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In Christ, Mark
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Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel. So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, "Go and count the Israelites from Beersheba to Dan. Then report back to me so that I may know how many there are."
But Joab replied, "May the Lord multiply his troops a hundred times over. My lord the king, are they not all my lord's subjects? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?"
The king's word, however, overruled Joab; so Joab left and went throughout Israel and then came back to Jerusalem. Joab reported the number of the fighting men to David: In all Israel, there were one million one hundred thousand men who could handle a sword, including four hundred and seventy thousand in Judah.
But Joab did not include Levi and Benjamin in the numbering, because the king's command was repulsive to him. This command was also evil in the sight of God; so He punished Israel.
1 Chronicles 21:1-7
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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."
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."
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?"
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.
After crossing the Jordan, they camped near Aroer, south of the town in the gorge, and then went through Gad and on to Jazer. They went to Gilead and the region of Tahtim Hodshi, and on to Dan Jaan and around toward Sidon. 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.
After they had gone through the entire land, they came back to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.
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.
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, O Lord, I beg you, take away the guilt of Your servant. I have done a very foolish thing."
Before David got up the next morning, the word of the Lord had come to Gad the prophet, David's seer: "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.'"
So Gad went to David and said to him, "Shall there come upon 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."
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 the hands of men."
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. When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord was grieved because of the calamity 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.
When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he said to the Lord, "I am the one who has sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Let Your hand fall upon me and my family."
2 Samuel 24:1-17
This ends our reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
As 2 Samuel, chapter 24 opens, we find David making a decision he later would regret. For as we see in our scripture passages for today, he orders a census to be taken of “Israel and Judah” but not all people were counted. Only those who were of age and able to fight were to be included.
What led David to order the count is interesting to say the least for if you only read 2nd Samuel, chapter 24, then you would be led to believe that it was the Lord who “incited David against (Israel)”. But as we so often see in the Bible, particularly when we study the Gospels, there are often parallel texts that offer a different perspective, helping us reach a deeper level of understanding.
Such a passage can be found in 1st Chronicles, chapter 21, where we learn that it was actually Satan who “rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census”, something that we know he (David) did.
So why would one passage say that the Lord incited David while the other attributes it to Satan?
Well, we have seen before in the scriptures where the Lord is the Lord of all, having power over good and evil. And so as David was on the brink of sinful behavior, the Lord didn’t stop that sin from happening but instead allowed Satan to enter in and lead David to order the count. The devil never does anything outside of the permission of God. He is a created being who is always under God’s sovereign control.
Going back to our scripture passages, we see that not everyone was onboard with David’s idea and in some instances such as this, we have seen where someone can enter the scene to serve as the voice of reason, someone who can seek to change the direction one is leaning towards so to prevent them from making a bad choice. In this case, we see where it’s Joab who sees David’s plan as ill-advised and says this to Israel’s king:
"May the Lord multiply his troops a hundred times over. My lord the king, are they not all my lord's subjects? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?"
Here we find Joab highlighting the root of the problem found within David’s order. For any success that Israel had experienced in battle wasn’t as a result of the number of troops that were sent forth to fight but rather because the Lord was with them when they went. In fact, we saw in chapter 23 where single mighty men had great success fighting alone…all because they had God alongside, leading them to victory.
And so David’s desire to count all his men was done more out of a desire to boast about his power found in the sheer number of fighting men instead of faith in the only One needed to win in any battle…the Lord God Almighty.
You know, I wonder how often we make the same mistake as David, placing our faith in all the wrong places?
Maybe we feel pride over our longevity, boasting about the number of years we’ve lived because of how we took care of ourselves or have done this or that, choosing to take credit for the blessing of long life instead of attributing it to the Lord’s mercy, grace, and providence.
Maybe we’ve found success in the workplace, climbing the ladder of promotion while receiving monetary gains and prestige along the way. When others want to know the keys to our accomplishments, we choose to tell of how hard we worked to set ourselves apart from our competition so to get where we are…but in doing this, we forget to attribute our achievements to God’s blessings and provision.
Or maybe, we reached financial wealth through any of a number of means, investing wisely or following the advice of a financial advisor. Or perhaps we gained a hefty inheritance, receiving a bounty from a deceased loved one.
Regardless of how we may have gained our fortune, too often it makes us adopt a laissez-faire, care-free lifestyle as we don’t have to fret over paying the bills anymore or be concerned over putting food on the table. Unfortunately, this can also include losing sight of the Lord, the One who the scriptures assure gives every good and percept gift from above (James 1:17).
Just as Satan led David down the road of sin as he turned his attention away from God and towards his own will, we too can easily fall into the same trap, allowing ourselves to be blinded by pride and self accomplishment…and in doing so, failing to give the Lord the honor and glory He deserves.
