2 Sam. 24: “David Numbers His Men And Incurs God’s
Wrath”
By
1.INTRO:
1.1.
In our last study, we looked at chapter 23.
1.1.1. In this chapter we first of
all read what is called “the last song of David,” which was written at the end
of his life.
1.1.2. Then, we read the stories
about David’s mighty men which was really an eternal memorial and commendation
of them, and we saw that there were some interesting principles that we can
glean from these men.
1.2.
In our study today, we are going to look at chapter 24.
1.2.1. We will see in this chapter
how that David decides to have all of his men in
1.2.2. We will look at the events
of this chapter as well as the character of David from many different angles
and thus we will be able to learn many principles from it.
1.2.3. The Lord by His nature is
very different than we are as people, and for us it is very difficult for our
finite minds to understand a God who is infinite in His wisdom and understanding. This chapter provides us a unique look into
the nature of God as well as the ways in which He has revealed Himself to us.
1.2.4. In this story, we see from
David as an example of God’s people how that but by the grace of God any man or
woman is capable of acting in absolute madness.
2.VS 24:1-2 - “1 Now again the anger of the
Lord burned against
2.1.
Here in these verses we immediately are left with some perplexing
questions about the Lord and how He works in our lives, and in our study we
will attempt to answer these questions.
These questions pertain to an understanding of the sovereignty of God
and the responsibility of man. Here we
see that the Lord incites David to number the men of
2.1.1. Why would the Lord incite
David to sin in numbering the men of
2.1.2. Why would the Lord hold
David accountable for numbering the men of
2.2.
“Why would the Lord incite David to sin in numbering the men of
2.2.1. To answer this question we
have to look at the fact that the Lord sometimes chooses to use evil and
wicked spirits in high places to accomplish His goals.
2.2.1.1. Notice that in 1 Chron. 21:1
it states that Satan (not God as it says here) provoked David to do this
numbering, “1 Then Satan stood up against
2.2.1.1.1.
By the way, why would Satan try to provoke David to number the children
of
2.2.2. The Lord was angry against
Israel
because of their stubborn and wicked hearts in rebelling against Him by
following Absalom in his insurrection to attempt to wrest the kingdom away from
his father, as well as their following of the wicked man Sheba when he also
caused a revolt to cause the 10 tribes of Israel to break away from Judah. The Lord chose to pour out His wrath upon
rebellious
2.2.3. David had strayed away from
the Lord in his heart, and we will see that I believe the root cause of this
was his pride. Thus, the Lord had
further chastening to do in David’s life, and this numbering of the men of
2.3.
“Why would the Lord hold David accountable for numbering the men of
2.3.1. Like all men, David did
not need really need any prompting in order to go astray from the Lord in
His heart. The Lord merely had to remove
His restraining influence from David’s life in this area in order for David to
choose to commit this sin of numbering the men.
2.3.2. When every wicked man or
woman stands before the Lord in judgment, he/she will have no one
that they can blame, including the Lord, for their sin and rebellion against
the Lord. It was they and they alone who
are responsible. Interestingly, when
every one of God’s people stands before Christ to receive rewards for good
deeds that they have done while upon the earth, each one will give the glory to
the Lord recognizing that it was only God’s grace working within them that caused
them to be able, desirous, and willing to commit that good deed.
2.3.3. God’s ways are incredibly
high and beyond figuring out. Wanting to
pour out wrath upon rebellious Israel for their sin, the Lord uses Satan to
incite David to number his men, but also sends Joab to try to dissuade David
from his following of number the men of Israel and Judah, but in the end David
incurs His wrath for going through with the sinful deed.
2.4.
We now have to consider the question of why David was determined at
this point in time to number the men of
2.4.1. 1 Chronicles chapter 20 ends
by saying in verse 8, “8 These were descended from the giants in
Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants,”
and then we read in verse 1 of 1 Chronicles 21 about how that Satan provoked
David to number the men of Israel and Judah.
So, this verse reveals to us that there was an underlining connection
between these events forming David’s motive.
David’s motive involved having gotten puffed up in pride at his
great conquest.
2.4.2. David now wanted to know the
full extent of the strength of his army because he presently felt
invincible.
2.4.3. Even though David was now an
old man, he lost sight of the fact that it was the Lord who had given him
all of his victories, and when the Lord fights the battle for you it does
not matter how many men are in your army.
2.4.3.1. Has not every one of the
miraculous ways in which David has conquered his enemies revealed one thing,
that it was not his strength, intelligence, or abilities that enabled him to
prevail but only the Lord Himself working on his behalf?
2.5.
Another challenge for interpretation of this chapter is that although
it reveals that David knew that he had sinned in numbering all of the men of
2.5.1. We can say first of all that
it was wrong for David to do this simply because the Lord had not told David
to do this. Interestingly though, on
an earlier occasion the Lord had told David to number the men, however at that
time Lord was just trying to encourage David by obtaining this number. On a couple of different occasions Moses was
told to number his men.
