Introduction

This passage concludes the narrative of the book of Samuel, and it does so with a story that sounds odd to modern ears —for various reasons. Some of those reasons have to do with the coming of the gospel, and some of them have to do with us drifting away from a biblical understanding of God’s ways with man.

The Text

“And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah . . .” (2 Sam. 24:1-25).

Summary of the Text

God’s anger was kindled against Israel, and so He made David make a bad decision (v. 1). David told Joab to go and number the people of Israel (v. 2). Joab, wisely, was opposed (v. 3). But David prevailed against Joab and the military leaders (v. 4). They traveled through all Israel, taking 9 months on the census (vv. 5-8). The number was 800,000 in Israel and 500,000 in Judah (v. 9). Upon receiving this information, David’s conscience struck him (v. 10). A prophetic word came to the prophet Gad (v. 11), and it was a word that offered David three options (v. 12). So Gad came to him and gave him the choice between 7 years of famine, 3 months of fleeing from enemies, or 3 days of pestilence (v. 13). So David chose to fall into the hands of God, not man (v. 14), and God sent pestilence that killed 70,000 men (v. 15). The angel of pestilence was coming upon Jerusalem, but the Lord “repented him” of the evil, and told the angel to stand by (v. 16). When David saw the angel, he offered himself and his own house instead of the people (v. 17). Gad told David to build an altar where the angel was, which was the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite (v. 18). David obeyed (v. 19), and Araunah saw David coming and bowed before him (v. 20). David told him that he had come to buy the threshing floor, in order to build an altar that would stop the plague (v. 21). Araunah offered to give him everything he needed (vv. 22-23). David refused to offer that which cost him nothing, so he paid fifty shekels of silver for it (v. 24). And so David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and the plague was stopped (v. 25).

The Census Sin

First, what was the sin involved in the census? It was not because of the mere fact of the census—because that was allowed and assumed by the law (Ex. 30:12). And Jesus teaches us that counting our troops is a wise and prudent thing to do (Luke 14:31). So what was the problem here? Note that Joab, the consummate politician, was against it. Note also that David repented as soon as he heard the numbers. And note that the breakout of the numbers divided the troops according to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. The cultural fault lines that defined two future kingdoms were already there, and I believe that David realized that he had just badly exacerbated them. It was his job to be king of all Israel, and not to toy with war games that speculated on what would happen if they turned on each other.

Sin as Judgment

We know that sin brings judgment, and this is a truth that needs to be emphasized in a generation that desperately wants to forget it. But at the same time, we also must recognize that God is sovereign over all things, sin included, and that He sometimes arranges things so that judgment brings sin, which brings more judgment. He is the Lord, and we are not to talk back.

Note here that God’s anger was kindled against Israel (for unspecified sin), and as a result of that He stirred up David to number the people (v. 1). And then, because David numbered the people, he and the people were judged. I said a moment ago that God is sovereign, and we must not talk back. But if we wanted to talk back, is the material here? God judged David for a sin that God “incited” David to commit? Yes. Not only this, but the parallel account in Chronicles says that Satan provoked David to do this (1 Chron. 21:1), the first mention of Satan by title in the Bible.

Some who want to pretend that God does not hold all of history in the palm of His hand point to expressions like what we find here—God repenting, or changing His mind—and they insist on taking the words at what they say is face value. When we say that it is an obvious expression—how we experience God’s dealings with us—and that it is just like us saying “sunrise” when we know intellectually that it was actually “earthturn,” they say that we are trifling with the plain meaning of the text. Okay, if you want the plain meaning of the text, then why don’t you repeat the whole story? What did God repent of? He repented of killing 70,000 people because He was angry at something that He made David do in the first place, and He was angry for unspecified reasons. And He sent Satan as His agent. There is no resolution to any of this except in high octane Calvinism.

