Taking A Count of the People - The Books of 2 Samuel & 1 Chronicles

In this Bible Story, we witness David’s poor decisions in light of his pride. However David’s heart is always quick to conviction, and he repents before God and the people. This story is inspired by 2 Samuel 24 & 1 Chronicles 21. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.

Today's Bible verse is 2 Samuel 24:24 from the King James Version.

Episode 111: In a moment of insecurity, David called in Joab, commander of his army, to go throughout the nation of Israel and take a census of the people. Joab saw the evil this would cause and protested, but the will of the king prevailed. It wasn’t until after the census was complete that David realized his guilt. The Prophet Gad confronted him and while he chose his punishment, he also realized that he was to blame, not the people.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Let us pray, And the king said to Ara Una 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 cost me nothing. So David bought the
threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver,

(00:21):
Second Samuel twenty four, twenty four. Dear Lord, when the
abundance of your goodness is apparent and on display in
my life, I will make sure that insecurities won't lead
me into thinking that all I have will be preserved
by my own methods and tactics. As you increase the

(00:41):
works of my hands, Lord, help me not to see
those you've called me to lead as commodities and not
sheep you've called me to honor, protect, and shepherd. I
declare that you are my sustaining force and the lifter
of my head. Keep me from experiencing loss and defeat

(01:01):
as David did. I will instead look to you and
your power to cover my weak areas when I feel
insecure and inadequate. Thank you for reminding me that my
life is about serving and helping others. As I grow
to become more like you in Jesus Name Amen. Listening

(01:27):
to these daily prayers strengthens your relationship with God. Continue
hearing from the Lord by listening to today's Bible in
a Year, brought to you by Bible in a Year
dot com.

Speaker 2 (01:48):
Taking account of the People. In our last story, we
witnessed the continued bravery of David, even into old age.
He continued to wage war against all who would think
in the flock of God. As a result, David became weary,
it did not lose hope in the Lord of his salvation.
In this story, we witness an odd change in the

(02:10):
character of David as he takes a census over the
people in order to maintain control and wealth for the nation.
Inspired by Second Samuel and First Chronicles.

Speaker 3 (02:23):
Hello, I'm pastor Jack Graham with today's episode of the
Bible in a Year podcast. In our last episode, we
learned how David made right on a wrong done by
his predecessor Saul to the Gibeonites, and how God blessed
his righteous actions with prosperity for Israel. The Philistines once
again attacked, wanting to plunder Israel's wealth, but David's army

(02:46):
was strong, well trained, and courageous, just as their leader
David David now is in his older years, and he
had built a legacy, a life of courage and conviction
and commitment that glorified God and bless the people of God.
So today we'll hear how David actually allowed some insecurity,

(03:08):
in and a sense of ownership of the people, causing
him to seek to control God's people by taking a census.
Though he was warned by his friend and commander joe Eb,
David pushes forward, and as always when we disobey God,
there is a price to pay for his actions, and
David will be faced with a very tough decision. What

(03:30):
will he choose? Let's find out on today's reading.

Speaker 2 (03:34):
David arose early in the morning. His bones creaked as
he lifted himself out of his bed. His muscles were sore,
and every step revealed a new part of his body
that ached. David's youth was waning. Decades of battle had
aged him rapidly. His once muscular and chiseled frame felt
as if it had been slightly eroded by the sea.

(03:56):
David washed his face and gazed into the mirror. His
beard was becoming gray, and the light in his eyes
seemed to be dimming. David realized that he was no
longer the young warrior who defeated Goliath. He was older
and less capable of defending Israel with his sword. In
light of this new insecurity, David decided to take a

(04:17):
census of the nation to measure the vastness in Israel.
He took great pride in the work he had done
as king. Therefore, he desired to measure his success by
accounting the people in his armies. He also wanted to
gauge how vulnerable Israel might be to outside attack. David
gathered Joab and said, we will take a census of
all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba. We

(04:40):
will know just how many people are within our borders.
Joab winced at David's orders. He knew that the census
was a means to control people. The Law of Moses
clearly stated that a man only had the right to
count what belonged to him. Israel belonged to God, not David.
Joab knew this and and spoke up to David, saying,

(05:02):
you know I love you, King. It is my prayer
that God blesses you a hundredfold but why would you
do this to the people. It would cause unrest and discomfort.
David ignored Joab's complaints. He was solely focused on fortifying
what he had built. He sent out all of his
commanders to comb the country to count all of the people.

