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Okay, you can turn in your Bibles 
to 2 Samuel 24. 2 Samuel chapter 24. 2 Samuel 24, there's some difficult 
things in this particular chapter and still some questions that 
I have that I'm certain I can't answer for all of you, so we're 
going to sketch the chapter tonight. For those of you who want to 
do more in-depth study, I can give you some book recommendations. 
Some of the numbers don't jive with the parallel passage in 
1 Chronicles 21. There are, however, good explanations 
as to why, but as I said, we're not going to get into all of 
those particular details this evening. But beginning in chapter 
24 at verse 1, again the anger of the Lord was aroused against 
Israel, and He moved David against them to say, ìGo, number Israel 
and Judah.î So the king said to Joab the commander of the 
army who was with him, now go throughout all the tribes of 
Israel from Dan to Beersheba and count the people that I may 
know the number of the people. And Joab said to the king, now 
may the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times more 
than there are and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But 
why does my lord the king desire this thing? Nevertheless, the 
king's word prevailed against Joab and against the captains 
of the army. Therefore, Joab and the captains 
of the army went out from the presence of the king to count 
the people of Israel. And they crossed over the Jordan 
and camped in Aroer, on the right side of the town, which is in 
the midst of the ravine of Gad and toward Jotzer. Then they 
came to Gilead and to the land of Tatim-Hadshi. They came to 
Dan-Ja'an and around to Sidon. And they came to the stronghold 
of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites. 
Then they went out to south Judah as far as Beersheba. So when 
they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem 
at the end of nine months and 20 days. Then Joab gave the sum 
of the number of the people to the king. And there were in Israel 
800,000 valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah 
were 500,000 men. And David's heart condemned him 
after he had numbered the people. So David said to the Lord, I 
have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now I pray, O Lord, 
take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very 
foolishly. Now when David arose in the morning, 
the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, 
saying, Go and tell David. Thus says the Lord, I offer you 
three things. Choose one of them for yourself 
that I may do it to you. So Gad came to David and told 
him, and he said to him, shall seven years of famine come to 
you in your land? Or shall you flee three months 
before your enemies while they pursue you? Or shall there be 
three days plague in your land? Now consider and see what answer 
I should take back to him who sent me. And David said to Gad, 
I am in great distress. Please let us fall into the hand 
of the Lord, for his mercies are great. But do not let me 
fall into the hand of man. So the Lord sent a plague upon 
Israel from the morning till the appointed time. From Dan 
to Beersheba, 70,000 men of the people died. And when the angel stretched 
out his hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented 
from the destruction and said to the angel who was destroying 
the people, it is enough, now restrain 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, 
Surely I have sinned and I have done wickedly, but these sheep, 
what have they done? Let your hand, I pray, be against 
me and against my father's house. And Gad came that day to David 
and said to him, go up, erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing 
floor of Arana, the Jebusite. So David, according to the word 
of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded. Now Aaron looked and saw the 
king and his servants coming toward him. So Aaron went out 
and bowed before the king with his face to the ground. Then 
Aaron said, why has my lord, the king, come to his servant? 
And David said, to buy the threshing floor from you, to build an altar 
to the Lord, that the plague may be withdrawn from the people. 
Now Orana said to David, let my lord the king take and offer 
up whatever seems good to him. Look, here are oxen for burnt 
sacrifice and threshing implements and the yokes of the oxen for 
wood. All these, O king, Orana has given to the king. And Orana 
said to the king, may the lord your God accept you. Then the 
king said to Arana, no, but I will surely buy it from you for a 
price, nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God 
with that which costs me nothing. So David bought the threshing 
floor and the oxen for 50 shekels of silver. And David built there 
an altar to the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord heeded the prayers 
for the land, and the plague was withdrawn from Israel. Amen. Well, we're in the larger context 
of chapters 21 to 24, which is essentially a final assessment 
of David's reign. And for the most part, it's a 
positive assessment. Not a perfect assessment as we 
have seen as we've covered these chapters. David was not a perfect 
man. David sung about, David wrote 
about by the power of the Holy Spirit, a perfect man who would 
come from his line, but David was not that particular man. 
And in this chapter, as I said, there's some difficult things, 
not least of which is the sovereignty of God with reference to the 
sins of men. the various things that are going 
on in this chapter in terms of why it was wrong for David to 
number the people. Again, I probably won't satisfy 
all of your curiosity, but we're going to just try to get at the 
main ideas within the passage itself. Matthew Henry comments 
in his introduction to this section. He said the last words of David 
were good. Remember that in chapter 23, 
we have the last words of David in verses 1 to 7. It's a prophecy 
concerning Jesus Christ. So Henry says, the last words 
of David were good, but in this chapter we read of some of his 
last works, which were none of the best. Yet he repented and 
so finished well. Remember also in this context, 
chapters 21 to 24, there's a contrast between the reigns of Saul and 
the reign of David. Saul was a covenant-breaking 
wretch. Saul did sin against God, but 
he never forsook it, he never asked for forgiveness, he never 
repented. We see just the opposite with 
David. David does sin, but David does confess, David does forsake, 
and David finds forgiveness and mercy from God. Again, he's not 
the perfect king that is to come, at least from his vantage point, 
but he was a just and a righteous king for the most part. Again, 
not without sin. But let's look at this chapter 
under three considerations. First, the census of Israel in 
verses 1 to 9. Secondly, the judgment upon Israel 
in verses 10 to 17. And then the necessity of atonement 
in verses 18 to 25. You remember this section, chapters 
21 to 24. Chapter 21 is very similar and 
parallel to what we find here in chapter 24. In fact, when 
we read in 24.1, again, the anger of the Lord was aroused against 
Israel, it probably is reminiscent of chapter 21 and verse 1. Remember, there was famine in 
the land for three years during the reign of David. And what 
was the particular infraction there was that Saul broke an 
oath with the Gibeonites And as a result, God required atonement, 
and then seven sons of Saul were put to death. There was atonement 
wrought there in Gibeah. So we see a parallel theme here. 
