| Home | Our Hope | |
| Bible Study |
|
July 28, 2017 |
| 2 Samuel 24 | ||
We've heard of the City of David many times in the life of David. To understand part of this lesson we need to know the location of that city. We also need to understand the location of Salem, Jebus, and Jerusalem.
The answer is easy. In David's time they were different names for the same city.
The City of David is built on the foot of a hill. David built his palace and other buildings above the city, extending its wall as he did. It's easy to see how David could have seen Bathsheba on her roof. Absalom could have been seen on his roof by anyone on the hill above.
In David's time the area on the hill behind the City of David was farm land. There was a threshing floor there that will figure into this chapter.
In our time the City of David still exists and is still called that, but it has been surrounded by Jerusalem. The heavily walled Old City of Jerusalem sits on the hill above the City of David. It includes the temple complex with the Dome of the Rock mosque on it, which is the gold dome seen in the background
The New Testament makes two references to the city of David, both in Luke.
But it occurred in those days that a command also went out from Augustus Caesar that every nation of his empire would be registered. 2 This census was the first in the government of Quraynus in Syria. 3 And everyone was going to be registered in his own city. 4 But Yoseph had come up from Nazareth, a city of Galilee, to Judea to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was from the house and from the lineage of David, 5 With Maryam his bride when she was pregnant, that he might be registered there. (Luke 3:1-5)
But there were some shepherds in the region lodging there and they kept the nightly watch over their flocks; 9 And behold, the Angel of God came to them and the glory of the Lord Yahweh shone upon them and they were greatly afraid; 10 and the Angel said to them, "Do not be afraid, for behold, I proclaim to you great joy which will be to the entire universe, 11 for today, the Savior has been born to you, who is the Lord Yahweh the Messiah, in the city of David." (Luke 3:8-11)
In their culture they thought of some things differently than we do. For example, Jesus was called the son of David, thought David lived 1000 years before Jesus. It was also common for things to have more than one name. We see that here with Jerusalem, Jebus, and the City of David being names for the same city.
In this case the city of David (Jerusalem) is called that because David captured the city. The city of David (Bethlehem) is called that because David was born there, as Jesus was.
The most important verse in this chapter is the first one but it doesn't seem important so it tends to get lost in the next verses. This chapter can't be correctly understood without keeping this first verse in mind as you read through the rest.
1 Now again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and it incited David against them to say, "Go, number Israel and Judah."
Israel had been doing something wrong again, we don't know what, and God is looking to strike at them. Instead of tearing into them directly as he usually does, this time he decides to do it through David.
The incitement of David to make this request is done to show David a weakness he has. God doesn't force any person to do anything. God has given us free will and he respects that. Instead God will orchestrate events to present a person with a choices. God knows the person will choose evil over good and thus expose the evil in their own heart.
The story from this chapter is also told in 1 Chronicles 21. Looking there gives us additional perspective on what is going on.
Then Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel. (1 Chronicles 21:1)
In this account Satan is credited with causing David's actions that they might harm Israel. Both accounts are correct and only different ways of viewing the same thing. Satan can do nothing except God allows it. So we could combine both accounts this way. God wanted to strike Israel for what they were doing. He allowed Satan to present David with a wrong idea that would cause him to choose to take this census.
Back to the main text now.
2 The king said to Joab the commander of the army who was with him, "Go about now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and register the people, that I may know the number of the people." 3 But Joab said to the king, "Now may the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?"
We see that Joab questions this decision but we aren't clear why. Is Joab against the census for economic, military, or other reasons or is he against it for godly reasons. Honestly, Joab hasn't struck us as a Godly man in any of his dealings, so it's hard to imagine it would be for Godly reasons, yet that is the case, at least in part. Again, 1 Chronicles 21 makes it clear.
