# 2 Samuel 24 📖: David's Census and the Plague [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-2 Samuel Overview]] | [[2 Samuel 23]] | [[1 Kings 01]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ### David Displeases the Lord by Taking a Census [[#Verse 01.]] The Lord’s anger again raged against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go count Israel and Judah.”  [[#Verse 02.]] The king told Joab, the general in command of his army, “Go through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beer Sheba and muster the army, so I may know the size of the army.” [[#Verse 03.]] Joab replied to the king, “May the Lord your God make the army a hundred times larger right before the eyes of my lord the king! But why does my master the king want to do this?” [[#Verse 04.]] But the king’s edict stood, despite the objections of Joab and the leaders of the army. So Joab and the leaders of the army left the king’s presence in order to muster the Israelite army. [[#Verse 05.]] They crossed the Jordan and camped at Aroer, on the south side of the city, at the wadi of Gad, near Jazer.  [[#Verse 06.]] Then they went on to Gilead and to the region of Tahtim Hodshi, coming to Dan Jaan and on around to Sidon.  [[#Verse 07.]] Then they went to the fortress of Tyre and all the cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites. Then they went on to the Negev of Judah, to Beer Sheba.  [[#Verse 08.]] They went through all the land and after nine months and twenty days came back to Jerusalem. [[#Verse 09.]] Joab reported the number of warriors to the king. In Israel there were 800,000 sword-wielding warriors, and in Judah there were 500,000 soldiers. [[#Verse 10.]] David felt guilty after he had numbered the army. David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly by doing this! Now, O Lord, please remove the guilt of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.” [[#Verse 11.]] When David got up the next morning, the Lord’s message had already come to the prophet Gad, David’s seer:  [[#Verse 12.]] “Go, tell David, ‘This is what the Lord has said: I am offering you three forms of judgment. Pick one of them and I will carry it out against you.’” [[#Verse 13.]] Gad went to David and told him, “Shall seven years of famine come upon your land? Or shall you flee for three months from your enemies with them in hot pursuit? Or shall there be three days of plague in your land? Now decide what I should tell the one who sent me.”  [[#Verse 14.]] David said to Gad, “I am very upset! I prefer that we be attacked by the Lord, for his mercy is great; I do not want to be attacked by human hands!” [[#Verse 15.]] So the Lord sent a plague through Israel from the morning until the completion of the appointed time, and 70,000 people died from Dan to Beer Sheba.  [[#Verse 16.]] When the angel extended his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented from his judgment. He told the angel who was killing the people, “That’s enough! Stop now!” (Now the angel of the Lord was near the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.) [[#Verse 17.]] When he saw the angel who was destroying the people, David said to the Lord, “Look, it is I who have sinned and done this evil thing! As for these sheep—what have they done? Attack me and my family.” ### David Acquires a Threshing Floor and Constructs an Altar There [[#Verse 18.]] So Gad went to David that day and told him, “Go up and build an altar for the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”  [[#Verse 19.]] So David went up as Gad instructed him to do, according to the Lord’s instructions. [[#Verse 20.]] When Araunah looked out and saw the king and his servants approaching him, he went out and bowed to the king with his face to the ground.  [[#Verse 21.]] Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David replied, “To buy from you the threshing floor so I can build an altar for the Lord, so that the plague may be removed from the people.”  [[#Verse 22.]] Araunah told David, “My lord the king may take whatever he wishes and offer it. Look! Here are oxen for burnt offerings, and threshing sledges and harnesses for wood. [[#Verse 23.]] I, the servant of my lord the king, give it all to the king!” Araunah also told the king, “May the Lord your God show you favor!”  [[#Verse 24.]] But the king said to Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it from you! I will not offer to the Lord my God burnt sacrifices that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty pieces of silver.  [[#Verse 25.]] Then David built an altar for the Lord there and offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings. And the Lord accepted prayers for the land, and the plague was removed from Israel. ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. ###### Verse 22. ###### Verse 23. ###### Verse 24. ###### Verse 25. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. 2 Samuel says the Lord incited David (24:1), while 1 Chronicles 21:1 says Satan did, showing that God is sovereign even over Satan's schemes. 2. Joab warned David against taking the census (24:3). 3. The census took nine months and twenty days (24:8). 4. The totals were 800,000 fighting men in Israel and 500,000 in Judah (24:9). 1 Chronicles 21:5 gives different numbers. 5. The Law required a ransom payment when Israel was counted so that no plague would come (Exodus 30:12). 6. Gad is called David's seer (24:11). 7. The Hebrew text of 24:13 says seven years of famine, while 1 Chronicles 21:12 and the Greek version say three years. 8. Seventy thousand people died in the plague (24:15). 9. The angel stopped at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite (24:16), the place where Solomon later built the temple on Mount Moriah (2 Chronicles 3:1). 10. David paid fifty shekels of silver for the threshing floor and oxen (24:24). 1 Chronicles 21:25 says he paid six hundred shekels of gold for the site. ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the sacrifice that stops judgment. The plague ended when David offered sacrifices on Araunah's threshing floor (24:25), the future site of the temple (2 Chronicles 3:1). Jesus offered Himself once for all, and His sacrifice is complete (Hebrews 10:10-12). ## 🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. David's conscience troubled him after the census (24:10). How do you respond when God's Spirit convicts you? 2. David chose to fall into the Lord's hands because His mercy is great (24:14). Why is God's mercy safer than human mercy? 3. David refused to offer the Lord something that cost him nothing (24:24). What does sacrificial worship look like for you? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 10: David's conscience troubles him, and he confesses his sin. - 📖 verse 14: David chooses to fall into the hands of the Lord, whose mercy is great. - 📖 verse 24: David will not offer burnt offerings that cost him nothing. ## 🔗 Related Passages - 🔗 [[1 Chronicles 21#Verse 01.|1 Chronicles 21:1-30]] - The census retold. - 🔗 [[2 Chronicles 03#Verse 01.|2 Chronicles 3:1]] - The temple built on Araunah's threshing floor. - 🔗 [[Genesis 22#Verse 02.|Genesis 22:2]] - Abraham goes to Moriah to offer Isaac. - 🔗 [[Exodus 30#Verse 12.|Exodus 30:12]] - The ransom required when Israel is counted. - 🔗 [[Hebrews 10#Verse 10.|Hebrews 10:10-12]] - Christ's once-for-all sacrifice. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection 📝 SOAP: [[2 Samuel 24 - SOAP|God is Worthy of Our Best]] ## 📂 Internal Notes (2 Samuel 24:18-25) used in message. [[Series_TheWay_Part3-We.Make.It.Better]]