II Samuel 24
David orders a census of Israel verse 1- 2
And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel
and HE moved David against them to say
Go – number Israel and Judah
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 Beer-sheba – and number yet the people
that I may know the number of the people
Joab objects to the census verse 3
And Joab
said to the king
Now the LORD your God add to the people
how many soever they be – a hundred-fold
and that the eyes of my lord the king may see
But why does my lord the king delight in this thing?
David insists on the census verse 4- 7
Notwithstanding the king’s word prevailed against Joab
against the captain 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
and they passed over Jordan
and pitched in Aroer – on the right side of the city that lies
in the midst of the river of Gad – and toward Jazer
then they came to Gilead – and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi
and they came to Dan-jaan – and about to Sidon
and came to the stronghold 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 Beer-sheba
Final count of census reported: 1. 3 million soldiers verse 8- 9
So when they had gone through all the land
they came to Jerusalem
at the end of nine months and twenty days
And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people to 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
David admits his sin verse 10
And David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people
and David said to the LORD
I have sinned greatly in that I have done
and now – I beseech YOU – O LORD
take away the iniquity of your servant
for I have done very foolishly
LORD contacts Gad with three choices verse 11- 12
For when David was up in the morning
the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad
David’s seer saying
Go and say unto David – Thus said the LORD
I offer you three things choose you one of them
that I may do it to you
Prophet Gad gives David three choices verse 13
So Gad came to David – and told him
and said to him
Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in your land?
OR will you flee three months before your enemies
while they pursue you?
OR that there be three days’ pestilence in your land?
Now advise – and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me
David picks third choice verse 14
And David
said to Gad
I am in a great strait – let us fall now into the hand of the LORD
FOR HIS mercies are great
and let me not fall into the hand of man
LORD send plague on Israel: 70, 000 die verse 15- 16
So the LORD sent a pestilence on Israel
from the morning even to the time appointed
and there died of the people from Dan even to Beer-sheba
seventy thousand men
And when the angel stretched out his hand on 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 your hand
And the angel of the LORD was by the threshing place of Araunah the
Jebusite
David sees angel at threshing place of Araunah verse 17
And David spoke to the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people
and said
Lo – I have sinned – I have done wickedly – BUT these sheep
What have they done?
Let YOUR hand – I pray you – be against me
and against my father’s house
David told by Gad to build altar there verse 18- 21
And Gad came that day to David
and said to him
Go up – rear an altar to the LORD in the threshing-floor of
Araunah the Jebusite
And David – according to the saying of Gad
went up as the LORD commanded
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
And Araunah said
Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant?
And David
said
To buy the threshing-floor of you – to build an altar to the LORD
that the plague may be stayed from the people
Araunah offers property for free verse 22- 23
And Araunah
said to David
Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him
behold – here be oxen for burnt sacrifice
and threshing instruments and other instruments
of the oxen for word
All these things did Araunah – as a king – give to the king
and Araunah said to the king
The LORD your God accept you
David insist on paying for property verse 24
And the king
said to Araunah
Nay – but I will surely buy it of thee at a price
neither will I offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God
of that which does cost me nothing
So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen
for fifty shekels of silver
David builds altar to the LORD verse 25
And David built there an altar to the LORD
and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings
So the LORD was entreated for the land
and the plague was stayed from Israel
DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers
: 1 And again the anger of the LROD was kindled against Israel, and HE moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah. (5496 “moved” [cuwth] means persuade, stir up, entice, provoked, to incite, entice away, allure, or instigate)
DEVOTION: What was Israel doing wrong in the eyes of the LORD? They were counting on their own strength to fight their battles. They were thinking because they had a large army they could defeat any enemy. They were not looking to the LORD for their strength but themselves. This displeased the LORD to the point of anger.
The LORD wants us to totally depend on HIM for our strength. So HE allowed David to number the army which ended up being thirteen hundred men. It was a large army at his disposal.
Wrong thinking about strength can cause the LORD to show us just how weak we are without HIM. It was because of the numbering of the soldiers that the LORD sent a plague that killed seventy thousand soldiers. God allowed one of HIS angels to go into the Promised Land and kill half the army of Israel.
Our attitude of independence from the LORD causes HIM to be angry with us as believers. We think because people say they are believers that they are believers. Their actions say that they are not believers but their words say they are. We have to have discernment in our thinking. The children of Israel lacked discernment at times and it cost lives.
We find today that because we have a lot of people who claim to be believers but are not acting like believers that the LORD has to judge us for our lack of discernment. Many are being killed because of our lack of discernment regarding what is pleasing to the LORD. HE wants us to realize that our strength comes from HIM alone. If we are depending on ourselves or on our army or on our church instead of depending on HIM we are in for a time of judgment.
