Reading through the old testament is at times very trying for me. I have so many questions which left unanswered seem to bubble up into confusion. Bricks of misunderstanding are progressively stacked upon each other- a wall of confusion regarding God's wrath, man's sin, & culture differences reaches higher & higher to block my view.
There is something remarkable, however, that never fails to triumph any frustration. When God speaks, His voice breaks through the stone walls. His power obliterates them to nothing. His voice is power & his breath is life. He speaks and I can breathe again. His mercy engulfs every doubt.
When I first read this passage, I did not understand one bit what David had done wrong by numbering the people-- especially wrong enough to cause God's wrath to have an angel bring about a pestilence that killed 70,000 innocent people!? I can think of about 10 or more trying questions from this scenario. But that's not the point. I don't have all the answers. But questions aren't always so bad. I rarely asked questions as a kid because I thought I was already supposed to know everything. I don't know why I thought that, but obviously that is ridiculous. I'm trying to learn to ask questions. It's difficult. At times it is humbling. But I am learning so much more.
Anyhoo-- my questioning led me to my handy Halley's Bible Handbook which referred me to I Chronicles 21. Here I learned why a census by David at this time brought such drastic consequences. In numbering the people ('moved by the Lord' & 'provoked by Satan'), David was retrieving his faith from within the Lord his Strength and placing it in the mass quantity of people of the kingdom. For a king in this place and time, numbers equaled power. David had forgotten that we have nothing to boast in. That everything comes from the Lord above-- and remember what David's best friend Jonathan said to his armour bearer-- who can say whether the Lord will save by many or by few!?
It's impossible to count how many times I've done & do this on a regular basis. It is a necessity to have a self-check, or heart examination if you will, to see where I've put my faith. I committed to putting my faith & trust in Jesus Christ when I became His. But sometimes I begin to trust in my ability or someone else's, in availability of resources, in comfort, in man, in some concept other than my Final Authority (the Bible), etc. You name it. I know that my sin is paid for & his wrath is satisfied in the death of his only begotten Son, but I hate the thought of taking back the one thing that is required-- my faith. If we love him we will keep his commandments. I recall how the Word also says, '...whatsoever is not of faith is sin' (Rom 14:23). It's funny that only by his mercy and grace am I even capable of putting my faith in him. So I have to trust in him to help me trust in him.
Once the people are numbered, David's heart is smitten & he confesses his sin & begs God to cease the pestilence and save the "sheep" that were being killed as a result of David's sin & God's wrath upon Israel. Just before the angel is about to spread the pestilence over Jerusalem, God stops him & says 'it is enough'. Remind you of anything? (Jesus Christ on the cross says, "It is finished" just before taking his last breaths on the cross). God's wrath had been satisfied. The place that the angel is at this particular moment in time is the threshingfloor of Araunah (AKA "Ornan") or "Mount Moriah"; At this threshingfloor the angel has a bro named Gad tell David to build an altar. And at this place of the altar is the same place Solomon builds his temple according to II Chronicles (& where it is rebuilt). And now since we've found Solomon's foundation, this will be the place the temple is re-rebuilt hopefully in my life time!! eeeek! :D :D
Sovereignty. How incredible is God's mercy. How amazing is it that the temple would be built in a place representing God's tender mercy & man's state of need & humbleness (i.e. David's smitten heart & confession)-- A place of reconciliation & God's majesty that still exists today! There is so much history behind the foundation of the temple that reveals some of God's most incredible attributes. I love how it isn't only a story with a moral, but it is real history-- it's applicable in every culture & time-- And how particularly exciting is it to me today with all the craziness going on regarding the temple/mosque/etc. among everything else happening that has been prophesied already in the Word! Oh, people, pray for Israel as the Lord has commanded. And look-- the fields are white already to harvest!
Remember his glorious mercies & truths-- 'bind them about thy neck' & 'write them upon the table of thine heart' (Proverbs 3:3).
There is something remarkable, however, that never fails to triumph any frustration. When God speaks, His voice breaks through the stone walls. His power obliterates them to nothing. His voice is power & his breath is life. He speaks and I can breathe again. His mercy engulfs every doubt.
***
2 Samuel 24
2 Samuel 24
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 Beersheba, 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 Tahtimhodshi; and they came to Danjaan, and about to Zidon,
7And came to the strong hold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites: and they went out to the south of Judah, even to Beersheba.
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 Beersheba 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.
Anyhoo-- my questioning led me to my handy Halley's Bible Handbook which referred me to I Chronicles 21. Here I learned why a census by David at this time brought such drastic consequences. In numbering the people ('moved by the Lord' & 'provoked by Satan'), David was retrieving his faith from within the Lord his Strength and placing it in the mass quantity of people of the kingdom. For a king in this place and time, numbers equaled power. David had forgotten that we have nothing to boast in. That everything comes from the Lord above-- and remember what David's best friend Jonathan said to his armour bearer-- who can say whether the Lord will save by many or by few!?
It's impossible to count how many times I've done & do this on a regular basis. It is a necessity to have a self-check, or heart examination if you will, to see where I've put my faith. I committed to putting my faith & trust in Jesus Christ when I became His. But sometimes I begin to trust in my ability or someone else's, in availability of resources, in comfort, in man, in some concept other than my Final Authority (the Bible), etc. You name it. I know that my sin is paid for & his wrath is satisfied in the death of his only begotten Son, but I hate the thought of taking back the one thing that is required-- my faith. If we love him we will keep his commandments. I recall how the Word also says, '...whatsoever is not of faith is sin' (Rom 14:23). It's funny that only by his mercy and grace am I even capable of putting my faith in him. So I have to trust in him to help me trust in him.
-Back to history-
Once the people are numbered, David's heart is smitten & he confesses his sin & begs God to cease the pestilence and save the "sheep" that were being killed as a result of David's sin & God's wrath upon Israel. Just before the angel is about to spread the pestilence over Jerusalem, God stops him & says 'it is enough'. Remind you of anything? (Jesus Christ on the cross says, "It is finished" just before taking his last breaths on the cross). God's wrath had been satisfied. The place that the angel is at this particular moment in time is the threshingfloor of Araunah (AKA "Ornan") or "Mount Moriah"; At this threshingfloor the angel has a bro named Gad tell David to build an altar. And at this place of the altar is the same place Solomon builds his temple according to II Chronicles (& where it is rebuilt). And now since we've found Solomon's foundation, this will be the place the temple is re-rebuilt hopefully in my life time!! eeeek! :D :D
Sovereignty. How incredible is God's mercy. How amazing is it that the temple would be built in a place representing God's tender mercy & man's state of need & humbleness (i.e. David's smitten heart & confession)-- A place of reconciliation & God's majesty that still exists today! There is so much history behind the foundation of the temple that reveals some of God's most incredible attributes. I love how it isn't only a story with a moral, but it is real history-- it's applicable in every culture & time-- And how particularly exciting is it to me today with all the craziness going on regarding the temple/mosque/etc. among everything else happening that has been prophesied already in the Word! Oh, people, pray for Israel as the Lord has commanded. And look-- the fields are white already to harvest!
Remember his glorious mercies & truths-- 'bind them about thy neck' & 'write them upon the table of thine heart' (Proverbs 3:3).
Artifacts from Solomon's temple
http://www.crystalinks.com/solomonstemple.html
http://www.freemasoninformation.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/05/king-solomon-temple.jpg
