The Census and the Sacrifice, II Samuel 24

I’d like to talk with you about an incident in the life of king David. But before we look at that story I invite you to turn with me to a passage in the book of Exodus. This is a passage that David, I’m confident, would have read. Exodus was part of the Bible by David’s time. He talks often in the Psalms about how he loves God’s Word and meditates in God’s Word, so I’m sure he read this. And this passage in Exodus 30 gave David fair warning about the thing he did.

Exodus 30, starting in verse 11, “The Lord said to Moses, “When you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give a ransom for his life to the Lord when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you number them. Each one who is numbered in the census shall give this: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as an offering to the Lord. Everyone who is numbered in the census, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the Lord’s offering. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when you give the Lord’s offering to make atonement for your lives.”

Now God was going to command Moses to take a census of the tribes of Israel and there was good reasons for it. For instance, they could fairly divide up the land of Canaan when they conquered it and tribes with more people would be given more land. And God sets a precedence here that if a census is ever taken of the people of Israel there needs to be a ransom paid, atonement needs to be made so that people’s lives are saved. There’s the threat of a plague when you take a census, it seems like there’s something less than righteous, something not right generally speaking with a census unless it’s commanded by God for some good reasons. Well David, I’m sure, read this warning.

Now let’s go to this occasion in David’s life. We’re told of this incident twice in the Bible – II Samuel 24 and I Chronicles 21. We’re going to look mostly at the II Samuel account.

David’s sin on this occasion (verses 1-9)

II Samuel 24:1, “Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.””

It sounds like Israel’s been straying from the Lord, they’re not listening to Him. God is now going to humble them and turn them back to Him and he’s going to use David to do this. Now in I Chronicles 21:1, speaking about this same occasion, it says “Satan moved” David to do this, yet II Samuel says “God moved” David to do this. Apparently Satan was God’s agent in getting David to do this. It might remind you of the story of Job. God tested Job, but the way God did that was he allowed Satan to afflict Job. This is not a good thing for David to do and God allows Satan to tempt him, but God has good purposes with it all.

Let’s keep reading here, we’ll read down through verse 10. II Samuel 24:2, “So the king said to Joab, the commander of the army, who was with him, “Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the number of the people.” But Joab said to the king, “May the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see it, but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?” But the Kings word prevailed against Joab and the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel. They crossed the Jordan and began from Aroer and from the city that is in the middle of the valley, toward Gad and on to Jazer. Then they came to Gilead, and to Kadesh in the land of the Hittites; they came to Dan, and from Dan they went around to Sidon, and came to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites; and they went out to the Negeb of Judah at Beersheba.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 the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: in Israel there were 800,000 valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five 500,000. But David’s heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”

Why did David do this? There are various theories people propose…

  1. Some think it was for taxation purposes that David wanted to know how many people there were; that way he could know how much tax to charge. But I don’t think that’s it, there’s no indication anywhere that David intended it for taxation.
  2. Some think David wanted to do this so he could see how big of an army he could muster, and then he could determine who was strong enough to go against him in war. But I don’t think that’s it either. David had always been victorious in war even when he was outnumbered,  because God was with him. Plus, this is later in his life, all the threats to his kingdom have really been dealt with. So I don’t think he’s really concerned about his military.
  3. I think David’s motivation is simply pride. David wants to stroke his ego and have something to boast about: ‘How many is he over? How large is his kingdom?’ You know sometimes when preachers get together they like to talk about how many people are in their church. Or if they put something on Facebook you really like, they like to talk about how many views they may have gotten. I think that may be the reason why David does this, it seems the most reasonable.

This census was going to waste a lot of resources and people’s time. He was going to inconvenience everybody in the kingdom to get these numbers. It took his military commanders almost ten months to complete this census. David should have known better, he read Exodus 30. So I think David knew this wasn’t really a righteous thing to do. I was just selfish.

It’s not that I’ve reached Christian maturity now, but I’m making a little progress here and there, and in my less mature years as a Christian, I used to sometimes do and say things I knew weren’t  right. There were times when I would sin willfully, and aside from it just being something I wanted to do, there were pretty much two reasons why I did that: 1) I didn’t think it was a big deal. I didn’t think I was really hurting anybody. I think that’s why a lot of people get drunk, view pornography, lie, go to bed with somebody  they aren’t married to; they think it’s not a big deal. “I’m not really hurting anybody.” So they

do these things even though they know it’s disobedience to God. 2) I knew God was very gracious and forgiving. I knew I could confess and repent later and be forgiven.

