Charles Ellicott Commentary 2 Samuel 12:16

"David therefore besought God for the child; and David fasted, and went in, and lay all night upon the earth." — 2 Samuel 12:16 (ASV)

Implored God for the child. —It is hardly necessary to say that this does not imply any lack of submissiveness to God’s will on David’s part, nor an excessive love for the child of his guilt. “In the case of a man whose penitence was so earnest and so deep, the prayer for the preservation of his child must have arisen from some other source than excessive love of any created object.

His great desire was to avert the judgment as a sign of the wrath of God, in the hope that he might be able to discern, in the preservation of the child, a proof of Divine favor following the restoration of his fellowship with God. But when the child was dead, he humbled himself under the mighty hand of God and rested satisfied with His grace, without giving himself up to fruitless pain” (O. von Gerlach, quoted by Keil). Yet David’s deep love for the child should not be overlooked altogether.