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.”
After the time of Absalom’s rebellion, David decided to take a census of military soldiers. According to 1 Chronicles 21:1, God allowed Satan to stand up against Israel and provoke David to number Israel. This may have been a judgment upon Israel for rejecting the anointed King David and siding with the rebel Absalom.
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.”
David ordered General Joab to take the census. His reason was not for taxes, but to number the size of his 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?”
Joab reminded David that this was an evil act against God. God could give David as many soldiers as he needed. David did not need to trust in the size of his army, but in God alone. This is one reason that the Mosaic Law forbid kings to multiply horses or wives. Horses were multiplied to secure a powerful army. Wives were multiplied for political alliances. David needed neither of these pagan warfare methods, because God was his shield.
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.
Joab and the military officers objected, but King David refused to change his mind.
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.
After almost ten months of the census, Joab returned 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.
I Chronicles 21:5 gives the number as 1.1 million and 470,000. However, the 288,000 other soldiers listed in I Chronicles 27:1-15 could make up the difference. The latter number did not include the men from Levi and Benjamin (I Chronicles 21:6).
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.”
David did not feel guilty until almost ten months later. He was trusting in numbers, just as many pastors trust in numbers. Counting members and building churches for the sake of numbers is a sin that is just as evil as the sin of David. Many pastors will avoid controversial doctrinal issues in the Bible, because they do not want to offend their congregation. Many pastors will tickle the ears of their congregation, because they do not want to lose membership.
24:11 When David got up the next morning, the Lord had already spoken to Gad the prophet, David’s seer:
This was the first mention of Gad the prophet. Samuel and Nathan were earlier prophets. This is one way to find out the time of the authorship of this book.
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.’”
God allowed David to choose his own punishment. This is good advice for parents dealing with rebellious children. Give them three choices, and allow them to choose the punishment.
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.”
1 Chronicles 21:12 recorded “three years of famine.” This could be either a copyist error, or two different proposals which were made by God on different occasions.
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!”
David wisely trusted God, and not men, to administer His discipline. God is perfect in His discipline and timing. God only disciplines His own children. He does not spank the devil’s kids.
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.
Seventy thousand men died in the plague. “From Dan to Beer Sheba” was a metaphor for “all of Israel.”
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.)
Araunah was the former Jebusite king. The Jebusites were the former rulers of Jerusalem, before it was taken by David for his own capital.
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 asked God to switch the plague to himself and his own family. Most pagan kings would never make this request.
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.”
Abraham offered Isaac at this location. David would later prepare to build the temple in this same location.
24:19 So David went up as Gad instructed him to do, according to the Lord’s instructions.
David constructed an altar to Jehovah. Notice that David was given priestly duties. Like Jesus, David was a prophet, priest, and king.
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.
Araunah was the former king of the Jebusites. Now, he was subject to King David.
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.”
David offered to buy the threshing floor from Araunah so that he could stop the plague.
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.
Araunah offered all of the land and materials for the sacrifice to David at no charge. This enemy king showed a lot of love and respect towards David.
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!”
Aranauh was still a pagan. Notice that he said the Lord “your” God.
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.
Most pagan kings would have taken the land and the materials. David was a different kind of king. He was a man after God’s own heart. meaning that he wanted to know the mind of God.
David bought the threshing floor for fifty shekels of silver. Later, David paid Araunah “six hundred shekels of gold” for his entire “place” (I Chronicles 21:25). This place included all of the future land of Solomon’s temple mount.
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.
David took on priestly responsibilities and built the altar to stop the plague. God will not allow Israel or David’s line to extinguish. God will fulfill the Abrahamic and Davidic Covenants.