Ep. 93. 2 Samuel 24, 1 Chronicles 21 | David's Census
EPISODE 93
DAVID'S CENSUS: 2 SAMUEL 24, 1 CHRONICLES 21
The difficulty with this text is obvious. Did God incite David to count the fighting men, or, as the parallel text states, was it Satan who incited David?
As I stated in the video, it is likely both. In the book of Job, God freed Satan to do to Job whatever he wished, short of bringing his life to an end. It was God who brought Job to Satan's attention.
In Matthew and Luke, the Spirit of God led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted. Satan was the tempter.
In Luke 22 and Acts 2, we see that Christ was handed over to wicked men for their hour and power of darkness so that he would be crucified. Indeed, the crucifixion was the design and plan of God, but it was carried out by the wicked.
We are not told why God was angry against Israel, but we remember that God is just, and certainly, something needed to be done about the wickedness in and among his people. Should it surprise us that God used Satan? Okay, maybe that is a huge surprise to you. Let me ask it another way. Wicked people do wicked things. Satan does wicked things. The crucifixion of Christ, though necessary for salvation, was a wicked act. Think about it: wicked men nailed righteous God to the cross. Wicked mankind put God to death! That is the height of wickedness. But it was also the height of grace and beauty. God used wicked men to accomplish the most incredible blessing the world would ever know.
Now, let's think through today's story. Israel has committed some unknown wickedness. That is nothing new. God brings judgment against them. That, also, is nothing new. He used Satan to bring about the judgment. The destroying angel is halted overlooking Jerusalem on a hill called Moriah. David will make that hill a place of worship. It is the same hill Abraham went to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. Abraham had named the same hill, "On the mount of the Lord it will be provided." The same hill Solomon, son of David, would eventually build the temple. The very same hill on which Jesus would die.
Now, do we believe God is working everything toward the revelation of Christ, both his first and second coming? I do. So, then, do we trust God that he is wise, good, and just? I do. Then we look at the scope of Scripture and know and believe that what God did here in Israel was both necessary and just for him to do.
I will also point out, as I did in the video, that David's unwillingness to offer, "Burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing" is an incredibly noble and gracious act of David, but not an example for us to follow in terms of our salvation. We throw around this language and tell people they need to offer God offerings that cost them something. We say, "We wouldn't give to God the offering someone else supplied and claim it as our own, would we?" Yet that is precisely the story of the Gospel. God provided a sacrifice for us to himself. We offered nothing. Christ gave himself up to the Father. Our entire faith depends upon an offering that costs us nothing. It is good for us to be careful not to confuse the language of 2 Samuel 24 with the language of our salvation.
ADDITIONAL READING: Job 1:6-12; Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 4:1-10; Luke 22: 52-53; Acts 2:22-24; Genesis 22: 2,14; 2 Chronicles 3:1