The Angel at the Threshing Floor

The Bible teaches that angels and celestial powers were assigned a governing role over mankind until the coming of Christ. Prior to the Incarnation, it was God/angels/man. After the coming of Christ, there has been a cosmological revolution, and it is now God/man in Christ/angels (Heb. 2:5). The world to come—the world we inhabit—has been subjected to man, and not to angels. This was not the case three thousand years ago. Then mankind was in his minority (Gal. 3:19, 24).

Sin as Stroke of God

The sovereignty of God over evil is not something that has disappeared in the new covenant. But make sure you understand the doctrine correctly. Is God the Author of sin? In one sense, no, of course not, and in another sense, yes, absolutely.

James tells us that God cannot be tempted by evil, and that He himself tempts no one. Let no one say that God is “tempting” him to commit sin (Jas. 1:13). God is present with you in the person of the Holy Spirit. God never tempts or lures to sin.

But God most emphatically wields sin, for His righteous and holy purposes. We have this text, and countless others. Assyria, full of military arrogance and sin, was an ax in the hand of God (Is. 12:12, 15). Herod, Pilate, Pontius Pilate, and all the Jews did with wicked hands (Acts 2:23) what God had determined beforehand to be done (Acts 4:27-28), and to which Jesus submitted as the will of His Father (Luke 22:42). God often picks up dirty tools with holy hands.

Close to home, we have the rod of our sexual license, which God is using to beat us senseless (Prov. 22:14). The wrath of God is visited upon us when God “gives us up” to homosexual lusts (Rom. 1:24, 26). Whenever you see and form of “gay pride,” and all the rest of that foolishness, do not think that this is something for which God will judge us (although He will do that). Think of it as a judgment for something else. It is the judgment itself.

We might want to say that we “don’t know” what it could have been. But two things . . . a spirit of true repentance would actually want to know. And a spirit of true faith would turn to God through Jesus Christ—the only available provision for this kind of thing. We have an offering far greater than what David was able to offer on Araunah’s threshing floor.

Introduction

In this passage, we have the last formal pronouncement that the great David gave. This message from David spoke of the blessing that comes from a godly ruler. Louis XIV was the Sun King of France, and his idea of it was absolute monarchy. David, by way of contrast, spoke of a sun king very differently.

The Text

“Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, And the man who was raised up on high, The anointed of the God of Jacob, And the sweet psalmist of Israel, said, The Spirit of the Lord spake by me . . .” (2 Sam. 23:1–39).

Summary of the Text

These are the last words of David, referring to his last pronouncement (v. 1). He was the sweet singer of Israel (v. 1), and God spoke through him (v. 2). A ruler must be just (v. 3), and if he is, then he is a morning sun (v. 4), a cloudless morning (v. 4), and as new grass after rain (v. 4). Though David’s house does not deserve it, God has made an everlasting covenant (v. 5). Sons of Belial, sons of worthlessness, are rulers who must be hedged with weapons, and then burned (vv. 6-7).

We then come to David’s hall of fame roster. Adino was chief; he killed 800 at one time (v. 8). Then Eleazer, one of the Three, who fought until his hand stuck to his sword (vv. 9-10). Then there was Shammah, who fought at the lentil field (vv. 11-12). Then there were the three men who captured a cup of water from the well at Bethlehem (vv. 13-17). Abishai was one of them, and another time he killed 300 men (vv. 18-19). He was like the top Three, but not of them. Benaiah defeated two men of Moab, and also killed a lion in a pit on a snowy day (v. 20), as well as an Egyptian (vv. 21-23). And then a number of the Thirty are named. The chapter ends by saying there were 37 in all, but in this chapter only 36 are named. The missing man was no doubt Joab. Names to note would be Eliam, the father of Bathsheba (v. 35) and son of Ahithophel. And it is surely not a coincidence that the last man named is Uriah the Hittite (v. 39). Uriah’s name meant “YHWH is my light.”