So David said to Joab and to the princes of the people, "Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan, and bring me word that I may know their number." 3 Joab said, "May the Lord add to His people a hundred times as many as they are! But, my lord the king, are they not all my lord's servants? Why does my lord seek this thing? Why should he be a cause of guilt to Israel?" (1 Chronicles 21:2-3)
Joab argues against the census on two points. First, he says taking the census will not change anything. David will have just as many people in Israel before the census as afterward, and all the people will be just as dedicated to him. He says it's a waste of time.
His second point is that this is an offense to God. David wants to count the warriors so he can know the strength of Israel, but the strength of Israel is their God, not their warriors, and David has seen this over and over.
4 Nevertheless, the king's word prevailed against Joab and against the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to register the people of Israel. 5 They crossed the Jordan and camped in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad and toward Jazer. 6 Then they came to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi, and they came to Dan-jaan and around to Sidon, 7 and came to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and of the Canaanites, and they went out to the south of Judah, to Beersheba. 8 So when they had gone about through the whole land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9 And Joab gave the number of the registration 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.
Again, 1 Chronicles 21 gives us a bit more insight
But he did not number Levi and Benjamin among them, for the king's command was abhorrent to Joab. (1 Chronicles 21:6)
It seems Joab did not number Levi because the Torah instructed that (see inset). The reason for not numbering the tribe of Benjamin is less clear. Perhaps it was because Benjamin was a very small tribe and they could be wiped out by a war or their numbers would have been too small to make a difference. Perhaps it was because the tribal lands of Benjamin were right next to Judah and Jerusalem and they could be numbered anytime.
The verse says that Joab thought this census was an "abomination", and we need to account for why that is said there. Most likely he didn't number Benjamin because he was "so done with the stupid census" that he skipped them and went to be with his family. He hadn't seen them or seen much of them for 9 months.
10 Now David's heart troubled him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the Lord, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly."
What has David done wrong here? The text never explains it and the account in 1 Chronicles doesn't either. Most people agree though that the problem is that he is trying to assess his military strength when he should know from experience that his strength comes from God. Jeremiah, though much later in time, addresses this.
Thus says the Lord, "Cursed is the man who trusts in mankind and makes flesh his strength, and whose heart turns away from the Lord. (Jeremiah 17:5)
Note what God says through Jeremiah - to trust in the strength of mankind (or yourself) is to turn away from God.
A serious sin has been committed and it's necessary that David's relationship with God is healed. Therefore atonement is necessary.
Now remember that God was already looking to thin the Israelite population for the evil they had been doing. Understand though that God doesn't do these things randomly. The purpose is to purify a remnant of Israel. So God is doing two things, purifying and atoning, at the same time.
11 When David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, 12 "Go and speak to David, 'Thus the Lord says, "I am offering you three things; choose for yourself one of them, which I will do to you."'" 13 So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him,"Now consider and see what answer I shall return to Him who sent me."
- Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land?
- Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you?
- Or shall there be three days' pestilence in your land?
What would you choose if you were David?
Notice the alternative atonement here that we've talked about before. It might seem as if David gets away without being punished and instead the innocent Israelites take it on the chin. But this is no different than an animal sacrifice in the tabernacle or temple - it dies so that you won't have to. You, however are aware that the animal died because of what you did.
Also remember what was mentioned at the start; God is achieving both goals here. David is punished through the punishment of the people he is responsible for. The most evil people of the Israelites are purged and they are purified.
14 Then David said to Gad, "I am in great distress. Let us now fall into the hand of the Lord for His mercies are great, but do not let me fall into the hand of man."
Because pestilence is what comes, some people think that David's answer means that he is choosing pestilence. He isn't though. He is really saying, let God choose. He explains that God will be merciful. He does add a special request that he personally not be left to the mercy of a man.
Some people think that David is being selfish by choosing the option that is least likely to affect him. He is just choosing to let God choose.
15 So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning until the appointed time, and seventy thousand men of the people from Dan to Beersheba died. 16 When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented from the calamity and said to the angel who destroyed the people, "It is enough! Now relax your hand!" And the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
The threshing floor is on top of the hill, called Mount Moriah, above the City of David.
