Today's text from the ESV Study Bible: 2 Samuel 24, 1 Chronicles 21-22, & Psalm 30.
The last time I read through this section my eyes were on David. This time I decided to keep my eyes on God, and I found significant things happening besides David's sin:
- "Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel". Israel was again doing something that greatly displeased God.
- As in the book of Job, we see interaction with God and Satan only here the resulting effect is sin in David.
- It is not clear to me exactly where David's mind was in this census. Perhaps pride in the military conquests? Pride in the numbers of his people? Was David becoming a god unto himself? Further, David doesn't seem to have evoked the ransom required from a census as required of God in the book of Exodus. Further still, Joab strongly protested, and refused to number the Levites (the priests), the tribe of Benjamin (the site of the ark), and Gibeon (the site of the tabernacle). Clearly this act is somehow greatly offensive.
- David repents, but God demands a punishment. God's angel destroys 70,000 men. Hard for my modern mind to comprehend.
- Just as the angel is about to destroy Jerusalem, David asks God to punish him instead, and God stays the action of the angel against Jerusalem.
- Next, we find that a plot of land in Jerusalem will be the very spot where Solomon will build the temple.
There is much to meditate on here:
- This is the very spot where Abraham was commanded to sacrifice his son. God sent an angel to intervene.
- Here we see God's anger waged against sin, David intervenes, offers himself, and God shows mercy.
- The temple, which will be built on this site is God's dwelling place. It is also the place were sins are covered, and worship towards God occurs.
- It is also in this very same place that we will, centuries later, find God sending his own son as the perfect sacrifice for our sins which deserve the brunt of the death angel sword.
- We shouldn't miss God's affirmation of David's alter with God's holy fire from heaven in this scene.
I'm not sure what Israel was doing to provoke such anger from God. My guess would be idolatry of some sort. God has many it ever so clear that he is not pleased when we put anything before him, be it our money, other gods, or our pride.
Further, God has made it plain that the wages of sin is death. Perhaps Israel had gotten away from God's sacrificial system, and here we see that God is going to plop his Temple right in front of their faces.
As hard as it is to our modern minds to understand why God would kill 70,000 people, we must understand that our fallen nature, and therefore our sin will result in death. First a physical death, and then an eternal spiritual death.
God has provided a way for all to escape the second death. I suppose sometimes he needs to provide his chosen screaming examples of the importance of placing our trust in his sacrifice.
Do you see that?
