10 14. The choice of punishments<\/p>\n
10<\/strong>. David’s heart smote him<\/em> ] Conscience accused him, and he became aware of his guilt. He recognised the sinfulness of the proud and vainglorious spirit of self-confidence and desire for worldly aggrandisement which had induced him to take the census. See Additional Note v. p. 238.<\/p>\n I have done very foolishly<\/em> ] Cp. 1Sa 13:13<\/span>; 2Ch 16:9<\/span>. In both these cases, as in effect here, the folly was sin springing from distrust of God.<\/p>\n 2Sa 24:10<\/span><\/p>\n And Davids heart smote him after that he had numbered the people.<\/em><\/p>\n <\/em><\/p>\n Davids confession<\/strong><\/p>\n The afterward of sin<\/strong><\/p>\n Lord, before I commit a sin, it seems to me so shallow that I may wade through it dry-shod from any guiltiness, but when I have committed it, it often seems so deep that I cannot escape without drowning. Thus I am always in extremities; either my sins are so small that they need not any repentance, or so great that they cannot obtain thy pardon. Lend me, O Lord, a reed out of thy sanctuary, truly to measure the dimension of my offences. But O! as thou revealest to me more of my misery, reveal also more of thy mercy; lest if my wounds, in my apprehension, gape wider than any tents (plugs of lint), my soul run out at them. If my badness seem bigger than Thy goodness but one hairs breadth, but one moment, that-is room and time enough for me to run to eternal despair. (Thomas Fuller<\/em>.)<\/p>\n Verse 10<\/span>. David said – I have sinned greatly<\/B><\/I>] We know not exactly in what this sin consisted. I have already hinted, 2Sa 24:1<\/span>, that probably David now began to covet an extension of empire, and purposed to unite some of the neighbouring states with his own; and having, through the suggestions of Satan or some other adversary<\/I>, (for so the word implies,) given way to this covetous disposition, he could not well look to God for help, and therefore wished to know whether the thousands of Israel and Judah might be deemed equal to the conquests which he meditated. When God is offended and refuses assistance, vain is the help of man.<\/P> <\/p>\n Davids heart smote him; <\/B>his conscience discerned his sin, and he was heartily sorry for it. And the occasion of his repentance was Gods message by the prophet Gad, as it here follows, 2Sa 24:11<\/span>, For when, &c.; as formerly Gods message by Nathan had the same effect, 2Sa 12<\/span>; both which passages are noted, to show how necessary the further and repeated supplies of Gods grace are, even to the best of men, to raise them when they fall into sin. <\/P> For I have done very foolishly, <\/B>because I am sensible of my sin and folly, as it is more fully expressed, Psa 51:5<\/span>,6<\/span>. Or, although<\/I>, as this particle is oft used. <\/P> <\/p>\n 10-13. David’s heart smote him afterthat he had numbered the people. And David said unto the Lord, I havesinned<\/B>The act of numbering the people was not in itselfsinful; for Moses did it by the express authority of God. But Davidacted not only independently of such order or sanction, but frommotives unworthy of the delegated king of Israel; from pride andvainglory; from self-confidence and distrust of God; and, above all,from ambitious designs of conquest, in furtherance of which he wasdetermined to force the people into military service, and toascertain whether he could muster an army sufficient for themagnitude of the enterprises he contemplated. It was a breach of theconstitution, an infringement of the liberties of the people, andopposed to that divine policy which required that Israel shouldcontinue a separate people. His eyes were not opened to theheinousness of his sin till God had spoken unto him by Hiscommissioned prophet.<\/P><\/p>\n And David’s heart smote him, after that had numbered the people<\/strong>,…. For nine or ten months his conscience lay asleep, but now the thing was done, it is awakened, and accuses him for it, and he repents of it; now he began to see the pride and haughtiness of his heart; his vanity and confidence in the creature, which led him to it; aggravated by doing it without seeking to know the mind of God, and without giving him his due, the half shekel, according to the law, Ex 30:12<\/span>; intent only upon increasing his own revenue, as some think, intending to impose a poll tax upon the people when he had numbered them; and attempting to number a people who were not to be numbered; and numbering those who were under the age of twenty, and therefore the plague began before it was finished, 1Ch 27:23<\/span>;<\/p>\n and David said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly in that I have done<\/strong>; he saw and owned his sin to be exceeding sinful, attended with very aggravating circumstances:<\/p>\n and now I beseech thee, Lord, take away the iniquity of thy servant<\/strong>; the guilt of it from his conscience, which lay heavy there, and suffer not the punishment it deserves to take place on him, but grant an application of pardon to him:<\/p>\n for I have done very foolishly<\/strong>; all sin is folly, and some sins are exceeding foolish, and so this appeared to David; or, “though I have done very foolishly” b, yet forgive my sin, see Ps 38:5<\/span>.