~ 2 Samuel Chapter 24 (Verses 1-25 See also 1 Chronicles 21:1-26.) We do not know when the events of this chapter happened. But it was probably some time after Absalom’s death. We also read about these events in 1 Chronicles 21:1-26. But the two accounts are slightly different. The writers probably just emphasised different parts of the story. (This also happens in the *New Testament books of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John.) Verse 1 does not say why the *Lord was angry with *Israel. Usually he was angry when the people did not obey him. The *Lord wanted to punish them. In Chronicles, it says that Satan (God’s chief enemy) made David count the people. James 1:13 says that God does not tempt people to do something wrong. But Job chapter 1 shows that God sometimes lets Satan tempt (test) people. So, God may allow something but Satan actually does it. This could explain the two different accounts of this story. It does not seem wrong for a king to count his people. It may seem sensible for him to know the number of his soldiers. But *Israel was not an ordinary country. The army did not win because it was big. God was the real king of the country. God helped the *Israelite army to defeat its enemies. David should have trusted the *Lord to give him success in his battles. It is a *sin to be proud. And it is a *sin to trust yourself more than you trust the *Lord. Perhaps David was becoming proud about his success. Perhaps the devil tempted him to trust his army more and to trust the *Lord less. Joab tried to advise the king. Joab was a cruel man (1 Kings 2:5-6) and his advice was not always good. But Joab was right this time. David should have trusted God. God would give David the soldiers that he needed. But David refused to follow Joab’s advice. Joab did not always obey David. But David won the argument that time. ‘From Dan to Beersheba’ is a common phrase. Dan was at the north end of the country called *Israel. Beersheba was at the south end. So, that phrase just refers to the whole country. Joab and his men went to all the *tribes of *Israel except Levi and Benjamin (1 Chronicles 21:6). Sidon, Tyre, and the people called Hivites and Canaanites were not part of *Israel. But David had defeated them. So they had to provide soldiers for the *Israelite army. It took a long time to record all the people. It was a major task. Verse 9 shows that *Israel was a divided country. *Judah refers to the south of the country and *Israel refers to the north of the country. A ‘thousand’ is the *Hebrew name for a large group of soldiers. It does not mean exactly 1000 people. So we do not know the accurate number of men in the *Israelite army. The numbers are different in 1 Chronicles chapter 21. Perhaps the writers counted the groups in different ways. David knew that he had *sinned. He did not need a *prophet to tell him that time. (Compare this with 12:1-13.) A *prophet hears what God says. A *prophet sometimes has dreams or visions (dreams when he is awake). So the Bible sometimes calls a *prophet ‘a seer’. He sees special things that God shows only to him. Gad the *prophet had helped David before he became king (1 Samuel 22:5). David asked the *Lord to forgive him. But the *Lord still punished *Israel (verse 1). David had to choose the punishment. Whatever David chose, many people in *Israel would die. Many of the people that Joab had counted would die. The people would die slowly if they did not have enough food. They would die quickly with a bad disease. David did not want his enemies to punish him. They hated him and they would not be kind. They might ruin the whole country. But David knew that the *Lord was kind. He trusted the *Lord but he did not trust other people. God sent an *angel to kill the people. The *angel brought the serious disease to people in all parts of the country. Jerusalem was the capital city of *Israel. King David lived there with his family and his servants. The *Lord was very sad that he had to punish the *Israelites. He decided to be kind to the people in Jerusalem. So, even during the punishment, the *Lord was kind, as David said in verse 14. Araunah’s land was outside the walls of the city. The old name for Jerusalem was Jebus. Araunah owned land there before David made it his capital city. David could see Araunah’s land. David could also see the *angel with a sword in his hand (1 Chronicles 21:16). David was probably very afraid. He knew that he had *sinned. So, he was very humble. David used to look after sheep when he was young. The *Lord had told David to be like a *shepherd to the *Israelites (5:2; 7:7). David thought that the people were innocent. He did not know that the *Lord had been angry with them. David wanted the *Lord to punish him and his family. David did not want the *Lord to punish the people. At last, in verse 17, David was really humble. Before this, in verses 10 and 14, his conscience felt bad. But it seems that he was still not humble enough to ask God to save his people. (Compare this with Abraham in Genesis 18:20-32 and Moses in Exodus 32:30-32.) Instead, David agreed to the punishment. But then David saw the punishment. And he saw the *angel. David knew that he could not save his people. Only the *Lord could stop the punishment. And David then realised that a big army could not protect *Israel. Only the *Lord could protect *Israel. People used to beat their corn on a high piece of land because of the strong winds. A farmer harvested his corn. He put the corn stems on the ground in the special place. He put a wooden collar on his *oxen. Then he made the *oxen pull a very heavy board across the corn. This separated the grains of corn from the stems. The farmer then threw the stems up into the air. The wind blew away the stems and the dust. The heavy grains fell onto the ground. Then the farmer collected them together. David had to build an *altar and to give *sacrifices to the *Lord. Araunah gave honour to David. He wanted to give everything to David. Araunah referred to ‘the *Lord your God’. He did not *worship the God of *Israel. But Araunah was afraid of the bad disease too. He wanted David’s *sacrifice to be successful. David would not accept Araunah’s land and animals as a free gift. David paid for all of it. We can see again that David’s attitudes had changed. He was not still the proud king who wanted to count his army. Instead, he was humble enough to want to give a large gift to the *Lord. In the Chronicles account, David paid a lot more money. He probably paid the price for all of Araunah’s land. In verse 24, David bought just the small piece of land and the animals. He wanted to make his *sacrifices quickly so that the disease would stop. The *sacrifices were like those in 6:17-18 (see the notes on those verses). The place was called *Mount Moriah (2 Chronicles 3:1). Many centuries earlier, Abraham had gone to *sacrifice Isaac on *Mount Moriah (Genesis 22:1-18). Later, Solomon built the *temple on this piece of land. In chapter 7, the *Lord told David that he would not allow David to build the *temple. But the *Lord did allow David to prepare for the construction of the *temple. And the *Lord even allowed David to buy the land. David chose Araunah’s land. This was the same place where David saw the *angel. It was the place where the *Lord stopped the punishment. Here, the *Lord saved Jerusalem. So here was the right place for the *Israelites to make their *sacrifices to the *Lord. They would pray here, and the *Lord would forgive them. So the *Lord would show his kindness to them in this place. In 1 Chronicles 21:26-27, the *Lord spoke to the *angel after David had given *sacrifices to the *Lord. The *Lord forgave David’s *sin and *Israel’s *sin. The *Lord did not continue to punish them. The last verse in this book shows that the *Lord cares about his people. And the *Lord answers prayer. The story of David ends in 1 Kings 2:11 after he made his son Solomon the king. But the *Lord continued to *bless David’s family. Luke chapter 3 shows that Jesus Christ came from the family of David.
Posted on: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 07:17:09 +0000
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