“But after he had taken the census, David’s conscience began to bother him. And he said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly by taking this census. Please forgive my guilt, Lord, for doing this foolish thing.” The next morning the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, who was David’s seer. This was the message: “Go and say to David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I will give you three choices. Choose one of these punishments, and I will inflict it on you.’” So Gad came to David and asked him, “Will you choose three years of famine throughout your land, three months of fleeing from your enemies, or three days of severe plague throughout your land? Think this over and decide what answer I should give the Lord who sent me.” “I’m in a desperate situation!” David replied to Gad. “But let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great. Do not let me fall into human hands.” So the Lord sent a plague upon Israel that morning, and it lasted for three days. A total of 70,000 people died throughout the nation, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south. But as the angel was preparing to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented and said to the death angel, “Stop! That is enough!” At that moment the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. When David saw the angel, he said to the Lord, “I am the one who has sinned and done wrong! But these people are as innocent as sheep—what have they done? Let your anger fall against me and my family.” That day Gad came to David and said to him, “Go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” So David went up to do what the Lord had commanded him. When Araunah saw the king and his men coming toward him, he came and bowed before the king with his face to the ground. “Why have you come, my Lord the king?” Araunah asked. David replied, “I have come to buy your threshing floor and to build an altar to the Lord there, so that he will stop the plague.” “Take it, my Lord the king, and use it as you wish,” Araunah said to David. “Here are oxen for the burnt offering, and you can use the threshing boards and ox yokes for wood to build a fire on the altar. I will give it all to you, Your Majesty, and may the Lord your God accept your sacrifice.” But the king replied to Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it, for I will not present burnt offerings to the Lord my God that have cost me nothing.” So David paid him fifty pieces of silver for the threshing floor and the oxen. David built an altar there to the Lord and sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings. And the Lord answered his prayer for the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.”
2 Samuel 24:10-25 NLT
The final chapter of 2 Samuel shows David involved in an interesting sin. Rather than being blatant and heinous, it was a more nuanced sin. It was a sin of pride. Here we see that David had an ulterior motive for his census. He wanted to understand the military might of Israel. Perhaps this was because David was a military man by profession and a war was in his blood? Perhaps it was because he was preparing to go to battle? Whatever the reason, it represented a subtle shift in his mindset. The big who slew the giant had never cared about numbers or statistics before. He had always seen the victory of a battle as predicated upon God’s decree. Yet here we see him taking an account of what Israel can do based upon their own might. Israel was not to think of itself as self-reliant. This subtle thought and seemingly benign order to Joab caused tens of thousands of men to die in a weekend. Truthfully, had that sin been allowed to grow, it may have caused hundreds of thousands to die over time. Gods discipline of David was harsh, but it was a grace that prevented David from dying as a tyrant rather than being cemented into Israel’s history as a hero. A king must not paint with broad strokes. His submission to God must be nuanced.
David’s Sin: A sin of pride, specifically a desire to understand and rely on Israel’s military might rather than God’s decree.
Consequence of the Sin: Tens of thousands of deaths and a potential for further loss of life if not for God’s discipline.
God’s Discipline: Harsh but necessary to prevent David from becoming a tyrant and to reinforce the importance of submission to God.
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