Christians need to act like believers no matter what society tells them what to do. We have to stand up for the commands of the LORD as they are found in the Bible. HE has not changed HIS commands. HE has not changed HIS standards.
CHALLENGE: We need to be totally dependent on HIM for our daily strength. No amount of humans can give us the strength we need to defeat our real enemies.
DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers
: 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 enemies, while they pursue you? Or that there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me. (3045 “advise” [yada] means to know, learn, to reveal, to realize, to perceive, find out, to discriminate, distinguish, to recognize, or be skillful in)
DEVOTION: How many of us would like three choices from the LORD? Here we have David realizing that he was counting on the size of his army rather than the LORD. So the LORD sent the prophet Gad to him with these three choices.
We would probably pick the same choice as David. We would rather have a short judgment rather than a long period of judgment. The shorter the judgment the better seems like a good choice.
Here we see God communicating with a prophet rather than talking directly with David. Leaders need to realize that sometimes the LORD speaks through other people to help them make the right decisions. Many times leaders think they have to give the right answer to a problem or trial that someone faces or a church faces or a nation faces.
David should have gone to the LORD in prayer before he numbered the army. The LORD would have shown him that he was starting to trust in his own strength rather than the LORD.
Today we find that we are tempted to think we can face any problem in our own strength and this is not the way the LORD works. HE wants to be by the side of every believer helping them make the right choice.
HE speaks through the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our life. HE speaks through biblical leader around us. HE speaks and we need to be listening to the right voices.
Ask the LORD to give you the wisdom to ask the right questions and receive the right answers.
CHALLENGE: Too often we force the LORD to judge us because we are not depending on HIM which is a sin.
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: 17 And David spoke to 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 YOUR hand, I pray YOU, be against me, and against my father’s house. (2398 “sinned” [chata] means to miss a mark, to wrong, offend, be culpable, to violate a divine law, to err from the mark, be blameworthy, or offend)
DEVOTION: David had to admit that he had sinned against the LORD. He did it for his own glory and not for the LORD. He wanted to show all the great things he had done. He wanted to have bragging rights to all that he had accomplished. This was wrong in the eyes of the LORD.
David was not a perfect man as most of us realize that we are not perfect individuals in the eyes of the LORD. There was only ONE perfect man who came to this earth and that was Jesus Christ. HE died for the sins of the world.
However, there are today men and women who think that they are good in the eyes of the LORD even when they are doing wrong. There are people who lead churches in the wrong direction as David was leading the nation in the wrong direction.
When this happens the LORD has to chasten even HIS own people to turn them back to the right path. The LORD sent a prophet to question the actions of David and to give him a choice of punishment for his sin.
Too often we think that we can get away with sin and that there are no consequences to them. That is wrong thinking. All of us need to confess our sins to the LORD and seek HIS wisdom and understand HIS judgment of us to keep us on the right path.
What is happening in your life today that might not be good in the eyes of the LORD? Are you keeping short accounts with the LORD? Are you seeking HIS wisdom regarding your actions each day?
CHALLENGE: The LORD wants us to keep short accounts with HIM. HE wants to give us wisdom and will if we ask HIM. We need to have our actions approved of the LORD before we move forward.
DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers
: 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 threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. (2600 “nothing” [chinnam] means gratis, devoid of cost, causeless, free, or innocent)
DEVOTION: The LORD doesn’t want us to trust in numbers. The LORD doesn’t want us to trust in money. The LORD doesn’t want us to trust in anything or anyone but HIM. Too often HIS people forget that they are to trust only in HIM. Too often HIS people look at circumstances instead of looking to HIM. The LORD wants nothing between HIM and HIS people.
Sometimes the LORD allows us to do things that are wrong. David numbered his soldiers to have pride in his troops instead of in the LORD. After he had done it, he realized what he was doing and confessed it as sin. The problem with going our own way is that there are consequences to our actions. David is given three choices regarding consequences. He chose the third one, which was to be in the hands of the LORD. That meant that the land was going to suffer a plague. As a result of the plague 70,000 men had died. The angel of death that was bring the plague was on his way to Jerusalem. The LORD stopped him. The LORD ended the consequence but required David to build an altar to worship HIM.
The place where the angel of the LORD stopped was the threshing place of Araunah the Jebusite. Araunah offered the threshing place for free, but
David didn’t want the threshing-floor for free. He felt that if he was going to offer something to the LORD, it had to be brought. He knew that God wanted him to give something that cost him something.
If there was no cost, there would be no meaning. When it cost something, we value it. When we worship the LORD, what does it cost us?
