamb_. Unsuspecting its purport, David’s wrath was kindled, and he denounced death as the penalty of the rich man, and the restoration of the property fourfold[294]. Then turning to the king the prophet sped his winged arrow, saying, _Thou art the man_, and announcing the awful penalty. As David had measured unto others, so should it be measured to him; evil was to rise up against him out of the bosom of his own family, and _the sword should never depart from his house_ (2 Sam. xii. 10). Unlike other kings of Israel and Judah, unlike any common Eastern despot, David did not slay or ill-treat the messenger of judgment, he acknowledged his sin and the justice of the sentence. On this Nathan went on to tell him that _the Lord had put away his sin_, and he himself was not to die. But an earnest of future judgments soon appeared. The Lord struck the child that Uriah’s wife bare unto him, and it died[295]. But in the midst of judgment God remembered mercy; and in the course of time a second son was born to Bathsheba, whom Nathan named JEDIDIAH, _beloved of the Lord_, but David himself called him SOLOMON, _the peaceful one_ (2 Sam. xii. 15–25). Meanwhile Joab had been pushing forward the siege of Rabbah, and eventually succeeded in capturing the _city of waters_, that is, the lower town, which “contained the perennial stream, which rises in, and still flows through it[296].” But the citadel, a place of great strength, still held out. The possession of the perennial stream was, however, the next step to the capture of the stronghold, and Joab sent messengers to David bidding him gather the rest of the people, and come himself, unless he wished him to have the honour of capturing the place, and calling it after his own name. Accordingly the king set out, and the fortress was speedily taken. Enraged, it is not improbable, at the obstinacy of the siege, he wreaked a terrible vengeance on the inhabitants, some were decapitated, others sawn asunder or crushed beneath iron instruments, others were passed through the fire in brick-kilns[297] (2 Sam. xii. 31). The royal crown, “the crown of Milcom,” weighing a talent of gold with the precious stones, was then placed on David’s head, and he and his army returned in triumph to Jerusalem with abundant spoil. CHAPTER IV. _THE REBELLION OF ABSALOM._ 2 SAM. XIII.–XX. B.C. 1032–1022.