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For Sa2 24:1-25

¹And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.

²For the king said to Joab the captain of the host, which was with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the number of the people.

³And Joab said unto the king, Now the LORD thy God add unto the people, how many soever they be, an hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord the king may see it: but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing?

⁴Notwithstanding the king's word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the host. And Joab and the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel.

⁵And they passed over Jordan, and pitched in Aroer, on the right side of the city that lieth in the midst of the river of Gad, and toward Jazer:

⁶Then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi; and they came to Dan-jaan, and about to Zidon,

⁷And came to the strong hold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hibites, and of the Canaanites: and they went out to the south of Judah, even to Beer-sheba.

⁸So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

⁹And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

¹⁰And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.

¹¹For when David was up in the morning, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,

¹²Go and say unto David, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.

¹³So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days' pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me.

¹⁴And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man.

¹⁵So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beer-sheba seventy thousand men.

¹⁶And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite.

¹⁷And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house.

¹⁸And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the LORD in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite.

¹⁹And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the LORD commanded.

²⁰And Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground.

²¹And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the LORD, that the plague may be stayed from the people.

²²And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood.

²³All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The LORD thy God accept thee.

²⁴And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

²⁵And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD was intreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

The account of the census begins by mentioning the Lord’s anger against the Israelites. The narrator does not specify what provoked His anger on this occasion... Read more

The account of the census begins by mentioning the Lord’s anger against the Israelites. The narrator does not specify what provoked His anger on this occasion, but we are nevertheless entitled to view the census initiated by David in connection with the people’s general sinful condition, for which an account had to be given. Through the prophet Gad, the Lord offers David the choice of punishment, and David chooses the shortest one.

But even the brief epidemic proved excessively devastating. When David sees the scale of the calamity, he not only implores the Angel to stop the destruction, but also asks that he himself be punished if only the people may be spared. Significantly, when David addresses the Lord, he compares the people to sheep and thereby likens himself to a shepherd. Indeed, in this episode David acts like that very good shepherd who is ready to suffer for his sheep, of whom the Son of David will speak many years later.

NOTES for Sa2 24:14

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