2.5.2. It took away from God’s
glory
because it was not numbers that caused David to win his battles. Rather, it was the Lord and the Lord alone
who gave him victory. Again, how
many were with and behind David does not matter when the Lord fights your
battle.
2.5.3. David’s was motivated to do
this by his pride, and regardless of what good thing a person might attempt to do, if
his motive is wrong then he is not going to please the Lord. David wanted to gloat in his strength not
realizing that without the Lord he could do nothing.
2.5.4. Doing this made David
step outside of being totally dependent upon the Lord, and this is the
place that God would always have us to be.
2.5.5. There is a law that is found in Exodus 30:12
that stated that if
a census was to be taken that for each one that was numbered a small
ransom had to be collected for the Lord, however David had not provided for
this ransom amount and thus violated God’s law, “12 “When you
take a census of the sons of Israel to number them, then each one of them shall
give a ransom for himself to the Lord,
when you number them, so that there will be no plague among them when you
number them.”
3.VS 24:3-9 - “3 But Joab said to the king,
“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 the
king delight in this thing?” 4 Nevertheless, the king’s word prevailed against
Joab and against the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the
army went out from the presence of the king to register the people of
3.1.
In these verses we see that Joab, the general of David’s army who is
devoid of spirituality and has now become a ruthless renegade fulfilling his
own agenda instead of that of the king’s, realizes the folly of David going
about and taking this census of the men of Israel and Judah. It is a sad thing when even those who are
unsaved and not even spiritual at all realize our actions as God’s people are
morally and ethically wrong.
3.1.1. Joab even tells David that
if need be that the Lord would add 100 times as many men as David presently had
in his army.
3.2.
Joab’s reasoning is practical.
He argues that there is no reason for David doing this thing that might
provoke the Lord’s displeasure and judgment against
3.3.
These verses reveal how that when God’s people get off track from
following Christ how they become utterly senseless and can do some of the
stupidest things.
3.4.
David here though has hardened his heart against the Lord and is
determined that come hell or high water he is going to have the men of Israel
and Judah numbered.
3.5.
Joab yields to king David and against his better judgment goes to
number the men of
3.6.
It takes Joab and those with him almost 10 months to complete this
census of the men of
3.7.
Note that during this entire 10 months period that David remains dead
set that he must have the men of
3.8.
There are some discrepancies between the parallel account of this
numbering in 1 Chronicles 21, and skeptics always use these types of
discrepancies to try to discredit our Bibles, however the tolls of those sets
of numbers do not define identical chategories of men.
3.8.1. In the 1 Chronicles 21
account the numbers of the men who “drew the sword” are listed as 1,100,000 in
3.8.2. In this chapter 24 of 2
Samuel those listed are 800,000 from
4.VS 24:10 - “10 Now David’s heart troubled
him after he had numbered the people. So David said to 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.”” - After receiving the total count of the men of
4.1.
One of the proofs that a person is truly a son or daughter of God is
that after an episode of sinning and even madness that he/she eventually comes
to their senses and doesn’t continue on in their hardness of heart against the
Lord.
4.2.
Notice here the steps that a person takes to get his life right with
the Lord:
4.2.1. He first comes to his senses
and with a repentant heart admits his sin to the Lord.
4.2.1.1. Arthur Pink states that, “genuine
repentance is a taking sides with God against ourselves.”
4.2.1.2. When a person repents he
makes a 180· turn in his life and goes
back in the opposite way he was going.
4.2.2. He asks the Lord to take
away his iniquity and forgive his sin.
4.2.2.1. Sin causes defilement of us
and the Lord must cleanse us from that defilement of sin in order to again be
in proper relationship and fellowship with us.
1 John 1:9 tells us that, “9 If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all
unrighteousness.”
4.2.3. Finally, there must be a
sacrifice that is made in order for sins to be forgiven (we will see in a
minute that the prophet Gad comes to David to encourage him to make a sacrifice
for his sin).
4.2.3.1. The only sacrifice which can
take away sins is the one sacrifice for all time that Christ completed upon the
cross of
5.VS 24:11-14 - “11 When David arose in the
morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, 12
“Go and speak to David, ‘Thus the Lord says, “I am offering you three things;
choose for yourself one of them, which I will do to you.” ’ ” 13 So Gad came to
David and told him, and said to him, “Shall seven years of famine come to you
in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue
you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now consider and see
what answer I shall return to Him who sent me.” 14 Then David said to Gad, “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.”” - The prophet Gad comes to David and tells him
to choose between one of three judgments from the Lord because of David’s sin
5.1.
These verses show us that though the Lord forgives our sins, we will
still have to suffer the consequences for them.
5.2.
