Monday, April 29, 2013

David's census



2 Sam 24:9  And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.
2 Sam 24:10  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 Sam 24:11  For when David was up in the morning, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,
2 Sam 24:12  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 Sam 24:13  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 Sam 24:14  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 Sam 24:15  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 Sam 24:16  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 Sam 24:17  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 Sam 24:18  And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the LORD in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite.
2 Sam 24:19  And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the LORD commanded.
2 Sam 24:20  And Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground.
2 Sam 24:21  And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the LORD, that the plague may be stayed from the people.
2 Sam 24:22  And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood.
2 Sam 24:23  All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The LORD thy God accept thee.
2 Sam 24:24  And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
2 Sam 24:25  And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

What was wrong about David taking a census of the men of fighting age?  This was not far from what Jesus said.


Luke 14:31  Or what king, going to make war against another king, sitteth not down first, and consulteth whether he be able with ten thousand to meet him that cometh against him with twenty thousand?
Luke 14:32  Or else, while the other is yet a great way off, he sendeth an ambassage, and desireth conditions of peace.


He was putting his trust in numbers. He was convicted of sin. What is not of faith is sin. What of a church leader who numbers his congregation as an indication of his success? Success and victory are the LORD's doing. We really must be sensitive to sin in our lives. The spirit of God is easily offended by the pride of man. David knew after he had taken the census that he had sinned. Being under the law, he would have to face God's punishment. The death angel killed 70,000 men in three days of pestilence (plague.) The death angel stopped at the threshing floor of Aeaunah. (Ornan) where David was told to build an altar. David paid for the land, for he could not make an offering that cost him nothing. This altar would be the place where Solomon's temple was to be built in Jerusalem.

2 Chr 3:1  Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.

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