<\/p>\n b “quamvis”, so Goassius notes it may be rendered; so Pool.<\/p>\n David’s heart, i.e., his conscience, smote him, after he had numbered the people, or had given orders for the census to be taken. Having now come to a knowledge of his sin, he prayed to the Lord for forgiveness, because he had acted foolishly. The sin consisted chiefly in the self-exaltation which had led to this step (see the introductory remarks).<\/p>\n 2Sa 24:11-13<\/span> <\/p>\n <\/strong> When he rose up in the morning, after he had calmly reflected upon the matter during the night upon his bed, and had been brought to see the folly of his determination, the prophet Gad came to him by the command of God, pointed out to him his fault, and foretold the punishment that would come from God. “Shall seven years of famine come upon thy land, or three months of flight before thine oppressors that they may pursue thee, or shall there be three days of pestilence in thy land? Now mark and see what answer I shall bring to Him that sendeth me.” These three verses form one<\/em> period, in which (2Sa 24:13<\/span>) answers as the consequent to in 2Sa 24:11<\/span>, and the words from ( 2Sa 24:11<\/span><\/em>) to ) (2Sa 24:12<\/span>) form a circumstantial clause inserted between. : “and the word of the Lord had taken place (gone forth) to Gad, David’s seer, saying, Go … thus saith Jehovah, I lay upon thee three (things or evils); choose thee one of them that I may do it to thee.” Instead of , to lay upon, we find in the Chronicles, “to turn upon thee.” The three things are mentioned first of all in connection with the execution of Gad’s commission to the king. Instead of seven<\/em> years of famine, we find three<\/em> years in the Chronicles; the Septuagint has also the number three in the passage before us, and apparently it is more in harmony with the connection, viz., three<\/em> evils to choose from, and each lasting through three<\/em> divisions of time. But this agreement favours the seven<\/em> rather than the three, which is open to the suspicion of being intentionally made to conform to the rest. is an infinitive: “thy fleeing,” for that thou fliest before thine enemies. In the Chronicles the last two evils are described more fully, but the thought is not altered in consequence.<\/p>\n 2Sa 24:14<\/span><\/p>\n <\/strong> David replied, “I am in great trouble. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for His mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of men.” Thus David chose the third judgment, since pestilence comes directly from God. On the other hand, in flight from the enemy, he would have fallen into the hands of men. It is not easy to see, however, how far this could apply to famine; probably inasmuch as it tends more or less to create dependence upon those who are still in possession of the means of life.<\/p>\n 2Sa 24:15<\/span><\/p>\n <\/strong> God then gave (sent) a pestilence into (upon) Israel, “from the morning till the time of the assembly;” and there died of the people in the whole land (from Dan to Beersheba) seventy thousand men. “ From the morning:<\/em> ” on which Gad had foretold the punishment. The meaning of is doubtful. The rendering “ to the time appointed<\/em>,” i.e., “till the expiration of the three days,” in support of which the Vulgate ( ad tempus constitutum <\/em>) is wrongly appealed to, is precluded not only by the circumstance that, according to 2Sa 24:16<\/span>, the plague was stayed earlier because God repented Him of the evil, so that it did not last so long as was at first appointed, but also by the grammatical difficulty that has no article, and can only be rendered “for an<\/em> (not for the<\/em>) appointed time.” We meet with two different explanations in the ancient versions: one in the Septuagint, , “till the hour of breakfast,” i.e., till the sixth hour of the day, which is the rendering also adopted by the Syriac and Arabic as well as by Kimchi and several of the Rabbins; the other in the Chaldee (Jonathan), “from the time at which the sacrifice is commonly slain until it is consumed.” Accordingly Bochart explains as signifying “the time at which the people came together for evening prayers, about the ninth hour of the day, i.e., the third hour in the afternoon” (vid., Act 3:1<\/span>). The same view also lies at the foundation of the Vulgate rendering, according to the express statement of Jerome ( traditt. Hebr. in 2 libr. Regum<\/em>): “He calls that the time appointed<\/em>, in which the evening sacrifice was offered.” It is true that this meaning of cannot be established by precisely analogous passages, but it may be very easily deduced from the frequent employment of the word to denote the meetings and festivals connected with the worship of God, when it generally stands without an article, as for example in the perfectly analogous (Hos 9:5<\/span>; Lam 2:7<\/span>, Lam 2:22<\/span>); whereas it is always written with the article when it is sued in the general sense of a fixed time, and some definite period is referred to.