God Or Numbers (2 Samuel 24)

Do human governments rely on God or military numbers? Does God often defeat a strong enemy using inferior numbers? Let’s look at 2 Samuel 24.

Was Israel relying on military numbers rather than God, who often defeated enemies by using inferior numbers?

Now the anger of the Lord burned against Israel again, and He [lit. there was who] incited David against them to say, “Go, count Israel and Judah.” (2 Samuel 24:1 NASB)

The Hebrew here is difficult grammatically, yet is there a clearer account?

Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel. (1 Chronicles 21:1 NIV)

Did David ignore Joab’s good advice against a military census?

So the king said to Joab and the commanders of the army, “Take a census of all the tribes of Israel—from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south—so I may know how many people there are.” But Joab replied to the king, “May the Lord your God let you live to see a hundred times as many people as there are now! But why, my lord the king, do you want to do this?” But the king insisted that they take the census, so Joab and the commanders of the army went out to count the people of Israel. First they crossed the Jordan and camped at Aroer, south of the town in the valley, in the direction of Gad. Then they went on to Jazer, then to Gilead in the land of Tahtim-hodshi and to Dan-jaan and around to Sidon. Then they came to the fortress of Tyre, and all the towns of the Hivites and Canaanites. Finally, they went south to Judah as far as Beersheba. (2 Samuel 24:2-7 NLT)

Had David sinned by pride in human numbers rather than faith in God?

So when they had gone back and forth through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. Joab gave up the sum of the counting of the people to the king; and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men. David’s heart struck him after he had counted the people. David said to Yahweh, “I have sinned greatly in that which I have done. But now, Yahweh, put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly.” (2 Samuel 24:8-10 WEB)

What three choices did Gad the prophet say God gave to David because of this sin?

When David got up the next morning, the Lord’s word came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer: Go and tell David, This is what the Lord says: I’m offering you three punishments. Choose one of them, and that is what I will do to you. So Gad went to David and said to him, “Will three years of famine come on your land? Or will you run from your enemies for three months while they chase you? Or will there be three days of plague in your land? Decide now what answer I should take back to the one who sent me.” “I’m in deep trouble,” David said to Gad. “Let’s fall into the Lord’s hands because his mercy is great, but don’t let me fall into human hands.” (2 Samuel 24:11-14 CEB)

How many did one man’s sin affect? What happens when national leaders rely on military might rather than God?

So that morning, the Lord sent an angel to spread a horrible disease everywhere in Israel, from Dan to Beersheba. And before it was over, 70,000 people had died. When the angel was about to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord felt sorry for all the suffering he had caused and told the angel, “That's enough! Don't touch them.” This happened at the threshing place that belonged to Araunah the Jebusite. David saw the angel killing everyone and told the Lord, “These people are like sheep with me as their shepherd. I have sinned terribly, but they have done nothing wrong. Please, punish me and my family instead of them!” (2 Samuel 24:15-17 CEV)

Under the old system, what was required to make atonement for sins?

And Gad came that day to David and said to him, “Go up, raise an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” So David went up at Gad's word, as the Lord commanded. And when Araunah looked down, he saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. And Araunah went out and paid homage to the king with his face to the ground. And Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague may be averted from the people.” Then Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Here are the oxen for the burnt offering and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the Lord your God accept you.” But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. And David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel. (2 Samuel 24:18-25 ESV)