Day 174 – 2 Samuel 24:10-17

Scripture Review

2 Samuel 24:10-17

"And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly."

(2 Samuel 24:10)

The verse says David's heart "smote him." His conscience struck him with the knowledge that what he had done was wrong. David had ignored Joab's warning for nearly ten months. He did not stop the census while the officers traveled through the land. His conviction came after the final number was placed before him. He finally possessed the information he thought he needed, but the number did not bring the satisfaction he expected. Sin often promises peace and then leaves the heart troubled after the desire is fulfilled. David says, "I have sinned greatly." He takes responsibility. He confesses, "I have done very foolishly." Foolishness in Scripture is more than lack of intelligence. It is living as though God's wisdom, warnings, and authority do not matter.

"For when David was up in the morning, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,"

(2 Samuel 24:11)

Gad is called David's "seer." A seer was a prophet, one who received and communicated revelation from God. The title emphasizes that Gad was able to see what God revealed and speak it faithfully to the king.

"Go and say unto David, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee."

(2 Samuel 24:12)

God tells Gad to present David with three forms of judgment. David is permitted to choose which judgment will fall. The words "Thus saith the LORD" remind David that the message is not Gad's personal opinion. The king who overruled Joab must now listen to the word of the true King. Sin offers choices at the beginning, but afterward the sinner often discovers that every remaining option is painful. This reminds me of how my mother disciplined us growing up. She would tell us to go pick out a switch. The switch would then become the thing we were punished with. This is a sobering lesson.

"So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days' pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me."

(2 Samuel 24:13)

Gad presents the three possibilities. The first is seven years of famine. Famine would attack the land's ability to produce food. David had recently lived through a three year famine, so he understood what prolonged hunger could do to a nation. The second is three months of fleeing from enemies. David knew this experience too. He had fled from Saul and later from Absalom. Human enemies could be relentless, cruel, and humiliating. The third is three days of "pestilence." Pestilence means a deadly plague or widespread disease.

Each judgment touches something connected with national strength. Famine would weaken the nation's resources. Enemy pursuit would humble its military security. Pestilence would reduce the very population David had proudly counted. Gad tells David to "advise." Here, advise means to consider carefully, decide, and give an answer. Gad must return a response to the LORD who sent him. David had nearly ten months to enjoy making his own decision about the census. Now he has only a short time to consider the consequences.

"And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man."

(2 Samuel 24:14)

David says, "I am in a great strait." A strait is a narrow, confined, distressing place with no easy escape. Every option brings suffering. David chooses to fall into the hand of the LORD rather than the hand of man. He says, "for his mercies are great." David knows judgment is coming. But he also knows the character of God. Human enemies may pursue without compassion, but the LORD is righteous even when He chastens. David's statement reveals faith inside judgment. He does not deny God's anger, but neither does he forget God's mercy. The hand that disciplines him is still the hand of the God he knows. My mom would always say, "I do this because I love you."

"So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men."

(2 Samuel 24:15)

The LORD sends the pestilence, and seventy thousand people die. The judgment reaches "from Dan even to Beersheba." This is the same expression used when David ordered the census. He had numbered the nation from north to south, and now judgment moves across that same nation. Seventy thousand is not merely a statistic. These were human lives, families, homes, and communities. David's sin as king carried consequences beyond himself.

The chapter began by saying the LORD's anger was already kindled against Israel. David's census became the occasion through which God judged a nation already under His displeasure. This does not remove David's guilt, but it reminds me that God's judgments are never careless or uninformed. He knew both the king and the people completely.

"And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite."

(2 Samuel 24:16)

The destroying angel reaches Jerusalem and stretches out his hand and the LORD says, "It is enough: stay now thine hand." To stay the hand means to stop, restrain, or hold it back. The verse says the LORD "repented him of the evil." This means God's righteous purpose in judgment was fulfilled. Judgment did not stop because Jerusalem had the strength to resist the angel. It stopped because God said, "It is enough." That is mercy. The same God who sent the judgment placed its boundary. The plague could not move one step farther than the LORD permitted.

"And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house."

(2 Samuel 24:17)

David sees the angel and again confesses, "I have sinned, and I have done wickedly." Now he calls his sin wickedness. Then he looks at the people and calls them "these sheep." At the beginning of the chapter, David saw the people as a number. He wanted to know how many valiant men could draw the sword. Now, under conviction, he sees them as sheep. Sheep awaken a shepherd's responsibility. David asks, "What have they done?" He is speaking from the broken heart of a shepherd who sees his own guilt and the suffering of the flock. He asks for the hand of judgment to fall upon him and his father's house instead.

David cannot actually bear the full guilt of the nation as a perfect substitute. He is a sinful shepherd himself. But his willingness points beyond him to the greater Son of David. Jesus Christ is the Good Shepherd who did more than ask for the stroke to fall upon Him. He truly laid down His life for the sheep. He bore the judgment of sin, though He Himself had done no wickedness. Another great difference is David counted the sheep and brought judgment. Christ knows His sheep by name and bore judgment for them.