Journey Through the Old Testament II Samuel Lesson #59 David Sins in Numbering Israel For Sunday, December 11, 2016 Read 2 Sam. 24; 1 Chron. 21 David Calls For the People to Be Numbered. Many governments take a census every few years. A census is where they count how many people live in different areas of the country. Often governments will do this to see how many people live in a certain area so that they will know how big their schools need to be, how many roads they need to have, and things like that. There is nothing wrong with a government counting how many people it has. God actually commanded Moses to count the number of Israelite who could serve as soldiers on two different occasions once in the second year after deliverance from Egyptian bondage, and again about forty years later near the end of Israel s wanderings in the desert (Numbers 1:1-3,19; 26:2-4). That s why that book of the Bible is called Numbers, because of the census where they numbered or counted the people. But we read in I Chronicles 21:1 "And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel." It was not normally wrong to count the people, but God had not commanded a census be taken at this time and David s reasons for taking it seem to be wrong. There are several things to think about in this story. o God was angry at Israel. "And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah." (II Samuel 24:1). God was angry about some of the things happening among his people. The Bible doesn t say what God was angry about. Maybe His people were committing some sin. Or it may be that they were starting to forget about Him and His great works. o God allowed David to be moved to number the people. He moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah. God did not make David do this, but used David s bad decision a way to bring punishment on Israel. o Satan wanted to do hurt Israel. And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel. (I Chronicles 21:1). Because the Israelites were God s people, the Devil was against them and wanted to hurt them. Today, Satan is against Christians and wants to do things to harm us, hurt our influence, and hurt the church as a whole. o Satan used David to bring harm to his nation. He provoked David to number Israel so that they would be punished for their sin. Question: If God is good and the Devil is evil, why are both said to have used David to go against Israel? God s purposes are never the same as the Devil s, but sometimes He uses what Satan does to accomplish His own will. [Satan s temptations led Joseph s brother s to sell Joseph, but God used the same event to save
Israel from the famine.] The Devil tempted David to do this, but we know that God never tempts anyone to do evil (James 1:13). God did however allow David to be tempted. Joab Questions David. David said to Joab, Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring the number of them to me, that I may know it. But even Joab could see that this might displease God. Joab told David, "May the LORD your God multiply the people a hundred times over, and may the King live to see it. But why does Your Majesty delight in doing this? Why should he be a cause of guilt to Israel?" Notice that Joab thinks it will cause Israel to face problems. It also seems that other captains of the army thought this was a bad idea. But we are told that David took great delight in doing this. It was something David really wanted to do. One reason for taking a census was to know the amount of men that could serve in an army (Num. 1:1-4). It may be that David was starting to trust more in how big their army was than he trusted in God being on their side. It may also be that David wanted to be able to brag about the size of his army. He may have wanted to impress the surrounding nations around Israel that he had a mighty army. Was it wrong to trust in their army? It wasn t wrong to have a good army and a big army, but it is wrong for them to put their faith in those things, rather than in God. Isaiah 31:1 says, Woe to them that go down to Egypt for help; and stay on horses, and trust in chariots, because they are many; and in horsemen, because they are very strong; but they look not unto the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the LORD! Psalms 44:5-8 says, Through You we will push down our enemies; Through Your name we will trample those who rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, nor shall my sword save me. But You have saved us from our enemies, and have put to shame those who hated us. In God we boast all day long, and praise Your name forever. This last scripture shows what Israel should have trusted in, rather than counting the number of soldiers and swords in their army. Israel's greatness and power all came from God's hand, God's presence, and God's blessings. David Admits His Sin. Reluctantly, Joab over the next 9 months carried out David s command to number the people. Nevertheless the king's word prevailed against Joab and against the captains of the army. Therefore Joab and the captains of the army went out from the presence of the king to count the people of Israel. God was displeased with this thing, so He struck Israel. As David thought about his actions, his own heart condemned him, his conscience bothered him he knew he was wrong for having started this. So David said to God, I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing. But now, please take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly. There was a prophet named Gad who advised King David. Gad was sent to David to have him choose which of three punishments he would receive for having sinned: o "Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? o Or shall you flee three months before your enemies, while they pursue you? o Or shall there be three days' plague in your land? David felt great distress at the though of having to be the one to choose what would happen. He did ask not to fall into the hands of his enemies, but David said he would put it in God s hands for he knew God would be merciful.
