Ensign: David And The Census

All ye inhabitants of the world, and dwellers on the earth, see ye, when he lifteth up an ensign on the mountains; and when he bloweth a trumpet, hear ye.  Isaiah 18:3

 

AN ENSIGN ON THE MOUNTAINS                                                    28 October 2016 

 

And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21 tell the same story with slightly different wording – David as king of Israel called for all the people in the kingdom he ruled in the name of the LORD to be counted.  This isn’t in and of itself a bad thing; in fact, in the United States our own Constitution mandates it (Article I, section ii, clause 3, sentence two) and it’s hardly sinful to be counted as a citizen of one’s own country. But it’s the motive with which we do even the most necessary and obvious things that God weighs.

 

I began with the opening of 1 Chronicles 21’s account; let’s proceed to the opening of 2 Samuel 24 which is worded a little differently. “And again was the anger of the LORD kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.” Can we mesh those together, or are God the Father and Satan the adversary working in collusion? Yes and no. God will allow Satan (read the beginning of Job) to work against a person but, even powerful as the devil is, he is subject as all created beings are to the Creator.

 

So when you or I say that “the devil made me do it” we’re not only promoting bad theology but also we’re calling God a liar. (Do YOU want to call God a liar?) I’ll gloss over the details right now – despite the misgivings of David’s right-hand man Joab, he and the others leaders of Israel counted a total one hundred thirty thousand “men that drew the sword” or could fight for the country – and come to the punishment.  Say what you will about David or about the Bible really, it doesn’t gloss over the all-too-human failings of people. 

 

DAVID said unto the LORD in 2 Samuel 24, verse ten: “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.” So the LORD sent Gad (not the tribe, a seer, one of the early prophets) to give David the king one of three choices among these: three years of famine, three months helpless before an enemy (“to be destroyed before thy foes”, 1 Chronicles 21:12), or three days of plague. People being unpredictable and God being certain, David took the last option, but how that must have hurt!

 

As a king or any kind of leader from within our households to whole nations, we feel pain when others suffer for our mistakes. Picking the least worst consequence is not often a luxury we have, and the condemnation of seventy thousand men to death (from 2 Samuel 24:15 and 1 Chronicles 21:14) is no decision we want to make. Unless, to quote Dr. Seuss’ “The Lorax”, “What that meant, well, I just couldn’t guess.” Not every story in the Bible has an easy answer, hence the reason you’ve probably never heard this one before. It’s the will of God that people die; that is hard to take.

 

The story continues in both passages that just as the angel of the LORD was ready to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD stopped him. The place where he stopped – by the threshing floor (for grain) of Araunah or Ornan the Jebusite – became the site upon which David was commanded to build an altar unto the LORD. And Araunah was so overwhelmed by the king coming to him that he offered everything necessary for free, but David would hear none of that. I don’t know how much fifty shekels of silver equals in terms of our money, but I imagine it cost the king of Israel a good deal.

 

It cost David because it needed to. When we make the decision to hear the LORD and do what He says, it will cost us, and when we have sinned (and who hasn’t) it will cost us more than we ever imagined. It costs us because it needs to, for without something we pay, some part of ourselves that we give up, the grace of God like any other commodity becomes cheap. (I’ll bring up Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s phrase another day.) Christians say that Jesus paid the price for us on the cross and that’s true, but you and I need to pay every day in terms of giving up what we want and desire for God. Then we can be counted and counted right. 

 

Sincerely yours,

 

David   

 

P.S. I write this weekly devotional to keep in touch with all of you in my address book, and I hope to be an encourager too!  If you find that I’m not or you want me to get lost, just let me know, thank you!

 

We praise You, Lord, for this beautiful day You have given us!  Please pray with me for the peace of Jerusalem on both sides of the fence and for physical and spiritual communities around our world. 

 

Lord, we need Your strength to fight the natural disasters and human ills to ultimately treat the cause and not just the symptoms; until we who have power change, this world You have made us stewards of won’t either. 

 

Thank You, Lord, for all those in leadership and service here and abroad.  Thank You for the opportunities we have been given as well as the promise of new life through Your Son.  And may we all seek and have a blessed week!  Amen.