The Life and Times of

Lesson 21:
Neiman Marcus Military, Kmart Christianity?¹
(2 Samuel 24)

David Comes to His Census

Introduction

In the early years of our church, we did not have a church office. For that matter, we didn’t yet have a church building (we met first in an elementary school and then at a North Dallas hotel). For this and other reasons, my office was in a commercial executive suite. I had a small office, and a young woman who owned a secretarial service was stationed in a small lobby outside, where she made her living typing and copying for those who rented office space nearby. One day this young woman stopped me as I passed by her desk to tell me that one of the other tenants had spoken to her about her rates. He convinced her that since his was a “Christian ministry” he should get a discount. She told me that since she was giving his ministry a discount, she believed it was only fair to give our church the same discount.

I did not feel comfortable about this offer and told her I would like to think about it and discuss it with the elders of our church. We discussed the matter and concluded that it was not her obligation or responsibility to subsidize our church by reducing her income. So I went back to her and informed her that we wanted to be charged the normal rate, explaining that we did not believe she should sacrifice her income to support our church when she was not a member.

In our text, David has a golden opportunity for what I would call a “Kmart ministry.” God has instructed David through the prophet (or “seer”), Gad, to erect an altar on the threshing floor of Araunah. To do this, he would need to purchase this property. When David approached Araunah and told him he needed his property so he could build an altar and offer sacrifices to God, Araunah offered to give him this property, the two oxen he was using, and the threshing sledges drawn by the oxen. In other words, Araunah offered David everything he needed to offer a sacrifice to God free of charge. What a bargain! One would think David would be ecstatic. He could worship God at no charge, at Araunah’s expense. David refused. We will seek to learn to why, and the implications of David’s refusal for us.

It is obvious that 2 Samuel 24 is the concluding chapter of 1 and 2 Samuel (you will remember that 1 and 2 Samuel were originally one book in the Hebrew Old Testament). Here, the author is drawing the book to a close. He is making his final points as we come to the climax of the book. There are many lessons for us to learn here, so let us listen well, and look to the Spirit of God to make these lessons clear to us, as well as to work in and through us as He wills.

David Gets His Way
(24:1-9)²

1 Now again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and it incited David against them to say, “Go, number Israel and Judah.” 2 The king said to Joab the commander of the army who was with him, “Go about now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and register the people, that I may know the number of the people.” 3 But Joab said to the king, “Now 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; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?” 4 Nevertheless, the king's word prevailed against Joab and against the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to register the people of Israel. 5 They crossed the Jordan and camped in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad and toward Jazer. 6 Then they came to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi, and they came to Dan-jaan and around to Sidon, 7 and came to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and of the Canaanites, and they went out to the south of Judah, to Beersheba. 8 So when they had gone about through the whole land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9 And Joab gave the number of the registration of the people to the king; and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

For some reason not indicated to us, God was very angry with Israel. Our text literally says that God’s nose burned. God was “hot” over Israel’s sin. All too often in the Old Testament, this expression of divine anger is employed.³ In each case, it is a serious sin that inflamed the righteous anger of God. Once again, God is angry with Israel, and He is determined to divinely discipline this stiff-necked people. He does so by utilizing David’s sin. Somehow David’s sin brings both guilt and punishment on the people. In focusing our attention on David and his sin, let us not forget that this incident takes place because of Israel’s sin.

Divinely incited,⁴ David decides to number the fighting men of Israel and Judah. Numbering is not necessarily wrong. Moses numbered the fighting men of Israel in preparation for battle (Numbers 1:1-4). Moses also numbered the Kohathites (Numbers 4:2) and the Gershonites (Numbers 4:22) for priestly service. Saul numbered the Israelites to defend the people of Jabesh-gilead by fighting the Ammonites (1 Samuel 11:8). David numbered those loyal to him in preparation for defending himself against an attack by his son, Absalom (2 Samuel 18:1).⁵ In none of these cases was numbering wrong.

It should be pointed out that the census which David required here does not appear to be a mere numbering of the Israelite warriors, a simple matter of counting heads. This census took nearly ten months to complete, and somehow it required the participation of the military commanders themselves. My understanding is that when the soldiers were numbered, they were also ranked. In other words, numbering the soldiers involved ordering and ranking them, so that they would be ready to fight.

We do see a word of warning related to numbering in the Book of Exodus:

12 “When you take a census of the sons of Israel to number them, then each one of them shall give a ransom for himself to the LORD, when you number them, so that there will be no plague among them when you number them. 13 “This is what everyone who is numbered shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as a contribution to the LORD. 14 “Everyone who is numbered, from twenty years old and over, shall give the contribution to the LORD. 15 “The rich shall not pay more and the poor shall not pay less than the half shekel, when you give the contribution to the LORD to make atonement for yourselves. 16 “You shall take the atonement money from the sons of Israel and shall give it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may be a memorial for the sons of Israel before the LORD, to make atonement for yourselves” (Exodus 30:12-16).

It is clear from this text that there is something less than pious about having to number the military. It is an evil for which atonement must be made, and if it is not, a plague will come upon the nation.

I have agonized a great deal over this text, especially over what was so wrong with numbering the Israelites. It seems as though no reason is clearly given. Then I reflected on the fact that if no reason was given for God’s displeasure over this act of David’s, neither was there any explanation of David’s reasons for doing so. In virtually every other circumstance where some group was numbered, there was a very obvious reason for doing so. When soldiers were numbered, it was in preparation for battle. But we are not told of any battle in or near our text. It would seem that David’s only reason for numbering his men was to satisfy his own curiosity and to puff up his pride. David seems to be overly interested in his might, his ability to fight. He seems to have lost a sense of dependence on God. He may have been a great deal like King Nebuchadnezzar in Daniel 4, overly impressed with himself, his power, and his position.

There is a “feel” to this text which reminds me of the fall of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3. Numbering Israel seems to produce a “knowledge” that David was forbidden to have, a knowledge of his greatness and military strength (compare Deuteronomy 17:14-20). He wanted to “see” his strength and power, and even though forbidden, it was what his heart desired.

While we may puzzle over the “sinfulness” of such an act, it did not seem to be such a difficult thing to recognize for David’s servants who led the armed forces. Joab (verse 3; cf. also 1 Chronicles 21:6) and the commanders of the army (verse 4) were opposed to numbering the fighting men of the nation. Even David was eventually conscience-stricken (verse 10), without the prophet Gad having to first confront or rebuke him (as Nathan had to do with regard to Bathsheba and Uriah – 2 Samuel 12). Numbering the fighting men of the nation was wrong, and no one in that day seemed to have a problem recognizing it.

Joab protested as strongly as he dared, without jeopardizing his safety and status. Nevertheless, David overruled him and the other commanders, insisting that a census be taken. Reluctantly and half-heartedly (see 1 Chronicles 21:6), Joab went about this abhorrent task. It was indeed a major undertaking. They crossed the Jordan, proceeded north, then west, and then southward, traveling about the nation in a counter-clockwise direction. When the mission was completed, the numbers were given to David. There were 800,000 valiant warriors in Israel and 500,000 seasoned fighters in Judah (verse 9).⁶