II Samuel 24 · The Lantern

David’s Military Census

And the anger of the LORD burned again against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go, count Israel and Judah.”

And the king said to Joab, the commander of the army who was with him, “Go through all the tribes of Israel, please, from Dan to Beersheba, and muster the people, so that I may know the number of the people.”

And Joab said to the king, “May the LORD your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see it — but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?”

But the word of the king prevailed against Joab and against the commanders of the army; and Joab and the commanders of the army went out from before the king, to muster the people, Israel.

And they crossed the Jordan and camped at Aroer, south of the city that is in the middle of the ravine of Gad, and on toward Jazer.

And they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi; and they came to Dan-jaan, and around to Sidon.

And they came to the fortress of Tyre, and all the cities of the Hivite and the Canaanite; and they went out to the Negev of Judah, to Beersheba.

And they went through all the land, and came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

And Joab gave the number of the mustering of the people to the king: and Israel was eight hundred thousand men of valor who draw the sword, and the men of Judah five hundred thousand men.

Judgment for David’s Sin

And David’s heart struck him after he had counted the people. And David said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. And now, O LORD, take away, please, the iniquity of your servant — for I have acted very foolishly.”

And David rose in the morning; and the word of the LORD came to Gad the prophet, David’s seer, saying:

“Go, and speak to David: Thus says the LORD: Three things I hold over you. Choose for yourself one of them, and I will do it to you.”

And Gad came to David and told him; and he said to him: “Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or three months of fleeing before your adversaries while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days of pestilence in your land? Now know and see what answer I shall return to the one who sent me.”

And David said to Gad: “I am in great distress. Let us fall, please, into the hand of the LORD, for his compassions are many — but into the hand of man let me not fall.”

A Plague on Israel

And the LORD gave a pestilence in Israel from the morning until the appointed time; and there died of the people, from Dan to Beersheba, seventy thousand men.

And the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it; but the LORD relented concerning the evil, and said to the angel who was destroying among the people, “Enough. Now let your hand drop.” And the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

And David spoke to the LORD when he saw the angel who was striking among the people, and he said: “Look — it is I who have sinned, and it is I, the shepherd, who have done wrong. But these, the flock — what have they done? Let your hand be against me, please, and against my father’s house.”

He is a most diligent pastor who delivered over himself on behalf of his sheep. He is an excellent leader who gave himself in behalf of his sheep.… And when David numbered the flock of his sheep, wrath came upon them, and they began to be destroyed.

Good, therefore, is humility. It delivers those who are in danger and raises those who have fallen. This humility was known to him who said, "Behold, it is I that have sinned, and I the shepherd have acted wickedly; and these in this flock, what have they done?

And how is it possible (you say) that one should so love his neighbor as himself? If others had not done this, you might well think it impossible: but if they have done it, it is plain that from indolence it is not done by ourselves. And besides, Christ enjoins nothing impossible, seeing that many have even gone beyond His commands. Who has done this?

David Builds an Altar

And Gad came to David on that day and said to him, “Go up, raise an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”

And David went up according to the word of Gad, as the LORD had commanded.

And Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants crossing over toward him; and Araunah went out and prostrated himself to the king with his face to the ground.

And Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” And David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, to build an altar to the LORD, so that the plague may be held back from the people.”

And Araunah said to David: “Let my lord the king take it, and offer up what is good in his eyes. See — the oxen for the burnt offering, and the threshing sledges and the gear of the oxen for the wood.

All of it Araunah gives, O king, to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the LORD your God accept you.”

And the king said to Araunah: “No — for I will surely buy it from you for a price; and I will not offer up to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost nothing.” And David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.