2 Samuel 24 Final

The Parallel Accounts of David’s Census and the Plague

Verse 24, and if you want to put your finger once again in 1 Chronicles 21, because that's kind of the parallel passage, and we'll go back and forth because there are some differences or elaborations to the text.

I'm going to start reading in verse 15 of 24, 2 Samuel, and read through the end of the chapter. So the Lord had sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning until the appointed time, and 70 ,000 men of the people from Dan to Beersheba died.

And when the angel stretched out his hand towards Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel who destroyed the people, It is enough. Now relax your hand. And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Arunah the Jebusite.

And David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was about to strike down the people, and he said, Behold, it is I who have sinned. It is I who have done wrong. But these sheep, what have they done?

Please let your hand be against me and against my father's house. So Gad came to David that day, and he said to him, Go up, erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Arunah the Jebusite. And David went up, according to the word of Gad, just as the Lord had commanded.

And Arunah looked down, and he saw the king and his servants crossing over toward him. And Arunah went up, and he bowed his face to the ground before the king. And then Arunah said, Why has my lord the king come to his servant?

And David said, To buy the threshing floor from you in order to build an altar to the Lord that the plague may be held back from the people. Arunah said to David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what is good in his sight.

And look, the oxen for the burnt offering, the threshing sledges, and the yokes for the oxen for the wood, everything, oh king, Arunah gives to you. And Arunah said to the king, May the Lord your God accept you.

However, king said to Arunah, No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God, which cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing floor and the ox for fifty shekels of silver.

David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. Thus the Lord has moved by prayer for the land and stopped the plague. Now turn over to 1st Chronicles and I will read verse 18 through the end of that chapter.

This is basically the parallel passage. And then the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, he should build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

So David went up at the word of Gad, which he had spoken in the name of the Lord. Now Ornan turned back and saw the angel and his four sons who were with him and they hid themselves. And Ornan was at the threshing wheat floor.

And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and he saw David and he went out from the threshing floor and he prostrated himself before David with his face to the ground. And when David said to Ornan, give me the site of this threshing floor that I may build an altar to the Lord for the full price, you shall give it to me.

And that the plague may be restrained from the people. Then Ornan said to David, take it for yourself. He said to David, take it for yourself and let my Lord the King do what is good in his sight. See, I will give the oxen, the burnt offerings, the threshing sledges, the wood, the wheat, and the grain offering, I will give it all.

But King David said to Ornan, no, but I will surely buy it for you for full price for I will not take what is yours and give it to the Lord or offer a burnt offering which costs me nothing. So David gave Ornan 600 shekels of gold by the weight for that site.

Then David built an altar to the Lord there and he offered the burnt offering and the peace offerings. And he called to the Lord and he answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering.

And the Lord commanded the angel and he put his sword back in his sheath. At that time when David saw that the Lord had answered him on the threshing floor of Ornan, the Jebusite, he offered a sacrifice there for the tabernacle of the Lord which Moses had made in the wilderness.

And the altar of burnt offering were in the high place at Gibeon at this time. But David could not go before it and inquire of God for he was terrified by the sword of the Lord of the angel. So you see there are somewhat some little differences.

I would say more elaborations in some and in other parts actual additions to give us some understanding. Now if you remember last week what did... Do anybody remember what the three reasons why we think David's census was wrong?

Alright.

This is the primary reason we think David took a census last week. That's where we were at for those of you who weren't here. David took a census for the people and it was a sin to God. We don't really know exactly what that sin was.

The text doesn't tell us. We just know that it was wrong. But one we said was pride, right? What was the other? You may remember.

What's that?

The Exodus.

Yeah.

And actually there's two, but two of them fall into this category. This is me, okay? This is me. I think it was a procedural thing based on the Exodus passage. If y 'all remember last week when we talked about it, if you go to the Exodus passage in Exodus 30, when he's giving the Mosaic legislation, he tells Moses, when you take a census, this is how you do it.

