1 Chronicles

1 Chronicles 21:1-8

Satan took a stand against Israel; he did this by tempting David to take a census. In 2 Samuel 24:1 we see that the Lord was aroused against Israel. The Lord allowed this census to bring a punishment against Israel. David made the decision to take a census of his own free will. The future of Israel and its military successes was never reliant on the size of the army or the wisdom of David as a general; it was dependent on the Lord. David had lost sight of that. Even as Satan took a stand, God was at work.

Joab knew this was not a good thing and that it would bring guilt against Israel. It's unclear how he specifically knew this. The Levites were excluded from military service by the law. It's not clear why Benjamin was exempted other than Joab's frustration of the situation before he completed the count of that tribe. The Lord was angry at the census. This was most likely due to the David's motivaiton, but it could also be because of the way the census was taken. Exodus 30:11-16 gives the details of the law on how a census should be taken. A census was supposed to include a half shekel ransom for each person.

The Lord struck Israel; some affliction was obvious enough to David that he knew he had sinned. David acknowledges the foolishness in which he acted; and in which he ignored the counsel of Joab.

1 Chronicles 21:9-13

Gad had served as David's seer since his days of running from Saul. He came to David with the Lord's word. He was given a choice of punishments:

· Three years of famine.

· Three months of military defeat.

· Three days of the sword of the Lord by way of a plague.

At this point how do you make a decision. In sin we pile poor decisions to hide poor decisions. The Lord offers a multiple choice that clearly shows there is no good decision or outcome after temptation gave birth to sin. Davis wisest choice was to fall on the mercy of God. In our worst times, as children of God, we should never forget that we aren't at the mercy of our circumstances or other men, but we are at the mercy of a merciful God.

1 Chronicles 21:14-17

The Lord sent the plague, seemingly the most merciful in that it would be over the quickest. Who could argue how many would die a slow death of starvation; or how many men would fall in miltary defeat. After seventy thousand had fallen, the angel moved against Jerusalem. The Lord stopped the angel as he stood at the threshing floor of Ornan (or Araunah in 2 Sam 24:16). David was given the ability to see this angel standing between heaven and earth.

1 Chronicles 21:18-30

The sword was still but remained drawn and ready to strike. David acted as the commanded, but not so hastily to not do this correctly. The altar had to be erected at this place. It's interstesting that Ornan saw the angel but kept threshing. Ornan tried to give David the land and animals to sacrifice but David insisted on paying for them. While the punishment for this sin couldn't be purchased by David, the offering and covering of sin had its prices. We know the high price that was paid for our sin, yet we got the benefit of that for free. It didn't come cheep, but it was offered freely.

The burnt offering was made to plead God's forgiveness; the fellowship, or peace offering was to renew the damaged covenant relationship. Fire came down on the altar showing God's acceptance of the offerings. The sword of the angel was sheathed.

©2016 Doug Ford