HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 744
1 C H RO N I C L ES 2 2
to David. There were 1,100,000 warriors in all
Israel who could handle a sword, and 470,000
in Judah. 6 But Joab did not include the tribes
of Levi and Benjamin in the census because he
was so distressed at what the king had made
him do.
Judgment for David’s Sin
7 God was very displeased with the census, and
he punished Israel for it. 8 Then David said to
God, “I have sinned greatly by taking this census. Please forgive my guilt for doing this foolish
thing.”
9 Then the Lord spoke to Gad, David’s seer.
This was the message: 10 “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.’”
11 So Gad came to David and said, “These are
the choices the Lord has given you. 12 You may
choose three years of famine, three months of
destruction by the sword of your enemies, or
three days of severe plague as the angel of the
Lord brings devastation throughout the land
of Israel. Decide what answer I should give the
Lord who sent me.”
13 “I’m in a desperate situation!” David replied to Gad. “But let me fall into the hands of
the Lord, for his mercy is very great. Do not let
me fall into human hands.”
14 So the Lord sent a plague upon Israel, and
70,000 people died as a result. 15 And God sent
an angel to destroy Jerusalem. But just as the
angel was preparing to destroy it, the Lord
relented and said to the death angel, “Stop!
That is enough!” At that moment the angel of
the Lord was standing by the threshing floor of
Araunah* the Jebusite.
• Forgiveness
1 CH R O NIC LE S 2 1 :7 -1 4
Sin has a domino effect—once a sin is
committed, a series of consequences
follows. God will forgive our sin if we ask
him, but the consequences of that sin
have already been set in motion. David
pleaded for mercy, and God responded by
stopping the angel before the mission of
death was complete. The consequences
of David’s sin, however, had already
caused severe damage. God will always
forgive our sins and will often intervene
to make their bitter consequences less
severe, but the scars remain. Thinking
through the possible consequences
before we act can save us and others
much sorrow and suffering.
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16 David looked up and saw the angel of the
Lord standing between heaven and earth with
his sword drawn, reaching out over Jerusalem.
So David and the leaders of Israel put on burlap
to show their deep distress and fell face down on
the ground. 17 And David said to God, “I am the
one who called for the census! I am the one who
has sinned and done wrong! But these people
are as innocent as sheep—what have they done?
O Lord my God, let your anger fall against me
and my family, but do not destroy your people.”
David Builds an Altar
18 Then the angel of the Lord told Gad to instruct
David to go up and build an altar to the Lord on
the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 19 So
David went up to do what the Lord had commanded him through Gad. 20 Araunah, who was
busy threshing wheat at the time, turned and
saw the angel there. His four sons, who were with
him, ran away and hid. 21 When Araunah saw David approaching, he left his threshing floor and
bowed before David with his face to the ground.
22 David said to Araunah, “Let me buy this
threshing floor from you at its full price. Then I
will build an altar to the Lord there, so that he
will stop the plague.”
23 “Take it, my lord the king, and use it as you
wish,” Araunah said to David. “I will give the
oxen for the burnt offerings, and the threshing
boards for wood to build a fire on the altar, and
the wheat for the grain offering. I will give it all
to you.”
24 But King David replied to Araunah, “No,
I insist on buying it for the full price. I will not
take what is yours and give it to the Lord. I will
not present burnt offerings that have cost me
nothing!” 25 So David gave Araunah 600 pieces
of gold* in payment for the threshing floor.
26 David built an altar there to the Lord and
sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings.
And when David prayed, the Lord answered him
by sending fire from heaven to burn up the offering on the altar. 27 Then the Lord spoke to the
angel, who put the sword back into its sheath.
28 When David saw that the Lord had answered his prayer, he offered sacrifices there
at Araunah’s threshing floor. 29 At that time the
Tabernacle of the Lord and the altar of burnt
offering that Moses had made in the wilderness
were located at the place of worship in Gibeon.
30 But David was not able to go there to inquire
of God, because he was terrified by the drawn
sword of the angel of the Lord.
22
Then David said, “This will be the location for the Temple of the Lord God
and the place of the altar for Israel’s burnt
offerings!”
21:15 As in parallel text at 2 Sam 24:16; Hebrew reads Ornan,
another name for Araunah; also in 21:18-28. 21:25 Hebrew
600 shekels of gold, about 15 pounds or 6.8 kilograms in weight.