Only it's David's sin, but the justice of God must be satisfied, 
and this chapter ends as well on the high note of atonement. 
and the fact that God does require such to satisfy His wrath and 
His judgment and His fury. But note, it says again, the 
anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel. You will search 
far and wide in this chapter to find out why. We are simply 
not told why God is angry with the Lord. Now, it probably wouldn't... 
take very long to try and, you know, sketch a few responses. They were never what they ought 
to have been. They never conducted themselves in utter perfection. 
But this whole idea of anger is not explained. It's just stated 
as a given. It doesn't indicate why, but 
Israel is the target. So when 70,000 Israelites die, 
David interprets it as, why don't you just deal with me, Lord, 
and spare the children of Israel? Well, we see the target of judgment 
in this particular chapter is not only David, but it's also 
the nation of Israel. God's anger is directed against 
Israel as a whole. Now, some of the commentators 
suggest it's because Israel as a whole sided with Absalom in 
his rebellion against David. Remember, David was God's king. 
David was the covenantal king over the covenantal community, 
and to rebel against him and to engage in insubordination 
against him was to engage in insubordination against Yahweh. 
And so some posit that, that it was the sin of siding with 
Absalom, and then even more recently, siding with the rebellion under 
Sheba in chapter 20. But the text doesn't explain. I quite like Davis' response 
here. on the absence given of a reason 
for God's anger. He says, does this bother us? Do we perhaps assume that God 
must always explain himself and justify his ways? I mean, isn't 
it enough for us to know that God is angry? Do we have to spell 
it out and know all the particular details? He says, if we cannot 
be content to accept the mystery of this text, we may be revealing 
ourselves. If we are upset over a text that 
tells us Yahweh is angry, but does not tell us why, are we 
not saying that we really don't trust Him to be just? In other 
words, God is just. He doesn't stop just because 
He doesn't explain Himself. And we're in the wrong position 
to demand from God that He explain Himself. He says, is there not 
a strain within us that insists there must be no mysteries in 
God? Don't we sometimes subtly assume 
that God owes us an explanation? We can easily brandish an arrogance 
that does not worship, that comes into the presence of the Most 
High with a strut instead of a bow. Are we angry because God 
is not perfectly transparent? Can we live and can we worship 
with mystery? I think that Davis gets at something 
there. We always want a full explanation 
given to us for anything that results, and we're not content 
to realize, you know, that God doesn't explain Himself in every 
instance and in every circumstance to the likes of us. But notice 
the particular result of his anger in 24.1. He moved David 
against Israel to say, go number Israel and Judah. Now, this is 
going to be a sin, or this is a sinful thing that David does. 
Joab realizes it, David himself realizes it, and God sends judgment 
upon the nation of Israel as a result. We might ask the question, 
why was a census sinful? Censuses were typically done 
in concert with military operations. The people of Israel were numbered 
when it came to going into battle. And again, I don't know that 
I will be able to satisfy every curiosity that arises out of 
this particular text, but this is the particular thing involved. 
God moves David against Israel to say, go number Israel and 
Judah. Now, the agency utilized in this 
was the devil himself. When we compare 1 Chronicles 
chapter 21 and verse 1, that is the parallel passage to what 
we find here in 2 Samuel 24. It says that Satan rose up and 
moved David to number the children of Israel. Now, that presents 
a bit of a melon scratcher, I think, to most of us when we see God 
here, sovereign over David, and then we see the instrumentality 
of the devil. In fact, you can turn there so 
you know I'm not making it up. Believe me, I would not have 
made this up because it's a bit of a difficult thing to try and 
unravel. 1 Chronicles 21.1, now Satan 
stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel. So back in 2 Samuel 24, we see 
that it was God that moved David against Israel to say, go number 
Israel and Judah. Now, I think that we ought to 
understand that God is absolutely sovereign. I don't think any 
of us doubt that. We go to a Reformed church, we 
subscribe to a Reformed confession. God is comprehensively sovereign 
over all things. And I think the writer in 2 Samuel 
24 is underscoring that reality. God is sovereign in His providence 
over every jot and tittle that takes place on this earth. The 
writer in Chronicles, 1 Chronicles chapter 21, is looking at the 
immediate agency. He's looking at the immediate 
cause with reference to this particular sin, or this movement 
upon David to entice him or to provoke him to go and sin. And 
I think that our confession deals with this situation well. It 
highlights that God is the first cause, but that the fact is that 
there are second causes. And in chapter 5 on divine providence, 
it says, although in relation to the foreknowledge and decree 
of God, the first cause, all things come to pass immutably 
and infallibly, so that there is not anything befalls any by 
chance or without His providence. Yet, by the same providence, 
he orders them to fall out according to the nature of second causes, 
either necessarily, freely, or contingently. Now, again, I'm 
just trying to offer a bit of rationale behind this. These 
are things that certainly have perplexed theologians throughout 
the centuries. That's why I cite the Confession, 
because I think it's a balanced scriptural presentation of the 
truths at play in the Samuel narrative and that according 
to the Chronicler. And then in chapter 5, paragraph 
4, where these two texts are specifically cited. It says, 
"...the almighty power, unsearchable wisdom, and infinite goodness 
of God, so far manifest themselves in His providence, that His determinate 
counsel extends itself even to the first fall, and all other 
sinful actions both of angels and men. In other words, what 
the confession is saying accurately, reflecting what the Scripture 
says, is that nothing transpires apart from God. There's no random 
event. There's no haphazard event. There's 
no sort of thing that takes God by surprise. There's nothing that catches 
Him unawares. Everything falls out according 
ultimately to the decree and purpose and plan of the living 
and true God. However, he does use and employ 
second causes. The confession goes on to say, 
and that not by a bare permission. It's not the case that he turned 
his back for a time while all these dastardly things were perpetrated. No, God is involved. He is the 
overseer. He is the governor. He is the 
sovereign. It goes on to say, which also He most wisely and 
powerfully boundeth and otherwise orders and governs in a manifold 
dispensation to His most holy ends, yet so as the sinfulness 
of their acts proceeds only from the creatures and not from God. who being most holy and righteous 
neither is nor can be the author or approver of sin." So the 17th 
century confessions encapsulate biblical truth. God is sovereign 
over all things. This does not negate the reality 
of second causes. But when we trace all things 
back to God as the source, as the fountain, we cannot malign 
Him or we cannot suggest that He is the author of sin or the 
one who orchestrates the acts of evil. Now again, this is somewhat 
perplexing and it takes some time to try and unravel and unscrew 
in one's head, but realize that what we have here in terms of 
the Chronicler and 2 Samuel 24 is the reality that God in His 
general providence oversees all things. The devil is the instrumental 
cause. The immediate cause, or the immediate 
cause upon David with reference to this enticement to number 
the children of Israel. Interestingly enough, in the 
next paragraph, it says, the most wise, righteous, and gracious 
God does oftentimes leave for a season his own children to 
manifold temptations and the corruptions of their own hearts, 
to chastise them for their former sins, or to discover unto them 
the hidden strength of corruption and deceitfulness of their hearts, 
that they may be humbled, and to raise them to a more close 
and constant dependence for their support upon himself, and to 
make them more watchful against all future occasions of sin and 
for other just and holy ends, so that whatsoever befalls any 
of his elect is by his appointment for his glory and their good." 
