Wednesday 27th November
Read 2 Samuel 24:10-12
“David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the Lord, ‘I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, Lord, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.’
11 Before David got up the next morning, the word of the Lord had come to Gad the prophet, David’s seer: 12 ‘Go and tell David, “This is what the Lord says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out against you.”’” (NIVUK)
We are left in the dark concerning the reason for God’s wrath against Israel (v1). We are left equally unclear on what prompted David’s conscience to flair. There is nothing inherently evil in taking a census, yet David felt he had done something grievously wrong, in his words ‘foolish’. We know that God had determined to punish Israel. In doing so he involved His king. Why might God have done that?
David responds in a way we all too often refuse to do when we do something wrong. He gets on his knees and confesses and asks God to take away his guilt. He turns to the judge for mercy. He spends the night in prayer and we are told that the word of the Lord through a prophet has been delivered. The last time a prophet delivered the word of the Lord to David it was a word of grace, God had ‘put away’ David’s sin (2 Samuel 11). One wonders if the same thought must have briefly passed through David’s head here also when three options are presented?
Again we are confronted with the question: why has God involved David in His decision to judge Israel? The presentation of three options for David to choose only emphasises this strange truth. One wonders if this question is at the heart of the story. Why do you think God has done this?