<\/p>\n (Note: The objections brought against this have no force in them, viz., that, according to this view, the section must have been written a long time after the captivity (Clericus and Thenius), and that “the perfectly general expression ‘ the time of meeting<\/em> ‘ could not stand for the time of the afternoon or evening meeting” (Thenius): for the former rests upon the assumption that the daily sacrifice was introduced after the captivity, – an assumption quite at variance with the historical facts; and the latter is overthrown by the simple remark, that the indefinite expression derived its more precise meaning from the legal appointment of the morning and evening sacrifice as times of meeting for the worship of God, inasmuch as the evening meeting was the only one that could be placed in contrast with the morning.)<\/p>\n We must therefore decide in favour of the latter. But if the pestilence did not last a whole day, the number of persons carried off by it (70,000 men) exceeded very considerably the number destroyed by the most violent pestilential epidemics on record, although they have not unfrequently swept off hundreds of thousands in a very brief space of time. But the pestilence burst upon the people in this instance with supernatural strength and violence, that it might be seen at once to be a direct judgment from God.<\/p>\n 2Sa 24:16<\/span><\/p>\n <\/strong> The general statement as to the divine judgment and its terrible effects is followed by a more minute description of the judgment itself, and the arrest of the plague. “When the destroying angel (‘ the angel<\/em> ‘ is defined immediately afterwards as ‘ the angel that destroyed the people<\/em> ‘) stretched out his hand towards Jerusalem to destroy it, Jehovah repented of the evil (for this expression, see Exo 32:14<\/span>; Jer 26:13<\/span>, Jer 26:19<\/span>, etc.; and for the repentance of God, the remarks on Gen 6:6<\/span>), and He commanded the angel, Enough! stay now thine hand.” This implies that the progress of the pestilence was stayed before Jerusalem, and therefore that Jerusalem itself was spared. “ And the angel of Jehovah was at the threshing-floor of Aravnah the Jebusite<\/em>.” These words affirm most distinctly that the destroying angel was visible. According to 2Sa 24:17<\/span>, David saw him there. The visible appearance of the angel was to exclude every thought of a natural land plague. The appearance of the angel is described more minutely in the Chronicles: David saw him standing by the threshing-floor of Aravnah between heaven and earth with a drawn sword in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. The drawn sword was a symbolical representation of the purpose of his coming (see at Num 22:23<\/span> and Jos 5:13<\/span>). The threshing-floor of Aravnah was situated, like all other threshing-floors, outside the city, and upon an eminence, or, according to the more precise statement which follows, to the north-east of Zion, upon Mount Moriah (see at 2Sa 24:25<\/span>). According to the Chethib<\/em> of 2Sa 24:16<\/span>, the name of the owner of the floor was , of 2Sa 24:18<\/span> , and of 2Sa 24:20<\/span> (twice) . This last form also occurs in 2Sa 24:22<\/span>, 2Sa 24:23<\/span>, and 2Sa 24:24<\/span>, and has been substituted by the Masoretes as the Keri<\/em> in 2Sa 24:16<\/span> and 2Sa 24:18<\/span>. In the Chronicles, on the other hand, the name is always written ( Ornan<\/em>), and hence in the Septuagint we find in both texts. “The form ( Aravnah<\/em>) has not a Hebrew stamp, whereas Orna<\/em> and Ornan<\/em> are true Hebrew formations. But for this very reason Aravnah<\/em> appears to be derived from an ancient tradition” (Bertheau).<\/p>\n 2Sa 24:17<\/span><\/p>\n <\/strong> When David saw the angel, he prayed to the Lord (he and the elders being clothed in mourning costume: Chron.): “Behold, I have sinned, and I have acted perversely; but these, the flock, what have they done? Let Thy hand come upon me and my house.” The meaning is: I the shepherd of Thy people have sinned and transgressed, but the nation is innocent; i.e., not indeed free from every kind of blame, but only from the sin which God was punishing by the pestilence. It belongs to the very nature of truly penitential prayer, that the person praying takes all the blame upon himself, acknowledges before God that he alone is deserving of punishment, and does not dwell upon the complicity of others for the sake of palliating his own sin in the sight of God. We must not infer, therefore, from this confession on the part of David, that the people, whilst innocent themselves, had had to atone only for an act of transgression on the part of their king.