Well, as we’ve seen in the scriptures and will continue to see, if we don’t give God the attention He deserves, then He’ll get our attention and show us the wrongs of our ways. For as David overrules Joab’s voiced concerns and sends him off to do the census, we read where his command was not only repulsive to him (Joab) but also “evil in the sight of God”.
And so God chose to punish Israel…but as we will see, He did it in a very interesting way…one that would teach David a valuable lesson.
For after the “end of nine months and twenty days”, Joab returned from the census and reported to David that “the number of the fighting men…were eight hundred thousand…who could handle a sword”. In Judah, we read where there were “five hundred thousand” but as we look at the 1st Chronicles account, we see that the numbers are different. This can be attributed to different people giving the accounts and those recollections can lead to differences sometimes. What’s really important here is that we remain focused on the intent of David to take pride in the size of his fighting force instead of his relationship with God and His role in bringing every victory.
So what often happens when we do wrong in life…when we choose sin over obedience?
Well, the Lord will find a way to convict us of our wrongs…and as we see, this is what happened to David. For we read where he becomes “conscience-stricken” after the census, leading him to turn to God and confess:
“I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, O Lord, I beg you, take away the guilt of Your servant. I have done a very foolish thing."
Here, we see David taking the first necessary step in reconciling himself with the Lord…confessing his wrongs. But as we’ve seen in the scriptures…and have experienced ourselves at some level…the Lord will often discipline us to teach us a life lesson, a deterrent to keep us from committing the same sin again. In David’s case, the punishment was especially costly.
For after David’s confession, we read where the Lord sent him a message through the prophet Gad, giving three penalties of which David would have to select one.
What were the three judgment options?
The first involved famine…three years worth that God would send on Israel.
The second involved David himself, covering three months through which he would have to flee from the pursuit of his enemies…something David was familiar with since he had done it before.
The third choice, again involving all of Israel, was of shorter duration…three days of plague which would come upon the nation’s people.
We should note here that David couldn’t choose “none of the above”. Rather, he had to choose one of the three penalties and there’s no questioning that it was a tough decision to make. In fact, look at the words of Gad after giving the message to the king:
“…think it over and decide how I should answer the One who sent me."
So…what would you do if you were in David’s place? Which of the three options would you pick?
After I thought about these questions, I decided to choose going through three months of pursuit by my enemies. After all, I (putting myself in David’s place) had made the decision to do the census in the first place. It was my choice that led to the Lord’s disfavor and so why would I want to place any consequences on my people. To avoid this, it would be better in my view to bear the punishment and spare others.
Going back to our passage for today, we see where David didn’t quite see things the same way and I do. For after pondering the three choices, he says this 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 the hands of men."
David had faced the pursuit of enemies before and so he knew how hard it was. Obviously, he didn’t want to go through it again as we see him throw himself and the Israelites “into the hands of the Lord”…into God’s mercy that David affirmed was great.
Now, maybe David thought that his decision would cause the Lord to show leniency…that the God of great mercy might lessen the sentence for the people of Israel, sparing them for the sin of David’s action. But that’s far from what happened. For after David decided to allow all of Israel to face God’s judgment for his sin, the Lord did what He promised He would do, sending three days of plague “from that morning until the end of the time designated”. And when all was said and done, there was a significant toll that occurred as “seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died”. The destruction didn’t halt until God called for it. For we see where He ordered His destroying angel to withdraw as he “stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem”.
In the end, God had indeed exercised mercy but not before many Israelites had perished.
Now…imagine that you’re David. You have witnessed 70,000 of your people struck down by plague…all because you had sinned…all because you chose the plague out of the three proposed judgments.
How would you feel?
Well, I suspect we might all respond as David did for as he witnessed his people dying, he cried out to the Lord saying:
“I am the one who has sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Let Your hand fall upon me and my family."
It’s interesting that it was only now that David decided to take personal accountability for his actions but it was too late. His sin caused a multitude of his people to perish.
Friends, this same thing happens too often when we willingly decide to sin, placing our faith in all the wrong places (like ourselves) with the goal of taking credit for matters instead of allowing that recognition and honor to go to God. In these instances, others sometime get hurt and bear consequences that should have been on us.
Today and every day, let us ponder this as we live for Jesus and remember His journey to Calvary’s cross…the place where He bore the judgment of our poor choices and the resultant sinfulness…dying the death that sinners like us deserved, even though He was perfectly sinless. To honor what He did to save us, let’s surrender our lives fully to Him so that we will model all He did in word, thought, or deed. May we always make His will our own…a will that will always lead us to do right…a will that will always ensure that our decisions are His decisions…a will that will always ensure that we place our faith in the only right place…in Him.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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