Big Healing Book - 2 Samuel 24:10-25

2 Samuel 24:10-25:

And David’s 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.
For when David was up in the morning, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying,
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.
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 that answer I shall return to him that sent me.
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.
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 Beersheba seventy thousand men.
And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD 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 was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite.
And David spake unto the LORD 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.
And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the LORD in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite.
And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the LORD commanded.
And Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground.
And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the LORD, that the plague may be stayed from the people.
And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood.
All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The LORD thy God accept thee.
And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD was intreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

Notes on 2 Samuel 24:10-25:

Here we have another case of an angel sending disease among people. This passage is especially jolting because “the angel of the LORD” did it and the Lord “sent” the pestilence.

God was simply fulfilling His Word. He promised Israel curses if they disobeyed Him. David had done something that displeased God, and a curse came on Israel. God was actually obligated by His own Word to ensure that sickness came on Israel when there was disobedience!

One could wonder what was wrong with taking a census. God had ordered it before, and it would make sense to know how many people you have. But there were a couple issues. It seems that David wanted to trust his census more than God. Also, there were no sacrifices for the people when the census was taken, and God guaranteed a plague if you took up a census without sacrifice.

Exodus 30:12:
When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberst them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberst them.

This raises another thorny issue. How could the innocent people be killed by something God declared to be a curse when they were not all personally responsible? Perhaps you have a better answer than I do, but I would say that there was definitely a collective meaning behind the blessings and curses in Deuteronomy 28. The blessings fell on the land when the general populace obeyed God; curses came on the land when the general populace disobeyed God. One could point out that the general populace did not offer sacrifices, which were required when there was a census, and someone should have known the Law enough to point that out to avoid punishment.

These blessings and curses are useful for determining what God calls blessings and curses, especially because Christ has redeemed us from these curses. These things were not all specific to individuals. However, in Christ, you are redeemed from any kind of curse, individual or collective. Under the New Covenant, God will not act like your mean teacher who made the whole class stay after school for detention even when you hadn’t done anything wrong yourself.

This account is told elsewhere in 1 Chronicles 21:7-27.