2 Samuel 24:1-4, 8-14
The anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah. For the king said to Joab the captain of the host, which was with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the number of the people. And Joab said unto the king, Now the LORD thy God add unto the people, how many soever they be, an hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord the king may see it: but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing?
Notwithstanding the king’s word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the host. And Joab and the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel…So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king…
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 what 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.
A. W. PINK (1886-1952): We are not left in any doubt that on this occasion David committed a grave fault, yet wherein lay the evil of it is not so certain.
ROBERT HAWKER (1753-1827): David’s sin seems plainly to have been the sin of presumption, in trusting more to an arm of flesh than in the LORD GOD of his salvation; yet, it must be confessed, that both in the sin, and in the proposed punishment, we have not so clear marks to form our conclusions as to speak with certainty.
G. CAMPBELL MORGAN (1863-1945): The spirit of vainglory in numbers had taken possession of the people and the king, and there was a tendency to trust in numbers and forget God.
CHARLES SIMEON (1759-1836): It is manifest that David was actuated by pride, in wishing to know the extent of the population he governed; and that he was indulging confidence in an arm of flesh, instead of trusting in God only. That he was faulty in these particulars was visible even to so wicked a man as Joab, who expostulated with him on the subject, and warned him that he was bringing guilt and punishment upon the whole nation.
MATTHEW HENRY (1662-1714): While the thing was in doing, during all those nine months, we do not find that David was sensible of his sin, for had he been so he would have countermanded the orders he had given; but, when the account was finished and laid before him, that very night his conscience was awakened.
MATTHEW POOLE (1624-1679): His conscience discerned his sin, and he was heartily sorry for it. And the occasion of his repentance was God’s message by the prophet Gad.
MATTHEW HENRY: David is told to choose what rod he will be beaten with―God, by putting him thus to his choice, designed, first, to humble him the more for his sin, which we would see to be exceedingly sinful when he came to consider each of these judgments as exceedingly dreadful. Or, second, to upbraid him with the proud conceit he had of his own sovereignty over Israel. He that is so great a prince begins to think he may have what he will. “Come then,” says God, “which wilt thou have of these three things?” Or, third, to give him some encouragement under the correction, letting him know that God did not cast him out of communion with himself, but that still his secret was with him, and in afflicting him he considered his frame and what he could best bear. Or, fourth, that he might the more patiently bear the rod when it was a rod of his own choosing.
A. W. PINK: To these we would add, Fifth―to try out his heart and give opportunity for the exercise and exhibition of his faith.
CHARLES SIMEON: Years of famine, or three months of unsuccessful warfare, or three days of pestilence: a painful choice indeed! But David wisely preferred the falling into the hands of God, and not into the hands of man. “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.”
JOHN CALVIN (1509-1564): It was as if David had said, “Lord, since I have so often experienced Thee to be a merciful God, I will trust to and repose in Thy mercies for ever.”
MATTHEW HENRY: But some think that David, by these words, intimates his choice of the pestilence.*
JAMES DURHAM (1622-1658): God knows best what is suitable.
WILLIAM JAY (1769-1853): We must confide in the judgment of God, and distrust our own. We are short-sighted creatures, and easily imposed upon by appearances, and know not what is good for us in this vain life which we spend as a shadow. But He cannot be mistaken. A wise father will choose far better for his infant, than the infant can choose for himself.
A. W. PINK: Even when the Lord is sorely chastening us for our faults, He is infinitely more gracious, more faithful, more deserving of our trust than is any creature.
MARY WINSLOW (1774-1854): What a mercy it is that He takes His own way, and not ours!
ROWLAND HILL (1744-1833): Nothing is by blind chance, all is under the management of infinite wisdom. I would therefore take all things as coming from God, that they may lead me to God. The rod of affliction which He uses is made up of many twigs, but they are all cut from the same tree.
C. H. SPURGEON (1834-1892): Every sin has one twig in God’s rod appropriated to itself.*
_____________________________
*EDITOR’S NOTE: If David had chosen the pestilence, it would have been a presumption of his own wisdom once again. David’s wisdom was not to choose, and to let God choose, which demonstrated his repentance by his complete faith in the Lord’s judgment, wisdom and mercy. And God selected the most appropriate twig from His rod to deal with both the people and David their king: famine would have chastened the people, but not touched king David in his palace; but David being chased by his enemies would have left most of the people untouched. However, with the pestilence, David and all the people were in equal mortal danger, and equally defenceless, which meant that every single offender had to trust in God’s mercy alone for survival.