Now, the London Baptist does not contain it, but the Westminster 
points to 2 Samuel 24.1 as an illustration of that principle, 
that God is dealing with David as an elect redeemed sinner, 
but who is nevertheless chastening him for his sins, either past 
or present. God deals with him for his own 
glory and for the good of David. Again, if that was not clear, 
you can email me, text me, or carrier pigeon me, and I can 
point you to some good resources on this particular topic. But 
there's the scene, there's the situation. He is told to go, 
or he is moved to go. and number Israel and Judah. 
He gives the command to Joab, verse 2, go throughout all the 
tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba. Dan is in the high 
north, Beersheba is in the south. When you see that biblical convention, 
it means all of Israel. Go number the people from Dan 
to Beersheba, count them, that I may know the number of the 
people." Now note Joab's response. Joab says to the king, now may 
the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times more than 
there are, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. Now, 
the text never tells us directly why it was wrong to number the 
children of Israel. Again, it's usually done in terms 
of military operations. We don't know the military situation 
facing David. We don't know the particular 
situation facing him in terms of his political kingdom. But 
I think that Joab's words here give us a hint in the direction 
as to why what David did was wrong. Because Joab says, may 
the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times more than 
there are, and may the eyes of my Lord the King see it. In other 
words, may your people be multiplied. Perhaps what's driving David, 
John Gill took this position, was a pride and a boastfulness 
and a desire to have a great army and a great amount of resources 
that would certainly exalt him and elevate him. And I think 
that what Joab says here may indicate that that's the particular 
direction. This is the man who wrote that 
some trust in chariots and some trust in horses, but will trust 
in the name of Yahweh, our God. So David is not acting consistently 
with what he knows. David has lived his life in dependence 
upon Yahweh. David has written Psalms ascribing 
his dependence upon Yahweh. And here it's almost as if he's 
trusting in the number of bodies that do populate his standing 
army. That probably does get at it. Again, I can't say for certain 
because we don't have a 26th verse that says, and herein lies 
the problem of David's having numbered Israel. But Joab's response 
seems to tilt the argument in that direction. David wants to 
know how many people he has in his army. And notice what Joab 
goes on to say in 3b. He says, but why does my lord 
the king desire this thing? Joab was not a tender, sensitive 
soul, was he? I mean, Joab was the least that 
we would say is that sensitive sheep in the flock who gets easily 
perplexed over certain difficult situations. Joab was not that 
sort of a guy. But Joab here is essentially 
pleading with David not to number the people of Israel. That may 
indicate there was not a military excursion that they needed to 
embark on. That may indicate that there 
was no need to muster the troops. It may indicate the reality that 
David was doing this for reasons that were unsavory and unrighteous. Notice in verse 4, Nevertheless, 
the king's word prevailed against Joab and against the captains 
of the army. Therefore, Joab and the captains 
of the army went out from the presence of the king to count 
the people of Israel. Interesting that it's the captains 
of the army and the chief of the army himself. We're not hiring, 
you know, minimum-wage ladies or men to go out and knock on 
doors and collect census data. These are the military officers 
of Israel, which indicates something's going on here that doesn't seem 
right. And then essentially what we 
have in verses 5 to 9 is a sketch of Dandabir Sheba. We don't need 
to go through all of that except to say that it took about 9 months 
and 20 days. So when David comes to the point 
of repentance, or when David comes to the point in verse 10 
wherein his heart condemns him, realize it wasn't overnight. 
Realize that a considerable amount of time had passed. Right? Joab comes back, answers David, 
there were 800,000 valiant men who drew the sword and the men 
of Judah were 500,000 men. I think there's a lesson that 
we need to glean from this and that we glean as well with reference 
to David's sin with Bathsheba and Uriah. David didn't immediately 
repent. David lived for a season at peace 
with sin he had committed. And we ought to take notice of 
that and we ought to seek by the grace of God not to make 
peace with sin. Immediate repentance, short accounts 
with God, dealing radically and righteously with Jehovah when 
we sin against Him. Let not 9 months and 20 days 
go past before you repent. Let not that season go past after, 
you know, David has this sin with Uriah and Bathsheba. It 
takes Nathan, the prophet, and his preaching to call David back 
to repentance and faith. Learn from this, that if the 
man after God's own heart can stray from God and can live at 
least to some degree in contentedness with undealt with sin, you and 
I need to be on our guard. You and I need to be on heightened 
alert. You and I need to be watchful 
and prayerful, realizing that if the man after God's own heart 
could make peace with sin, we ought to see the potentiality 
for such an occasion, and we ought to guard our hearts against 
it. Maintain short accounts with God. When you sin, confess it. Forsake it. Find mercy from Jesus. Don't entertain it. Don't sit 
on it. Don't stew about it. Just go 
to the throne of grace, confess it, and you will find mercy and 
forgiveness. Now, notice the judgment upon 
Israel in verses 10 to 17. Note the condemnation by his 
heart. David's heart condemned him after he had numbered the 
people. As I said, we don't have a specific answer here why it 
was sinful. Some suggest that he did not 
require the half shekel. In Exodus 30, when the census 
was taken with reference to military operations, each of the men numbered 
were to provide a half shekel as a ransom payment for their 
lives. The text doesn't say that David 
asked for this half shekel, so therefore, that was his sin. 
