[Linux4christians] Saturday - 2 Samuel 24

Fri Jan 28 21:16:05 EST 2011

    Saturday

      2 Samuel 24

David Displeases the Lord by Taking a Census

24:1 The Lord's anger again raged against Israel, and he incited David 
against them, saying, "Go count Israel and Judah." 24:2 The king told 
Joab, the general in command of his army, "Go through all the tribes of 
Israel from Dan to Beer Sheba and muster the army, so I may know the 
size of the army."

24:3 Joab replied to the king, "May the Lord your God make the army a 
hundred times larger right before the eyes of my lord the king! But why 
does my master the king want to do this?"

24:4 But the king's edict stood, despite the objections of Joab and the 
leaders of the army. So Joab and the leaders of the army left the king's 
presence in order to muster the Israelite army.

24:5 They crossed the Jordan and camped at Aroer, on the south side of 
the city, at the wadi of Gad, near Jazer. 24:6 Then they went on to 
Gilead and to the region of Tahtim Hodshi, coming to Dan Jaan and on 
around to Sidon. 24:7 Then they went to the fortress of Tyre and all the 
cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites. Then they went on to the Negev 
of Judah, to Beer Sheba. 24:8 They went through all the land and after 
nine months and twenty days came back to Jerusalem.

24:9 Joab reported the number of warriors to the king. In Israel there 
were 800,000 sword-wielding warriors, and in Judah there were 500,000 
soldiers.

24:10 David felt guilty after he had numbered the army. David said to 
the Lord, "I have sinned greatly by doing this! Now, O Lord, please 
remove the guilt of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly."

24:11 When David got up the next morning, the Lord had already spoken to 
Gad the prophet, David's seer: 24:12 "Go, tell David, 'This is what the 
Lord says: I am offering you three forms of judgment. Pick one of them 
and I will carry it out against you.'"

24:13 Gad went to David and told him, "Shall seven years of famine come 
upon your land? Or shall you flee for three months from your enemy with 
him in hot pursuit? Or shall there be three days of plague in your land? 
Now decide what I should tell the one who sent me." 24:14 David said to 
Gad, "I am very upset! I prefer that we be attacked by the Lord, for his 
mercy is great; I do not want to be attacked by men!"

24:15 So the Lord sent a plague through Israel from the morning until 
the completion of the appointed time. Seventy thousand men died from Dan 
to Beer Sheba. 24:16 When the angel extended his hand to destroy 
Jerusalem, the Lord relented from his judgment. He told the angel who 
was killing the people, "That's enough! Stop now!" (Now the Lord's angel 
was near the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.)

24:17 When he saw the angel who was destroying the people, David said to 
the Lord, "Look, it is I who have sinned and done this evil thing! As 
for these sheep -- what have they done? Attack me and my family."

David Acquires a Threshing Floor and Constructs an Altar There

24:18 So Gad went to David that day and told him, "Go up and build an 
altar for the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite." 
24:19 So David went up as Gad instructed him to do, according to the 
Lord's instructions.

24:20 When Araunah looked out and saw the king and his servants 
approaching him, he went out and bowed to the king with his face to the 
ground. 24:21 Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his 
servant?" David replied, "To buy from you the threshing floor so I can 
build an altar for the Lord, so that the plague may be removed from the 
people." 24:22 Araunah told David, "My lord the king may take whatever 
he wishes and offer it. Look! Here are oxen for burnt offerings, and 
threshing sledges and harnesses for wood. 24:23 I, the servant of my 
lord the king, give it all to the king!" Araunah also told the king, 
"May the Lord your God show you favor!" 24:24 But the king said to 
Araunah, "No, I insist on buying it from you! I will not offer to the 
Lord my God burnt sacrifices that cost me nothing."

So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty pieces of 
silver. 24:25 Then David built an altar for the Lord there and offered 
burnt sacrifices and peace offerings. And the Lord accepted prayers for 
the land, and the plague was removed from Israel.

      Prayer

Lord, You know our hearts and You do not tolerate sin gladly. May I take 
care in any role in leadership; husband, father, teacher, counselor, to 
not allow my sin to cause trouble for others.

      Commentary

The Lord God was again angry with Israel, though the text does not 
specify the reason. It may have been the internal divisiveness, the 
failure of David to implement a system of justice (witness the case of 
Tamar and Absalom's manipulation through the promise of justice), 
Israel's chronic tolerance of other religions in their midst and often 
in their homes, or some other offense against God.

David commanded Joab to make a census of the manpower available to the 
army. Joab and the other military leaders pleaded with him to not do so, 
as they knew it was forbidden by the Lord God, but David insisted.

The NET translator's notes postulate that the Lord God "incited" David 
to violate the law because He was angry with Israel. They suggest that 
the 2 Samuel 24 telling was a spiritual perspective, and that the 
Chronicles 1:21 telling was the human perspective e.g. that there was a 
foreign enemy whom David feared and therefore he desired knowledge of 
his resources for battle (despite God's historic defense of Israel 
against overwhelming odds).

Give the ambiguities it may not be necessary to postulate either with 
certainty but rather that the adversary was David's chronic personal 
insecurity, that his lack of faith created an adversarial relationship 
with the Lord God, so He then incited David to go ahead and conduct the 
census and bring trouble to his kingdom. (God had warned that a human 
king would be a two-way street of trouble for Israel, their sin would 
hurt him, and his sin would hurt them.)

The response of Joab and the other military leaders lends support to the 
notion that they were unconcerned as to troop strength and they they 
trusted the Lord God to raise up as many as were needed, Joab said "May 
the Lord your God make the army a hundred times larger right before the 
eyes of my lord the king! But why does my master the king want to do this?".

Joab and his men reluctantly obeyed and returned with the census, at 
which time David was immediately repentant of his sin, but it was too 
late. The prophet Gad brought David three options from the Lord God; 
seven years of famine, three days of plague, or three months fleeing an 
enemy.

David had been through the fleeing-thing twice before and quickly 
decided that he preferred the measured judgment of God to that of man. 
His reason for rejecting the seven years of famine are not discussed but 
his age and the probable harm to the nation may have prompted him to 
choose against such a long hardship. David chose the plague and the Lord 
God took 70,000 men then halted the death angel.

David cried out to the Lord that it was his fault and he and his family 
rather than others should be punished. Gad instructed David to build an 
altar and to make an offering to the Lord, which he did, and the time of 
punishment ceased.

      Interaction

        Consider

While David had just given praise and worship to the Lord God for what 
He had done, for him and for Israel, much of the trouble was David's fault.

        Discuss

Why was David unable to see what was obvious to Joab?

        Reflect

It seems that it took yet another tragedy for David to recognize that he 
had erred again and needed to confess and to repent.

        Share

When have you observed the failures of a leader bringing harm to those 
whom they led?

      Faith in Action

        Prayer:

Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you a place in your life where 
imaginary fears are causing you to obsess about worldly defenses rather 
than relying upon the Lord.

        Action:

Today I will confess and repent of those places where I have placed 
fears about health or money or popularity or anything else of this world 
above the Lord God. I will ask a fellow believer to pray in-agreement 
with me as I restore the balance with God first in all things.

        Be Specific ______________________________________________________

             Sunday's text will be:  1 Kings 1-2:10

-- 

Draw nearer to the Lord and He will bless you,
Have an http://Ultrafidian.com Day!
David M. Colburn, DMin. MaCo
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Personal Site: http://bibleseven.com
Bible Resources: http://bible.org
Teacher's Verse: John 7:16
Defend free speech or lose your freedom.
I don't google I SEARCH! http://ixquick.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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