2 Samuel 24
by Pastor Lawrence Bowlin

This is one of the more mysterious accounts in the history of David’s kingship. Because Israel had sinned in some way, presumably in a great way, God was angry with them and incited David against them by leading him to conduct a census of all the fighting men in Israel. Strangely, though, in a corresponding account in 1 Chronicles 21:1 we are told that it was Satan who incited David to conduct this census. That is not a misprint, nor is it a contradictory report, for the devil is God’s devil, and the Lord in his supremacy over the devil uses his evil actions to carry out his sovereign purposes. We know from James 1:12-18 that not only can God not sin, he also can’t tempt others to sin. Of course, Satan has no problem performing such an action, so he is used to do the tempting to carry out God’s greater purpose. While ordering a census is not a sin in itself, it appears that Satan encouraged David to conduct it for the purpose of relying upon the strength of men rather than upon the Lord, trusting in horses and chariots rather than in the name of the Lord our God.

After carrying out such an action, David was convicted of his sin and sought the forgiveness of the Lord, which the Lord was ready to grant but not before the Lord disciplined them in love. It might not seem all that loving to present David with the option of having Israel undergo a famine, an attack by their enemies, or a plague, but the outcome of this discipline would lead to God building his house, his holy temple in Jerusalem to grant to Israel more of his grace and favor by dwelling in their midst.

When given the choice between the three options, David chooses the latter because he knows that it is better to fall into the hands of God rather than men since the Lord is merciful. As a result, God sends the Angel of the Lord, the pre-incarnate Christ, to slay 70,000 men and charges him with destroying even the city of Jerusalem because of their sin. I imagine that some might have a hard time believing that Jesus could slay men in such a fashion but only because they have not read the book of Revelation carefully. When Jesus returns to earth in judgment his right hand will perform even greater acts of judgment than that which is seen here. But, thankfully, because of God’s covenant of love with Israel, he relents from destroying the city when David makes his plea for the sheep of Israel and God orders him to build an altar on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

When David offered to purchase the land from Araunah, the foreigner was willing to allow him to make his altar there without having to purchase the land and was even willing to give him the animals and the wood for the sacrifice. But as Abraham had learned years before, it was important to purchase the land from a foreigner at full price to ensure that the land would remain in the hands of Israel’s descendants for years to come. And this would be important since that plot of land was necessary for the temple of God to be built in Jerusalem. But just as important was David’s desire to make a sacrifice unto the Lord. It would be no sacrifice on David’s part to take someone else’s land and offer someone else’s animals using someone else’s wood. Here, David recognized that both the burnt offering and the peace offering would only be acceptable to God if he was freely giving it at a cost. A debt needed to be paid and a blood needed to be shed for the forgiveness of sins. This, of course, points us to the cross of Christ, for Jesus paid our debt in full at Calvary when offering up his life unto God saying, “It is finished.” Even so, our offerings that are given unto the Lord today also ought to be sacrificial not because they point forward to Christ’s sacrifice but because they point backward to his atonement and satisfaction of God’s wrath upon the cross. Our offerings are bloodless thank offerings for Christ’s finished work on the cross, but they are still offerings that should cost us something.