Latest / A Chapter a Day Bible Reading / May 13 - 2 Samuel 24

Transcript

May 13 - 2 Samuel 24 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

• 0:12
  Hello friends, It's shown here. It is Monday.
• 0:15
  It is the 13th of the month of May and you have tapped on play
• 0:21
  and invited me into your day. Hello.
• 0:25
  I hope you're doing well. I hope the week ahead is looking
• 0:27
  like a good one, because it is going to be a good one for you
• 0:30
  and I as we today finish off the book of Second Samuel.
• 0:34
  Finish this entire narrative journey.
• 0:37
  Seeing King David rise. Take the throne and then live
• 0:43
  through almost his entire time as king.
• 0:48
  And today we're going to finish. And it is a strange ending.
• 0:51
  If you just read it on face value, this is, there's a a
• 0:56
  chapter where it feels like God kind of traps David and then
• 0:59
  causes all this bloodshed in Israel.
• 1:02
  And you think, what a mean God. But a couple of things I'll say
• 1:06
  just before we read it. Within the book there are a
• 1:09
  number of different sections and this is the end of a section
• 1:12
  which began. I don't know if you remember
• 1:14
  that story about justice for the Gibeonites where David presents
• 1:18
  the family of Saul to be sacrificed essentially for the
• 1:23
  injustices that saw perpetrated on them.
• 1:26
  And this is the end of that section, which has a similar
• 1:30
  story. And this is God saying Israel
• 1:33
  has done the wrong thing and there needs to be judgments.
• 1:36
  And this is the way he goes about bringing that judgement.
• 1:40
  But it's also a story about the king completely submitting to
• 1:44
  God, completely submitting to his ways that are actually so
• 1:48
  much bigger than him that he doesn't understand it, but he
• 1:51
  continues to trust in God as a just God.
• 1:54
  So while to our modern ears this is going to sound a little bit
• 1:57
  strange, this is the author highlighting the power and the
• 2:03
  joy of a leader who trusts a just God and finishes off this
• 2:08
  section which climaxes in that wonderful Sam, that that section
• 2:13
  of praise that David had, that we read last week.
• 2:17
  So, friends, I've said enough. Let us read the end of this
• 2:22
  story, the end of this book that ends with David indeed building
• 2:26
  an altar and worshipping God, which is ultimately the way that
• 2:31
  the king should behave. And all of us should continually
• 2:35
  live in sacrifice and praise to our God.
• 2:38
  So let's read it together. Second Samuel, chapter 24.
• 2:51
  Once again, the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and
• 2:55
  he caused David to harm them by taking a census.
• 2:58
  Go and count the people of Israel and Judah.
• 3:01
  The Lord told him So. The king said to Joab.
• 3:03
  And the commanders of the army take a census of all the tribes
• 3:07
  of Israel from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the South.
• 3:12
  So I may know how many people there are.
• 3:15
  But Jared replied to the king, May the Lord your God let you
• 3:18
  live to see 100 times as many people as there are now.
• 3:22
  But why, my Lord, the king, do you want to do this?
• 3:25
  But the king insisted that they take the census.
• 3:28
  So Joab and the commanders of the army went out to count the
• 3:31
  people of Israel. Firstly they crossed the Jordan
• 3:35
  and camped at a rowa South of the town in the valley in the
• 3:39
  direction of Gad. Then they went on to Jazar, then
• 3:44
  Gilead in the land of Tartan Hodge Shai, and then to Dan Jan
• 3:49
  and around to Sidon. Then they came to the fortress
• 3:52
  of Tyre and all the towns of the Hivites and Canaanites.
• 3:56
  Finally, they went S to Judah as far as Beersheba.
• 4:01
  Having gone through the entire land for nine months and 20
• 4:05
  days, they returned to Jerusalem.
• 4:08
  Joab reported the number of people to the king.