You take a census and when you do it, you have to take a half a shekel of atonement to show that I was the one that brought you out of the land of Egypt. I'm the one that bought you. Therefore, this is how you do it.

Okay?

As we read the narrative, and if you don't do it this way, I'm going to end up on the crack, don't I? A plague would take place. So this is how I come to my conclusion is here.

Okay?

Remember that?

Okay.

Could it have been pride? It sure could have. Could David have wanted to number the people to say, look at me, look what I have done. And we draw that conclusion from kind of what Joab said. What did Joab say?

Anybody remember? Joab said, O king, why would you want to do that? May the Lord add more and more to you, but why do you find delight in censusing the people?

Okay?

That was two. I think this is the reason he didn't procedurally do it right. He didn't take the atonement money that was needed because God said he would send a plague on the people and both times plague is used.

So whatever conclusion we come to, it was either the sin of pride or the sin of, what's that?

Could be some of both.

Could be. Hey, some people believe, like last week I said, the third one, he shouldn't even have taken a census at all. Now, I don't hold that position because there are times when they were to take a census, there was two taken in numbers, one at the beginning and one at the end of the book of numbers.

Then King Saul took one and David took a small census when they were having their fighting and he crossed the Jordan to get away from basically the insurgent. He took a small census and nothing ever happened.

This specifically had a plague connected to it and that's why I believe it was a procedural issue. But as soon as he did it, he knew that he had sinned against God and he said, I have sinned and then the prophet Gad came to him and you remember he gave him three choices.

Remember what those three were?

A certain amount of time against...

Yeah, it was three, three, three, and three. The three threes. Three years famine. I'm on the crack again. Three years of famine. Three months given over to your foes. Three days...

What did David say?

He said, whatever God does to me will be right. Don't let me fall in the men because they won't be gracious to me. And he says, so let the Lord do to me what's right. And what did God do?

He did what was right.

He sent out an angel and he struck down 70 ,000 Israelites starting from here to here. That's basically from Maine to Florida. And he sent out an angel for David's disobedience. David's disobedience and however taking the census was wrong.

But as the angel came and he got to strike the city of Jerusalem, he says they saw the angel. He was about to strike the city of Jerusalem. And God said, stop. David hadn't done anything. So this is a merciful act of God.

It's when God says, okay, angel, stop what you're doing. David had not yet made an atonement. David had not yet pleaded to the Lord to stop the plague. Nothing. God being merciful, stopped the angel. He got to Gad and says, what do I need to do?

He says, you need to go make an atonement. You need to go make a sacrifice. So he goes to Ornon's threshing floor. We'll pick it up in 2 Samuel 24. He said, behold, it is I who have sinned. The middle of 17.

Behold, it is I who have sinned. It is I who have done wrong. But these sheep have done nothing. So please let your hand be against me and be against my house. So David came to David that day. Gad came to David that day.

And he said, go up and erect an altar at the threshing floor of Arunah the Jebusite. And David went up according to the word of Gad, just as the Lord had commanded. And Arunah looked and he saw the king coming and his servants crossing over toward him.

And Arunah went down and he bowed his face to the ground. And Arunah says, why has my lord the king come to his servants? To me, when I'm reading this, I go, well, wait a minute. He, obviously there's people dying, okay?

And in three days time, there's been 70 ,000 people. Word's got to be out that something's up.

Okay?

I mean, you would think, you know, that something's up. And he sees David coming and he just falls on his face and basically says, hey, what's up? What's going on? And David basically says, then Arunah said, why has the Lord the king come to his servant?

And David said, to buy the threshing floor from you. So, God told through the prophet Gad, you're going to go and you're going to buy the threshing floor. This is hugely significant in redemptive history.

Ornan and Arunah is the same person.

Okay?

It's just a variation of the same thing. That's why one said Arunah and one said Ornan. He goes to this specific place to buy the threshing floor. Does anybody know where this threshing floor is at? Anybody know where a text tells us later in Chronicles where it's at?