(05:23):
Nine months had passed and David's men had disrupted every city, town,
and farm in Israel to count its members. Joab returned
from his nine month journey and handed the records to David.
Joab's eyes scanned David's demeanor as he read the results
of the census. There was only one thing David truly
cared about in the nation of Israel. There were one

(05:45):
point three million capable men able to fight.

Speaker 3 (05:49):
With this.

Speaker 2 (05:50):
David put down the report and went to bed. That night,
David tossed and turned in his bed. David's delicate conscience
began to stir within him. I imagined all of the
people of Israel being rounded up like cattle to be counted.
He pictured the humiliated look on men's faces when soldiers
entered their homes. He sat up from his bed and

(06:10):
took a deep breath. He covered his face with his
hands and began to weep. What have I done, he whispered.
David got up from his bed and grabbed his harp.
He sat on his balcony and strummed. It soothed him.
He played for the Lord for a while and began
to weep again. Lord, forgive me, forgive my guilt. I

(06:32):
have been so foolish. The next morning, a prophet in
the land named Gad sat in the halls of David,
waiting for him. David walked around the corner to find
Gad sitting and waiting. He knew why Gad was there
and had no need to ask. Gad arose from his
seat and beckoned David to walk with him. Together they
strode the court yards of David's home, and Gad spoke

(06:55):
clearly to David, saying, you must choose from three punishments
from God. Only one of the three will be inflicted
upon you. David gulped and nodded for God to continue.
Three years of famine, hunger and strife, three months of
fleeing your enemies in fear for your life, three days

(07:15):
of severe plague on the land. These are your choices.
David held his breath for a long moment. His heart
began to race, sweat dripped down his brow. Every option
seemed too much to bear. I am in a desperate situation.
David yelled. His lower lip began to tremble, but he
regained his composure and said, I would rather us fall

(07:38):
into the hands of the Lord than the hands of man,
so I choose the plague. David's logic seemed to be sound.
He chose three days of a plague than three years
of hunger. However, he also chose the harm of people
over the harm of himself. In the first part of
that week, seventy thousand Israelites died of intense sickness. David

(07:59):
was walked the streets with horror as people were crying
out in pain. The anguished cries filled David's ears and
he could hardly bear it. In an emotional daze, David
caught a glimpse of something passing through the streets. Hovering
over the sick and dying, David saw an angel of
the Lord administering the punishment due to Israel because of David. Immediately,

(08:22):
David fell to his knees and prayed to God, Lord,
I am the one who has sinned. David beat his chest.
These people are innocent sheep. They have done nothing. Let
your anger fall on me and my family. Do not
harm them any more. Finally, David understood he had lost
his shepherd's heart. In doing the senses, David had acted

(08:42):
as a tyrant king instead of a loving shepherd. The
very reason David was chosen as king in the first
place was that he would willingly lay down his life
for the protection and joy of his people. Yet in
the past few years, David had lived his life solely
for his own safety and security. David arose from his
knees and went back to the center of Jerusalem. David

(09:05):
sacrificed much of his personal wealth to build an altar
for the Lord in the center of Jerusalem. There he
made sacrifices to God on behalf of himself and all
the people of Israel. He wept, he worshiped, and he
prayed for the preservation of his sheep. God answered, and
there was a restoration in the land of Israel, unlike

(09:25):
any has ever seen.

