The Good Book | Bible

Someone wanting to hide the truth of the Holy Bible from you may point out to you that GOD is a cold-blooded murderer by using 1 Chronicles 21. They may tell you that in this chapter GOD orders the killing of innocent people (and juxtapose it with the commandment 'thou shall not not kill'). But they don't ever show you the whole passage in context.

KEY: (words like this are my own); the asterisks*** mean you should take special note; this [!huh!] means I don't get it; this [wow] means I'm amazed.

Let's look at it 1 Chronicles 21 (NKJV):

1 Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.***
2 So David said to Joab and to the leaders of the people, “Go, number Israel from Beersheba to Dan, and bring the number of them to me that I may know it.”
3 And Joab answered, “May the LORD make His people a hundred times more than they are. But, my lord the king, are they not all my lord’s servants? Why then does my lord require this thing? Why should he be a cause of guilt in Israel?” ***
4 Nevertheless the king’s word prevailed against Joab. Therefore Joab departed and went throughout all Israel and came to Jerusalem.
5 Then Joab gave the sum of the number of the people to David. All Israel had one million one hundred thousand men who drew the sword (military men), and Judah had four hundred and seventy thousand men who drew the sword (military men).
6 But he did not count Levi and Benjamin among them, for the king’s word was abominable to Joab.***
7 And God was displeased with this thing; therefore He struck Israel.***
8 So David said to God, “I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing; but now, I pray, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”***
9 Then the LORD spoke to Gad, David’s seer, saying,
10 “Go and tell David, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD: “I offer you three things; choose one of them for yourself, that I may do it to you.”’”
11 So Gad came to David and said to him, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Choose for yourself,
12 either three years of famine, or three months to be defeated by your foes with the sword of your enemies overtaking you, or else for three days the sword of the LORD—the plague in the land, with the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.’ Now consider what answer I should take back to Him who sent me.”
13 And David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Please let me fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are very great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man.” ***
14 So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell. 15 And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As he was destroying, the LORD looked and relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who was destroying, “It is enough; now restrain your hand.”*** And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
16 Then David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between earth and heaven, having in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. So David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces.
17 And David said to God, “Was it not I who commanded the people to be numbered? I am the one who has sinned and done evil indeed;*** but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, O LORD my God, be against me and my father’s house, but not against Your people that they should be plagued.”***
18 Therefore, the angel of the LORD commanded Gad to say to David that David should go and erect an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
19 So David went up at the word of Gad, which he had spoken in the name of the LORD.
20 Now Ornan turned and saw the angel; and his four sons who were with him hid themselves, but Ornan continued threshing wheat. [!huh!]
21 So David came to Ornan, and Ornan looked and saw David. And he went out from the threshing floor, and bowed before David with his face to the ground.
22 Then David said to Ornan, “Grant me the place of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar on it to the LORD. You shall grant it to me at the full price, that the plague may be withdrawn from the people.”
23 But Ornan said to David, “Take it to yourself, and let my lord the king do what is good in his eyes. Look, I also give you the oxen for burnt offerings, the threshing implements for wood, and the wheat for the grain offering; I give it all.”***
24 Then King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will surely buy it for the full price, for I will not take what is yours for the LORD, nor offer burnt offerings with that which costs me nothing.”***
25 So David gave Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight for the place.
26 And David built there an altar to the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called on the LORD; and He answered him from heaven by fire on the altar of burnt offering.
27 So the LORD commanded the angel, and he returned his sword to its sheath.***
28 At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there.
29 For the tabernacle of the LORD and the altar of the burnt offering, which Moses had made in the wilderness, were at that time at the high place in Gibeon.
30 But David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the LORD.

INTERPRETATION:

That was a lot to read...but most of it made sense and it flowed rather well, so we shouldn't have too much trouble figuring it all out.

1. David decided he would have a census in Israel. Why? - Satan tempted him until he gave in (we give in to temptation all the time, don't we?). Now why would Satan move David to conduct a census? The very first sentence in the passage says 'Satan stood up against Israel'. He apparently had a problem with Israel. My guess is that he hated that GOD had chosen a group of people -- any group of people -- to be saved from the consequences of sin (which is death and eternal damnation). Remember, Satan hates GOD and wants to be like HIM, but he can't so he tries to mimic HIM with his own church (followers; and remember, Satan has been condemned already, there is no hope for him). But he knows he can never beat GOD, so he goes after the next best thing - what GOD loves the most - you and me. Satan hates every single one of GOD's creation, even the ones who call themselves satanists...yet GOD still loves those and offers them the chance to change. We can talk about this particular issue later. In the mean time, reading this page may help (hit your mute button if you don't like the music).

2. Now, David knew this was wrong, but didn't come to the realization until a bit later. His servant Joab, however, knew it was wrong from jump (verses 3 & 6) and even said so to his King David. It appears, based on what Joab says to David in verse 3, that Joab thought it was wrong because there was no question that everyone in Israel was under King David's rule. Why is there a need to count them? Now that's just my guess based on the text.

3. In verse 7, we learn that GOD also thought the census was ridiculously offensive. Why? Perhaps for the same reason Joab found the census unnecessary -- everyone belonged to GOD anyway, why did King David think he needed to number them? You see, it's like a king makes you mayor of a particular area he owns. Then you up and decide that you're going to take count of the population. The king, once he found out, would probably be a little upset considering it's his territory and therefore his people, and he didn't give you permission to take a count. It's like, who do you think you are? I'm the king. Again, that's my guess, based on the text, of what may have angered GOD.