This is on, what happened on Mount Moriah?

Someone got offered.

Hmm?

Someone got offered.

Isaac.

This is the place where Isaac was led by his dad up to the top. He was bound. He was laid on an altar. And him being a man of faith, raised up the blade to strike his son. And what happened? The angel of the Lord said, stop what you're doing.

I have provided a sacrifice for you. It's the ram and the thicket. And it's in the same place. That's why it's significant. So, he goes to Ornan or Arunah. He talks to him. Hey, this is what I need. Arunah says, hey, man, whatever's going on, you're the king.

Just take it all, whatever it is. Take the whole place. Now, one says he gives him the place for the altar. This would be in the 2 Samuel passage. This is important. Because this is one of those discrepancies to where people go, what?

They get at liberals again. Say there is a contradiction in Scripture. When it said he went to get the altar in 2 Samuel, how much did he pay for it?

Fifty shekels of silver.

Okay.

How much did he pay for it here?

Six hundred gold.

Six hundred in gold. I did the math. That's about a pound and a half of silver. That's 15 pounds of gold. I did the inflation. Okay. Just got some of my mind going, how much was this? Hey, back in the time of David, okay, almost a thousand years before Christ comes, that would have been worth $475 ,000.

That's a lot of money back then. Back then? I don't know about you. That's a lot of money now. I mean, I don't know about y 'all, but I don't carry $475 ,000 on me. So, that's a lot of cash. That's millions, millions and millions of dollars back then.

So, in this case, all he was buying in the narrative was strictly the altar, okay, the altar, and everything that came with it, the oxen and all that. In this case, okay, it says site. Why does the chronicler make the narrative say site?

Anybody?

What takes place? On Mount Moriah at the threshing floor of Aaronia.

Anybody know that?

Temple, right? Temple will be built. And where do we know that? 2 Chronicles 3 tells us that. So, if you go to 2 Chronicles 3, it says that when Solomon's going to build the temple, God gives him, remember, David gives him everything he needs.

He tells David, you can't build the temple, but your son can. He says, you can't do it because you've killed too many people. I know that's what I wanted you to do, but you've been a man of blood. You can't build my holy place.

But you can prepare everything it is for your son to do. So, what did David do? He actually bought, not only did he buy the altar to make an atonement so that the plague would be stopped and God would be, their sins would be atoned for and he'd quit killing Israelites, but he bought a place that one day Solomon would be able to put the actual temple site on its place.

If you go, turn over there real quick, so you don't think that I'm... 2 Chronicles 3, pretty sure, hold on. Yeah, in verse 1 it says,. Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to David his father at the place that David had prepared, the threshing floor of Moroni.

He began to build on the second day of the second month of the fourth year of his reign. That's why this scenario is so hugely important to redemptive history. At this point in time, was there a dwelling place of God stationary where the people of God could come and worship God?

No.

There was no...

No.

As a matter of fact, it even says in the second Chronicles, I mean the first Chronicles narrative, where was it at? The actual, the tabernacle, what they had redone was in Gidea. It wasn't in Jerusalem.

So that's where Jerusalem becomes obviously significant because that's where the temple is going to be built. That's where the dwelling place of God is going to be. That's where this structure where people will come and God will be in the midst of them.

That's why this situation is huge in redemptive history. So back to the second Samuel, when you get to where he goes before the Lord, he buys the threshing floor from him, and this is in the end of 21, verse 21 of 2 Samuel 24, buy the threshing floor, build the altar, that the plague may be held back from the people.

So Arunas said to David, let my lord the king take and offer what is good in his sight. Look, take the offerings, take the burnt offerings, the threshing sledges, the yokes, the oxen, the wood. You can take it all, he says.

Arunas says, and I'll give it to the king. And Arunas said to the king again, may the Lord accept you. Hey, he's saying, look, I'm giving you this, and I'm hoping and praying that God will accept what I'm giving you in your place.