The Punishment. Remember what we read awhile ago. God was angry at Israel. The punishment God chose was for a pestilence to break out among the people for three days. An angel went throughout the nation and 70,000 died. The angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. David saw the angel standing between earth and heaven, with his a sword drawn in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, covered with sackcloth, fell on their faces. And David prayed, I was the one who gave the command to count the people? Surely I have sinned, and I have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, be against me and against my father's house. [He calls them the sheep but he is talking about the people of Israel.] The Lord told the angel, It is enough; don t destroy it. The threshing floor that was owned by a Jebusite man called Araunah (or Ornan) was where the plague stopped. This part of Jerusalem was known as Mt. Moriah. The prophet Gad told David to build an altar to the Lord on that threshing floor. As David approached Araunah, he explained that he wanted to buy the threshing floor from him so that he could build an altar there and the plague could be stopped. Araunah was very generous: "Let my lord the king take and offer up whatever seems good to him. Look, here are oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing implements and the yokes of the oxen for wood. I will give you all these things. But David said, No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God with that which costs me nothing. So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. David built there an altar to the LORD, and got the burnt offerings and peace offerings ready. He called out to the Lord, and the Lord answered him by sending fire on the altar. So the LORD heeded the prayers for the land, and the plague was withdrawn from Israel. The LORD commanded the angel, and he put his sword back in its sheath. And when David saw that the LORD had answered him on the threshing floor, he offered sacrifice there. II Chronicles 3:1 will later tell us that Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. So one of the great things that came out of all these bad events was that this became the site where the Temple would be built. The New Testament Teaches Us Motives Matter. We learned in this story that at times God had commanded Israel to be numbered, but that David was wrong to do it. It was suggested in the lesson that David s motive may have been wrong. Our motive is what motivates us or moves us to do something. If you try to a good thing with a bad motive, it
becomes sinful. In Matt. 6:1-18 Jesus talked about giving and praying (two good things), but He showed that if people did those things so that others would see them and brag on them, then their motives were wrong. We always want to be sure that our motives are right in serving the Lord. Glory in the Lord. Paul said, He that glories, let him glory in the Lord (I Cor. 1:31). We realize that we shouldn t take too much glory in earthly things. Just like David should have been more concerned about the Lord s pleasure in Israel than in the size of their army, we should be more interested in pleasing God than we are about how much money we have or how popular we are. In Jeremiah 9:23-24 we read, Thus says the LORD: "Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth. For in these I delight," says the LORD. David did many important things, but the truth is it wasn t his popularity, his defeat of the Goliath, his palace, or his great armies, but it was David's repentance, faith and trust in the Lord, which made him great. Religion That Costs Nothing is Worth Nothing. David said that he would not offer burnt offerings to the LORD that which costs him nothing. Some people want a religion that doesn t cost them anything. David refused to offer a sacrifice that another person had paid for. If it hadn t cost David anything, he didn t think it was right to offer it to God. Christians should be willing to offer their whole lives as a sacrifice to God (Rom. 12:1,2). Bible Quiz 1. From II Sam. 24:1 we know that the Lord was a at Israel. 2. In I Chronicles 21:1 who is said to have moved David to number Israel? 3. Who tried to get David not to go through with numbering Israel? (II Sam. 24:3) 4. After the numbering of the people was finished, what is said about David s heart? (II Sam. 24:10) 5. What three things did the prophet Gad say David must choose his punishment from? (II Sam. 24:12-13) 6. David wanted the Lord to choose, but what was the one thing he hoped would not happen? (II Sam. 24:14)
7. Who did David see holding a sword? (I Chron. 21:15-16) 8. What did David say in his prayer in II Sam. 24:17? 9. When did the plague finally stop? (II Sam. 24:25)