2 Samuel 24
Notes
Transcript
If you’ve read through 2 Samuel 24 (our text for this morning), I’m guessing you’re a little perplexed. It’s a bit confusing.
We’re left wondering why this particular issue is an issue at all. It’s a puzzle and we’re missing a couple of pieces.
Or, if we’re honest, it’s like that 3-D puzzle you give up on after half an hour of trying.
But we’re going to stick with this, and I promise, it’ll be worth it—not because of me or anything I have to say, but because it’s God’s Word and it’s perfect.
The content of this, the last chapter of 2 Samuel, is mainly focused on the wrath of God. Everyone’s favorite subject.
In a sequence of perplexing, puzzling events, we encounter God’s wrath. That’s the subject of 2 Samuel 24: God’s righteous wrath.
If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me to 2 Samuel 24. We’re going to go through this chapter bit-by-bit this morning, so leave your Bible open in front of you and follow along.
1 Again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.”
2 So the king said to Joab and the army commanders with him, “Go throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and enroll the fighting men, so that I may know how many there are.”
3 But Joab replied to the king, “May the Lord your God multiply the troops a hundred times over, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king want to do such a thing?”
4 The king’s word, however, overruled Joab and the army commanders; so they left the presence of the king to enroll the fighting men of Israel.
5 After crossing the Jordan, they camped near Aroer, south of the town in the gorge, and then went through Gad and on to Jazer. 6 They went to Gilead and the region of Tahtim Hodshi, and on to Dan Jaan and around toward Sidon. 7 Then they went toward the fortress of Tyre and all the towns of the Hivites and Canaanites. Finally, they went on to Beersheba in the Negev of Judah.
8 After they had gone through the entire land, they came back to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.
9 Joab reported the number of the fighting men to the king: In Israel there were eight hundred thousand able-bodied men who could handle a sword, and in Judah five hundred thousand.
A census seems pretty benign to us. No big deal; they’re just taking a count of the people. Happens every 10 years in the US, per the constitution.
So when David says, “Go and take a census of Israel and Judah,” we might shrug and ask what’s the big deal. It doesn’t seem like anything of concern; nothing of note.
But, for whatever reason, it’s a big deal here.
The anger of the LORD led to David having a census taken, and we’ll see how problems arise after the census is taken. Later in the chapter, David regrets taking the census and faces consequences from the LORD for doing so.
There’s no explanation for the LORD’s anger here. Elsewhere in the Bible, even in 2 Samuel, we’re given reason for the LORD’s anger.
But here, nothing, nada, zip, zilch.
Here’s what this means: we don’t need to know what caused the LORD’s anger. We simply need to understand that the LORD’s anger burned against Israel.
Now, most assuredly, there was a reason for the LORD’s anger. And the Bible is clear that God’s anger/God’s wrath is ALWAYS righteous; it’s never, ever unjustified.
17 The Lord is righteous in all his ways and faithful in all he does.
But at this particular point in history—whatever is happening whenever this is happening—the reason for God’s wrath is not the focus.
The LORD incites David against Israel. And what the LORD has David do is going to hurt Israel.
Understand: the LORD is able to use both good and evil human acts for HIS purposes without diminishing human responsibility for the deeds themselves.
In Genesis, Joseph tells his brothers who left him for dead, Genesis 50:20 “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.”
On the day of Pentecost, Peter stands up and preaches about the crucifixion of Jesus (among other things). Peter says: Acts 2:23 “This man [Jesus] was handed over to you by God’s deliberate plan and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross.”
The killing of Jesus was a wicked act. Sinful men were responsible for their awful deed. And yet it was also done according to God’s deliberate plan.
God’s sovereignty does not diminish human responsibility; neither does human responsibility diminish divine sovereignty.
Whether or not we understand it, the LORD had His purpose in what He incited David to do. And David’s still responsible for what he does.
David is to take a census. To number the people of the nation. Why this action would be against them is a bit of a puzzle.
A census works in our favor. It determines our representation in Congress, the allocation of federal funds, among other things. It’s a good, if not altogether benign, thing.
One of my favorite bits on SNL is a census worker asking questions of Christopher Walken.
I don’t know anyone who gets upset about a census.
But, in the ancient world, a census was for mostly unwelcome purposes: to tax the people more and to determine how many men were fit for military service.
It’s an ominous thing, this census. No good is going to come from this.
