_THE NUMBERING OF ISRAEL._
2 SAMUEL xxiv.
Though David's life was now drawing to its close, neither his sins
nor his chastisements were yet exhausted. One of his chief offences
was committed when he was old and grey-headed. There can be little
doubt that what is recorded in this chapter took place toward the
close of his life; the word "again" at the beginning indicates that
it was later in time than the event which gave rise to the last
expression of God's displeasure to the nation. Surely there can be
little ground for the doctrine of perfectionism, otherwise David,
whose religion was so earnest and so deep, would have been nearer it
now than this chapter shows that he was.
The offence consisted in taking a census of the people. At first
it is difficult to see what there was in this that was so sinful;
yet highly sinful it was in the judgment of God, in the judgment of
Joab, and at last in the judgment of David too; it will be necessary,
therefore, to examine the subject very carefully if we would
understand clearly what constituted the great sin of David.
The origin of the proceeding was remarkable. It may be said to have
had a double, or rather a triple, origin: God, David, and Satan, or,
as some propose to render in place of Satan, "_an_ enemy."
In Samuel we read that "the Lord's anger was again kindled against
Israel." The nation required a chastisement. It needed a smart stroke
of the rod to make it pause and think how it was offending God. We do
not require to know very specially what it was that displeased God
in a nation that had been so ready to side with Absalom and drive
God's anointed from the throne. They were far from steadfast in their
allegiance to God, easily drawn from the path of duty; and all that it
is important for us to know is simply that at this particular time they
were farther astray than usual, and more in need of chastisement. The
cup of sin had filled up so far that God behoved to interpose.
For this end "the Lord moved David against them to say, Go, number
Israel and Judah." The action of God in the matter, like His action in
sinful matters generally, was, that He permitted it to take place. He
allowed David's sinful feeling to come as a factor into His scheme with
a view to the chastising of the people. We have seen many times in this
history how God is represented as doing things and saying things which
He does not do nor say directly, but which He takes up into His plan,
with a view to the working out of some great end in the future. But in
Chronicles it is said that Satan stood up against Israel and provoked
David to number Israel. According to some commentators, the Hebrew word
is not to be translated "Satan," because it has no article, but "an
adversary," as in parallel passages: "The Lord stirred up an adversary
unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite" (1 Kings xi. 14); "God stirred up
another adversary to Israel, Razon, the son of Eliadib" (1 Kings xi.
23). Perhaps it was some one in the garb of a friend, but with the
spirit of an enemy, that moved David in this matter. If we suppose
Satan to have been the active mover, then Bishop Hall's words will
indicate the relation between the three parties: "Both God and Satan
had then a hand in the work--God by permission, Satan by suggestion;
God as a Judge, Satan as an enemy; God as in a just punishment for sin,
Satan as in an act of sin; God in a wise ordination of it for good,
Satan in a malicious intent of confusion. Thus at once God moved and
Satan moved, neither is it any excuse to Satan or to David that God
moved, neither is it any blemish to God that Satan moved. The ruler's
sin is a punishment to a wicked people; if God were not angry with a
people, He would not give up their governors to evils that provoke His
vengeance; justly are we charged to make prayers and supplications as
for all men, so especially for rulers."
But what constituted David's great offence in numbering the people?
Every civilised State is now accustomed to number its people
periodically, and for many good purposes it is a most useful step.
Josephus represents that David omitted to levy the atonement money
which was to be raised, according to Exod. xxx. 12, etc., from all who
were numbered, but surely, if this had been his offence, it would have
been easy for Joab, when he remonstrated, to remind him of it, instead
of trying to dissuade him from the scheme altogether. The more common
view of the transaction has been that it was objectionable, not in
itself, but in the spirit by which it was dictated. That spirit seems
to have been a self-glorifying spirit. It seems to have been like the
spirit which led Hezekiah to show his treasures to the ambassadors
of the king of Babylon. Perhaps it was designed to show, that in the
number of his forces David was quite a match for the great empires on
the banks of the Nile and the Euphrates. If their fighting men could be
counted by the hundred thousand or the thousand thousand, so could his.