17 Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking down the people, and said, "Behold, it is I who have sinned, and it is I who have done wrong; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let Your hand be against me and against my father's house."
David refers to the people of Israel as sheep, which makes him their shepherd. This is another similarity between David and his son Jesus.
18 So Gad came to David that day and said to him, "Go up, erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite." 19 David went up according to the word of Gad, just as the Lord had commanded. 20 Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants crossing over toward him; and Araunah went out and bowed his face to the ground before the king. 21 Then Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" And David said, "To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague may be held back from the people." 22 Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take and offer up what is good in his sight. Look, the oxen for the burnt offering, the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. 23 Everything, O king, Araunah gives to the king." And Araunah said to the king, "May the Lord your God accept you." 24 However, the king said to Araunah, "No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God which cost me nothing."
By definition sacrifice means to give up something of value. Sacrificing something that someone just gave you would be meaningless.
[…]So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25 David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. Thus the Lord was moved by prayer for the land, and the plague was held back from Israel.
This story is a little different in 1st Chronicles and the price paid is completely different.
So David gave Ornan 600 shekels of gold by weight for the site. (1 Chronicles 21:25)
The difference is that 2 Samuel 24 is recording the buying of the threshing floor, oxen and equipment. 1 Chronicles 21 is recording the purchase of the land around it.
The 2nd Samuel account also down-plays the offering
[…] And [David] called to the Lord and He answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering. 27 The Lord commanded the angel, and he put his sword back in its sheath. (1 Chronicles 21:26-27)
There is a reason God relented when the Angel reached Araunah's threshing floor in Jerusalem, even before David intervened. This is a special place to God; this is God's holy mountain. David is sacrificing on the same mountain where Abraham built an alter to sacrifice Issac 1000 years before. On this spot and on this land, David's son Solomon will build an alter and a temple. 1000 years later Jesus will walk in the area of that temple.
During that time, the temple that Solomon builds will be destroyed by the Babylonians. When the Israelities return from captivity they will rebuild it. In Jesus' time Herod will expand the worship area but that temple and worship area will be destroyed by the Romans. Later the complex will be restored by the Muslims who will build the Dome of the Rock mosque on it.
The 3 year / 7 year question is an important one. On the face of it there appears to be a conflict within the Bible. This implies the Bible could not have been written by God. So we need to deal with it.
Looking at the Hebrew for 2 Samuel 24:13, the word used is plainly "seven". So how do the NIV and some other translations get "three"? They are using the Greek LXX (Septuagint) as a source instead of an original Hebrew text. The Septuagint was translated from Hebrew before the time of Jesus.
So we can discard any translation that arrives at "three" because it came from a translation instead of an original source.
That doesn't settle it though. 1 Chronicles 21:11 clearly says "three". We have a pattern to use to resolve this and that comes from these same two chapters.
In 2 Samuel 24:24 it says David paid fifty shekels of silver; 1 Chronicles 21:25 says David paid 600 shekels of gold. That seems to be another conflict.
If we look closely at the text though we can see that the 50 sheckels of silver was the payment for the threshing floor and oxen. The 600 shekels of gold was the payment for the land. So, it can be resolved by careful reading and understanding that different things are being described, or things are being described from a different perspective.
In fact these two chapters have a lot of differences like that. For example, in one the land owner is called Araunah and in the other Ornan. Was one a short name or nickname? Perhaps different dialects are being used. We see differences in the New Testament that we know are due to dialects. In this case we just don't know.
Going back to the 7 years versus 3 years, we find we don't have an explanation again. We can make reasonable guesses but they are just that, guesses. In the end all we can say is that other seeming conflicts can be resolved so their must be a resolution for this as well - we just don't know it.
1 http://www.generationword.com/jerusalem101/16-salem-jebus.html
2 http://www.cityofdavid.org.il/en/virtual-tours/interactive-jerusalem-virtual-tour