Well, I'm not sure that we can conclude that. Others say that 
he wanted to impose tribute upon them, but the text doesn't say 
that either. The idea that he didn't receive 
an order from God that he was told to go and number the people. 
Or the idea that he had pride in his heart. Notice, the confession 
only involved the numbering of the people, not half shekels, 
not imposing tribute, anything like that. The sin confessed 
was that he numbered the people. And as I suggested earlier, the 
desire expressed by Joab for the multiplication of the people 
of Israel may lean in the direction that this is what David was doing. 
He was trusting in his standing army. He was trusting in his 
resources. This is probably toward the end 
of David's life. He's already spoken his last 
words. He's looking upon and he's reflecting 
upon his legacy. You hear this with presidents 
who are on their way out, even though their legacies are abysmal 
and terrible. Nevertheless, they like to reflect 
upon their legacy and all the good that they've done. No, just 
look at the streets and you can see a testimony. You haven't 
done a whole lot of good. But this might be what David 
is doing. John Gill understands it this way. He says, so that 
this appears to be done, the numbering of the people, not 
through any urgent necessity, but merely out of curiosity and 
to gratify the pride of his heart and please himself with the thought 
of ruling such a numerous people and brag of their numbers to 
other nations and place his confidence therein. And no wonder it was 
displeasing to the Lord." Again, we don't know, it doesn't say 
that, but this seems to be the way the scales are tipped based 
on what Joab says and based on David's own admission or confession. 
It is the numbering of the people. Vannoy says, the implication 
of Joab's statement is that David's mind was set in some improper 
way on the importance of numbers and that he was more concerned 
with how many fighting men he could muster than he was with 
trust in the Lord's promise to make the nation great and to 
protect his people from their enemies. Again, a contrast from 
what he writes in Psalm 27. Some trust in chariots and some 
in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. 
Now, I suggested earlier that we ought not to let 9 months 
and 20 days pass before we repent before God. But nevertheless, 
praise God that after 9 months and 20 days, His heart did condemn 
Him. This is how we know there's grace 
there. This is how we know He's different from Saul. This is 
how we know that He was a believer in Jesus Christ. And I would 
suggest we ought to praise God for hearts that condemn us. Because 
they don't do so apart from the Spirit. left on our own, our 
hearts would never condemn us. This is a ministry of the Holy 
Spirit, to convict the world of sin, right? This is something 
we ought to praise God for. This is what we find in verse 
10. David's heart condemned him after he had numbered the people. 
So David said to the Lord, I have sinned greatly in what I have 
done. But now I pray, O Lord, take 
away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly." 
This is a marked contrast with Saul. You'll survey the text, 
survey the Saul narratives, and you don't find such an admission. You don't find his heart condemn 
him. You don't find him confessing his iniquity. You don't find 
him praying to the Lord and essentially asking God, for mercy from on 
high. This is one of the aims of the 
author in chapters 21 to 24. Again, it sets the stage for 
the succession narrative for Solomon in 1 Kings chapters 1 
and 2. David was the righteous king 
and his son is the rightful heir to the throne of Israel. Saul 
was the wicked king and ought to be shunned as a result of 
that. So the author is still contrasting 
with us David and Saul, and unfortunately he has to do it in the context 
of David's sin, but nevertheless that's how he's going to do it. 
So notice, David makes this admission before the Lord God, now God 
sends Gad the prophet in verses 11 to 13. It is intriguing, the 
confession precedes the prophet. The confession precedes the prophet. In his sin with Bathsheba and 
Uriah, the prophet preceded the confession, right? David's doing 
a little better in this instance. Remember, David was living completely 
flagrantly against Yahweh in 2 Samuel 11 and 12. God sends 
Nathan to David Nathan tells David the story about the man 
with the little ewe lamb. David gets incensed and outraged, 
and Nathan says, thou art the man, and God reproves him. And then David says, I have sinned 
against Yahweh. Here, thankfully, David confesses 
his sin. Not that that was not right. That's still legit. I think we 
get this in our head. Well, they got caught, and then 
they repented. They repented. Praise God. No matter how it 
came about, if he got caught and he repented, he repented. 
Praise the Lord. Sometimes that's the way he operates. He has somebody get caught and 
then they repent. David in 2 Samuel 11 and 12. 
We cannot negate or neglect or somehow diminish David's repentance 
there because he got caught first. The issue is repentance. Forgiveness 
was administered by Yahweh based on the prophet's reproof of David 
and David coming clean. Here David comes clean, confesses 
his sin to God, and then Gad comes and gives him the options 
for judgment. Notice in verse 12, Go and tell 
David, thus says the Lord, I offer you three things. Choose one 
of them for yourself, that I may do it to you. These are miserable 
choices, aren't they? I mean, this is sin's consequences. We have to think about this sort 
of stuff, and I think the author puts it there for us. Sin does 
not produce good consequences. When you act sinfully against 
God, and you do foolish things, the consequences aren't roses 
and joy and happiness and sunshine and rainbows. The consequences 
are horrific. Consequences for yourself, consequences 
for others. In this instance, it affected 
the entirety of the nation. Of course, God's anger was directed 
to the entirety of the nation. David doesn't know that at this 
particular point or this particular time. We, the reader, are told 
in verse 1, the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel. 