In the fighting resources of his kingdom, he was able to hold his head
as high as any of them. Surely such a spirit was the very opposite of
what was becoming in such a king as David. Was this not measuring the
strength of a spiritual power with the measure of a carnal? Did it not
leave God most sinfully out of reckoning? Nay, did it not substitute
a carnal for a spiritual defence? Was it not in the very teeth of the
Psalm, "There is no king saved by the multitude of an host; a mighty
man is not delivered by much strength. An horse is a vain thing for
safety; neither shall he deliver any by his great strength. Behold,
the eye of the Lord is upon them that ear Him, upon them that hope in
His mercy, to deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in
famine"?
That David's project was very deeply seated in his heart is evident
from the fact that he was unmoved by the remonstrance of Joab. In
ordinary circumstances it must have startled him to find that even he
was strongly opposed to his project. It is indeed strange that Joab
should have had scruples where David had none. We have been accustomed
to find Joab so seldom in the right that it is hard to believe that
he was in the right now. But perhaps we do Joab injustice. He was a
man that could be profoundly stirred when his own interests were at
stake, or his passions roused, and that seemed equally regardless
of God and man in what he did on such occasions. But otherwise Joab
commonly acted with prudence and moderation. He consulted for the good
of the nation. He was not habitually reckless or habitually cruel,
and he seems to have had a certain amount of regard to the will of God
and the theocratic constitution of the kingdom, for he was loyal to
David from the very beginning, up to the contest between Solomon and
Adonijah. It is evident that Joab felt strongly that in the step which
he proposed to take David would be acting a part unworthy of himself
and of the constitution of the kingdom, and by displeasing God would
expose himself to evils far beyond any advantage he might hope to gain
by ascertaining the number of the people.
For once--and this time, unhappily--David was too strong for the son
of Zeruiah. The enumerators of the people were despatched, no doubt
with great regularity, to take the census. The boundaries named were
not beyond the territory as divided by Joshua among the Israelites,
save that Tyre and Zidon were included; not that they had been annexed
by David, but probably because there was an understanding that in all
his military arrangements they were to be associated with him. Nine
months and twenty days were occupied in the business. At the end of it,
it was ascertained that the fighting men of Israel were eight hundred
thousand, and those of Judah five hundred thousand; or, if we take
the figures in Chronicles, eleven hundred thousand of Israel and four
hundred and seventy thousand of Judah. The discrepancy is not easily
accounted for; but probably in Chronicles in the number for Israel
certain bodies of troops were included which were not included in
Samuel, and _vice versâ_ in the case of Judah.
Just as in the case of his sin in the matter of Uriah, David was
long of coming to a sense of it. How his view came to change we are
not told, but when the change did occur, it seems, as in the other
case, to have come with extraordinary force. "David's heart smote
him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the
Lord, I have sinned greatly in that which I have done; and now, I
beseech Thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of Thy servant, for I
have done very foolishly." Once alive to his sin, his humiliation is
very profound. His confession is frank, hearty, complete. He shows no
proud desire to remain on good terms with himself, seeks nothing to
break his fall or to make his humiliation less before Joab and before
the people. He says, "I will confess my transgression to the Lord;"
and his plea is one with which he is familiar from of old--"For Thy
name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great." He is
never greater than when acknowledging his sin.
Next comes the chastisement. The moment for sending it is very
seasonable. It did not come while his conscience was yet slumbering,
but after he had come to feel his sin. His confessions and relentings
were proofs that he was now fit for chastisement; the chastisement,
as in the other case, was solemnly announced by a prophet; and, as
in the other case too, it fell on one of the tenderest spots of his
heart. Then the first blow fell on his infant child; now it falls
upon his sheep. His affections were divided between his children and
his people, and in both cases the blow must have been very severe.
It was, as far as we can judge, after a night of very profound
humiliation that the prophet Gad was sent to him. Gad had first come
to him when he was hiding from Saul, and had therefore been his
friend all his kingly life. Sad that so old and so good a friend
should be the bearer to the aged king of a bitter message! Seven
years of famine (in 1 Chron. xxi. 12, three years), three months
of unsuccessful war, or three days of pestilence,--the choice lies
between these three. All of them were well fitted to rebuke that
pride in human resources which had been the occasion of his sin.
