The Story of David

(Sermon series)

 by Rev. Richard Jones

PRIDE IN NUMBERS

2 Samuel chapter 24

THE PROUD KING
2 Samuel 24:1-4 (ESV)
1  Again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.” 2  So the king said to Joab, the commander of the army, who was with him, “Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the number of the people.” 3  But Joab said to the king, “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 it, but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?” 4  But the king’s word prevailed against Joab and the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel.

1 Chronicles 21:1 (ESV)
1  Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel.

Exodus 30:11-16 (ESV)
11  The LORD said to Moses,
12  “When you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give a ransom for his life to the LORD when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you number them.
13  Each one who is numbered in the census shall give this: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as an offering to the LORD. 14  Everyone who is numbered in the census, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the LORD’s offering. 15  The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when you give the LORD’s offering to make atonement for your lives. 16  You shall take the atonement money from the people of Israel and shall give it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may bring the people of Israel to remembrance before the LORD, so as to make atonement for your lives.”

Proverbs 6:16-19 (ESV)
16  There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are an abomination to him:
17  haughty eyes, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood,
18  a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that make haste to run to evil,
19  a false witness who breathes out lies, and one who sows discord among brothers.

THE STUBBORN KING
 2 Samuel 24:5-9 (ESV)
5  They crossed the Jordan and began from Aroer, and from the city that is in the middle of the valley, toward Gad and on to Jazer. 6  Then they came to Gilead, and to Kadesh in the land of the Hittites; and they came to Dan, and from Dan they went around to Sidon, 7  and came to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites; and they went out to the Negeb of Judah at Beersheba.     8  So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9  And Joab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: in Israel there were 800,000 valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were 500,000.

THE CONVICTED KING
2 Samuel 24:10-14 (ESV)
10  But David’s heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And 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 done very foolishly.”
11  And when David arose in the morning, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying,
12  “Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the LORD, Three things I offer you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’” 13  So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall three 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? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.” 14  Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.”

THE TERRIFIED KING
2 Samuel 24:15-17 (ESV)
15  So the LORD sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning until the appointed time. And there died of the people from Dan to Beersheba 70,000 men.
16  And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was working destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
17  Then David spoke to the LORD when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father’s house.”

1 Chronicles 21:14-16 (ESV)
14  So the LORD sent a pestilence on Israel, and 70,000 men of Israel fell.
15  And God sent the angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, but as he was about to destroy it, the LORD saw, and he relented from the calamity. And he said to the angel who was working destruction, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
16  And David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between earth and heaven, and in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.

Romans 5:8-9 (ESV)
8  but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
9  Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.

1 Thessalonians 1:8-10 (ESV)
8  For not only has the word of the Lord sounded forth from you in Macedonia and Achaia, but your faith in God has gone forth everywhere, so that we need not say anything. 9  For they themselves report concerning us the kind of reception we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, 10  and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

THE REPENTANT KING
2 Samuel 24:18-25 (ESV)
18  And Gad came that day to David and said to him, “Go up, raise an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”
19  So David went up at Gad’s word, as the LORD commanded.
20  And when Araunah looked down, he saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. And Araunah went out and paid homage to the king with his face to the ground. 21  And Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the LORD, that the plague may be averted from the people.”
22  Then Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Here are the oxen for the burnt offering and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. 23  All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the LORD your God accept you.” 24  But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25  And David built there an altar to the LORD and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.

Psalm 40:1-3 (ESV)
1 I waited patiently for the LORD; he inclined to me and heard my cry.
2  He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure.
3  He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the LORD.