And then what does David say to him? No, I will surely buy it, for I will not offer up anything that doesn't cost me anything. David understood that, look, I can't take a love offering from someone and then offer it to God as if it were my own.

This has to actually hurt. This actually has to cost me something. And we even look, once the structure of the temple is built, what did those men and women and boys and girls have to do when they came to the temple?

They had to buy something or have brought something that cost them something.

Think about this.

They had, we'll just take for instance Passover, which was a celebration. What did they have to do for one year preparing for Passover? Anybody remember? They had to take one little ewe lamb, and they had to cuddle it and hold it and love it.

And then that one lamb that was without blemish was then sacrificed on the Passover. They had to take something that cost them something, something that was without flaw. And when they would go make, once the temple was erect and there was an altar there, what did they have to do when they came and had an offering?

They had to bring the best. They couldn't just bring any old goat. Matter of fact, we're fixing to start reading through the book of Malachi this morning as our consecutive reading and worship, and that is one of the things that comes up.

Hey, you guys have brought me these lame, blind, and decrepit sacrifices that cost you nothing. He says, you know, you take the good thing and keep it for yourself, but then you take the one that doesn't cost you anything and nobody wants, that's worthless to someone, and that's what you offer to me.

It doesn't cost you anything. And that's what David's doing here. I've got to do something that's going to actually cost me something.

And it did.

I would even say not only did this sacrifice cost him something, this cost David great grief as the angel of the Lord went out and he killed 70 ,000 of his brothers and sisters, or however, I believe it was men, but however you want to take that.

That would have been heartbreaking to David. David loved his people. Yeah, did David always defend his people? With the exception of Uriah, David was faithfully defending his people. So he says, I won't do anything that will cost me anything.

So he buys it. It says that David built there an altar to the Lord and the burnt offerings and made a peace offering and thus the Lord was moved by prayer for the land and the plague was held back from Israel.

That is the end of 2 Samuel. And it seems like an odd way to end it, doesn't it? We've spent well over, probably close to a year, year and a half going through 1 and 2 Samuel. We've seen the life of David, the prophet of Samuel, and then it just ends like this.

Why do you think the narrator ended here like this? Anybody? Thoughts?

It was to be continued.

It certainly would be continued. And to show that David was willing to intercede for the people that he loved. Now, this points us to a greater king that would intercede for the people that he loved. That is the Lord Jesus Christ, who was without flaw, who did no wrong.

He did not have the wrath of God abiding on him, but God did put the wrath of God on him in sinners' place. David always, whether it's his negatives or his positives, points to a greater king, and that greater king is the Lord Jesus Christ.

And that is how we should end this book. Here it is. The king, with all of his flaws and warts, what did he do at the end of the book? He repented. He turned to God for his sin and sought atonement for his sin.

That is how we should see David. Now, we know that David, as he goes into 1 Kings, in the first and second chapter, he has got a few more words to say. He does some cleanup acts and some things that he failed to do in his later years of his life and in the earlier years of his life.

But that's not how we should see David as a decrepit old man at the beginning of Kings. We should see David right here as a man still well in his thoughts, understanding his sinfulness before God and his need for atonement.

The Chronicles tell us he was preparing for the temple that whole time. The whole time he was building stuff.

And what's funny is he gets it from some of the pagans to do so. He gets all the lumber. Every time they would go and they would do a raid, he would take the gold and the silver and he would put it in what would one day be the temple treasury so that they would have that which was necessary to build.

I mean, he got everything ready for Solomon. Matter of fact, even when I think it was the Sidonians, Sidonians, the ones that were cut, or the Lebanon, it says, hey, we're going to make them even on rafts and we're going to get it to you.

We're going to make the rafts in such a way that when you get them, you can use the raft wood for that as well. So nothing was wasted. But that is how we should look at the end of this book. This is David.

End of his life. Still being faithful to God. Any questions? Comments?

Yes, sir.

Well, we brought this up just briefly last week. So when you think of repent, repent is just a turning back. Don't think of when it says that they're using language so that we can understand. Does God repent of any evil doing?