4. GOD is so angry, it says, that he sends an angel to kill thousands of the people. Why? I don't know. It's HIS business, but I will guess that it was to show David who the people really belonged to and who was the real KING. Again, my guess.

David quickly sees the error of his ways and his grave sin against the GOD who made him king over the people in the first place. He asks GOD to punish him and hold him accountable instead of taking HIS anger out on the people, who are innocent as sheep.

But look at what David says in verse 13. He pleads with GOD's messenger Gad to let the LORD know that he accepts whatever befalls him, but to please let it not be at the hands of other men. Why? David says let GOD deal with him because GOD is infinitely more merciful than mankind could ever be (to one of their own).

5. This chapter of 1 Chronicles appears a bit repetitive (which is actually common among books in the Holy Bible), so it may not be clear on first read at what point David repented of his dumb mistake (totally inspired by the devil). However, it you take a closer look, it seems that David only realized the error of his ways when the angel of the LORD started slaying the Israelites (that is usually when we realize we've messed up, huh? when bad things start to happen).

It appears GOD may have had the angel strike the people in different ways, I'm not sure. However in verse 15, when HE saw the devastation (and I guess HIS anger subsided a bit), HE relented and told the angel to stop destroying the people. But David still had some atonement to do.

6. David goes to a particular place in the city, Jerusalem, as instructed by GOD through Gad (verses 18-19). He ends up at Ornan's threshing floor (I guess something to do with wheat; and it seems to be just a designated area outside) Now, if you paid close attention to these verses, you see that Ornan tries to give the field (where the threshing area is located) to David. Why? Because David is his king and he could seize it if he wanted to anyway. But David says, no, he won't take something that doesn't belong to him and then turn around and try to pass it off to GOD. He will deal fairly with Ornan and purchase it. Honestly, I'm not too sure at what I'm getting at here, but I feel as if this passage is meant to reflect David's error in thinking he could number the people, who didn't even belong to him anyway. (What do you say?)

David built there an altar to the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called on the LORD. GOD accepted his repentance and peace offerings and put aside David's sin and, the angel put his sword away.

QUESTIONS:

What's up with the [!huh!] in verse 20? Well, my friends, if you were reading the same passage, it says quite plainly that the angel that GOD sent was very, very visibly standing above Jerusalem (I guess the dude was huuuuuuuuuuge). Now Ornan and his sons that were with him saw the angel - as must have everyone else in Jerusalem and possibly neighboring areas. Ornan's sons took off and hid (as most of us would do, I think), but Ornan just continued on with his work. That had me a little stumped at first. Like, why didn't Ornan run and hide, too? But you know, I think Ornan knew that it was obviously and angel, and that he was about GOD's work...as Ornan must have been affected by the deaths as well. So maybe Ornan's attitude was, well, if GOD wants to get me, HE'll get me... in the meantime, I might as well keep on with my life. That's just my interpretation.

My immediate question concerns why David built an altar and burned offerings? Well, an altar is a place (designated) where you pay special tribute to GOD. It's not just some corner or alley. But a place specifically chosen and purified in a way. The offerings mentioned were a bull and wheat (verse 23). Why? Well, the wages of sin is death. But GOD is not going to ask you to kill yourself to show you're truly repentant. Instead, he has you spill the blood of an animal, which takes the place of you. It sounds crazy, I know, but it makes sense if GOD finds sins so deplorable that HE would permanently have you removed from HIS sight if you sinned so against HIM. Animal sacrifice is quite common in the pre-Messianic era (started with Moses...when the people accepted GOD's covenant but was still sinning up a storm). That all stopped, though, when Jesus the Christ died on the cross - he was the ultimate sin offering. So we no longer need to offer these sacrifices when we sin - we can sincerely repent in our acknowledgment of the sin - Jesus already did the sacrificing.

What about the 70,000 apparently blames Israelites who died? - Dude, I don't know. But if they were innocent (that is found blameless in GOD's sight), they were not eternally condemned. GOD only condemns the wicked, as it says in the Holy Bible (you can look any of this up in the Holy Bible, if you feel so inclined). No, that doesn't make things better for the people left behind who may have missed these 70,000 slain...but that's not my business. If you got issues with it, take it up with GOD when you see HIM. But don't write HIM off. Remember, HE created us and everything else... so, quite frankly, HE can do whatever HE wants.

David accepted this, but knew full well that despite it all, GOD is a most merciful being. Remember, David knew he had to be punished, but he'd much rather GOD do it than man. GOD is infinitely more compassionate and merciful than anyone of us could ever be.

That may not be 'good enough' for you, but that's OK. It doesn't need to be. No one is asking you to become a Christian.

THE BOTTOM LINE What have we learned from this passage from the Holy Bible? Number one, it's usually a bad idea to give into temptation to do something you know is wrong. Second, don't pretend you have power or ownership over something that you do not...that is, practice humility. Don't puff yourself up and act like you're more important than everyone else. Remember, Jesus, the Son of GOD, had no problem washing his disciples' feet and encouraged them to follow his examples always. Third, when you've recognized you've done wrong, it's wise to acknowledge it to whomever you've committed it against and repent of it (whether it's to GOD or man...remember treat others as you would want to be treated).

- Theist @ http://goodbible.blogspot.com/