It cost the LORD HIS Son on the cross. Are we looking at our time of worship as something that doesn’t cost us anything? When we come before the LORD on Sunday, are we thirsting for the presence of the LORD? Are we working out our salvation? Or are we dropping in our few pennies and telling God that we gave HIM an hour or two and some money and HE should be happy with our “sacrifice”?
Are we counting the cost of true worship? Those in this country take their freedoms for granted. David and the nation of Israel caused the LORD to be angry with them. Do we think that we have caused the LORD to be angry with us? Should HE send more pestilence our way before we turn back to HIM? Has the LORD sent any warnings our way? Can we look to the east, west, north and south of our country and see HIS warnings? If not let us know and we will tell about HIS warnings. Are we takers or givers????
CHALLENGE: Trust in the LORD ALONE!!! Give to the LORD all you can. Encourage those around you all the time.
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: 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. (6279 “intreated” [‘athar] means entreat, prayer, supplicate, to be moved and respond to a prayer by doing what is asked, plead or intercede)
DEVOTION: It is great to read that the LORD was willing to respond to the prayer of David after he was obedient to the commands of the LORD. The LORD had sent a plague that needed to end from the perspective of David. What did David do about the plague? He prayed to the LORD for a way to end the plague. Once he knew what to do he did it to honor the LORD.
Once the altar was built and the sacrifices were offering to the LORD from a obedient heart the LORD answered the prayer request with a YES!
HE wanted David to obey HIS commands and when he did the LORD ended the plague.
Obedience and prayer go together to get the LORD to act in our behalf. Our total dependence on the LORD has to be genuine or the LORD doesn’t answer our requests.
Too often we go to the LORD with a list of things we want HIM to do and don’t expect that we have to do acts of obedience for the LORD to give us what HE wants us to have from the list.
There are many health and wealth preachers that give you the idea that God is your personal genie who will give you as many wishes as you want if you just ask or demand of HIM. This is not a biblical approach to the LORD. It is a heathen approach.
God wants HIS servants to only ask for what they genuinely need to be good servants of HIS. Service is the key. Obedience is necessary. Biblical understanding of how HE works in the lives of those who come to HIM is a genuine need.
David did what the LORD asked of him and received an answer that helped all the children of Israel not just himself. We can be very selfish and lazy in our Christian life and this doesn’t please the LORD one bit.
CHALLENGE: Ask the LORD to show you when you are being selfish and lazy and then ask HIM to give you strength to change in those areas.
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DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:
BODY
Chastity (Purity in living)
Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)
Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)
Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)
Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)
SOUL
Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)
Frugality (wise use of resources)
Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)
Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)
Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)
SPIRIT
Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)
Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)
David said “I have sinned greatly” verse 10
David said “Take away the iniquity” verse 10
David said “ I have sinned” verse 17
“ I have done wickedly”
Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)
David prayed to LORD to take away his sin verse 10
LORD was intreated by David verse 25
Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)
Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)
Built altar verse 25
Burnt offerings verse 25
Peace offerings verse 25
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DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:
Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)
Word of the LORD verse 11
God the Father (First person of the Godhead)
LORD – Jehovah (Covenant keeping, Personal) verse 1, 3, 10- 12, 14- 19, 21, 23-25
Anger of the LORD verse 1
God – Elohim (Creator) verse 3
LORD thy God verse 3, 23
Hand of the LORD verse 14
LORD repented (relented) him of the evil verse 16
LORD commanded verse 19
Altar to the LORD verse 21
LORD my God verse 24
LORD was entreated verse 25
God the Son (Second person of the Godhead –God/man, Messiah)
God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)
Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)
Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)
Angel brought pestilence to Israel verse 16, 17
Angel of the LORD verse 16
Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)
Hivites verse 7
Canaanites verse 7
Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)
Sinned verse 10, 17
Iniquity verse 10
Foolishly verse 10
Wickedly verse 17
Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)
Take away sin verse 10
Servant verse 10
Mercy verse 14
Humans as sheep verse 17
Cost to service to the LORD verse 24
Israel (Old Testament people of God)
David verse 1
King wanted Israel numbered
9 months and 20 days
Chose pestilence
70,000 died in Dan to Beer-sheba
Admits sin
Admits doing wickedly
Built altar
Numbering Israel and Judah verse 1
Joab verse 3- 9
Israel = 800,000 soldiers
Judah = 500,000 soldiers
Soldiers of Israel – 800, 000 men verse 9
Soldiers of Judah – 500, 000 men verse 9
Prophet Gad verse 11- 14,
18, 19
Seven years of famine
Three months before enemies
Three days’ pestilence in land
Rear an altar
Araunah verse 18- 23
Plague ended verse 25
Church (New Testament people of God)
Last Things (Future Events)