David wasn't told that. David doesn't get these narrator 
tips along the way. We, the reader, have this information. At this particular point, David 
doesn't know that. His sin brought about these consequences, 
and I think it's good for us to realize that sin always brings 
consequences. Is it ever the case that you 
sin and rainbows, you know, a light in the air? No, it's not the 
way it is. There's always miserable things 
that result from sin. You're all looking at me surprised. 
Am I suggesting something here that is contrary to your experience? Have you ever sinned and been 
happier for it? I mean, there's the passing pleasures 
of sin that the writer of Hebrews alludes to, but Moses chose rather 
to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy those 
passing pleasures of sin, because he counted the riches of Christ 
as much better than anything that this world had to offer. 
Sin does not bring joy. It doesn't bring happiness. Drive 
down Chilliwack sometime and see what the effects of sin are. There's a guy that used to live 
next door to this building, and he would come here and ask for 
money. He was a nice fellow, and I felt 
sorry for him, and I knew what he was going to use that money 
for. At that particular time he was 
able to rent that house. I see him occasionally downtown, 
his face is completely changed. The effects of the drugs have 
changed his appearance. I mean he's got the sunken in 
cheeks, the teeth are falling out. It doesn't, it hasn't yielded 
him a better and a happier and a more profitable life. Sin never 
does. It never promotes goodness, happiness, 
contentedness, harmony, peace. A man sins in his family. And 
what happens to the family? There is ruination. A man sins 
with adultery. He basically butchers his wife 
and his children. A woman sins, committing adultery. She butchers her husband and 
her children. There is never good that comes 
from sin. And here what the author tells 
us are David's options. I mean, this isn't Monty Hall, 
let's make a deal. Do you want the burrow behind 
gate number one or the car behind number two? These are horrific 
options. So God came to David and told 
him, verse 13, Shall seven years of famine come to you in your 
land? Or shall you flee three months before your enemies while 
they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' 
plague in your land? Now consider and see what answer 
I should take back to Him who sent me." I mean, this right 
here would convince me I'd never want to be a king. I'd never 
want to be a president. I'd never want to have that sort 
of an effect upon people, and yet at the same time I tremble 
at the thought as one who must give an account for those souls 
who are in the church of Christ. It's a terrifying reality, and 
David's got to answer probably the most difficult question he's 
ever had to answer. This is going to affect the people 
who I love. I mean, what he says in verse 
17 is truly Christ-like. I mean, he is prototypical Jesus 
at this particular time. It's my sin, God, don't plague 
the sheep. Let it come to me in my house. 
I mean, that's the heart of David. He's not happy with this decision. 
He's not willy nilly with this decision. He's not saying, well, 
you know, this will wipe out more people and this will wipe 
out just as many. You know, let's go for the mass. 
He's not like that. This is probably killing the 
man as he has to consider and plan and plot the demise of his 
own countrymen. You see, a king doesn't want 
to ruin those he rules over. I mean, at least real kings. 
I'm sure there's those out there that have no care whatsoever. 
I mean, think of a Stalin or of a Pol Pot or a Hitler. I mean, 
they certainly don't care about those under their rule. But David 
was a man after God's own heart, and for him to be given these 
options must have been a real, real difficult thing. I mean, 
we just read the text and, oh, wow, you know, he chose, you 
know, number three, the plague. What was that like? What's a 
man got to go through in terms of answering this particular 
question? Note what he does. He casts himself upon the mercy 
of God. Think about that. God has said, 
I'm going to pour out my wrath, and David says, I'm casting myself 
upon the mercy of God. David knows his God, doesn't 
he? Verse 14, and David said to Gad, I am in great distress. Please let us fall into the hand 
of the Lord, for his mercies are great, but do not let me 
fall into the hand of man. Isn't that a beautiful statement? 
David doesn't forget his theology. God doesn't stop being merciful 
while he's full of wrath and justice. We have this idea, you 
know, God flips on the switch to be an angry God on Tuesday 
and on Wednesday he'll flip the switch and be a merciful God. 
God is all that God is all the time. He doesn't stop being something 
to be something else. He is His attributes. His essence, 
His attributes are identical. There are not so many parts that 
make up God. The doctrine of divine simplicity 
teaches that He is not a composite being. He's not a little love. 
He's not a little wrath. He's not a little judgment. He's 
not a little justice. He is all that He is all the 
time. And so David has the confidence 
to cast himself upon the mercies of the Lord God Most High. I 
love the way Davis puts it. Well, let's just look at a few 
texts before we read this Davis quote. David is not new to this. Notice in chapter 12. Notice 
in chapter 12. After David's son dies. As a 
consequence of his sin with Bathsheba and Uriah, the Lord God struck 
the child that Uriah's wife bore to David. And when they asked 
him about the fact that he is no longer fasting and weeping 
once the child is dead, in 1222 he says, while the child was 
alive, I fasted and wept. For I said, who can tell whether 
the Lord will be gracious to me that the child may live? That 
underscores the fact that David understood that God was gracious, 
but that God is sovereign. It's up to God to display His 
graciousness or His mercy as He sees fit. I don't twist His 
arm. I don't manipulate Him. I don't 
get what I want just because I want it. David knows that God 
is sovereign. He knows that God is gracious. 