The Lord in His graciousness allows David to choose his punishment from
the Lord, and is given three choices :
5.2.1. Seven years of famine.
5.2.1.1. The
5.2.2. Three months while David had
to personally flee from his foes.
5.2.2.1. David had experienced 10
years of Saul continually hunting for him as he and his men hid out in the
wilderness. Plus, recently David had to
flee from his son Absalom when he formed an insurrection to take the kingdom
away from David. David really did not
want to have to flee for three more months.
5.2.3. Three days of pestilence.
5.2.3.1. The Lord would cause the
plague to spread among
5.3.
David, who has now come to his senses and gotten right with the Lord,
makes a good decision. He doesn’t really
choose between any of the three, he just trusts himself and
6.VS 24:15-16 - “15 So the Lord sent a pestilence
upon
6.1.
The men of
6.2.
Justice was appropriate. Joab
had gone and numbered the people from Dan (in the north) to
6.3.
There is another intriguing aspect to this story found in these verses
that again has to do with the nature of God.
We see here that the Lord ‘relented from the calamity’ that He
had originally planned in executing justice upon the men of
6.3.1. It is true that scriptures
teach that the Lord does not change, for instance:
6.3.1.1. Numbers 23:19, “19 “God
is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has
He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”
6.3.1.2. James 1:17, “17 Every
good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the
Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.”
6.3.1.3. Hebrews 13:8, “8 Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
6.3.2. We have to realize that when
the Lord reveals Himself to us as people that He often reveals Himself in
“anthropomorphisms,” that is, in ways in which we can relate to Him as
people. God is so much greater than
mankind in so many ways that if He did not try to relate to us in these sorts
of ways that we would be totally in the dark as far as understanding His nature.
6.3.3. The Lord in His meting out judgment
is impacted by man’s response to His forewarnings. The Lord will relent judging men when they
humble themselves in genuine repentance and surrender to Him, and faith in His
word.
6.3.4. There are some places that we find in the
scriptures where the Lord gives an oath (or swears) that He will not
change His mind concerning His judgment.
In these instances when men or women have gone too far in their
rebellion against the Lord. There are a
few examples of these instances from the scripture, including:
6.3.4.1. Moses was not allowed to
enter the promised land because of striking the rock.
6.3.4.2. The entire generation of
7.VS 24:17-25 - “17 Then David spoke to the Lord
when he saw the angel who was striking down the people, and 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.” 18 So Gad came to David that day and said to him, “Go up, erect an
altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 David
went up according to the word of Gad, just as the Lord had commanded. 20
Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants crossing over toward him;
and Araunah went out and bowed his face to the ground before the king. 21 Then
Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” And David said,
“To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the Lord,
that the plague may be held back from the people.” 22 Araunah said to David,
“Let my lord the king take and offer up what is good in his sight. Look, the
oxen for the burnt offering, the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen
for the wood. 23 “Everything, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah
said to the king, “May the Lord your God accept you.” 24 However, the king said
to Araunah, “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
bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25 David
built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace
offerings. Thus the Lord was moved by prayer for the land, and the plague was
held back from Israel.” - David intercedes for
7.1.
In the parallel passage in 1 Chronicles 21:16-17 we see how that David
had a vision of an angel about to destroy Judah before the Lord relented of
doing this, “16 Then David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel
of the Lord standing between earth
and heaven, with his drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then
David and the elders, covered with sackcloth, fell on their faces. 17 David said to God, “Is it not I
who commanded to count the people? Indeed, I am the one who has sinned and done
very wickedly, but these sheep, what have they done? O Lord my God, please let Your hand be against me and my
father’s household, but not against Your people that they should be plagued.””
7.2.
Here we see that David makes the transition from being a wayward sinner
restored to the Lord into an intercessor for his people, the men of
7.3.
To “intercede” for someone else means “to make entreaty for them” to
another.
7.3.1. Leviticus 26:40-42 speaks of
how to become an effective intercessor for another on behalf of the Lord, “40
‘If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their forefathers,
in their unfaithfulness which they committed against Me, and also in their
acting with hostility against Me— 41 I also was acting with
hostility against them, to bring them into the land of their enemies—or if
their uncircumcised heart becomes humbled so that they then make amends for
their iniquity, 42 then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and
I will remember also My covenant with Isaac, and My covenant with Abraham as
well, and I will remember the land.”
7.4.
Now that David is right with the Lord, he tells the Lord to take out
His justice and wrath upon him for he is the one who has sinned not the men of
7.5.
David prayed this prayer of intercession on behalf of Israel, and on
the same day the Lord directs the prophet Gad to come to David so that he can
tell David to make a sacrifice to the Lord for his sin (the sin of numbering
the people).
7.6.
Normally, the priests were the ones to make sacrifices for sins for
people, however the Lord is clear in His word that He chooses the way in which
people might come into favorable relationship with Him, and here the Lord
chooses to have David offer his own sacrifice for his sin.
