The census, his senses and the essence

The census, his senses and the essence

SIB/Pastor Daniel Tan 8/10/11

1 Chronicles 21-22:1, 2 Samuel 24

These two passages give the account of how King David sinned by ordering a census of all the fighting men of Israel and as a result brought God’s wrath upon Israel until he came to full repentance.

In 1 Chronicles 21, it is written that Satan incited David to the census, while in 2 Samuel 24, it is written that the Lord incited David. Which is correct? Both are. In a sense, like in the case of Job, the Lord permitted Satan to incite David. Hebrew writers do not always distinguish between the primary and the secondary.  James 1:13-15 clearly says that God cannot be tempted nor does He tempt anyone, but each person is tempted when they are dragged away by their own evil desire and enticed. Then after desire is conceived, it gives birth to sin, and when sin is full grown, it gives birth to death.

The important question here is “What was in David’s heart?” He was drawn away by his own desires. If a cow does not want to drink water, you cannot push its head down. If you do not have evil desires, you cannot fall into temptation. The eye sees what the heart loves.

There is a story of a woman who found it hard to control her spending went shopping one day and bought a very expensive dress. Her husband asked why and she said “the devil made me do it”. He replied “Didn’t you hear in church, that you should say “Get behind me Satan”. “I did” she replied “But the devil told me “It looks even better from here”.

David already had it in his heart to do the census. The word incite is an imperfect tense, indicating that it was bringing to completion the action out of the desire David already had.

Why did David want to count the army? What was wrong with that?

There are 3 main reasons.

Firstly, the census was not done according to God’s law. In Exodus 30, detailed instructions are given about how during a census, each man must pay a ransom for his own life to the Lord, half a shekel, regardless of how poor or rich he is. This is done as a memorial to the Lord.

Secondly, the census was never ordered by God. The previous two census by Moses and Joshua were ordered by God. Furthermore, military census were always done for the purpose of battle. However, here, there was no battle.

Thirdly and most importantly, David was motivated by pride. The census was a massive exercise, taking more than 9 months to complete. It stretched across more than 7km all over Israel and encompassed all the places that David had conquered.

In 2 Samuel 24:4, it is written that David overruled Joab and the army commanders, who had pleaded with the king not to do this. This brings to mind a similar episode by King Uzziah who desired to offer incense himself in the temple, and was confronted by 80 priests who tried to stop him. The fact that both pushed through shows their pride, and as Proverbs 16:18 says: Pride comes before a downfall. Sometimes, God’s greatest judgment is simply letting us have our way, like Romans 1:24 which says how God gave them over to the sinful desires of their hearts…

Once, there was a man who loved the church and served in the church, even having a profound impact in Pastor Daniel becoming a Christian. He was a successful businessman too, and highly respected. However, he fell into adultery and refused to give up his affair despite the admonishment of the Pastor, church leaders, even his own friends. He simply said that it was none of their business. The whole town came to know of it, and wondered how a Christian could do this. A few months after that, he died in a car accident and the sad thing was that he was not remembered for the great things he did for the church, but rather for the affair. We sin when we place our pride on money, power or positions.

It was not the fruit that caused Adam to sin. It was the act of willful disobedience driven by his desire for power, to be like God. We sin when we become proud of our positions, beauty, achievements, awards and accolades instead of giving glory to God. The great apostle Paul, who achieved so much for God, at the end of his life said that he considered them nothing compared to the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus Philippians 3:7-9.

In 2 Samuel 24:10, it is written that David was conscience stricken. His heart condemned him. The Hebrew word here literally means to strike. It was like his conscience continued to strike at him, with conviction brought by the Holy Spirit. From the census, David came to his senses. This took David 10 months, and like the prodigal son, he realized he had been foolish and sought the Lord. 

It is interesting that when David sinned of adultery and murder, he said “I have sinned” while when David sinned because of the census, he said “I have sinned greatly. The sin with Bathsheba was a sin of the flesh, giving in into his lust after an afternoon of laziness. The census, however was a sin of the spirit, an act of rebellion against God, motivated by pride. In Proverbs 6:16, the first sin mentioned that the Lord hates is pride. Pride is the ground which allows all other sins to grow and the part from which all other sins come. 1 John 1:9 says that “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just and will forgive us from all unrighteousness. The key word here is “if”. It’s a choice. God won’t force us to repent though the Holy Spirit will strike us in our conscience. We have to be wary though not to wait until the earth swallows us up like the sons of Korah.

When David came back to his senses and repented, God led him to the essence of forgiveness and worship. In 1 Chronicles 21, vs.15-16 tells us that the angel stopped at the threshing floor, vs.18-19 tells us that God asked David to build an altar at the threshing floor, and then in vs.27 God stopped the plague.

Why the threshing floor? The threshing floor is the place where chaff is separated from grain during harvest. There are 2 steps here. Firstly, the heads of grain on the stalks are broken off. Secondly, the stalks are tossed into the air in a process known as winnowing, with the wind separating the grain and the chaff. For us, spiritually, it is the wind of the Spirit of God that winnows the grain.

The threshing floor is symbolic of three things. Firstly, judgment. Daniel 2:35 speaks of judgment on the first three kingdoms leaving them like chaff on the threshing floor. Jeremiah 15:7 speaks of God winnowing His people who had not changed their ways.

Secondly, separation. The separating of chaff from the grain speaks of cleansing and purification. In Matthew 3:12, John the Baptist prophesies of Jesus having a winnowing fork in his hand, gathering his wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire.

Thirdly, blessing leading to worship. After the process of threshing, the wheat is gathered, and it is time where the blessing is received. In Numbers 15:20, the law records how the Israelites are to prepare an offering from the threshing floor.

When we enter into worship, we enter into a time of threshing, of separation and purification, a time of preparation to meet our God. From the census, David came to his senses and responded by reverence of worship. How powerful is the verse “I will not offer a sacrifice that costs me nothing”. Salvation is free but the cross is costly. If you really love someone, how can  you love without any cost.

There was a businessman who was looking to buy a gift for his wife at a duty free shop. The salesgirl offered him first a $100 gift, then $50 and then $20, but he still asked “Is there anything cheaper”. She finally showed him a mirror….

We can’t worship God with a donated faith, but a devoted faith. If only we could have the same attitude of the sinful woman how washed Jesus’ feet with her tears. The fragrance of her worship filled the whole room. She loved much because she has been forgiven much. Does our worship of God cost us nothing? How much does God mean to us? It cost Jesus everything.

King David understood what it meant to offer God a worthy worship. It is written that he paid the full price. It is not the amount you pay that makes the item full price. It is how much the item is really worth. Christ paid in full on the cross. Later, in 2 Chronicles 3:1, we see that Solomon built God’s temple on this threshing floor on Mount Moriah.

On the same mount that David dismantled his glory and pride to worship God, Abraham had earlier dismantled his pride to sacrifice Isaac. In that encounter, he prophesied that “God Himself would provide the lamb”, foreshadowing the future death and sacrifice of our Lord Jesus. Christ, the complete sacrifice, paid in full.

We need the same repentant heart like David. God is always able to turn the bad to good. From Bathsheba, King Solomon was later born who would build God’s temple. From the census, David received the inspiration to build God’s temple. There is no failure in our lives that God cannot use.