Well, of course not. One, God does no evil. But we can say that God repented of the calamity that was on the people of God. Did God intend to inflict violence on His people? Well, of course He did. He's killing them.

And rightfully so. If you go back earlier in the chapter, it says that the anger of the Lord burned against Israel. Okay? It burned against Israel. And it does say here, and it incited David against them to number.

So certainly, was God's anger towards the people of God right?

Yes.

Did He at some point relent or pull back? Yes, He did. And He did it knowing what David said. I'm going to put myself into the hands of the Lord and He will be merciful. Remember that. Did God stop that killing?

On His own.

Not anything of David's doing. He stopped on His own. God looked at His people as that angel got to the city. And God said, hold on. That's enough. You've done enough. And it says that God relented or repented.

However you want to, whatever translation. But it does not mean in any way that God had done wrong. It just means that God turned back from what He was doing. And I think it kind of goes into, does God have feeling?

Was He grieved?

Yeah.

Was God tired of seeing His covenant people being killed by the angel? No doubt. Because what does He say?

This is enough. This is enough.

But don't ever think of it as when it says that God relented or He repented as if He had done something wrong. It does that, I think, in Genesis 6 where it talks about the flood. It says that God had regretted.

If I remember correctly, it's the same root word that God had relented or repented that He had made men. Because the evil is not like, oh, God made a mistake. It's showing that God actually was grieved over the sinfulness of men.

I mean, God has emotions. We would all agree that God has emotions, right? But it ain't like you and I. Ours is sinful. We don't know what it's like to be real righteous in indignation because we are unrighteous people.

Even when we say that we're righteous in Christ, we're not. Really, we're not righteous. We've been declared righteous is what justification is. It's God declaring us something that we're not. And then God then begins to make us what He has declared us.

Nobody in this room is a righteous person. You are righteous in Christ. Understand? So when God's emotions, He gets angry and He drowns the earth. Was it an outburst of anger? Uncontrollable? No, it was righteous indignation.

When God sends this angel out to slay 70 ,000 people, was it an outburst of anger? No, it was controlled.

And it's always interesting. You see in places like this and the flood, you see what true justice looks like because that's just what He did. It was just and righteous what He did. And it's what we deserve more often.

You see how He holds His hand.

Every time we take a breath. We really don't think that way. But think about the unbeliever. In Romans 2, it says, What do you do an old man? Do you not know it's the loving kindness of God that's leading you to repentance?

He's saying, look, basically, in the Mike Cogger translation, are you stupid? Do you realize what God has done for you? He has given you the ability to walk on His dirt, breathe His air, drink His water, eat His food.

He's even given men wives to love and care for them that are faithful. We're even talking unconverted people, okay? Wives and husbands that have good marriages and they have beautiful kids and all that's to point them to repentance because it's a loving kindness act of God.

And He says, do you not know that every time you don't bow your knee to God in repentance because of these loving kind things that He's done for you that you are storing up wrath for the day of wrath until the righteous judgment of God one day will be revealed?

Hey man, that's like taking that coin and dropping it into the bank of wrath and it's compounding exponentially daily. And then one day it's going to pour down on your head. But what should he do? Every time you take that breath and you've not bowed your knee to King Jesus, he should lop off your head.

He should. But he doesn't. Because like David said, what is God? He's merciful. He's merciful. And can be poured out at any time. And no one knows when that can take place. We don't know at what point God's fed up with one and not another.

And that's not for us. He ultimately, from the time that we come into this world, God is being loving kindness. And it's His loving kindness, the intent of it is to draw men and women unto Himself. And we think of God as...

When we think about the flood, we often go, man, that was tough. Or He kills 70 ,000 of His covenant people. You go, man, that's harsh. Or He opens up the ground and swallows 27 ,000 people or whatever it was in that plague.

Or He sends out a bunch of snakes and bites people in the wilderness and they die. You go, man, that just seems harsh. But that's what God should do every time. But we're so spoiled to the goodness of God that when God does that, when He actually does what He should every time,.

