David’s Sin in Numbering the People
2Samuel 24:1-25
INTRODUCTION: This lesson demonstrates how God looks on pride in His servants and shows the humility He requires. This chapter, when compared with its parallel passage in 1Chronicles 21:1-30, raises many questions. However, the Bible-believing student approaches these questions with faith that God’s word is always true and that any discrepancy is with our understanding and not with the scripture. He also trusts that the questions that make him study contain within them a special blessing from God.
I. THE NUMBERING OF THE PEOPLE (24:1-9)
A. The Temptation to Number the People (24:1)
1. The source of the temptation
a. Threefold
(1) The Lord
(2) Satan (1Chronicles 21:1)
(3) David
b. Explanation
(1) God never tempts anyone to do evil (James 1:13)
(2) Yet God remove His protective hedge about us and allow the devil to tempt us (Job 1:10-12)
(3) Compare these verses and consider the source of death (1Samuel 2:6 with Hebrews 2:14)
2. The substance of the temptation: to number Israel and Judah
3. The sin of the temptation: why was this such a great sin?
a. David did not take up the required offering (Exodus 30:12-16)
b. David sinned in the pride of having a great army
(1) He was counting soldiers (v.9)
(2) He took his eyes off the Lord and put them on his own resources (v.3; 1Chronicles 21:3); the entire purpose of the numbering was so that David might know the number of the people (v.2)
(3) Even Joab saw the wickedness of this act (1Chronicles 21:6)
B. The Command to Number the People (24:2)
1. Given to Joab the captain
2. To be done from Dan to Beersheba
C. The Protest of Joab Against the Act (24:3)
1. May the Lord bless David a hundredfold
2. But to seek to know the number is wicked
D. The Obedience of Joab to the King (24:4-7)
1. David’s word prevailed against Joab’s word (v.4)
2. Joab went to number the people (v.4)
3. The people were numbered throughout the land (v.5-7)
E. The Completion of the Numbering (24:8-9)
1. They returned to Jerusalem in nine months and twenty days (v.8)
2. Joab gave the number to the people (v.9)
a. 800,000 valiant men of Israel
b. 500,000 men of Judah
3. NOTE: The totals are different from the totals in 1Chronicles 21:5. The totals evidently differed on the basis of different criteria. Some of the numbers may not have included reserve forces or inactive soldiers. Others may have included these men. A census counts people on many different levels. There is no need for concern because of the apparent differences here.
II. THE JUDGMENT OF THE LORD (24:10-17)
A. The Confession of David’s Sin (24:10)
1. The conviction occurred after the sin was committed
2. David’s confession occurred before God’s judgment
3. David sought to be cleansed of his iniquity
B. The Choice David Was Given (24:11-13)
1. God sends word by the prophet Gad (v.11)
2. David is given a choice of three judgments (v.12-13)
a. Seven years of famine
(1) NOTE: The passage in 1Chronicles (v.12) refers only to three years famine
(2) ANSWER: There had already been four years of famine (1Samuel 21:1 with 24:1, 8). 2Samuel refers to the entire length the famine would have occurred. 1Chronicles refers to the additional years God would have sent.
b. Three months fleeing from his enemies
c. Three days of pestilence
C. The Pestilence From the Lord (24:14-15)
1. David chooses the three days of pestilence (v.14)
a. The one falls most directly from God
b. David counts on the mercies of God
c. David fears falling into the hand of men (perhaps after the rebellions of Absalom and Sheba)
2. The Lord sends the pestilence upon the land (v.15)
D. The Mercy of the Lord at Jerusalem (24:16)
1. The angel prepared to destroy Jerusalem
2. God repented of the evil He was doing (see Jonah 3:10)
a. In scripture, the word evil often refers to things that are generally bad (earthquakes, famine, etc.) and not always to those things that are wicked or sinful.
b. The word repent has the general meaning of changing one’s mind or direction (as here). It does not always refer to a turning from sin.
3. God halted the destroying angel at the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite
a. The Jebusites had originally held Jerusalem and it had even been called Jebus (1Chronicles 11:4)
b. David had obviously allowed some of the Jebusites to remain in the city
c. Araunah was probably of the royal line of the Jebusites
(1) He lived on Mount Moriah. Kings would usually inhabit the highest place in the city.
(2) 2Samuel 24:23 states, “All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king.” He gave as a king. He probably would have been king except for his city being conquered by David.
d. This place became the site of Solomon’s temple (2Chronicles 3:1)
E. The Plea of David for the People (24:17)
1. David again confessed his sin
2. David pleas for the innocence of the people
3. David offers himself for judgment
III. THE OFFERING OF KING DAVID (24:18-25)
A. The Command God Gave to David (24:18-19)
1. God tells David to rear up an altar (v.18)
2. David goes according to God’s command (v.19)
B. The Obedience of David to the Lord (24:20-21)
1. Araunah bows himself before the king (v.20)
2. Araunah asks the purpose of David’s visit (v.21)
3. David tells the purpose of his visit (v.21)
a. To buy the threshingfloor
b. To build an altar to the Lord
c. To stop the plague
C. The Purchase of Araunah’s Threshing Floor (24:22-24)
1. Araunah offers all that is needed as a gift (v.22-23)
2. David insists on paying for everything he takes (v.24)
a. David will not give to God that which costs him nothing
b. David gives 50 shekels of silver for the threshingfloor and oxen
c. David gives 600 shekels of gold for the entire site (1Chronicles 21:24-25)
D. The Sacrifice Made by David (24:25)
1. David built an altar to the Lord
2. David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings
3. The Lord withdrew the plague from the land
IV. ARAUNAH’S GIFT
A. His Example of Giving – He Gave as a King (2Samuel 24:23)
1. He must have been of the royal house of the Jebusites
2. Our other example for giving is also of a royal line; He is Jesus Christ (Ephesians 5:2; Philippians 2:5-8)
B. The Extent of his Giving – He Gave It All (1Chronicles 21:18-23)
1. Araunah gave the threshingfloor, the oxen, the threshing instruments, and the wheat. Nothing was held back.
2. We are to give our bodies a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1-2)
3. We are to give ourselves to the Lord (2Corinthians 8:5)
C. The Exchange for his Giving – He Received Full Price of All He Gave (1Chronicles 21:24-27)
1. Araunah gave without condition
2. David paid him anyway
3. The Lord blesses our giving in the same way (Luke 6:38)
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Antioch Baptist Church Knoxville, Tennessee