I’d be willing to bet those were the two reasons David did this. He didn’t think it was a big deal. He’s not hurting anybody. He is inconveniencing a lot of people, but after all he’s done for them they shouldn’t complain. And he knew God would forgive him this prideful thing. Years before this he committed adultery with Bathsheba and caused the killing of her husband and yet when he confessed and had sincere repentance, God forgave him. So he thinks, of course God’s going to forgive him for taking a census of the people. But when we’re thinking it’s not a big deal, “I’m not really hurting anybody,” we are not realizing how much harm and hurt sin does. It hurts people more than we realize. And more than that, did you know our sin actually hurts God? I didn’t used to realize this. I used to think, “God is so big and powerful and I’m a speck on His earth. I don’t think I can really have any kind of effect on God.” But I was wrong. All through Scripture you find that sin actually grieves God, it hurts Him. He had the Prophet Hosea marry a woman and fall in love with her who was going to be repeatedly unfaithful to him, to illustrate how he feels about Israel’s unfaithfulness. We find that he feels like we feel when our children or a close friend betrays us or disrespects us. He hurts just how that hurts us. God feels like that. He loves us as his children and he can actually be affected by our choices in many ways. God is unlike us in so many ways, in power and wisdom and knowledge, he loves more than we do. But in some other ways He’s more like us than we realize too. He made us in His image and part of that is that He is emotionally affected by the choices of those He loves. So when we choose to disobey God thinking it’s not hurting anybody, we are saying to God, “I don’t respect you that much. I don’t trust you that much. I don’t love you that much.” He made us and everything we have is from Him. And He so loves us that He sent His son to hang on a cross for us, but we’re saying, “I want to do what I want to do and I don’t love you that much.” It hurts God.

And then that second reason why we may sometimes just disobey: we know He’ll forgive us later on. And that’s true when we repent, He will. But we forget He is a Father who disciplines those he loves. He sees to it when we willfully sin that we regret it. I think I’ve shared with you several stories of my life where I got a taste of my own medicine. There’s been times when I’ve been humiliated and He made me regret that I had chosen to willfully sin.

So He does that here with David. Well, let’s read about…

The consequence for this sin (verses 11-15)

This is after the census and David comes to his senses, he realizes how wrong it was.

II Samuel 24:11, “And when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, 12 “Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the Lord, Three things I offer you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’” 13 So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall three[f] years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.” [Maybe like your mother used to do, “Do you want to be grounded for a week, sit in the corner for an hour, or the wooden spoon?” ] 14 Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.”” In considering his options, David figures God’s mercies are much greater than man’s, and so he would rather the punishment be dealt more directly by God Himself than through the agency of men. So he’s saying, “Just not option two, don’t let us fall into the hands of our enemies.” So he’s taken the third option, three days with the hand of the Lord against him.

Now bear in mind, David is not the only guilty one in this story. Remember verse 1, “…the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.” Israel has been straying from the Lord and not listening to Him. God is humbling them and turning them back to Him. He is also bringing David’s pride to the surface so he can see it and repent of it.

Continuing, verse 15, “So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning until the appointed time. And there died of the people from Dan to Beersheba 70,000 men.” So much for the census. God showed David that the numbers can be dwindled down very quickly if He so desires. God controls the numbers. Numbers underneath you are no reason to think more highly of yourself. God is in control of the numbers.

Can you imagine an Israelite town, ordinary day, people moving about, buying, selling, visiting, working and then all the sudden various men all over town and in the fields, start staggering and collapsing, and friends and loved ones rush to their sides and kneel beside them, they’re burning with fever and breathing heavily and maybe just within minutes of death. And the entire town is filled with the sounds of crying and wailing. Right after it happens in that town, then it happens in the next town and then in the next and the next. 70,000 die throughout the land. He is a holy God who has every right to take back the life He gave us if He wants to. Now, He is slow to anger and His heart yearns to forgive and be gracious to us. But there comes a point when people have been so stubborn and rebellious that He tolerates it no longer.

Then this story really gets amazing. While we’re seeing the wrath of God and His opposition to pride and rebellion, we encounter a foreshadowing of the unfathomable love that He would one day show.

The ending of the plague (verses 16-25)

“And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was working destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 17 Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father’s house.” [Spare them. Let me take all the punishment.] 18 And Gad came that day to David and said to him, “Go up, raise an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 So David went up at Gad’s word, as the Lord commanded. 20 And when Araunah looked down, he saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. And Araunah went out and paid homage to the king with his face to the ground. 21 And Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague may be averted from the people.” 22 Then Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Here are the oxen for the burnt offering and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. 23 All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God accept you.” 24 But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25 And David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.”

Do you know the location of the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite? There’s a reason God set it up at this location; threshing floors were up on high places or hills where you could throw the wheat up with the chaff and the wind would blow the chaff away. So this is up on a hill where God has all this happen.