<\/p>\n 2Sa 24:18<\/span><\/p>\n <\/strong> David’s prayer was heard. The prophet Gad came and said to him by command of Jehovah, “Go up, and erect an altar to the Lord upon the floor of Aravnah the Jebusite.” This is all that is communicated here of the word of Jehovah which Gad was to convey to the king; the rest is given afterwards, as is frequently the case, in the course of the subsequent account of the fulfilment of the divine command (2Sa 24:21<\/span>). David was to build the altar and offer burnt-offerings and supplicatory-offerings upon it, to appease the wrath of Jehovah. The plague would then be averted from Israel.<\/p>\n The Numbering of the People Punished.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/I><\/span><\/P> <\/TD> B. C.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN> 1017.<\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/SPAN><\/FONT><\/P> <\/TD> <\/TR> <\/TABLE> 10 And David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD<\/B>, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O LORD<\/B>, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly. 11 For when David was up in the morning, the word of the LORD<\/B> came unto the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, 12 Go and say unto David, Thus saith the LORD<\/B>, I offer thee three things;<\/I> choose thee one of them, that I may do it<\/I> unto thee. 13 So 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. 14 And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD<\/B>; for his mercies are<\/I> great: and let me not fall into the hand of man. 15 So the LORD<\/B> sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beer-sheba seventy thousand men. 16 And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD<\/B> 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<\/B> was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite. 17 And David spake unto the LORD<\/B> 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.<\/P> We have here David repenting of the sin and yet punished for it, God repenting of the judgment and David thereby made more penitent.<\/P> I. Here is David’s penitent reflection upon and confession of his sin in numbering the people. While the thing was in doing, during all those nine months, we do not find that David was sensible of his sin, for had he been so he would have countermanded the orders he had given; but, when the account was finished and laid before him, that very night his conscience was awakened, and he felt the pain of it just then when he promised himself the pleasure of it. When he was about to feast on the satisfaction of the number of his people, it was turned into the gall of asps within him; sense of the sin cast a damp upon the joy, v.<\/I><\/span> 10<\/span>. 1. He was convinced of his sin: His heart smote him<\/I> before the prophet came to him (I think it should not be read for,<\/I> v.<\/span> 11<\/span><\/U><\/I><\/span>, but and, when David was up,<\/I> so it is in the original), his conscience showed him the evil of what he had done; now that appeared sin, and exceedingly sinful, which before he saw no harm in. He reflected upon it with great regret and his heart reproached him for it. Note, It is a good thing, when a man has sinned, to have a heart within him to smite him for it; it is a good sign of a principle of grace in the heart, and a good step towards repentance and reformation. 2. He confessed it to God and begged earnestly for the forgiveness of it. (1.) He owned that he had sinned, sinned greatly, though to others it might seem no sin at all, or a very little one. True penitents, whose consciences are tender and well informed, see that evil in sin which others do not see. (2.) He owned that he had done foolishly, very foolishly,<\/I> because he had done it in the pride of his heart; and it was folly for him to be proud of the numbers of his people, when they were God’s people, not his, and, as many as they were, God could soon make them fewer. (3.) He cried to God for pardon: I beseech thee, O Lord! take away the iniquity of thy servant. If we confess our sins,<\/I> we may pray in faith that God will forgive them,<\/I> and take away, by pardoning mercy, that iniquity which we cast away by sincere repentance.<\/P> II. The just and necessary correction which he suffered for this sin. David had been full of tossings to and fro all night under the sense of his sin, having no rest in his bones because of it, and he arose in the morning<\/I> expecting to hear of God’s displeasure against him for what he had done, or designing to speak with Gad his seer concerning it. Gad is called his seer<\/I> because he had him always at hand to advise with in the things of God, and made use of him as his confessor and counsellor; but God prevented him, and directed the prophet Gad what to say to him (v.