• 4:10
  There were 800,000 capable warriors in Israel who could
• 4:15
  handle a sword, and 500,000 in Judah.
• 4:19
  But after he had taken the census, David's conscience began
• 4:23
  to bother him, and he said to the Lord, I have sinned greatly
• 4:27
  by taking the census. Please forgive my guilt, Lord,
• 4:31
  for doing this foolish thing. The next morning the word of the
• 4:34
  Lord came to the prophet Gad, who was David CIA.
• 4:38
  This was the message, go and say to David, this is what the Lord
• 4:43
  says, I will give you 3 choices. Choose one of these punishments,
• 4:48
  and I will inflict it on you. Sagad came to David and asked
• 4:52
  him, Will you choose three years of famine throughout your land,
• 4:57
  three months of fleeing from your enemies, or three days of
• 5:01
  severe plague throughout your land?
• 5:03
  Think this over and decide what answer I should give the Lord
• 5:06
  who sent me. I am in a desperate situation,
• 5:10
  David replied to Gad. But let us fall into the hands
• 5:14
  of the Lord, for His mercy is great.
• 5:17
  Do not let me fall into human hands.
• 5:20
  So the Lord sent a plague upon Israel that morning, and it
• 5:24
  lasted for three days. A total of 70,000 people died
• 5:28
  throughout the nation, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the
• 5:32
  South. But as the Angel was preparing
• 5:35
  to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented and said to the death
• 5:39
  Angel, Stop that is enough. At that moment the Angel of the
• 5:44
  Lord was by the threshing floor of Arayna the Jebusite.
• 5:49
  When David saw the Angel, he said to the Lord, I am the one
• 5:53
  who has sinned and done wrong. But these people are as innocent
• 5:56
  as sheep. What have they done?
• 5:58
  Let your anger fall against me and my family.
• 6:02
  That day Gad came to David and said to him, Go up and build an
• 6:07
  altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of a Rayona the
• 6:10
  Jebusite. So David went up to do what the
• 6:13
  Lord had commanded him. When Arayna saw the king and his
• 6:17
  men coming toward him, he came and bowed before the king with
• 6:20
  his face to the ground. Why have you come, my Lord the
• 6:24
  king? Arianna asked.
• 6:26
  David replied. I've come to buy your threshing
• 6:29
  floor and to build an altar to the Lord there, so that he will
• 6:33
  stop the plague. Take it my Lord the King, and
• 6:36
  use it as you wish. A Ray Anna said to David.
• 6:40
  There are oxen for the burnt offering, and you can use the
• 6:43
  threshing boards and ox yokes for wood to build a fire in the
• 6:46
  altar. I will give it all to you, your
• 6:48
  Majesty, and may the Lord your God, except your sacrifice.
• 6:53
  But the king replied to Arayna. No, I insist on buying it, for I
• 6:58
  will not present burnt offerings to the Lord my God that have
• 7:01
  cost me nothing. Sir David paid him 50 pieces of
• 7:05
  silver for the threshing floor and the oxen.
• 7:09
  David built an altar there to the Lord and sacrificed burnt
• 7:13
  offerings and peace offerings, and the Lord answered his prayer
• 7:17
  for the land, and the plague on Israel was stopped.
• 7:31
  Lord, you are just. You are kind and your heart
• 7:36
  yearns for your people. And we see even in this story of
• 7:41
  judgement, you reaching out and erring on the side of mercy, our
• 7:49
  Lord, that we would follow your example, that we would yearn for
• 7:53
  justice in our world, but that our hearts would always beat
• 7:57
  with the rhythm of mercy. Lord, we offer ourselves to you
• 8:03
  and your Kingdom so that as we move around this world, we would
• 8:08
  represent your way. Lord Moulders soften our hearts,
• 8:14
  tuning them always to Your mercy and your justice.
• 8:19
  We love You, Lord, and we submit to You our great God and may you
• 8:24
  always, always win out. We pray all this and the loving
• 8:29
  name of Jesus I'm in.