Citations of Bravery

We can see from these descriptions that courage takes a stand in particular circumstances. Eleazar fought until his sword grew into his hand and arm, and that detail was remembered by Israel. Shammah took a stand at the lentil field, while all the other troops fled. He took a hopeless stand, and he prevailed. The Lord wrought a great victory there. The three who got water from the well were doing nothing of strategic value, but wars are fought with symbols as well as with weapons. This was something that David knew, and treated the water with the respect it deserved, and he poured it out before the Lord. Benaiah fought with a lion, in a pit, on a snowy day. Top that.

A True Sun King

Sin is destructive, and men can forfeit great blessings by it. David did lose some immediateblessings through his sin, but he did not lose the great blessing. Jesus, the Son of David, sits on the throne of the universe now. God promised his house an everlasting covenant, and this was all David’s salvation and all his desire. But he adds this comment in v. 5 to show that he knows that he was not the perfect exemplar of the kind of king he describes in vv. 3-4.

That said, the covenant head of every civic order is not a necessary evil. Something that is frequently evil is not necessarily evil. In addition, a godly ruler is not superfluous. It is not as though impersonal market forces do all the good stuff, with the civic head simply serving as kind of an animated logo for the nation. No, there is real authority there. “And the Lord magnified Solomon exceedingly in the sight of all Israel, and bestowed upon him such royal majesty as had not been on any king before him in Israel” (1 Chron. 29:25).

In order for this to happen, God must raise a man up (v. 1), and God must anoint him (v. 1). Seizing power, garnering votes, bribing the right people cannot achieve this. An anointing is a gift. A man who rules other men must be just, and this justice is defined as ruling in the fear of God. A ruler who does not fear God is in some way claiming to be God. If there is no God over the state, then the state is God.

But if a man rules in the fear of God, he brings something to a nation which cannot be obtained in other ways. He is the light of a cloudless morning—clearly not a figurehead. He is the rain on the fresh grass. In short, a godly ruler is not optional if a nation is to flourish as God intended.

Dealing with Bramble Men

What is the alternative? The phrase sons of Belial means sons of worthlessness, and they cannot be persuaded by argument. Neither can they be seized by hand—they are bramble men, covered with thorns.

These thorns must be raked together with weapons, which gives a political force to the metaphor, and then when they have been heaped together, the only thing for it is to burn the pile of them.

This image for worthless rulers, judges, and lawmakers had been used before—Gideon’s son Jotham told the men of Israel a very pointed parable (Judg.9:14-15). He gave them that parable from the top of mount Gerizim (Judg. 9:7)—the mount from which blessings were pronounced. Mount Ebal was the mount of cursing.

So judgment upon wicked rulers is a blessing for the people. “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice: But when the wicked beareth rule, the people mourn” (Prov. 29:2). When the cause of that mourning is removed, the people rejoice. To curse the wicked in their office is to bless the people.

One of the snares that comes from living in a democratic republic—along with the blessing of regular elections, without tanks in the streets—is that we come to think that everything must be addressed by endless discussion and debate. But when bramble men have gotten themselves established, as they have in our nation, there is no way to address it apart from judgment. That judgment must not be a vigilante judgment, but it must be an actual judgment.

And when it is declared, when it is pronounced, the word comes down as a blessing. It is a declaration from Gerizim.

Introduction

With just a few variations, this chapter is also found in Scripture as Psalm 18. A common feature of ancient Hebrew writing is to conclude an extended narrative with a song, as Deuteronomy does, or as we see with Jacob’s prophecies at the end of Genesis. In this case, we find the narrative of both books of Samuel bookended with Hannah’s song and with David’s. Because I have preached through Psalm 18 before, in this message we will focus on one fascinating aspect of the psalm.

The Text

“And David spake unto the Lord the words of this song in the day that the Lord had delivered him out of the hand of all his enemies, and out of the hand of Saul: And he said, The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer . . .” (2 Sam. 22:1–51).

