Before
going far at all in this blog I want to direct anyone reading 2 Samuel 24 to
also read 1 Chronicles 21 – especially the first verse. It is quite clear in that passage that it is
Satan who incited David to act against the Lord. That passage may give us a bit of extra
information today. It seems that what
has happened here is that either the Lord gave David a directive and David
followed incorrectly or else Satan led David into a directive that seemed like
God’s ways but fell short. Either is
possible with the text.
The Sin
So let’s
talk a little about David’s sin here. I
have heard it said by preachers in the past that the sin was taking the
census. I’ve heard people claim that it
was against the Law of the Lord to take a census. That simply isn’t true. Exodus 30:11-16 specifically talks about the
right way to go about taking a census of the people. Certainly if it was against the Lord’s ways
to take a census then the Lord would not provide a correct means for doing
so! So first, we must be clear that it
was not the act of taking a census that upset the Lord. It was the manner in which the census was
taken that upset the Lord.
The Lord
gives a provision that in doing a census there must be an offering taken up
from the people to give to the place of God’s worship (at this time the
tabernacle, in the future the temple).
Nowhere in this passage do we have an indication that such a tax was
collected or given to God. What this
then seems to be is a case where a directive was given to David by God and the
directive was not followed according to God’s standards.
The reason
this is important is because it removes the contradiction between God asking
David to do something and then getting mad at him for doing it (as well as the
contradiction between whether it was God or Satan who incited David to do the
deed). It makes complete sense that the
Lord asked David to do a census – after all, the last census to be done was
several hundred years prior! But it also
makes sense that Satan convinced David to go about the census in ways that are
not pleasing to the Lord and thus the Lord’s anger was kindled against David.
I find
this passage greatly humbling to me. I
tend to be a person who leans more on the “motivation” than the
“procedure.” I tend to think God cares
more about the reason behind the results rather than the methodology used to
attain the results. While I still think
that is true, I do see here a reminder that procedure is still important. It cannot be ignored. In other words, while the motivation behind
the “ends” is very important, the “ends” still do not justify the “means.”
However,
this conversation does bring us back to the “ends” of the census. The census tax was to remind the people that
they were purchased by God at a high price.
Or for us Christians, we are purchased by Christ at a very high price. There is to be a contribution to God as a
reminder of the price that was paid to bring them out of Egypt. When the price isn’t paid – the means were
done incorrectly – the consequences promised in Exodus 30:11-16 come upon the
Hebrew people. The ends do not justify
the means and a plague is sent to prove it!
The Repentance
What sets
things right is David’s repentance.
David understands that he has sinned.
He understands that in taking a census while not contributing to God he
has sent the message that the census is all about David’s pride and sitting
before a large kingdom and not at all about seeing how generous God is to His
people. When David realizes that the
means he chose revealed his pride and not his love for God, he was immediately
repentant. He cries out to God that the
punishment would fall upon him and not the people! {Although I do not hold the people innocent
either; they should know the law as well!
Ignorance is no excuse.}
David’s
repentance is genuine. David understands
the whole issue of cost, too. Notice
that David refuses to accept the offering of the bulls from Araunah without
paying for them. David says that he will
not give an offering that cost him nothing.
That is the line that tells us that David’s repentance is heartfelt. David made a mistake - whether out of
ignorance or pride or both! David
discovered the mistake and was repentant.
God heard David’s plea, felt that it was genuine, and relented.
What a
great story to close out a book of the Bible!
Yes, it isn’t a story of the perfect happy ending. It might have been nice had David done it
right as one of his last acts. But, that
isn’t reality. Human beings continue to
make mistakes even when they know better.
Humility and repentance is far more real than perfection. We may not get a perfect ending, but we do
get a real and useful ending.
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