READ: 2 Samuel 24
Verses
chosen for meditation:
2 Samuel 24:1
Again
the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against
them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.”
2 Samuel 24:24
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.
REFLECT
This
last chapter is one of the hardest for readers to come to grips with, due to the
phrase in v1, “…he incited David against them…”. To make sense of this phrase,
we first understand what David did that was wrong.
The
sin was in the census that he took, meaning counting the people he had. What’s
so wrong about taking a census? There are accounts in the Bible when taking a
census was not wrong (Exodus 30:11-16, Numbers 1, Numbers 26). In those instances,
God made clear the purposes of the census, where an accurate count was needed
to meet the nation’s administrative needs. Here, David’s intent was something
else altogether, with interest in his military strength. All his life, David
relied on the power of God when entering battle rather than place his faith in
numbers, but the move he made here was opposite of that. Was he placing
confidence in the military numbers he amassed during his kingship? Nearing the
end of his life, was the census for him to delight in taking stock of “his achievements”,
so that he could boast?
So,
that was the sin, but wasn’t God the one who led him to number the people in
verse 1? We get a better understanding with a parallel account of this census
in 1 Chronicles 21:1, where it attributed the inciting of David to Satan, lest
we think that God was the one tempting David. God does not tempt (James 1:13)
but does permit Satan’s tempting at times. God allows tempting by Satan (1 Corinthians 10:13), not for his own entertainment, but for our benefit, because
we come out stronger if we conquer the temptation as compared to someone not
facing difficulty at all.
David
eventually realised his wrongdoing and took ownership of his sin, rather than
blame others, or blame God for allowing Satan’s temptation. Temptation was not
the cause of his downfall, but his sin in response to being tempted. God gave
David three choices of punishment, and he chose the plague for three days. David
would rather leave judgement to God than to men, recognising that God’s
mercy is way better than the unchecked violence of men, which might be the
reason for his choice. God’s mercy indeed showed as he stayed the hand of the
angel about to destroy Jerusalem.
David
truly repented and requested for God’s wrath to be directed towards him instead
of these “innocents”. Israel was not innocent though. The sins of a leader can
have wide repercussions on his people, but v1 revealed that Israel angered God
and deserved judgement regardless. Though God was merciful, David still needed
to atone properly, building an altar for God. The altar was a good reminder of
God being the focus of worship rather than worship in himself, which David was
dangerously tending towards in his census.
RELATE
For
each time we read of God’s judgement in the OT which often involved high numbers
of deaths, I get many more questions about God’s character, especially from my
youths. I struggle with some of these questions myself. Questions like “Why
would a good God allow such suffering?” Questions like “Chris, how can you say
that God is merciful, when 70,000 men were wiped out? If anything, Isn’t God
ruthless?” The fact that we do not have God’s wisdom, nor can we fully
comprehend his ways, often makes any attempted answer we come out with unsatisfactory.
The truth is there are no easy, or even satisfactory answers, especially when the
suffering’s upon our loved ones.
Instead
of addressing fully these questions (which is for another day), I’d like to
bring attention to the fact that despite these “harsh” judgements, men like
Moses and David remained steadfast in their faith. Not only faith in the power
of God, but in the GOODNESS of God. This may not provide answers to the above
questions, but it does give more insight as we continue grappling with these
questions in our walk.
Many
of us may question the character of God in these accounts or when we read of
suffering in the world. Is it because we care so much for the people suffering
out there, so much so the fact that God leaving them be affects us in our core
and causes us not only to question, but make this issue deeply personal? I
realised that my sadness for the people I read about pales in comparison to the
sadness of characters like Moses and David. Compared to me, their hearts
genuinely break for their people, interceding for them, to the point that they
would sacrifice themselves. With such compassion for their people, I’m sure
they were hurt even more than us by what God did. Yet, they maintained that God
was merciful and was right to do what he did rather than question the way we do.
Why? Is it that our sense of justice and moral compasses differ so much from Moses
and David? Possibly. But I’d like to think it is not so much of differing
values systems, but a faith that our God is a good God who loves us like no one
can, whose ways are best. With this faith, even when things happen around us in
the world that we do not understand, this belief of his goodness will not
buckle.
In
making sense of God’s goodness, one aspect we often avoid tackling and would
rather place attention on God’s wrath, is the seriousness of our transgressions.
For example, we incline to think “God is so harsh in his punishment” rather
than “Our sin is that serious, and that’s why such a punishment’s actually
fair.” To absolve ourselves of blame or downplay our actions, we make God seem
like the bad guy instead. We must not forget that sin is serious. The wages of
sin is death. The wickedness in the world is so prevalent that without God’s
interference, we would destroy ourselves due to our sin at a much faster rate,
in more violent ways. There was a time (Noah’s time) where evil in the world
was so unspeakable that God wiping out most of the world might be mercy.
Letting the world continue rotting to eternal damnation was worse, so death was
mercy. Can we accept such a reasoning? Could it be that the death of 70,000 in
this chapter was part of the solution, partly to save Israel from themselves?
Who would know? What we do know is that God never delighted in these sufferings
or judgements. It might be presumptuous of us to question God’s goodness in
some of these killings when God himself is the one hurting the most since he
loves these people infinitely more than us.
Because
of our fallen nature, there are no good solutions in dealing with humanity. So
how does a good God deal with it then? God has already come out with the
solution. Sadly for God, but luckily and totally undeserved for us, the
solution is Jesus. This IS the seriousness of our sins. It is so serious that
even for God, in his almighty power cannot simply write it all off without any
cost. And this cost is a painful one. The most painful one in fact, sacrificing
his only son, Jesus. What a costly atonement! If that is not a loving and good
God, I don’t know what is. I’m quite a sceptic myself, and I probably wouldn’t
believe in Christianity if God gave any other solution. But because it is this
solution, I know my God is not someone sitting at the ivory tower prioritising
his own feelings. I also know that in Jesus, we have a God who truly identifies
with our pain.
David
understood this cost. The book ends with one of the most powerful verses of the
chapter in v24, where David would not offer anything to God that did not cost
him. David noted that atonement was necessary, and his sin was costly, so the
offerings he presented must cost him. If the things he offered came so cheaply,
his worship and atonement would not be as sincere as it should be. We must let
David’s powerful response sink in and inform us of how we give to God of
ourselves, be it in repentance, offering, worship, or serving. Tim Keller wrote
in one of his books that sacrifice is a given for Christians. We can’t expect
to only give, or worship, or help someone only when it is convenient for us, or
only part with what’s of little value to us. Sacrifice that cost us is also what
makes the giving pleasing to God. Also, we must never take Jesus’
sacrifice for granted, because of its infinite cost. All of us are
grateful for Jesus, but how many of us desire to change our ways so we don’t
cheapen his sacrifice? How many of us want to take up our cross and follow Jesus
(and this will cost us) because he atoned for us, when we can’t do so?
REST
Dear Jesus. I’m overwhelmed by your grace. You bore
all our sins, though you are the only one free of any wrongdoing. Help us to
not trample on this grace. May we help others know of your saving grace, which is
of love, not of condemnation. In your name we pray, Amen.
Chris
Chong
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