Seventy thousand men died verse 15
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QUOTES regarding passage
24:16 relented. Or “repented, grieved,” an expression of God’s deep sorrow concerning man’s sin and evil (see 1Sa 15:11, 29). Araunah the Jebusite. Araunah (or Ornan) was a pre-Israelite inhabitant of Jerusalem. He owned a threshing floor N of the citadel of Jerusalem and outside its fortified area. (MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (2 Sa 24:16). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers)
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Ver. 16. And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, &c.] Which, as it was perhaps the last place where the people were numbered, it was the last to which the plague came: this angel appeared in an human form, standing between the earth and the heaven; in the midst of the heaven, in the air, right over Jerusalem: having a drawn sword in his hand stretched over the city; as is said in 1 Chron. 21:16. which was done as a menace, and to inject terror into David and the inhabitants of the city, and to give them notice of what they must expect: the Lord repented him of the evil; he was indicting, and now threatened Jerusalem with; having compassion on the place where the ark, the symbol of his presence, was, where a temple was to be built to the honour of his name, and where he should be worshipped; and therefore stopped proceeding; as men, when they repent of any thing done by them, cease from it, so did the Lord now; otherwise repentance, properly speaking, falls not on him, and so it is next explained: and said to the angel that destroyed the people; not the angel of death, the devil, but a good angel, who had a commission from God for this business: it is enough: stay note thine hand: there is a sufficient number slain; slay no more: and the angel of the Lord was by the threshing-place of Araunah the Jebusite; that is, he was in the air, right over the spot, or near it, where was this man’s threshing-floor; and was seen by Araunah and his four sons, who upon it hid themselves, perhaps among the sheaves they were threshing, 1 Chron. 21:20 and this threshing-floor was on Mount Moriah, 2 Chron. 3:1. as threshing-floors commonly were on mountains for the sake of winnowing the corn when threshed; see the note on Ruth 3:2. who, according to Ben Gersom, though he was by birth a Jebusite, was proselyted to the Jewish religion. (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 2, pp. 667–668). London: Mathews and Leigh)
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16–25. I do not think it necessary to interrupt the reading of those verses with any observation on the conduct and generosity either of David or Araunah; because what I chiefly wish to have impressed on the Reader’s mind, is the shadowy representation it seemeth to possess, of the gospel dispensation by the Lord Jesus. I beg the Reader to observe, however, that I do not presume to say that my views of this passage are right. I leave him to a wiser and better direction concerning them. I confess that I love to search for Jesus, as for hidden treasure, in all the parts of his most holy word. And convinced, as I fully am, that to him the whole of revelation points, I would pass over all lesser objects, so that I may but find him. And when I consider how particularly the prophet Gad commanded David to rear an altar in this spot, mount Moriah, which Abraham had before found so memorable, when I observe further, that this was the same spot on which Solomon built his famous temple, which also was an evident type of Christ; and when I consider that Christ himself is both the altar, the sacrifice, and the sacrificer, for us; and that God our Father, for his sake, and for his sake alone, is entreated for the land, and the plague and everlasting destruction for sin is now stayed from Israel; I rejoice to behold Jesus through those distant mediums so graciously held forth to the church, and cannot but find my heart going forth in songs of holy joy, that the same is he of whom Moses, and the prophets, and patriarchs, did write, Jesus of Nazareth; Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Acts 4:12. (Hawker, R. (2013). Poor Man’s Old Testament Commentary: Deuteronomy–2 Samuel (Vol. 2, p. 777). Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.)
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FROM MY READING:
(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)
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The biblical doctrine of prayer, as Eichrodt attests, is remarkable for the element of freedom from “any trace of hollow pathos or high-flown flattery; rather its marks are a childlike simplicity, sincerity and confidence” toward Yahweh. Further, in contrast to the prayer literature of the ancient Near East, there is not a “disparity between the prayer of the cultus and the prayer of the private individual” (Eichrodt, Theology of the Old Testament, I, p. 175). Biblical prayer is spontaneous, personal, motivated by need, unconditioned by time or place. As Vriezen observes, “God could be approached anywhere (Gen. XXIV) and at any moment of the day” (Outline of Old Testament Theology, p. 279). It is of interest that in Israel’s worship despite the de-tailed instructions for sacrifice, there is not a fixed liturgy of prayer. It was to be spontaneous. (Allen, R. B. (1999). 1722 עָתַר. (R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke, Eds.)Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. Chicago: Moody Press.)
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The active forms of ʿātar (Qal and Hiphil) have to do with prayer as it is given to Yahweh in earnest entreaty; the passive (Niphal) is used of the prayer as received with favor by Yahweh, the marvelous display of his grace and condescension. (Allen, R. B. (1999). 1722 עָתַר. (R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke, Eds.)Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament. Chicago: Moody Press.)
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