Notice in 1612. when Shimei, that wonderful specimen 
of a human being that threw rocks at David and cursed him. I'm 
being sarcastic. He wasn't a wonderful specimen 
of a human being. I think that Abishai was on the 
right track. personally, but I mean, he wanted 
to de-head Shimei and remove him from the earth. But notice 
what David says in 1612, it may be that the Lord will look on 
my affliction and that the Lord will repay me with good for his 
cursing this day. You see, David's always in the 
hand of a sovereign God and he realizes that. He knows that 
God is gracious and God is merciful. So back in this great conundrum 
of which thing to pick, He places himself in the hand of the mercies 
of God. Davis says, David is about to 
meet Yahweh's wrath and yet is convinced of Yahweh's mercies. Somehow he imagines that the 
hand that strikes him will nevertheless spare him. David's assumptions 
are astounding. His words in verse 14 breathe 
not only necessary resignation, but boundless consolation. See 
how well he knows his God. In his crises, his theology seems 
to come out almost by reflex action. Is this not as it should 
be in believing experience? Must you not have your best theology 
for your darkest moments? I love that statement. Must you 
not have your best theology for your darkest moments? Yes. That's 
why we preach the Bible and hopefully encourage you that you need to 
know theology for those dark moments because it's that that's 
going to get you through it. It's not you and what a great 
fellow you are. It's what a great God God is. He says, and in the disasters 
and sins of life, is there a kinder place to fall than into the hand 
of Yahweh? No, there's not. So notice verses 
15 and 16. So the Lord sent a plague upon 
Israel from the morning till the appointed time. From Dan 
to Beersheba, 70,000 men of the people died. And when the angel 
stretched out his hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord relented 
from the destruction. Remember from our study in Impassibility, 
this idea of God relenting or repenting is an improper predication. It is an anthropopathism. God doesn't actually change. This is written in the manner 
of men to communicate to us an act of revelation. God revealing himself this way. The change is not with him, it 
is with man, but nevertheless, this is the way we interpret, 
this is the way we see. So God relented from the destruction 
and said to the angel who was destroying the people, it is 
enough, now restrain your hand. And the angel of the Lord was 
by the threshing floor of Arana the Jebusite. Now Davis argues 
that verse 17 is a flashback. that 17 actually precedes 16. He argues from what's called 
the pluperfect tense. And if you really want to spend 
some time tonight in discussing pluperfect tenses, we can stay 
later. But the idea being is that 17 
happens prior to 16. So David prays and the Lord God 
hears And the Lord stays the hand of execution in this instance. But note David's prayer in verse 
17. David spoke to the Lord when 
he saw the angel who was striking the people and he said, surely 
I have sinned and I have done wickedly, but these sheep, what 
have they done? Let your hand, I pray, be against 
me and against my father's house. That's David at his best, isn't 
it? That's the David we know and 
love. I mean, we know and love David even in the misery and 
the sin. We don't stop loving David. God never stopped loving 
David, so we mustn't ever stop loving David. But that is Christ-like. That's like Moses. Moses interceded 
that way on behalf of the children of Israel. Paul does the same 
thing in Romans 9. He himself wishes that he could 
be anathema from Christ for the sake of his countrymen. This 
is the doctrine of substitution. If I could take the punishment 
due to the nation of Israel, I will take the punishment due 
to the nation of Israel. Isn't that what our Savior does? 
Isn't that what Jesus Christ is all about? Isn't that what 
the discourse in John 10 is? The shepherd or the Lord Jesus 
gives His life for the sheep. This is what David is doing. 
I have sinned. I have done wickedly. But these 
sheep, what have they done? Let your hand, I pray, be against 
me and against my father's house. Gil says this is a type of Christ, 
the good shepherd, willing to lay down his life for the sheep 
and suffer in their stead that they might go free. So now let's look finally at 
the necessity of atonement. Verse 18, and Gad came that day 
to David and said to him, go up, erect an altar to the Lord 
on the threshing floor of Arana the Jebusite. So David, according 
to the word of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded. Now, there 
is a connection here. God stays as wrath in verse 16, 
but this section tells us that atonement needs to be wrought. 
In other words, the wrath is stayed, but sacrifice must come. Davis explains it. If the altar 
on Aaronah's threshing floor was a matter of God's command, 
which it was, verse 19, God tells David to build an altar on Aaronah's 
threshing floor. And perhaps you already know 
about Aaronah's threshing floor, but keep it in for now, because 
in a few moments we're going to reveal it to the rest of us, 
the significance of Aaronah's threshing floor. It's not just 
some guy. Okay, it's in Jerusalem and it's 
a very significant location. But for now, notice that God 
commands David to erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing 
floor of Arana, the Jebusite. So David, according to the word 
of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded. So this was divine direction. 
God says to David, erect an altar. Why would you erect an altar? 
For sacrifice. Sacrifice needs to be made. God's 
wrath has been stayed, but His wrath has not been propitiated. And we need to deal with that, 
and this is the instruction for David to go and make sacrifice. So again, Davis, if the altar 
on Aaronah's threshing floor was a matter of God's command, 
then the sacrifices offered there must have been imperative. This 
wasn't a suggestion from Yahweh. You know, David, if you feel 
like it and you have a hankering to worship, go on over to Aaronah's 
threshing floor. This is the divine word. This 
is the word of commandment. He says, this means that the 
situation was not resolved at the end of verse 16. Their wrath 
was stayed, but not satisfied. The scourge ceases in verse 16, 
but the wrath behind the scourge must not merely be curtailed 
or on hold, but must be dealt with or theologically it must 
be propitiated. You've all heard that word before. 
It's been preached in our pulpit, propitiation has to do with the 
wrath of God. God's wrath is targeted upon 
sinners. Christ comes as the substitute 
and He takes the wrath Himself. So God's wrath is spent in the 
sacrificial substitution of Jesus Christ on behalf of sinners. 
He goes on to say, hence the altar and sacrifices of verse 
25, and this is affected by atonement. This isn't a willy-nilly suggestion 
here. This must happen. God stays His 
wrath, but the wrath is still present. It must be propitiated. It must be spent. It must be 
dealt with. Hence the necessity for sacrifice. Now notice the king in Oranah. 
He's called Ornan in 1 Chronicles 21. We'll just call him Oranah 
here because that's what's indicated in the Samuel narrative. He's 
surprised. He goes out, he bows before the 
king with his face to the ground. Oranah says, why has my lord 
the king come to his servant? David says, verse 21, to buy 
the threshing floor from you, to build an altar to the Lord 
that the plague may be withdrawn from the people. You see, David 
knows. David understands, yeah, the 
killing may have stopped, but God's wrath is still there. We've 
got to deal with that, and David understands that, that the plague 
may be withdrawn from the people. So Aaron says to David, let my 
lord the king take and offer up whatever seems good to him. 
