Join us as we conclude the book of 2 Samuel with a profound look at King David’s actions and their repercussions. This episode unravels how David’s heart was conflicted by his decisions, leading to a divine choice of punishment and an eventual act of repentance. Alan J. Huth shares personal reflections from his Bible journals, offering listeners an authentic glimpse into the enduring lessons of humility, sin, and the mercy of God. Become inspired to look deeper into the scriptures with our unique audio devotional.
Welcome to Add Bible, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join Allen J. Huth as he shares Bible passages and comments from over 30 years of his personal Bible reading journals.
SPEAKER 08 :
Well, here we are at the end of 2 Samuel, the final chapter of 24. Let’s listen in to Faith Comes by Hearing’s reading of the 25 verses of the last chapter of 2 Samuel.
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Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, So the king said to Joab, the commander of the army who was with him, But Joab said to the king,
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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?
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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. They crossed the Jordan and began from Aror and from the city that is in the middle of the valley toward Gad and on to Jazer. 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, and came to the fortress of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites. And they went out to the Negev of Judah at Beersheba. So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. And Joab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to the king. In Israel there were eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand. But David’s heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord,
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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.
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And when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, Go and say to David, Thus says the Lord,
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Three things I offer you. Choose one of them that I may do it to you.
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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.
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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.
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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 seventy thousand men. 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 Arana the Jebusite. 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.
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But these sheep, what have they done? Please, let your hand be against me and against my father’s house.
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And Gad came that day to David and said to him,
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Go up, raise an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Arana the Jebusite.
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So David went up at Gad’s word as the Lord commanded. And when Arana looked down, he saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. And Arana went out and paid homage to the king with his face to the ground. And Arana said, Why has my lord the king come to his servant?
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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.”
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Then Arana said to David, Let my lord the king take an offer of 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. All this, O king Arana, gives to the king. And Arana said to the king, May the Lord your God accept you.
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But the king said to Arana, 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.
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So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 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.
SPEAKER 08 :
Verse 1 of this chapter states, Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, Go number Israel and Judah. David obeys, he administers the census, and in verse 10 it says, 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. So how could David do something that he thought the Lord told him to do and then call it sin? This same event is recorded in the book of 1 Chronicles chapter 21. In that verse 1, it says, Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel. These moments of confusion in the scripture always lead me to my footnotes in my Bible. And I’m very happy that I have a very good English Standard Version Study Bible. So let me refer to the footnote. Here the text says, while 1 Chronicles 21.1 reads, Satan incited David. The Lord allowed Satan to incite David. God himself never does evil, but sometimes he uses evil moral agents, demons, and sinful human beings to accomplish his purposes. In the footnote in 1 Chronicles 21, my notes say, Nevertheless, David himself sinned in giving in to Satan’s enticement and ordering the census. This census was sinful probably because it arose from David’s presumptuous military ambitions and pride. rather than from Yahweh’s express command. Going back to my footnotes in 2 Samuel 24, verse 3, says by numbering the people for military purposes, David apparently showed lack of trust in the Lord to supply the necessary men when needed, and wrongful pride in the hundreds of thousands of forces at his command. So did the Lord order a census or did Satan entice David to conduct a census? When passages like these arise, I think we have to take the whole counsel of God. And so we see over and over that God is good and he allows Satan or human beings to get involved in things so that he can create justice for And so we have to let Scripture interpret Scripture. And as David says himself in verse 10, that he committed a sin, it must have been from Satan and not from God. Let’s go to my journal entries for a couple of years to see how I looked at this passage. Going all the way back to 1983, that very first journal, I wrote about this. David numbers the people and God punishes him for doing so. He then builds an altar and offers a peace offering to stop pestilence. Why didn’t God want people numbered? So you can see I asked the question all the way back in 1983. And then I finished the journal entry by writing application. A peace offering should cost us something. In 1997, when I read this passage, I wrote, God moved David to go number Israel and Judah, according to verse 1, but it apparently was sin before the Lord. Again, verse 10. God gives David three choices of punishment. David chooses the one most directly from God because he knew of God’s great mercy. And in 2007, I wrote, David counted his power. We do the same. Our money our possessions, our 401k, our giving. Be careful to try and measure our power. It comes from God, as God can easily demonstrate at any time. Hail, health, provision. I continued, God punishes sin. Stuff happens around us that we don’t equate to God’s punishment for our sin. But are we better off in the hands of God or the hands of men? Our service to God is valuable, therefore it may cost us. Praise God he is moved by prayer for the land, nation, country, people. And lastly, David did what Joshua started. He conquered the land and united Israel after 400 years. I think the lesson in this chapter as we close out 2 Samuel may be quite clear. Be careful what voices we hear. Be careful we’re actually hearing from the voice of the Lord and not the voice of the enemy. How can we know even David was warned by Joab and ignored the warning? When we are unclear, hear the voice of some Christian friends before you move ahead. And lastly, we do not want to fall into the hands of an angry God. David’s three choices were not very good, were they? But he did choose the one closest to God because he knew of God’s mercy and God did stay his hand from continuing the pestilence. And then we can follow David’s modeling. When we do something wrong, when we know we’ve failed the Lord, offer a peace offering. Go to the Lord. Seek his forgiveness. And because God is graceful and merciful, he does forgive. Father, help us be clear what voice we’re hearing. Speak to us only. Prevent the voice of the enemy from entering our hearts and our ears. Put godly counsel around us so that when we’re confused, we can go to some dear Christian friends and they can help us discern what we’re really hearing. And lastly, Lord, if we do make a mistake, thank you for your mercy and your grace that forgives us. We thank you. In Jesus’ name, amen. That concludes our study of 2 Samuel. Don’t forget to go to EzraProject.net and look at Add Bible and look at Club 365 to see how you can support these podcasts in the future. God bless you. Thanks for listening to AdBible today. We started on radio on October 1st, 2024. I hope you noticed some differences in AdBible from other programs. For example, we are fully committed to the Word of God. That’s why we play full chapters on the air, not sound bites. It takes a lot of our program time, but it’s my belief it’s more important for you to hear the Word of God than me. You may also have figured out by now I’m not a pastor, just a layman like most of you. So these recordings are not based on sermons. They’re based on my personal walk through the Bible over several decades of my life. 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