Joab is the one tapped to lead the census-taking operation. It was a comprehensive census—all the tribes of Israel from Dan [in the far north] to Beersheba [in the south].
Joab is bothered by the idea of a census. He asks, “Why do such a thing?” And if Joab is bothered, you know something must be really wrong with the idea. Joab isn’t a man with many scruples, and yet this bothers him…
David gives the order, Joab objects, David overrules, and so Joab and the others canvass the countryside.
Joab and his fellow army commanders go out door-to-door with their clipboards and complete the census. Almost 10 months later, they come back to David with the number of able-bodied men amongst the people.
This is the story thus far: the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and David orders a census.
What happens next is quite odd:
10 David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, Lord, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.”
11 Before David got up the next morning, the word of the Lord had come to Gad the prophet, David’s seer: 12 “Go and tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.’ ”
13 So Gad went to David and said to him, “Shall there come on you three years of famine in your land? Or three months of fleeing from your enemies while they pursue you? Or three days of plague in your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should answer the one who sent me.”
14 David said to Gad, “I am in deep distress. Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but do not let me fall into human hands.”
15 So the Lord sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the end of the time designated, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died.
On three separate occasions, the LORD commanded Moses to number the people. We have no reason to think that numbering people is, in itself, a sin of some kind.
But some part of this census, after the fact, really bothered David. He was conscience-stricken. His heart condemned/troubled him. His heart smote him.
Did the census express some failure on David’s part to trust the LORD and His promises?
Was the census an act of arrogant pride, giving King David something to boast about?
Had David planned some military campaign without seeking the LORD?
Here’s the issue once more: the text doesn’t tell us what bothered David about the census. As much as we might want to know why David was bothered, we don’t know. The Bible doesn’t tell us; the detail we want is unimportant.
What’s important is this: David, the king, understood what he was. And he understands what the people all around him also were—sinners before the LORD who is Holy, Holy, Holy.
In light of this realization, David responded by speaking to the LORD.
Sin tends to harden the heart and keep us from dealing with God, blinding us to the One we have offended.
But David, upon feeling the weight of guilt, goes straight to the LORD and confesses the foolish thing he has done (His sin, like all sin, is just plain stupid).
David confesses his stupidity and begs for forgiveness (take away the guilt of your servant).
Now the text gets “curiouser and curiouser.”
Here, like in 2 Samuel 12, based on David’s repentance and confession, we might expect that David will receive a gracious, forgiving word from the LORD.
The word of the LORD did come to David, but it wasn’t what David (or anyone) would hope for. And a possible purpose for the census steps into the light.
The prophet Gad is to go to David and give him three options to pick from. None of the options are good. “Um, can I pick (D) None of the above?”
Famine, enemy pursuit, or plague? “No, um, yeah, no thanks.”
What’s up with this? Three choices.
Like parents giving their child in trouble the option of punishment. Somehow, that’s worse! “Would you rather be grounded for a week or be nice to your sister for a day?”
Why didn’t the LORD just send one of these punishments upon the people as soon as His anger was kindled against them?
We don’t have the answer to that question.
We often don’t have the answers to these questions. Paul even cautions us from asking these “why” questions:
20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ”
God’s wrath is going to be poured out on the people. This seems inevitable and absolutely deserved.
One effect of what the LORD does here with David, and the way in which He does it, involving David in the judgment of his people, was to demonstrate that David—a sinner—was not able to save his people from the wrath of God.
It’s no surprise that this is a distressing position for David. It’s a horrible decision. What’s the clear choice?
Yeah, you’re right, there is none.
So David does what anyone with a mustard seed’s worth of faith would do.
In the midst of his confused distress, David doesn’t make a clear choice.
He merely knows he wants himself and his people to fall into the hands of the LORD.
Why? Because His mercy is great.
The only hope—the only hope—for anyone in the face of the LORD’s anger is the LORD’s mercy.
Verse 15 reveals the decision that was made. And not by David.
It seems to be the LORD who chose the punishment. The LORD sent a plague and it lasted for the time He intended it to last.
16 When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented concerning the disaster and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand.” The angel of the Lord was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
17 When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he said to the Lord, “I have sinned; I, the shepherd, have done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Let your hand fall on me and my family.”
18 On that day Gad went to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 So David went up, as the Lord had commanded through Gad.
Bottom line: the LORD did not allow the plague He had sent to do as much damage as it might have done. The LORD stopped the destruction.
