What makes you feel safe and secure? What do you spend your time seeking because you’re convinced it will help place your life on a more stable footing?
Not long ago, I was listening to an interview with a musician who was part of a popular band a few decades back. During the interview, he shared what it was like to enjoy fame and all the trappings that come with worldly esteem and riches. He talked about the fact that everywhere he went, people knew who he was, and whenever he walked into the offices of his record label, he felt like a king. His picture was plastered all over the building and everyone wanted to talk to him because his band made music that sold in the millions.
Those of us who have been around for a little while know that the recording industry is a fickle business. Music styles change just as quickly as hairstyles and clothing styles. What’s popular today might not be popular tomorrow, and that’s exactly what this musician learned.
He mentioned that when it came time for his band to record and release a follow-up album, he noticed that there didn’t seem to be a lot of interest. When he visited the record label’s offices, the posters with his face had been replaced with newer artists. The label quickly considered him and his band a relic that had gone out of fashion, and without the support of their company, album sales tanked.
Examples like that give us a good reminder that placing our faith in worldly metrics or the numbers that can be counted by man, is a form of misplaced faith. Trusting in our number of album sales, the digits in our bank account, the reach of our social media, or anything that might come with an impressive number, doesn’t compare to the eternal value we receive when we learn to trust in Jesus.
The big lesson the Lord wants us to learn during the course of our life is the value of trusting Him. It’s clear that David trusted the Lord during the course of his life, but there were certainly times when the application of his faith wavered, and one of those examples is illustrated for us in 2 Samuel 24.
That chapter of Scripture tells us that David got it in his mind to take a census of Israel and Judah. Why do you suppose he wanted to do this? Why does anyone count anything?
I’m guessing that David couldn’t help but notice the strength and influence of the nation he led. He wanted the nation of Israel to be strong. He wanted them to be able to fend off threats from surrounding nations. I think he was also thinking about his legacy as king. But what was the real source of the nation’s power? Was their power found in their numbers or in the providential grace of God and the great favor He had shown them as a nation?
Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.” 2 So the king said to Joab, the commander of the army, who was with him, “Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the number of the people.” 3 But Joab said to the king, “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 it, but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?” 4 But the king's word prevailed against Joab and the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel. (2 Samuel 24:1-4)
David instructed Joab, the commander of his army to go throughout the land numbering the people, but Joab protested. Why do you suppose he protested? I believe Joab understood this was inherently wrong for David to do. David’s eyes were temporarily blinded to that fact, but Joab could see right through this demonstration of pride and insecurity on David’s behalf. In fact, elsewhere in Scripture, God revealed the fact that there would be negative consequences for taking an action like this if it wasn’t done a certain way.
“When you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give a ransom for his life to the Lord when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you number them. 13 Each one who is numbered in the census shall give this: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as an offering to the Lord.” (Exodus 30:12-13)
In taking a census, David was acting like Israel belonged to him when in fact, the nation belonged to God. If a census of the people was to be taken, that’s a decision God would have to make, not an earthly king. For David to do such a thing was effectively an expression of his desire to trust more in the size of Israel’s population or army than in the Lord. In time, David came to realize he had made a big mistake in doing this.
But David's heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.” (2 Samuel 24:10)
I have to admit that when I read verses like this, my level of respect for David’s leadership grows. When you’re in any form of leadership, whether that be in your family, in your workplace, in the government, or in the church, it can be very difficult to admit when you’re wrong. There’s a fear that if you admit you were wrong about something, it will diminish your ability to lead because people might lose respect for you. But Scripture reveals, and I have personally seen, that the exact opposite of our fears is what will most often come to pass. Leaders who can express humility and contrition are better leaders. They can be trusted because their hearts have remained teachable.
Still, there were consequences for David’s sin, and those consequences were laid before him.
And when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, 12 “Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the Lord, Three things I offer you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’” 13 So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall three years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.” 14 Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.” (2 Samuel 24:11-14)
When presented with these options, David could see that two options placed his nation at the mercy of men and one option placed them at the mercy of God. None of these options seemed desirable to him, but of the three, he selected the third. And as it was carried out, David’s heart was grieved. It troubled him that the people were dying because of his mistake. In fact, the Lord took the lives of 70,000 men as a result of David’s sin. But was this only because of David’s sin that they were taken?
Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father's house.” (2 Samuel 24:17)
I can understand David’s feelings at this moment, but was his assessment correct? Were the people really innocent? Remember what was said earlier in this chapter?
Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.” (2 Samuel 24:1)
So it’s clear that David wasn’t the only one in the land whose heart was in a bad place. It appears that the nation as a whole was drifting from the Lord. That being the case, it appears that God told David to number the people to set them up for judgment, but did He? It may be that the best way to look at what God said was to allow David to pursue what he had already set his heart to do. A companion portion of Scripture helps shed a little light on what had taken place a little earlier that had influenced David’s thinking.
“Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel.” (1 Chronicles 21:1)
Satan influenced David to make this mistake. Now David could clearly see the error he had made and he wanted the blame to come upon him not others, but there seemed to be more going on than just David’s mistake. This judgment was directly connected to the fact that the people of Israel had hearts that were drifting from the Lord, and the Lord was using this experience as a wake-up call. As far as I can tell, it seems that Satan influenced David to take the census and God didn’t stand in David’s way because it was time for a severe lesson to be learned in the land.
Still, to see read David’s words as he asked God the Father to relent from His judgment against the people and bring His righteous wrath against him and his household instead is worth noting. The reality of the situation is that David couldn’t fully stand in the place of the sinful people he led. He was guilty of sin just as they were. Any taste of judgment or condemnation that either party received was certainly justified.
But I believe portions of Scripture like this are given to us to keep our eyes focused on the One who really can stand in our place and take the wrath upon Himself that we actually deserved. The message of Scripture teaches us in many different ways, even through historical narratives like this, that Jesus is uniquely able to accomplish that absorption of the wrath we were due.
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed. 25 For you were straying like sheep, but have now returned to the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” (1 Peter 2:24-25)
Jesus looked at us and saw a world full of sheep that were straying. We were going our own way. We were looking for the things of this world to save our wandering souls. We were counting our riches, numbering our armies, and placing our faith in material objects that could be quickly lost or taken from us. In our rebellion, we were indulging in every vice the Lord has told us is profane to Him. We fed our flesh because we thought that would give us peace, but all it did was destroy us and leave us in a state of confusion and under the wrath of God.
The only remedy that could truly satisfy the righteous standard of God was for one who was perfectly innocent and pure to suffer in our place. He would have to be sinless and have no stain of His own, but who could accomplish such a task? The only one who could truly satisfy God’s righteous requirements of holiness and perfection was God Himself. So Scripture tells us that God took on flesh, walked among us, and took our punishment upon Himself when He experienced death on the cross.
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree”— 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith. (Galatians 3:13-14)
I’m so grateful Jesus did this for us. Now He offers us the privilege of receiving His Spirit and eternal blessings through faith in Him. We were doomed to be condemned, but now through Jesus, we’re offered the gift of life. Is it too much of Him to ask us for anything less than our full devotion, complete trust, and deepest friendship?
“Make sure of your commitment to Jesus Christ, and seek to follow Him every day. Don't be swayed by the false values and goals of this world, but put Christ and His will first in everything you do.” -Billy Graham
© John Stange, 2023
