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2 Samuel Chapter 24
David's Census
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2Samuel 24:1 And again the
anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David
against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.
Some scholars say that the Lord didn't
actually command David to number Israel but allowed Satan to tempt
David into it. Sometimes when we are not watching and praying, we
can get into error and when the tempter comes we have little
strength. That is why the old timers use to warn us to stay prayed
up they called it. Be watchful praying always in the Holy Spirit.
Another bible scholar states that there was some sin among them that
opened the way for Satan to be allowed to tempt David to number
Israel.
- 2 Samuel 24:2 For
the king said to Joab the captain of the host, which was with
him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to
Beersheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the number
of the people.
- 3 And Joab said unto
the king, Now the LORD thy God add unto the people, how many
soever they be, an hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord the
king may see it: but why doth my lord the king delight in this
thing?
In this temptation we see the God uses
Joab to caution David and ask him why he is doing this. God is
providing a way out. This was wrong for it was pride that caused
David to number the people and not trust in God alone. There may
have been other reasons but God promised to multiply them and
provide for them way back in the days of Abraham. This was not a
command of the Lord to number the whole tribe to be able to boast of
a great army.
- 2Samuel 24:4
Notwithstanding the king's word prevailed against Joab, and
against the captains of the host. And Joab and the captains of
the host went out from the presence of the king, to number the
people of Israel.
- 5 And they passed
over Jordan, and pitched in Aroer, on the right side of the city
that lieth in the midst of the river of Gad, and toward Jazer:
- 6 Then they came to
Gilead, and to the land of Tahtimhodshi; and they came to
Danjaan, and about to Zidon,
- 7 And came to the
strong hold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and
of the Canaanites: and they went out to the south of Judah, even
to Beersheba.
- 8 So when they had
gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of
nine months and twenty days.
- 9 And Joab gave up
the sum of the number of the people unto the king: and there
were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the
sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.
This undertaking took 9 months to
finish the numbering. 800 thousand men of Israel and 5 hundred
thousand of Judah. I often wonder why this was such a sin but in
Judges chapter 7 The Midianites were oppressing Israel and God chose
a man called Gideon to defeat them. He was very fearful and set
fleeces before God trying to make sure God was calling him. He
raised a big army but God said it was too many and cut the numbers
down so the people wouldn't assume it was by their own greatness
that they defeated their enemies but by the power of God. So this
may be a clue to what the big sin by David was.
The Lord's Judgment of David's Sin
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2Samuel 24:10 And David's heart
smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto
the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I
beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I
have done very foolishly.
David did sin at times but he is quick
to repent when the Lord pricks at his heart. Yet there is
consequences still for doing this thing.
- 2Samuel 24:11 For
when David was up in the morning, the word of the LORD came unto
the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,
- 12 Go and say unto
David, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things; choose
thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.
- 13 So Gad came to
David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of
famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three
months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that
there be three days' pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see
what answer I shall return to him that sent me.
God was either to send a famine of 7
years, send defeat by his enemies for 3 months or a pestilence from
the Lord for 3 days.
David knew the heart of God so he
picked the last one leaving all in the hands of God.
- 2Samuel 24:15 So the
LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the
time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to
Beersheba seventy thousand men.
- 16 And when the
angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the
LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that
destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the
angel of the LORD was by the threshingplace of Araunah the
Jebusite.
- 17 And David spake
unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and
said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these
sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be
against me, and against my father's house.
God did stop the pestilence in His
mercy. David also asked the Lord not to continue it for the people
were innocent and he was the one that should suffer instead.
David Builds an Altar
- 2Samuel 24:18 And
Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an
altar unto the LORD in the threshingfloor of Araunah the
Jebusite.
- 19 And David,
according to the saying of Gad, went up as the LORD commanded.
- 20 And Araunah
looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him:
and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king on his
face upon the ground.
- 21 And Araunah said,
Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David
said, To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto
the LORD, that the plague may be stayed from the people.
- 22 And Araunah said
unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth
good unto him: behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and
threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for
wood.
- 23 All these things
did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king. And Araunah said
unto the king, The LORD thy God accept thee.
This man Araunah was a Jebusite who
offered the king this place to sacrifice and even offered to give
him the wood, the oxen and tools in order to do the sacrifice. Gad
instructed David to rear up this altar in this exact place where the
plague was stopped. This according to some may have been Mount
Moriah where Abraham attempted to offer Isaac and where the temple
was built.
- 2Samuel 24:24 And
the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of
thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the
LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought
the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
- 25 And David built
there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and
peace offerings. So the LORD was intreated for the land, and the
plague was stayed from Israel.
David insisted on paying for this place
and would not offer anything to the Lord he didn't pay for himself.
This sounds like the David we see in the book of the Psalms. We see
a man who wanted to do right. It is said also that this place is
where Cain and Abel offered an offering. The plague was stopped and
all was right with the Lord again. DC
1 and 2 Samuel Index
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