Well might he say, "I am in a great strait." Oh the bitterness of
the harvest when you sow to the flesh! Between these three horrors
even God's anointed king has to choose. What a delusion it is that
God will not be very careful in the case of the wicked to inflict the
due retribution of sin! "If these things were done in the green tree,
what shall be done in the dry?"
David chose the three days of pestilence. It was the shortest, no
doubt, but what recommended it, especially above the three months
of unsuccessful war, was that it would come more directly from the
hand of God. "Let me fall now into the hand of the Lord, for His
mercies are great, and let me not fall into the hand of man." What
a frightful time it must have been! Seventy thousand died of the
plague. From Dan to Beersheba nothing would be heard but a bitter
cry, like that of the Egyptians when the angel slew the first-born.
What days and nights of agony these must have been to David! How
slowly would they drag on! What cries in the morning, "Would God it
were evening!" and in the evening, "Would God it were morning!"
The pestilence, wherever it originated, seems to have advanced from
every side like a besieging army, till it was ready to close upon
Jerusalem. The destroying angel hovered over Mount Moriah, and, like
Abraham on the same spot a thousand years before, was brandishing his
sword for the work of destruction. It was a spot that had already
been memorable for one display of Divine forbearance, and now it
became the scene of another. Like the hand of Abraham when ready to
plunge the knife into the bosom of his son, the hand of the angel was
stayed when about to fall on Jerusalem. For Abraham a ram had been
provided to offer in the room of Isaac; and now David is commanded to
offer a burnt-offering in acknowledgment of his guilt and of his need
of expiation. Thus the Lord stayed His rough wind in the day of His
east wind. In sparing Jerusalem, on the very eve of destruction, He
caused His mercy to rejoice over judgment.
No one but must admire the spirit of David when the angel appeared on
Mount Moriah. Owning frankly his own great sin, and especially his
sin as a shepherd, he bared his own bosom to the sword, and entreated
God to let the punishment fall on him and on his father's house. Why
should the sheep suffer for the sin of the shepherd? The plea was
more beautiful than correct. The sheep had been certainly not less
guilty than the shepherd, though in a different way. We have seen how
the anger of the Lord had been kindled against Israel when David was
induced to go and number the people. And as both had been guilty,
so both had been punished. The sheep had been punished in their own
bodies, the shepherd in the tenderest feelings of his heart. It is a
rare sight to find a man prepared to take on himself more than his
own share of the blame. It was not so in paradise, when the man threw
the blame on the woman and the woman on the serpent. We see that,
with all his faults, David had another spirit from that of the vulgar
world. After all, there is much of the Divine nature in this poor,
blundering, sinning child of clay.
On the day when the angel appeared over Jerusalem, Gad was sent back
to David with a more auspicious message. He is required to build an
altar to the Lord on the spot where the angel stood. This was the
fitting counterpart to Abraham's act when, in place of Isaac, he
offered the ram which Jehovah-jireh had provided for the sacrifice.
The circumstances connected with the rearing of the altar and the
offering of the burnt-offering were very peculiar, and seem to have
borne a deep typical meaning. The place where the angel's arm was
arrested was by the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite. It
was there that David was commanded to rear his altar and offer his
burnt-offering. When Araunah saw the king approaching, he bowed
before him and respectfully asked the purpose of his visit. It was
to buy the threshing-floor and build an altar, that the plague might
be stayed. But if the threshing-floor was needed for that purpose,
Araunah would give it freely; and offer it as a free gift he did,
with royal munificence, along with the oxen for a burnt-offering and
their implements also as wood for the sacrifice. David, acknowledging
his goodness, would not be outdone in generosity, and insisted
on making payment. The floor was bought, the altar was built,
the sacrifice was offered, and the plague was stayed. As we read
in Chronicles, fire from heaven attested God's acceptance of the
offering. "And David said, This is the house of the Lord God, and
this is the altar of the burnt-offering for Israel." That is to say,
the threshing-floor was appointed to be the site of the temple which
Solomon was to build; and the spot where David had hastily reared his
altar was to be the place where, for hundreds of years, day after
day, morning and evening, the blood of the burnt-offering was to
flow, and the fumes of incense to ascend before God.
