2 Samuel 12:1-8 (ASV)
1 And Jehovah sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.
2 The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds;
3 but the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own morsel, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.
4 And there came a traveller unto the rich man, and he spared to take of his own flock and of his own herd, to dress for the wayfaring man that was come unto him, but took the poor man’s lamb, and dressed it for the man that was come to him.
5 And David’s anger was greatly kindled against the man; and he said to Nathan, As Jehovah liveth, the man that hath done this is worthy to die:
6 and he shall restore the lamb fourfold, because he did this thing, and because he had no pity.
7 And Nathan said to David, Thou art the man. Thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, I anointed thee king over Israel, and I delivered thee out of the hand of Saul;
8 and I gave thee thy master’s house, and thy master’s wives into thy bosom, and gave thee the house of Israel and of Judah; and if that had been too little, I would have added unto thee such and such things.

We know how easy it is to judge or to be judged, unfairly. Unfortunately, we stand in judgement of people based on what we see and hear not considering their actions according to our idea. Funnily, we do not even consider that, we may very well be casting the first stone when we are more guilty of what we’re casting judgment on.
David, unwittingly, passed sentence on himself when he stood as the unrighteous judge in the text. It was in David’s hand, what his letters were in the hands of the brave but unfortunate Uriah, whom he had killed because of his wife, Bathsheba.
God wants and expects us to rebuke or correct others but in love and compassion, not in judgment as David did, when we correct in a spirit-led approach, we will accomplish much more than when we do so in self-righteous judgment.
Jesus tells us in Matthew 7:1 categorically not to judge! But, as weak humans, we can’t help ourselves. We judge with impunity!
Luke 18:1-8 tells the parable of an unrighteous judge who didn’t give special treatment, nor considered anybody, great or small but was effectively worn down by persistent prayer.
We are so quick to jump to conclusions on hearing something that we don’t consider the other side of the coin, we take one person’s story, taking sides to decide who should be castigated and condemned.
David didn’t for a moment think of his sin against God and humanity and was quick to jump condemning and passed sentence by decreeing “The man—shall surely die” telling us that David saw him as a very bad man, who deserves to die. But the law did not sentence a sheep-stealer to death, let us hear it: instead, Exodus 22:1 says if a man steals an ox or a sheep, he shall restore Five Oxen for an ox, and Four Sheep for a sheep.
Ironically, David passed the severest punishment to what he perceived as a sin, without considering what he had done as one.
We have a habit of explicitly judging the characters of others and their action but Nathan’s parable, presented as a legal case, was aimed at getting David to pass the verdict on himself unwittingly.
The Bible’s command that we do not judge others does not mean we cannot show discernment. Immediately after Jesus says, “Do not judge,” He says, “Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs” in Matthew 7:6.
Watch how we criticize and condemn the people we come across. We judge people based on their clothing, speech, looks and behaviour without compassionately considering why they are like that.
David passed judgment confidently until Nathan declared “you are the man, what awful words that pierced David’s heart, aroused his conscience, and brought him to his knees in repentance. The sincerity and depth of his penitent sorrow are evinced by the Psalms he composed in Psalm 32:1-11 and he was forgiven.
David may have never thought of the consequences of his actions with Beersheba, hence his high character for piety, but his deplorable fall was calculated to do great injury.
David was not condemned, according to his view of what justice demanded but David was truly concerned about justice, when not blinded by his passion seen in 2 Samuel 12:5. don’t be the unrighteous judge.
Shalom