Look, here are oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing implements, 
and the oaks of the oxen for wood. All these, O king, Orana 
has given to the king. And Orana said to the king, May 
the Lord your God accept you." So you see, Orana's being pretty 
beneficent and pretty generous. Notice he doesn't offer him the 
parcel of land, that's probably the difference. There's a sizable 
difference in terms of the money spent by David in the Samuel 
narrative versus the Chronicle narrative. Probably in Samuel, 
he's buying the items necessary for sacrifice, and in the Chronicler's 
account, he's buying the land itself for what will go in that 
particular place. Okay? So that's probably the 
difference in terms of the money spent. But note what David says 
in verse 24. We pressed this a little bit 
last Wednesday night and then again on Sunday evening. Remember 
when we saw those three men who went to go get that sweet water 
from Bethlehem for David, when he had that moment of nostalgia 
and longing. We suggested that sacrifice is 
a necessary element in the Christian life. We looked at Matthew 16 
where Jesus, you know, He insists that we take up our crosses daily 
and follow Him if we are genuine professors of the true religion. 
We're not to live in, you know, pomp and splendor and majesty 
and glory and, you know, pampering the flesh. We need to take up 
our crosses daily and follow the Lord Jesus. In the context, 
that means that we ought to be willing to die for the Lord Jesus. Sacrifice involves deprivation. It involves the removal of creature 
comforts or goods or things or stuff that we would like to otherwise 
keep, but we're going to sacrifice them for the glory of God and 
for the good of, in this instance, Israel. Notice that David isn't 
content with a cheap form of religion. Aaron is offering him 
everything free of charge. David could easily have said, 
well, that's quite nice of you, Your Honor. Thank you for your 
contributions to the nation and its plague problem. But that's 
not what David says. Verse 24, no, but I will surely 
buy it from you for a price. Nor will I offer burnt offerings 
to the Lord my God with that which cost me nothing. What an 
indictment to Israel of later times, in Malachi's day, when 
they're taking the lame and the maimed animals and they're sacrificing 
it to Yahweh. Or when they're on their way 
to temple and they steal a sacrifice. Had they listened to David in 
2 Samuel 24-24, they would have realized that this is what religion 
is all about. This is what the true religion 
is. We will not bring anything to the Lord my God that costs 
me nothing. David ain't going to get off 
cheap here. David sinned. He's called to sacrifice. He's 
going to sacrifice. He's not going to, you know, 
try to cheat God or try to jip God or try to cheap out. How many times do we do that 
in our service to God? We cheap out. Well, you know, 
we'll just keep this a little bit back. Why? Isn't he worthy 
of everything great and glorious? When we move forward in the narrative 
in 1 Kings, look and see how they decorate that temple. Is 
that some sort of a testimony to the ingenuity of man? No, 
it's a testimony to the glory of God. You don't go to the thrift 
store to build the temple for God. You spend money, you buy 
gold, you get jewels, you deck it out because this God is so 
glorious. You don't cheap out, you don't 
skimp, you don't shave off the edges, or you don't keep back 
some for yourself. Wasn't this the sin with Ananias 
and Sapphira? Peter says, as long as it's in 
your control, you are free to do with it what you want. But 
when you said you sold it for such and such a price, and you 
said you gave all that to the Lord God Almighty, and you lied. We're not supposed to lie when 
it comes to sacrifice. We're not supposed to steal when 
it comes to sacrifice. We're not supposed to skimp or 
cheap out when it comes to sacrifice. We're supposed to sacrifice. 
Deprivation, hurt, pain, all of that stuff is involved in 
the word sacrifice. I love what David says here. 
He says, nor will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God 
with that which costs me nothing. So David bought the threshing 
floor and the oxen for 50 shekels of silver, and David built there 
an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. 
So the Lord heeded the prayers for the land, and the plague 
was withdrawn from Israel. Turn to 21.14. Same language. After the death of the sons of 
Saul for atonement. 2 Samuel 21.14. And after that, 
God heeded the prayer for the land. Now, the parallel with chapter 
21 is vivid. Both chapters describe a sin 
that leads to judgment. In 21, it's Saul's sin. He broke 
the covenant with the Gibeonites. In 2 Samuel 24, it's David's 
sin. He numbered the children of Israel. Both chapters required atonement. 21 and 24 was death in 21 and 
here in 24 it was death also. 70,000 people died and then the 
sacrifice in terms of the oxen was offered up afterwards. As well, both chapters demonstrate 
that God's justice is satisfied. It demonstrates to us what the 
cross is all about. The cross isn't first and foremost 
a message of, you know, loving kindness to humanity. It's a 
message of the satisfaction of God's wrath. You know, Paul, 
when he sets forth to argue concerning the propitiatory work of Jesus 
in Romans 3, you know what Paul says is demonstrated at the cross? 
The righteousness of God. that God can be both just and 
the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. Because, 
see, someone would say, well, that just doesn't seem right. 
It's almost like God just took His wrath and threw it away. 
Oh, no, no, no, no. God spent His wrath in the person 
of His Son. God's wrath must be spent. It 
must go forth. It must find its satisfaction. So both chapters demonstrate 
that. And then both chapters show David accept responsibility 
as the true covenantal king. David accepts the responsibility 
in 21 to make Saul's sin right. Well, not to make Saul's sin 
right, but to correct the breach of the covenant that Saul engaged 
in and David undertakes in this particular situation. Now, I 
mentioned that Arana the Jebusite, his location is very intriguing. It is Mount Moriah. It's Mount 
Moriah. If you're familiar with the account 
in Genesis chapter 22, you can turn there. This is where Abraham 
took Isaac in response to God's command that Abraham go and sacrifice 
his son Isaac. It was the land of Moriah. And intriguingly, notice the 
response of the angel of Yahweh in verses 11 and 12. When Abraham 
is about to bury the knife into his son Isaac, his son, the son 
he loved, his only son, the language is reminiscent of Jesus as the 
only son, the monogamous of God most high. In 2211, the angel 
of Yahweh called to him from heaven and said, Abraham, Abraham. 