The LORD is Exodus 34:6 “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness,” Psalm 103:8 “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.”
The LORD delights to have mercy and is grieved at sin and its consequences.
On this day, when destruction threatened Jerusalem, He had mercy and He says, “Enough.”
Take note of where the angel of the LORD was when the LORD showed mercy. At the end of verse 16, it says, “at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”
David again confesses.
And he asks that the LORD’s judgment be directed at him and his house. David is willing to lay down his life for his sheep.
Of course, David is inadequate as a sacrifice, but He sounds a little like Someone you know: the true Good Shepherd who will do just that.
When the word of the LORD comes to David again (v. 18), it’s a command to go build an altar to the LORD, where?
On the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
David was to go to the place where the LORD’s mercy had brought an end the punishment.
The threshing floor of Araunah was an elevated location—“go up”—and just north of the city of Jerusalem.
There, David was to build an altar to the LORD.
Noah, Abraham, Joshua, Samuel, and even Saul had built altars to the LORD at significant moments in Israel’s history.
And so, David goes as the LORD had commanded.
20 When Araunah looked and saw the king and his officials coming toward him, he went out and bowed down before the king with his face to the ground.
21 Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?”
“To buy your threshing floor,” David answered, “so I can build an altar to the Lord, that the plague on the people may be stopped.”
22 Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take whatever he wishes and offer it up. Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and here are threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood. 23 Your Majesty, Araunah gives all this to the king.” Araunah also said to him, “May the Lord your God accept you.”
24 But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”
So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels of silver for them. 25 David built an altar to the Lord there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the Lord answered his prayer in behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.
How David acquires this site takes up most of the space here at the end of the chapter, the last chapter in the book.
This is the last event recorded in the books of Samuel, and for good reason.
Notice, this is a legitimate transaction. David, as king, doesn’t seize the land. He doesn’t take it by force. David, upon paying a fair price, now rightly owns the land.
Both David and Araunah understand that this land is now is for an altar and for burnt offerings. This is what the place is for.
The last act of David recorded in the books of Samuel is the offering of sacrifices.
“Burnt offerings” were the most common of all OT sacrifices. The main purpose was to atone for human sins by propitiating God’s wrath, dealing with God’s wrath, turning away God’s wrath.
“Fellowship offerings” or “peace offerings” were a celebration of peace with God—and everything that flows from that blessing of peace with God.
The last thing David does, as recorded in the books of Samuel, is to offer of sacrifices to the LORD.
The book of 2 Samuel ends with good news. The LORD answered prayer. The people are good. God’s anger and wrath averted.
But keep reading in subsequent books of the Bible and you’ll find the people of this kingdom provoke the anger of the LORD again and again and again. 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles.
It’s mostly bad, repeatedly bad.
But we need to hang on to that little detail in the last chapter of 2 Samuel. There, on the threshing floor of Araunah, David builds an altar.
In due course, David’s son, Solomon builds the temple where? Any guesses?
At this very place, the threshing floor of Araunah.
And there burnt offerings would be offered for the ongoing sins of Israel for a long time to come.
If you remember, 1 Samuel started with sacrifices being offered in Shiloh. 2 Samuel ends with David offering sacrifices on the site of the future temple.
David’s problem was that he was as guilty of sin as his people. He knew that he was.
David is not the answer for the sins of his people. Neither was Solomon or Rehoboam or Abijah or Josiah or any of David’s descendants for 1,000 years.
But then comes the true Son of David, Jesus the Christ, the Son of God.
And a short distance from the threshing floor of Araunah, just outside of town, up a bit from the temple, there on a hill called Golgotha the perfect and complete sacrifice for the sins of the world was offered.
The sacrifice to end all sacrifices.
Once for all time.
Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God offered His life for ours—for yours and mine.
What David was unable to do fully, what you and I would never accomplish, Jesus finished. For us.
The good news at the end of 2 Samuel is just a hint of the Good News Jesus brings.
The Good News of what Jesus has done for us is that HE has turned away the wrath of God we rightly deserve.
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. 25 God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished—26 he did it to demonstrate his righteousness at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus.
In JESUS, by His body and His blood, GOD’s wrath has been dealt with, finally and completely, for all who belong to God by faith in Jesus.
He is the ONE and ONLY answer to the wrath of God.
“On the cross where Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied
For every sin on Him was laid.”
