2 Samuel 24
-The last chapter elaborates on the situation in David’s
reign when he looked to the physical instead of the spiritual for protection in
his nation. The LORD’s anger burned against Israel, which may have indicated
some type of attack or unforeseen distressing situation. 1 Chronicles 21:1
attributes the issue to Satan, rather than the LORD, for the temptation that
was ultimately allowed by the Sovereign God. Whatever the case, this condition
caused David to be incited to petition his commanders to “Go, number Israel and
Judah.” They were to go throughout all the land from north, Dan, to south,
Beersheba, to register the people in a military conscription type of census.
David wanted to know this presumably for his self-assured confidence in his
fighting force. It was a carnal act of putting trust in his armies rather than
relying on the power of God. Joab frankly argued with him on this command, “Now
may the LORD your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are,
while the eyes of my lord the king still
see; but why does my lord delight in this thing?” However, David’s command
prevailed against Joab and against all the commanders of his army. So they went
out and obeyed the king in his edict to register the people. They crossed the
Jordan and camped in Aroer, “on the right side of the city that is in the
middle of the valley of Gad and toward Jazer.” Then they came to Gilead, then
the land of Tahtim-hodshi, then Dan-jaan, and then they came around to Sidon
and the fortress of Tyre. They visited all the cities of the Hivites, of the
Canaanites, all the way south in Judah to Beersheba. When they’d gone through
all the land registering, which took them nine months and twenty days, they
returned to Jerusalem and gave their report. In Israel there were 800,000 valiant
men who could draw a sword, and 500,000 in Judah. Well over a million able
bodied warriors for the cause of the kingdom. But David’s heart troubled him
after he had numbered the people irresponsibly and carnally. He confessed his
sin before the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O
LORD, please take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have acted very
foolishly (2 Samuel 24:1-10).”
-When David arose the next morning, the prophet Gad was told
by God to go and speak with David. God, speaking through His prophet, offered
David a choice of three potential consequences for his sin. It would either be
seven years of famine in the land, three months of fleeing before his foes
while they pursued, or a three days’ pestilence in the land. David was to
seriously consider these options and send back his answer to the LORD through
Gad, the prophet. With hearing his options, David spoke, “I am in great
distress. Let us now fall into the Hand of the LORD for His mercies are great,
but do not let me fall into the hand of man.” Therefore, the LORD sent a
pestilence upon Israel from that first morning until the appointed time. This
was indeed a brutal pestilence as 70,000 men from Dan to Beersheba died. As the
death angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD
finally relented from the calamity and told the angel that “It is enough!” He
told His angel to relax his hand now as the angel of the LORD was by the
threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. Then, when David saw the angel that
was striking down the people, he said, “Behold, it is I who have sinned, and it
is I who have done wrong; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let Your
Hand be against me and against my father’s house.” So God sent Gad back to
David that very day and said to him, “Go up, erect an altar to the LORD on the
threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” David did this according to the word
of God just as He had commanded him. As Araunah looked down and saw the king
and his servants crossing over towards him, he went out and bowed his face to
the ground before the king. Araunah asked why he had come, and David replied
that he was attempting to buy this man’s threshing floor so that he could build
an altar to the LORD so that the plague would be held back from the people.
Upon hearing this, Araunah graciously offered to give this property for free as
well as oxen for the burnt offering, threshing sledges, and the yokes of the
oxen for the wood wanting the LORD to accept David’s sacrifice. But David
responded, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for I will not
offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God which cost me nothing.” So David
purchased the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 shekels of silver. There he
built his altar as God had commanded and offered burnt offerings and peace
offerings before Him. “Thus the LORD was moved by prayer for the land, and the
plague was held back from Israel (2 Samuel 24:11-25).” And this is where the
book ends.
-*Application* First, we must acknowledge that God can lead
us into temptation and testing having ultimate control over everything, while
at the same giving us a way out. Satan is glad to assist in this spiritual
battle and wants very desperately to have us act in a fleshly-carnal fashion
just like David did here in the text. When Jesus taught us to pray, He
instructed that we petition God not to lead us into temptation, and to deliver
us from all evil (Matthew 6:13, Luke 11:4). There is no doubt a spiritual
battlefield that we participate in here on this earth. The choices are ours,
and we will bear the consequences. Sometimes God gives us choices even in the
consequences just as He did with David. We can run or face our failures. Confession
is key, penance is real. There is always a price to be paid for sin. It will
cost us something and often affects innocent people around us. Thankfully, God
pays our cost in the person of Jesus Christ, who offered the ultimate
sacrificial atonement. Jesus is our way out if we put our trust in Him. Christ
is our saving mercy.
Verses to Memorize:
2 Samuel 24:10, 24-25
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