So he said, here I am. And he said, do not lay your 
hand on the ladder, do anything to him, for now I know that you 
fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only 
son, from me. The hand of the angel stays the 
hand of Abraham. Same sort of thing that we see 
here in Jerusalem in 2 Samuel 24. Now turn forward a bit to 
see the significance of Moriah. I'm sorry, 1 Chronicles 22.1. 
I've told you that the parallel to our chapter is 1 Chronicles 
21. Well, on the heels of the offerings 
given by David at that location, or on the Jebusites threshing 
floor, notice in 21.30, but David could not go before it to inquire 
of God, but he was afraid. of the sword of the angel of 
the Lord. Then David said, This is the house of the Lord God, 
and this is the altar of burnt offering for Israel. This is 
the site of the temple. Mount Moriah is where they would 
construct the temple. This is a significant place in 
history, in redemptive history. So when David is told to go to 
Aaron of the Jebusites threshing floor, this is the site where 
the temple will be constructed. Notice in 2 Chronicles chapter 
3. Excuse me, 2 Chronicles chapter 3 verse 1. Now Solomon began 
to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah 
where the Lord had appeared to his father David at the place 
that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the 
Jebusite. So you see it's a very significant 
location in redemptive history in Israel. Vannoy says that the 
Lord, it is intriguing that we have this sin, David's sin, the 
nation's sin, God's anger toward them, and what comes as a result. It's the place of sacrifice for 
sin. It sort of all leads us to the 
end. And some would think, wow, 2 
Samuel 24 ends a bit odd. No, it doesn't. It points us, A, 
to Christ, but it does so via the temple that Solomon will 
build. The temple is the type pointing us forward to the Lord 
Jesus Christ. So 2 Samuel 24 ends on that high 
note of Davidic covenant, finding its fulfillment in the Davidic 
son that will stand for and be what the temple would ultimately 
point to. biblically, theologically, is 
rich in terms of its construction. But Vannoy makes this observation. but rather are incorporated into 
their actualization. I've got to say, when I started 
this study this morning, I thought, oh man, here we go again. You 
know, David, everything seemed to be okay. 22 was good. You prophesied concerning Jesus. 
We got to hear about your mighty men. And now you're sinning against 
the Lord. Come on, David. But it ends on 
this high note. This is where God is going to 
deal with the sins of Israel. This is where God is going to 
bring atonement to Israel. This is what's going to point 
us even more so to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is that great atoning 
sacrifice for the sins of His people. This ends on the highest 
of notes, where God is worshipped, where His wrath is satisfied, 
where His justice is recognized, and where the people of Israel 
have the plague withdrawn from them. Truly ends on a most blessed 
note. Well, brethren, I think as we 
consider in conclusion just this chapter, probably we could spend 
a whole night just rehearsing the themes of 2 Samuel as a whole, 
but we do see in this the demonstration of the absolute sovereignty of 
God. The Lord God is behind everything. The Lord God is comprehensively 
sovereign. David doesn't sin apart from 
the decree. We don't live apart from the 
decree. Again, I would suggest that you 
read chapter 3 that deals with the decree and chapter 5 of Divine 
Providence that shows that decree fleshed out in history through 
Divine Providence. Some of it may still remain a 
bit perplexing at times, but realize that these 17th century 
confessions are working with the scriptural data and putting 
together in very succinct and very compact statements biblical 
truth concerning these high things that God reveals. As well, I 
don't think we ought to leave this chapter without realizing 
the blessed presence of the conviction of sin. Verse 10 is a good thing. It may not have been a happy 
occasion for David. It may not have been a season 
where he would have opened the champagne and called for rejoicing. 
It was certainly a painful situation, but sometimes the best things 
come through the most painful things. It was a good thing that 
David's heart condemned him. that he had numbered the people. 
It was a good thing that he was convicted of his sin and that 
he was moved to repentance, he was moved to confession, he was 
moved to forsaking it. Don't get upset if somebody calls 
you out on your sin or if the Holy Spirit, working through 
the preaching or the reading of the Word, convicts you of 
your sin. This is his ministry. This is 
what he does. If we get upset, it's as if to 
suggest, well, I don't need your help, Holy Spirit. I'm okay on 
my own. I have achieved a status of such 
excellence that I don't need to be reminded of such things. 
We most certainly need to be reminded, and we need to have 
the gracious humility of a David. David doesn't get defensive. 
David doesn't say, well, I numbered the people like Moses did, and 
that was okay then. What? David owned it, and he 
said he sinned, and he had done very foolishly. When the Spirit 
convicts you of your sin, don't get defensive. Don't get argumentative. Get repentant. Get humble. Get 
contrite. Get lowly. deal with God the 
way He calls you to. As well, we ought to recognize 
the mercies of God and say with David, let us fall into the hand 
of the Lord, for His mercies are great. And then, of course, 
the typical significance. The heart of the Messiah is revealed 
in David in verse 17. Matthew Henry said, let this 
remind us of the grace of our Lord Jesus who gave himself for 
our sins and was willing that God's hand should be against 
him that we might escape. The shepherd was smitten that 
the sheep might escape. And then of course this whole 
section in 18 to 25 indicates or highlights for us typically 
the atoning work of our Lord Jesus Christ for the sins of 
His people. Well, let us close with a word 
of prayer. Our Father, we thank You for Your Word, and we thank 
You for these studies, and 1 and 2 Samuel, and for the great things 
that You do in the lives of Your people. God, certainly You are 
a sovereign God, certainly You are a just God, a righteous God, 
a God who does pour out wrath upon the sinner, but as well 
You are a God of grace and mercy and loving-kindness. I pray that 
we would learn these lessons and that we would learn them 
well. that we would always be willing to say and prepared to 
say with David that we would cast ourselves upon the mercy 
of God Most High. Go with us now and watch over 
us in the remainder of this week. Bring us together on the Lord's 
Day that we may worship you in spirit and truth. And we ask 
these things through Christ our Lord. Amen.