No doubt it was to save time in so pressing an emergency that Araunah
gave for sacrifice the oxen with which he was working, and the
implements connected with his labour. But in the purpose of God, a
great truth lay under these symbolical arrangements. The oxen that
had been labouring for man were sacrificed for man; both their life
and their death were given for man, just as afterwards the Lord Jesus
Christ, after living and labouring for the good of many, at last
gave His life a ransom. The wood of the altar on which they suffered
was, part of it at all events, borne on their own necks, "the
threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen," just as
Isaac had borne the wood and as Jesus was to bear the cross on which,
respectively, they were stretched. The sacrifice was a sacrifice of
blood, for only blood could remove the guilt that had to be pardoned.
The analogy is clear enough. Isaac had escaped; the ram suffered in
his room. Jerusalem escaped now; the oxen were sacrificed in its
room. Sinners of mankind were to escape; the Lamb of God was to die,
the just for the unjust, to bring them to God.
There were other circumstances, however, not without significance,
connected with the purchase of the temple site. The man to whom
the ground had belonged, and whose oxen had been slain as the
burnt-offering, was a Jebusite; and from the way in which he
designated David's Lord, "the Lord _thy_ God," it is not certain
whether he was even a proselyte. Some think that he had formerly been
king of Jerusalem, or rather of the stronghold of Zion, but that when
Zion was taken he had been permitted to retire to Mount Moriah, which
was separated from Zion only by a deep ravine. Josephus calls him a
great friend of David's. He could not have shown a more friendly
spirit of a more princely liberality. The striking way in which the
heart of this Jebusite was moved to co-operate with King David in
preparing for the temple was fitted to remind David of the missionary
character which the temple was to sustain. "My house shall be called
an house of prayer for all nations." In the words of the sixty-eighth
Psalm, "Because of thy temple at Jerusalem shall kings bring presents
unto thee." As Araunah's oxen had been accepted, so the time would
come when "the sons of the stranger that join themselves to the
Lord, to serve Him and to love the name of the Lord, even them will
I bring to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of
prayer; their burnt-offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted
upon Mine altar." What a wonderful thing is sanctified affliction!
While its root lies in the very corruption of our nature, its fruit
consists of the best blessings of Heaven. The root of David's
affliction was carnal pride; but under God's sanctifying grace, it
was followed by the erection of a temple associated with heavenly
blessing, not to one nation only, but to all. When affliction,
duly sanctified, is thus capable of bringing such blessings, it
makes the fact all the more lamentable that affliction is so often
unsanctified. It is vain to imagine that everything of the nature
of affliction is sure to turn to good. It can turn to good on one
condition only--when your heart is humbled under the rod, and in the
same humble, chastened spirit as David you say, and feel as well as
say, "I have sinned."
One other lesson we gather from this chapter of David's history. When
he declined to accept the generous offer of Araunah, it was on the
ground that he would not serve the Lord with that which cost him
nothing. The thought needs only to be put in words to commend itself
to every conscience. God's service is neither a form nor a sham; it
is a great reality. If we desire to show our honour for Him, it must
be in a way suited to the occasion. The poorest mechanic that would
offer a gift to his sovereign tries to make it the product of his
best labour, the fruit of his highest skill. To pluck a weed from
the roadside and present it to one's sovereign would be no better
than an insult. Yet how often is God served with that which costs men
nothing! Men that will lavish hundreds and thousands to gratify their
own fancy,--what miserable driblets they often give to the cause of
God! The smallest of coins is good enough for His treasury. And as
for other forms of serving God, what a tendency there is in our time
to make everything easy and pleasant,--to forget the very meaning of
self-denial! It is high time that that word of David were brought
forth and put before every conscience, and made to rebuke ever so
many professed worshippers of God, whose rule of worship is to serve
God with what does cost them nothing. The very heathen reprove
you. Little though there has been to stimulate their love, their
sacrifices are often most costly--far from sacrifices that have cost
them nothing. Oh, let us who call ourselves Christians beware lest we
be found the meanest, paltriest, shabbiest of worshippers! Let souls
that have been blessed as Christians have devise liberal things. Let
your question and the answer be: "What shall I render to the Lord for
all His benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation and call
on the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord, now in the
presence of His people."