Summary of the Text

The psalm was written in the aftermath of God’s deliverance of David from Saul (v. 1), but it is also appropriately placed here, near the end of David’s life. God is David’s Rock and Fortress (vv. 2-3). No matter the distress, God is there to be called upon (vv. 4-7). When God intervenes, and comes down, He does not do it in a small way (vv. 8-16). But this is not just directionless power; God actually delivers David in real time (vv. 17-20). God delivered David in accordance with his righteousness (vv. 21-25). God uses our own currency in His dealings with us (vv. 26-27). God on high looks down on those who lift themselves up, and He takes them down (v. 28). God enlightens and enables (vv. 29-30). God is the power and strength of the warrior (vv. 31-43). God gives David authority over the heathen (vv. 44-49). He is therefore worthy of all praise (v. 50), and David exults in the final fulfillment of all of God’s kindness in the coming of the Messiah (v. 51).

High and Low

In verse 28, David says that God’s eyes are upon the haughty, and He eyes them because He is taking aim. To walk in the sleekness of your own conceits is to walk along while in God’s crosshairs. This is a similar theme as what we find in Hannah’s great psalm. God throws down the proud, and He lifts up the lowly. Note that when David lays open his life before God, telling God that he has been righteous, this does not automatically place him among the proud.
Pride does not consist in understanding your life. “For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith” (Rom. 12:3). Pride is when you choose your own assessment over against the assessment of God. It is folly, when God is telling a particular story for your life, to try to shout Him down with your own version. Everyone one of us has a narrative for our own lives. How well does it line up with God’s narrative for our lives?

But when God declares you righteous, is it humility to argue with Him? When God moves to deliver you, as David recounts that God did for him, is it humility to refuse to go with Him? Humility means agreement with God. It does not amount to automatic “worm theology.”

What It Means to Be Blameless

How are we to understand justification by faith alone, in the light of what David says here (vv. 21-25)? How could this possibly fit with sola fide?

We have to recognize that the Bible speaks of righteousness in two different ways—one vertical and the other horizontal. One is absolute, and the other is relative. One is fixed, and the other is comparative. If we don’t grasp this, we will soon be hopelessly confused, and we will be confused on a point that is right near the heart of the gospel.

First, the psalmist knew, as thoroughly as the apostle Paul did, that no flesh will be justified in the sight of God based on our own performance. “If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, That thou mayest be feared” (Ps. 130:3–4). And Paul knows, as thoroughly as the psalmist, that there is such a thing as human righteousness. “A bishop must be blameless . . .” (1 Tim. 3:2). Paul knew that his behavior toward the Ephesians was faultless (Acts 20:25-27). He was upright in his dealings with the Thessalonians also. “For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloke of covetousness; God is witness” (1 Thess. 2:5). The apostle Paul once said, in the book of Romans, something very similar to this sentiment by David.

“Who will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life . . . But glory, honour, and peace, to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile” (Rom. 2:6–10).

But Scripture expects us to use, with understanding, two different scales. God is absolute holiness, and to be in fellowship with Him, we need the absolute righteousness of Jesus—David needed that as much as we do, and vice versa. Justification before God is found in Christ alone.

But when this justification happens, does anybody ever notice? And when it is noticed, how does Scripture talk about it? Noah was a just man, and perfect in his generations (Gen. 6:9). Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God (Deut. 18:13). And what about the parents of John the Baptist? “And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless” (Luke 1:6). But use your head. The ordinances of the Lord included instructions on how to approach the Lord with your guilt offerings. Zechariah and Elizabeth were blameless because of how they handled their sins.

The Lord’s Table

God is a tower of salvation. God shows mercy to His anointed—David, and David’s great Son were the anointed of God. But as God’s anointed, David was a recipient of mercy.

In the salvation that God brings, therefore, never forget that justification and sanctification have met, and they have kissed each other. Mercy and truth have met, and they have kissed (Ps. 85:10).