<\/I><\/span> 11<\/span>), and,<\/P> 1. Three things are taken for granted, (1.) That David must be corrected for his fault. It is too great a crime, and reflects too much dishonour upon God, to go unpunished, even in David himself. Of the seven things that God hates, pride is the first, Prov. vi. 17<\/span>. Note, Those who truly repent of their sins, and have them pardoned are yet often made to smart for them in this world. (2.) The punishment must answer to the sin. He was proud of the judgment he must be chastised with for this sin must be such as will make them fewer. Note, What we make the matter of our pride it is just with God to take from us, or embitter to us, and, some way or other, to make the matter of our punishment. (3.) It must be such a punishment as the people must have a large share in, for God’s anger was kindled against Israel,<\/I> v.<\/span> 1<\/span><\/U><\/I><\/span>. Though it was David’s sin that immediately opened the sluice, the sins of the people all contributed to the deluge.<\/P> 2. As to the punishment that must be inflicted,<\/P> (1.) David is told to choose what rod he will be beaten with, 2Sa 24:12<\/span>; 2Sa 24:13<\/span>. His heavenly Father must correct him, but, to show that he does not do it willingly, he gives David leave to make choice whether it shall be by war, famine, or pestilence, three sore judgments, which greatly weaken and diminish a people. God, by putting him thus to his choice, designed, [1.] To humble him the more for his sin, which we would see to be exceedingly sinful when he came to consider each of these judgments as exceedingly dreadful. Or, [2.] To upbraid him with the proud conceit he had of his own sovereignty over Israel. He that is so great a prince begins to think he may have what he will. “Come then,” says God, “which wilt thou have of these three things?” Compare Jer. xxxiv. 17<\/span>, I proclaim a liberty for you,<\/I> but it is such a liberty as this of David’s to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine;<\/I> and Jer. xv. 2<\/span>, Such as are for death to death.<\/I> Or [3.] To give him some encouragement under the correction, letting him know that God did not cast him out of communion with himself, but that still his secret was with him, and in afflicting him he considered his frame and what he could best bear. Or [4.] That he might the more patiently bear the rod when it was a rod of his own choosing. The prophet bids him advise with himself, and then tell him what answer he should return to him that sent him.<\/I> Note, Ministers are sent of God to us, and they must give an account of the success of their embassy. It concerns us therefore to consider what answer they shall return from us, that they may give up their account of us with joy.<\/P> (2.) He objects only against the judgments of the sword, and, for the other two, he refers the matter to God, but intimates his choice of the pestilence rather (v.<\/I><\/span> 14<\/span>): I am in a great strait;<\/I> and well he might be when fear, and the pit, and the snare, were before him,<\/I> and if he escape one, he must inevitably fall into the other, Jer 48:43<\/span>; Jer 48:44<\/span>. Note, Sin brings men into straits; wise and good men often distress themselves by their own folly. [1.] He begs that he may not fall into the hand of man.<\/I> “Whatever comes, let us not flee three months before our enemies;<\/I>” this would sully all the glory of David’s triumphs and give occasion to the enemies of God and Israel to behave themselves proudly.<\/I> See Deu 32:26<\/span>; Deu 32:27<\/span>. “Their tender mercies are cruel; and in three months they will do that damage to the nation which many years will not repair.” But, [2.] He casts himself upon God: Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord, for his mercies are great.<\/I> Men are God’s hand<\/I> (so they are called, Ps. xvii. 14<\/span>, the sword of his sending), yet there are some judgments which come more immediately from his hand than others, as famine and pestilence, and David refers it to God which of these shall be the scourge, and God chooses the shortest, that he may the sooner testify his being reconciled. But some think that David, by these words, intimates his choice of the pestilence. The land had not yet recovered the famine under which it smarted three years upon the Gibeonites’ account, and therefore, “Let us not be corrected with that rod, for that also will be the triumph of our neighbours,” hence we read of the reproach of famine<\/I> (Ezek. xxxvi. 