We go, it's shocking.

And it shouldn't be shocking at all. It should be the reality of that's what every one of us deserve. And even the believer, apart from Christ, that's what we deserve. The only reason why you and I have escaped the justice and wrath of God is because God's and His sovereign choice has so chosen to awaken us from our deadness, give us the gift of regeneration, grant us repentance, and then give us the ability to believe and to turn to His Son.

That's it.

The only thing we come bringing is our sin. That's the only thing we offer to God. If we can say we bring anything to our salvation, it's here's my sin, take it. That's what we do. We've got just a couple more.

We've got about five or ten more minutes.

Anything else?

Any reflections on the book?

I could have done this when the people sided with Absalom. You could have done this whenever the people sided with Sheba.

Yep.

It's not like these folks were lily white purists.

No, and like I said,.

This is my inference. An inference is drawing not explicitly said, but drawing a conclusion based on internal evidence. I personally believe that God's anger incited against the people of Israel because of the narrative.

It's because, if you remember, this comes right on the heels of Absalom. Remember, before they ever crossed the Jordan, Absalom's been killed. Before they ever crossed the Jordan to come back to be basically inaugurated as king again, what happens?

Sheba.

Another rebellion happens. And it says all of Israel followed him again. Remember, all of Israel took off after Absalom. Remember? The only thing that was there was Judah. And then when Sheba came, it says all of Israel followed Sheba as well.

So my understanding is it, to draw an inference, is that God's anger was against the nation of Israel because they had rejected His anointed king. Just look through the book. From the time that David becomes anointed king, look what happens to the people that rejected God's anointed king.

What happens?

Every one of them died. I mean, even King Saul. He rejected God's anointed king. And what happened in the Valley of Gilboa? Him. And who was a casualty of his rejection of David? David's best friend Jonathan and a couple of his other sons.

You know, then because King Saul wanted to do things his way in his zeal for his own name, what did he do to the Gibeonites? He tried to exterminate them and then what happened? For three years, there was a famine in the land.

And who had to deal with that? God's anointed king. You know, everyone that had rejected God's anointed king ended in demise. And what conclusion can we draw from that? You reject the true king, the Lord Jesus Christ, what's going to happen?

It will not be physical death. It will be eternal death where there is weeping and there is gnashing of teeth and where the worm never dies and the fire is never quenched.

Yep.

Yep.

Anything else? Anyone?

Well, the way the book starts, civil war, chaos, and the book, all his enemies are at peace.

Yeah.

Oh, that's a good point. Yeah, here it was. That's right. When we started the book, it was basically, he was in Hebron and he was fighting the, basically, the Benjamites and the northern tribes. And it was chaos for some, what, seven years?

And Abner and them fighting. And then it seems like it's getting better. And we have them few chapters in there where it was good. But as soon as David gets on his roof and he sees Bathsheba and he calls her into his own room, the sword has never left David's house.

And this would be part of that. The sword did not leave. I mean, David's life was filled with great, giant defeats of enemies. But look at the grief that David had to endure. I mean, God killing his newborn baby.

Then, God seeing his son being killed by his own brother, Amnon, remember? And then what happens to Absalom? He loved Absalom so much. He just said, when y 'all go to him, I want you just to be gentle with him.

And what did Joab do?

He ran him through with some spears in his heart and then they piled him up with stones on top of him. And David's heart was broken. And that is David's life. And all that, remember, all that became because he couldn't keep his hands off another man's wife.

That's really the story. If you read, I think it's in one of the Chronicles passage, it says that everything that David did was good and honorable in the sight of the Lord. Then you got the comma. Except for that which is concerning Uriah.

So remember, that tarnished his life forever. And Bathsheba is never called David's wife. The wife of Uriah. The wife of Uriah. Yep, that's right. The wife of Uriah. Well, that ends 2 Samuel. And next week, we will start Daniel.