7.7.
Gad tells David to go and to make a sacrifice upon the threshing floor
of a Jebusite whose name was Araunah.
7.8.
Why David was directed by Gad to go to the threshing floor of Araunah,
of all places, to offer the sacrifice we have no idea, but he was. We will see after this chapter however that
it was on this very place of the threshing floor of Araunah, which is located
on
7.9.
When David comes to Araunah to request that he might make this
sacrifice upon his threshing floor, Araunah tells David to use the threshing
floor and he even offers David the animals to be sacrificed.
7.10.
David refuses to receive as a gift that which he would sacrifice, so he
insists upon buying the threshing floor for Araunah and paying for his own
animals to be sacrificed to the Lord for his sin.
7.11.
David tells Araunah, ‘I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord
my God which cost me nothing.’ David
realized that in order to give a sacrifice to the Lord that would please Him
that it must cost you something.
7.11.1.
This speaks volumes to us as Christians in regard to that which we give
unto the Lord of our substance in offerings, of our time, and in our
service. We must never be people who are
trying to get a “free ride” when it comes to our service to the Lord.
7.11.2.
I fear today that many people in the church only give to the Lord out
their excess and thus what they give to the Lord costs them very little. These verses show us that what we give unto
the Lord must be costly.
7.11.3.
In Luke 7:36-48 the story is told of a woman who took an alabaster vial
of very costly perfume and anointed Jesus’ head and then wiped his feet with
her hair and tears, she truly showed that those who have been forgiven much
love much, “36 Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to
dine with him, and He entered the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the
table. 37 And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner;
and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the
Pharisee’s house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, 38 and
standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with
her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet
and anointing them with the perfume. 39 Now when the Pharisee who
had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet He
would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that
she is a sinner.” 40 And Jesus answered him, “ Simon , I have
something to say to you.” And he replied, “Say it, Teacher.” 41 “A
moneylender had two debtors : one owed five hundred denarii , and the other
fifty . 42 “When they were unable to repay , he graciously forgave
them both . So which of them will love him more ?” 43 Simon answered
and said, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.” And He said to him, “You
have judged correctly .” 44 Turning toward the woman, He said to
Simon, “Do you see this woman ? I entered your house ; you gave Me no water for
My feet , but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair .
45 “You gave Me no kiss ; but she, since the time I came in, has not
ceased to kiss My feet . 46 “ You did not anoint My head with oil ,
but she anointed My feet with perfume . 47 “For this reason I say to
you, her sins , which are many , have been forgiven , for she loved much ; but
he who is forgiven little , loves little .” 48 Then He said to her,
“ Your sins have been forgiven.””
7.11.3.1. When we as God’s people
realize just how great a debt of sin the Lord has forgiven us, then our
response of love and gratefulness will be to try to give much back to Him, to
give back generously to Him.
7.12.
In 1 Chron. 21:26 we read that the Lord accepted David’s sacrifice made
here by miraculously consuming it by fire.
8.CONCLUSIONS:
8.1.
As we consider this story of how David stumbled after getting puffed in
pride after great successes in battle, and then he went and numbered his
fighting men in Israel and Judah to show the strength of his might, we too must
be careful to always be aware that it is the Lord who fights the battle for us. When we have great successes we must always
give all of the glory to God and realize that the victory had nothing to do
with our strength, intelligence, or even faith.
It was all the Lord.
8.2.
As a reminder, we must always be aware in the church that it is the
Lord who is going to build His church and our own efforts in the flesh to help
God out are just going to hinder His work.
Our focus needs to be upon trusting in the Lord and His power and
directing our prayers to Him to bless our work.
8.3.
We Christians are sometimes going to slip into the flesh and even carry
out madness to some degree, just as David did, however let us be quick to
repent and not let 10 months elapse before we admit our error. Likewise, when those who are unspiritual or
unsaved correct our lives with the truth, such as Joab did, lets be committed
to waken out of our stupor and get our lives right with the Lord in the same
way that David eventually did in our story.
8.4.
We don’t want to miss the fact here in our story that as soon as David
confessed and repented of his sins, asking the Lord to forgive him and take
away his iniquity, and the sin sacrifice was applied to his life, he was right
with the Lord. Though David had to
suffer some chastisement after this point because of his sin, remember that
this occurred from the loving hand of the Lord, not because God was still angry
with him. As we have seen over and over
again, all of God’s chastisement of His people occurs from His loving hand.
8.5.
Do you need to get right with the Lord today?
8.5.1.
Confess and repent of your sins.
8.5.2.
Ask the Lord to forgive you and cleanse you from your
sins.
8.5.3. Trust completely in Christ’s
full payment for your sins on Calvary’s cross, and do not lean upon your own
righteousness or good works to gain you favor with the Lord.