30<\/span>); “but if Israel must be diminished, let it be by the pestilence, for that is falling into the hands of the Lord,<\/I>” who usually inflicted that judgment by the hand of his own immediate servants, the angels, as in the death of the first-born of Egypt. That is a judgment to which David himself, and his own family, lie as open as the meanest subject, but not so either to famine or sword, and therefore David, tenderly conscious of his guilt, chooses that. Sword and famine will devour one as well as another, but, it may be thought, the destroying angel will draw his sword against those who are known to God to be most guilty. This will be of the shortest continuance, and he dreads the thought of lying long under the tokens of God’s displeasure. It is a dreadful thing,<\/I> the apostle says, to fall into the hands of the living God<\/I> (Heb. x. 31<\/span>), a fearful thing indeed for sinners that have, by their impenitency, shut themselves out from all hope of his mercy. But David, a penitent, dares cast himself into God’s hand, knowing he shall find that his mercies are great.<\/I> Good men, even when they are under God’s frowns, yet will entertain no other than good thoughts of him. Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.<\/I><\/P> (3.) A pestilence is accordingly sent (v.<\/I><\/span> 15<\/span>), which, for the extent of it, spread from Dan to Beer-sheba, from one end of the kingdom to the other, which showed it to come immediately from God’s hand and not from any natural causes. David has his choice; he suffers by miracle, and not by ordinary means. For the continuance of it, it lasted from morning (this very morning on which it was put to David’s choice) to the time appointed that is, to the third day (so Mr. Poole), or only to the evening of the first day, the time appointed for the evening sacrifice, so bishop Patrick and others, who reckon that the pestilence lasted but nine hours, and that, in compassion to David, God shortened the time he had first mentioned. The execution the pestilence did was very severe. There died<\/I> 70,000 men,<\/I> that were all well, and sick, and dead, in a few hours. What a great cry, may we suppose, was there now throughout all the land of Israel, as there was in Egypt when the first-born were slain! but that was at midnight, this in the daytime, Ps. xci. 6<\/span>. See the power of the angels, when God gives them commission, either to save or to destroy. Joab is nine months in passing with his pen, the angel but nine hours in passing with his sword, through all the coasts and corners of the land of Israel. See how easily God can bring down the proudest sinners, and how much we owe daily to the divine patience. David’s adultery is punished, for the present, only with the death of one infant, his pride with the death of all those thousands, so much does God hate pride. The number slain amounted to almost half a decimation, 70,000 being about one in twenty. Now, we may suppose, David’s flesh trembled for fear of God and he was afraid of his judgments,<\/I> Ps. cxix. 120<\/I><\/span>.<\/P> III. God’s gracious relaxation of the judgment, when it began to be inflicted upon Jerusalem (v.<\/I><\/span> 16<\/span>): The angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem,<\/I> as if he intended to do greater execution there than any where else, even to destroy it.<\/I> The country had drunk of the bitter cup, but Jerusalem must drink the dregs. It should seem that was last numbered, and therefore was reserved to be last plagued; perhaps there was more wickedness, especially more pride (and that was the sin now chastised), in Jerusalem than elsewhere, therefore the hand of the destroyer is stretched out upon that; but then the Lord repented him of the evil,<\/I> changed not his mind, but his way; and said to the destroying angel, It is enough; stay now thy hand,<\/I> and let mercy rejoice against judgment.<\/I> Jerusalem shall be spared for the ark’s sake, for it is the place God hath chosen to put his name there. See here how ready God is to forgive and how little pleasure he takes in punishing; and let it encourage us to meet him by repentance in the way of his judgments. This was on Mount Moriah. Dr. Lightfoot observes that in the very place where Abraham, by a countermand from heaven, was stayed from slaying his son, this angel, by a like countermand, was stayed from destroying Jerusalem. It is for the sake of the great sacrifice that our forfeited lives are preserved from the destroying angel.<\/P> IV. David’s renewed repentance for his sin upon this occasion, v.<\/I><\/span> 17<\/span>. He saw the angel (God opening his eyes for that purpose), saw his sword stretched out to destroy, a flaming sword, saw him ready to sheath it upon the orders given him to stay proceedings; seeing all this, he spoke, not to the angel (he knew better than to address himself to the servant in the presence of the Master, or to give that honour to the creature which is the Creator’s due), but to the Lord, and said, Lo, I have sinned.<\/I> Note, True penitents, the more they perceive of God’s sparing pardoning mercy the more humbled they are for sin and the more resolved against it. They shall be ashamed when I am pacified towards them,<\/I> Ezek. xvi. 63<\/I><\/span>. Observe, 1. How he criminates himself, as if he could never speak ill enough of his own fault: “I have sinned, and I have done wickedly;<\/I> mine is the crime, and therefore on me be the cross. Let thy hand be against me, and my father’s house.