2 Samuel 24:1-17 - Responsibility, Consequences, and Grace

2 Samuel 24:1-17

David’s Census of Israel and Judah (1 Chronicles 21:1–6)

1 Again the anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel, and He moved David against them to say, “Go, number Israel and Judah.”

2 So the king said to Joab the commander of the army who was with him, “Now go throughout all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and count the people, that I may know the number of the people.”

3 And Joab said to the king, “Now may the LORD your God add to the people a hundred times more than there are, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king desire this thing?” 4 Nevertheless the king’s word prevailed against Joab and against the captains of the army. Therefore Joab and the captains of the army went out from the presence of the king to count the people of Israel.

5 And they crossed over the Jordan and camped in Aroer, on the right side of the town which is in the midst of the ravine of Gad, and toward Jazer. 6 Then they came to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim Hodshi; they came to Dan Jaan and around to Sidon; 7 and they came to the stronghold of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites. Then they went out to South Judah as far as Beersheba. 8 So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9 Then Joab gave the sum of the number of the people to the king. And there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

The Judgment on David’s Sin (1 Chronicles 21:7–17)

10 And David’s heart condemned him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done; but now, I pray, O LORD, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”

11 Now when David arose in the morning, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, 12 “Go and tell David, ‘Thus says the LORD: “I offer you three things; choose one of them for yourself, that I may do it to you.”’” 13 So Gad came to David and told him; and he said to him, “Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or shall you flee three months before your enemies, while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ plague in your land? Now consider and see what answer I should take back to Him who sent me.”

14 And David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Please let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man.”

15 So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel from the morning till the appointed time. From Dan to Beersheba seventy thousand men of the people died. 16 And when the angel stretched out His hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD relented from the destruction, and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “It is enough; now restrain 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, “Surely I have sinned, and I have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, be against me and against my father’s house.”

David in his pride listened to the adversary (1 Chronicles 21:1) and demanded a census of the people that can be seen as a reason for him to depend on the size of his army and not on the arm of the Lord, and therefore a serious offense against the LORD for not trusting His sovereign power.  He made faith into trust in his own army, forgetting that Israel was the army of God and not any earthly king.  The consequences were immediate and severe.  The king was given three choices of the punishment, however.  David had confessed and repented of this sin, yet had to face the consequences of his actions and choose seven years of famine, running for three months from their enemies, or three days of a destructive plague that would decimate the nation under David’s rule whom he was responsible for.  His penitent response was immediate.  He asked the prophet Gad who brought the message from the LORD to tell God that he would rather submit under His sovereign hand of judgment than that of man.  He knew God was just yet still merciful; man was neither on a good day due to the corruption of sin (Jeremiah 17:9, Psalm 53:2-3, Matthew 15:19, Romans 3:10, 23) in our hearts.  Therefore, God sent a plague on them that caused the death of seventy thousand men of the people at the hand of an avenging angel.  God stopped the angel’s hand at that point in His mercy, having achieved the just punishment due on David as the responsible one accountable for the people.  David was broken, asking why the sheep had to be struck down for the sins of the shepherd.  He asked that the punishment be given to him and his house instead, a foreshadowing of his Seed who would take on not only the sins of Israel, but of the whole world (John 1:29, 1 John 2:2) on the cross of sin’s curse which we all are guilty of.  Therefore the curse of the plague of sin which is death has been atoned for in Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:56-57) and rescued the sheep of His pasture who have all done wickedly from birth due to the nature of sin that corrupts every heart as children of Adam who is responsible for us all.  Therefore second Adam, Jesus Christ, has taken the responsibility in our place and now releases us from the plague of sin’s eternal consequences.  This then is a picture of responsibility, consequences, and grace that is greater than all our sin.  Praise Him who has redeemed us (Galatians 3:13) from the curse we all have earned in rebellion against our Creator!