Let me read to you a verse in II Chronicles about this spot. II Chronicles 3:1, “Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite [Ornan is another name for Araunah].” So this hill where the events of II Samuel 24 take place is the same hill on which Solomon’s going to build the temple and sacrifices are going to be offered there for sin.

This hill is also called, you see here, Mount Moriah. Where have we heard Moriah before? We’ve heard that from Genesis 22. In the days of Abraham this particular area of Jerusalem was called “Moriah.” And you remember one day God said to Abraham, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” And God said, “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.” Abraham decided to do as God said, though he didn’t understand; he feared God and trusted God. It took him 3 days from where he was to travel to the land of Moriah, and so for 3 days in Abraham’s mind Isaac was dead. When they got to the land of Moriah, God said to Abraham, “That hill over there, that’s the one. Offer him on top of that hill.” This good father had his only beloved son carry the wood on which he would die up to the place where he would die. They built the altar and Abraham bound his son and laid him on the altar and raised the knife to kill him and then God stopped him, so in a sense, Abraham received his son back to life after 3 days. Then Abraham raised his eyes and there was a ram with its head caught in thorns, a substitutionary sacrifice provided by God. And Abraham offered that sacrifice in place of his son and named the place, “YHVH-jireh,” the LORD will provide.

It was on that hill that David the King offered himself instead of the people; the shepherd offered to lay down his life for the sheep. But God didn’t let David do that either, God  allowed him to offer animal sacrifices instead. Then Solomon built the temple on that hill and animal sacrifices were offered for the sins of man and they were forgiven. Then one day in 30 A.D. God finally allowed and accepted a man to be sacrificed in the place of others… A man, the only man who lived a completely righteous and sinless life. And not just a man, but God in the flesh. On that hill, the One who made us, the One who’s given us all things, took all the punishments for us on the cross. And God knew what he was going to do all along. So when that story of David and the pestilence comes and David comes to that hill and says stop, He lets David offer himself there because He knew what He was going to do all along.

Does that not make you want to worship Him? Does that not make you want to honor Him and please Him, do something for Him who has done so much for us?

And…

We learn something from David here about how to really worship and honor God.

David knew that in order for our gifts and offerings to really be honoring to God they must cost us something. So David would not accept Araunah’s offer to just give him the threshing floor and the oxen and wood and everything for the sacrifices. David wanted to pay full price for it all (I Chronicles 21:24) because if he just accepted it as a gift from Araunah and gave it to God, he would only be re-gifting God. Have you ever been re-gifted? Have you ever found out that what somebody gave you for your birthday was actually something they got from somebody else? Like they got it last Christmas and it didn’t fit them or they already had one or they didn’t really like it, and apparently they wanted to get by as cheaply and conveniently as they could in getting you a gift, so they just re-gifted it to you. How do you feel about that? That gift doesn’t mean much to you, does it? Not near as much as if they spent their mental energy to think about what you might like and then spend time and hard earned money to get it for you. Offerings and services we do for God, I think mean very little to God if we’re just trying to meet the minimum requirement and get by as conveniently and cheaply as we can. David knows if we’re going to really honor and please the Lord, our offering to Him needs to cost us, and so he pays full price.

We live in a day of convenient cheap Christianity. You know attending church for many is pretty convenient, pick the time that works best with your schedule, Saturday night, the early Sunday morning service or late Sunday morning service or Sunday evening, there’s good music, free coffee, a lighthearted funny sermonette and you can get out of there in an hour. And sadly for many that easy hour and maybe a bit of the leftovers from last week’s money are about the extent of their gift and service to God. How lame! For the God who made us and sustains us every day, and He so loved us that He sent His son to hang on a cross, how lame to go cheap and convenient on God.

I think our giving needs to be a sacrifice, it needs to cost us. God doesn’t need our money, he’s given us everything and when it cost us, I think that means a lot to Him. When we sing these songs together, it’s too easy for us to get focused on the notes and being in tune and all this stuff. Let’s not miss the opportunity to really, from our hearts, praise and thank God; because He’s not so much hearing the words in the music, He’s listening to our hearts. And if we really want to serve and honor Him, I think the top thing we can do is truly love the people sitting next to us, really try to go out of our way to encourage them, find out what their needs are, what their interests are and just serve the people here. Jesus said what you do to one of the least of these brothers of mine you do it to me. So if we really want to honor the God who’s been so good to us, we love His children and I think that really pleases Him. He made us, every good thing is from Him, He owes us nothing, but He came and endured the cross for us because He so loves us. Let’s do something for God, let’s bless God, let’s lay down our lives during this short brief time we have.

– James Williams

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