<\/I> I am the sinner, let me be the sufferer;” so willing was he to accept the punishment of his iniquity, though he was worth 10,000 of them. 2. How he intercedes for the people, whose bitter lamentations made his heart to ache, and his ears to tingle: These sheep, what have they done?<\/I> Done! Why they had done much amiss; it was their sin that provoked God to leave David to himself to do as he did; yet, as becomes a penitent, he is severe upon his own faults, while he extenuates theirs. Most people, when God’s judgments are abroad, charge others with being the cause of them, and care not who falls by them, so they can escape. But David’s penitent and public spirit was otherwise affected. Let this remind us of the grace of our Lord Jesus, who gave himself for our sins and was willing that God’s hand should be against him, that we might escape. The shepherd was smitten that the sheep might be spared.<\/P> <\/p>\n David’s Hard Choice, <\/strong>2Sa 24:10-17<\/span> AND <\/strong>1Ch 21:7-17<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n When the census neared its completion <\/em>David was suddenly convicted of his wrong in calling for the numbering. It is sad that many, like David, are so unmindful of the Lord’s leadership, they become convicted only after they have committed irrevocable wrong, (See 1Ti 6:9-10<\/span>). David confessed his sin, referring to it as foolishness and iniquity and besought the Lord to pardon it. But it had gone too far for the Lord to ignore it. There must be punishment as an example to others.<\/em><\/p>\n The Lord sent Gad, <\/em>David’s court prophet (seer), to deliver His message of chastisement to the king. He was offered three choices of chastisement: 1) seven years of famine (three years according to Chronicles); 2) three months to suffer defeat by the sword of his foes; 3) three days of pestilence in the land by the sword of the Lord. No one knows whether the Kings account or the Chronicles account is the correct number of the famine. A long ago change by a scribal copyist probably accounts for the different numbers. Perhaps seven is correct, but someone thought the three should be consistent in all the choices; or perhaps one thought the seven was a number often associated with famines and thus made it conform.<\/em><\/p>\n David admitted that he was in a great strait. <\/em>There was no good choice. In the famine the country would suffer from disruption of the course of nature, and a major portion of the people might perish. In the three months’ warfare the whole-country would suffer at the hand of pagan kings and people. So David chose the three days’ pestilence, hoping for the mercy of the Lord to intervene, for it was in the hand of God. It was the wisest choice, of course, and the sequel proves that David was correct in thinking the Lord would extend His mercy in the end.<\/em><\/p>\n So the Lord sent the pestilence, <\/em>which began early in the morning and continued to the third day as promised. People died from one end of Israel to the other, to a total number of seventy thousand who perished. However, it appears that the plague spread in waves, reaching Jerusalem on the last day. Here the angel was poised with his drawn sword to destroy the city, when the Lord extended His mercy and bade the angel desist from striking the city of Jerusalem. The place where the angel stood was over the threshingfloor of Araunah (Oman in Chronicles, accounted for by orthographical change) the Jebusite. Here came David and elders of Jerusalem, clothed in sackcloth of mourning and repentance, and looked up to see the poised angel with his drawn sword.<\/em><\/p>\n The king and elders fell on their faces <\/em>before the destroying angel, and again David prayed for the Lord’s forgiveness. While the Lord allowed the judgment to come on all Israel because they were guilty of trespass against Him (see verse 1), David took all the blame. In a sense he was to blame, for it was he in his pride of power, who commanded that the numbering be done. He admitted his guilt and willingness to receive God’s judgment on himself and his house, but exonerated Israel as innocent sheep.<\/em><\/p>\n The Plague. 2Sa. 24:10-15<\/span><\/p>\n 10 And Davids 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. 13 So 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. 15 So 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 Beer-sheba seventy thousand men.<\/p>\n 8.<\/p>\n How did David know he had sinned? 2Sa. 24:10<\/span><\/p>\n Davids heart smote him after he had completed the numbering of the people. He calmly reflected upon the matter and came to see the folly of his intentions. If he had acted because the people themselves had sinned and thus brought down upon themselves the wrath of God, he knew that it was wrong to react against their evil by performing an evil himself. Two wrongs never make a right. If the people had done something wrong, David should have done something good to counteract it. David also knew that Joab had opposed this numbering, and he came to see that Joab was right. His conviction was confirmed in the morning when Gad, the prophet, brought the judgment of God to him.