Speaker 3 (09:29):
As we began today's passage, David is feeling the toll
of his years. He has fought many battles, and his
body reminds him that he's not a young warrior anymore.
So much of his identity has been wrapped up in
his strength and courage, from his days as a shepherd
boy defending the flocks from wild beast, to the time

(09:50):
of killing the Great Giant, and then later protecting God's
people from foreign aggressors as the king of the nation
of Israel. But without that that vigor of youth, David
began to worry that he could no longer defend God's people.
He would have done well to remind himself of all
the promises of God that God would keep and protect

(10:11):
his people. But as insecurity began to creep in, a
switch seemed to flip in David's mind. David wanted to
take hold of what he had accomplished to control his kingdom.
Chronicles tells us that Satan tempted David to take a
senses of the people. Surely, the devil was not pleased
that God's people were prospering and that David was leading

(10:34):
so well, so he went on the attack. He planted
a seed, but it was David who acted. David took
de bait. He took the temptation and called for account
a census of all the people. Once again in disobedience
to God's instructions. Joe Eb, David's nephew and commander of

(10:54):
his army, was troubled by the orders and counseled the
king to reconsider. Who had seemed to know that David
was motivated by fear and a desire to control. But
unfortunately David ignored him, and for over nine months they
counted people throughout the land. One point three million souls
were numbered in David's kingdom. But what David did to

(11:17):
bring himself peace had the exact opposite effect. He is
now troubled and convicted of his disobedience. I think all
of us can relate to this. When we disobey God,
when we don't follow God's guidance and leadership in our lives,
we find ourselves grieved and filled with guilt. God gave
David three choices, two that would afflict his people and

(11:39):
one that would afflict him. Only David chose the shortest punishment,
three days of plagues on the people. It might have
seen the best choice, a wise choice, but there was
so much selfishness in David at this point. He opted
for his own safety, taking care of himself, rather than
seeking to protect God's people. They were punished for his sin.

(12:04):
Seventy thousand Israelites died, and as David walked the streets,
he saw God's judgment angel giving out punishment on the people,
striking them with disease. He could take it no more
and cried out to God, as we read in Second
Chronicles twenty four, verse seventeen, behold, I have sinned, and
I've done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done?

(12:28):
Please let your hand be against me and against my
father's house. Once again, David the good Shepherd emerged, eager
to save his people. It was a foreshadowing of something
much greater, a greater king, one greater than David, one
greater than Solomon, who would take our sins to a

(12:50):
cross and die in order that he may experience the
judgment that we deserved. This is the message of the
Christian faith that God redeems our suffering, that he saves
us from our sin, not because we deserve it, but
because of what Jesus himself has done in laying down
his life as the full and final sacrifice for all

(13:12):
that we have done in disobedience to God. Jesus took
the wrath of God in order that we might experience salvation, forgiveness,
and eternal life. David built an altar to offer sacrifices
to the Lord and atone for his sins and save
Israel from God's wrath. He purchased a threshing floor, insisting

(13:35):
to pay a fair price because he knew that a
sacrifice that costs David nothing would not honor God. In fact,
David said, God forbid that I would sacrifice to the
Lord that which cost me nothing. Today's lesson reveals once
again that David is very human, and very sinful, and
very imperfect. But there is a God who is faithful,

(13:59):
and the God of Israel, the God of David, the
God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, is faithful
to us today. And when we sin and break God's
commandments and repent of that sin, we receive God's grace.
God loves you with an everlasting love. He will never
let you go. He keeps you and holds you not
because of what you have done, but because of the

(14:21):
work of His son on the cross and by the
power of his love. Dear God, thank you for today's
scripture a reminder that you are quick and eager to
forgive when we repent and turn to you. Help us,
like David, to be willing to sacrifice our own comfort
and well being for the sake of others. May we

(14:42):
be generous in what we give to you. May we
become living sacrifices as you tell us in the scripture,
and lay our lives on the altar in Jesus's name. Amen.
Thank you so very much for listening to today's Bible
in a Year podcast. We are so very grateful for
the millions of people who have downloaded this podcast. I'm

(15:04):
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(15:27):
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