<\/p>\n 9.<\/p>\n Who was the prophet Gad? 2Sa. 24:11<\/span><\/p>\n Gad had first come to David when David fled from Saul (1Sa. 22:5<\/span>). His ministry at that time was to encourage David while he was a fugitive. He particularly brought Gods message to the effect that David was to stay in the borders of Israel while fleeing from Saul. He was not to seek refuge in Moab or any other place outside the land of his forefathers. Although it was Nathan who brought him the message of the great covenant (2 Samuel 7<\/span>), Gad must have been a constant companion to David. He was one of the three men who wrote the entire history of David (1Ch. 29:29<\/span>). His message following the numbering was one giving David a choice of three penaltiesfamine, flight, or pestilence.<\/p>\n 10.<\/p>\n Why did David choose the pestilence? 2Sa. 24:14<\/span><\/p>\n David felt that he would be more dependent upon the mercy of God if a pestilence was sent upon Israel. It was to be a pestilence lasting for three days, but its toll was heavy. Had the Israelites suffered seven years of famine, the land would have been brought to its knees in hunger. Her enemies would have been able to attack her and overcome her. In that way, Israel would have been at the mercy of hostile men. The same would have been true if they were forced to flee for three months. The toll would have been extremely heavy in such circumstances, and they would have been subjected to all the acts of reprisal which enemy nations could devise.<\/p>\n 11.<\/p>\n What was the effect of the pestilence? 2Sa. 24:15<\/span><\/p>\n God sent a pestilence on Israel which afflicted them all day long. Seventy thousand of Israels men who had recently been counted in the myriads of Israel were smitten before God. The great number in which David had taken pride was thus reduced with one fell swoop from the hand of God. David learned a lesson that could be learned in no other way. He saw that man at his best is helpless before God.<\/p>\n (10) Davids heart smote him.<\/strong>This time Davids own conscience was awakened, without the necessity of being roused, as in the case of Uriah, by the visit of a prophet. He confesses his sin, and prays for pardon. Still it must be remembered that ten months had passed (2Sa. 24:8<\/span>) before David saw his sin.<\/p>\n 10<\/strong>. <\/strong> Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
I. <\/strong>Davids confession–And David said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly in that I have done. It is an unreserved confession. There are no excuses made by him for the sin he has committed. If we would confess our sins acceptably we must confess, as David did, without reserve–without any attempt to dissemble or to cloak them.<\/p>\n
II. <\/strong>The petition. And now, I beseech Thee, O Lord! take away the iniquity of Thy servant. To take away means something more than to forgive. To take away iniquity is not only to pass it over, but to clear the soul of it; so that, though it should be sought for, it should not be found. And this is the Blessed Saviours office. It is the Lamb of God, and He alone, that <\/strong>taketh away the sin of the world.<\/p>\n
III. <\/strong>The plea. For I have done <\/strong>foolishly. When we want to get a pardon from a fellow-creature, we are <\/strong>not apt to lay a stress upon the greatness of our fault, but to catch rather at something that may take a little from its guilt. Take away, saith he, I beseech Thee, the iniquity of Thy servants; and why? what is the <\/strong>argument he brings to give weight to his petition? You might have thought he would have said, for I did it in my haste; it was no intentional offence. But no; Take away my iniquity, says he, for I have done very foolishly. It reminds us of a similar petition in the 25th Psalm. Why, what could David mean, when he names the greatness of his sin as the ground on which he asks for pardon? His meaning probably was this: My sin is great–I have acted very foolishly, and therefore Thou wilt shew the riches of Thy grace the more abundantly in taking my iniquity away. O! blessed be the God of our salvation that such an argument as this can be adopted! If the efficacy of the blood of Jesus had been limited–why then we should have been afraid to say to God, My sin is great. (A. Roberts, M. A<\/em>.)<\/p>\n<\/p>\nFuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
11 For when David was up in the morning, the word of the Lord came unto the prophet Gad, Davids seer, saying,
12 Go 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.<\/p>\n
14 And 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.<\/p>\nFuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n