2 Samuel 23-24 "The Threshing Floor of Araunah" 2 Samuel 23-24 is the hinge upon which Samuel-Kings turns. 1. The Last Words of David (23:1-7) In verses 1-7 we have David's final song. The oracle of David, the son of Jesse, the oracle of the man who was raised on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, the sweet psalmist of Israel. David refers to himself as "the man who was raised on high." So David saw himself as I have described him: as the son of God. He is the one who was seated on God's throne anointed with God's Spirit. And he is the "sweet psalmist of Israel" the singer who both teaches Israel in song, and who speaks to God on behalf of Israel. The Spirit of the LORD speaks by me; his word is on my tongue. The God of Israel has spoken; the Rock of Israel has said to me: When one rules justly over men, ruling in the fear of God, he dawns on them like the morning light, like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth. When one rules justly, when the king models the justice of the kingdom of God, he is like the morning sun shining brightly he is like the rain that brings life to the earth. When the king does well, the people flourish! But David is not just talking about himself. He recognizes that God has promised that the future hinges upon his son. For does not my house stand so with God? For he has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and secure. For will he not cause to prosper all my help and my desire? David sees that the future of his house (the future of justice) is secure because God has promised to establish his son on his throne forever. So the question for David as for us is "what is your eschatology?"! What is your hope for the future? David's hope is in God's everlasting covenant. But worthless men are all like thorns that are thrown away, for they cannot be taken with the hand; but the man who touches them arms himself with iron and the shaft of a spear, and they are utterly consumed with fire. The worthless will be consumed with fire. These who are of "of belial" (there's that word that has characterized Samuel's portrayal of the wicked). This is not something that is easy to explain to modern folk. As I was working on this sermon at the pub, I was sitting next to a group that was talking about the importance of therapy. One of the ladies was boldly asserting that in therapy: "To assume that we have the answers is not the way to approach a child." The example given was the question, "give me an example of a fruit." If a child said, "carrot," it would be inappropriate to say, "wrong." She said that an educator would have to explain that a carrot was a vegetable, but a therapist should not correct the child. I found it interesting to listen to their conversation. In their words, they were utterly convinced by the therapeutic model where there is no ultimate wrong and no right. And yet in their tone, they were plainly wrestling with this. Because they knew the right answer. And yet, if they were allowed to give their "right answer" then the "fundamentalists" (as they called them) would also be permitted to give their right answer. How do you respond to the therapeutic world? They are convinced that the goal of life is to feel good, and to make other people feel good. You cannot respond to this by simply condemning it. Because they are reacting to something ugly in what they call "fundamentalism." They understand that the harshness and lovelessness of many Christians is wrong. The way to respond to the therapeutic world is to outlove them. If you would prove the therapeutic worldview false, then rule justly rule in the fear of God! Let the justice of our Lord Jesus Christ be evident in your relationship to those around you the justice that was manifest in his care for the poor and the sick the justice that was revealed in his call to us to love our neighbor even when our neighbor is an enemy lying in a ditch. Only the justice of the LORD's Anointed can bring true happiness. 2. The Mighty Men of David (23:8-39) And that justice is put into practice by the Mighty Men. It is well and good to have a good king, but if that good king is not surrounded by faithful men, then even a good king will not have as good an effect. The Mighty Men are an example of what happens when a good king has good support. There were the three and the thirty: Joshebbasshebeth was the chief of the three. He killed 800 at one time. Eleazar the son of Dodo was next to him even when Israel withdrew from battle, Eleazar kept fighting, and the LORD brought about a great victory that day. Shammah the son of Agee took his stand in the footsteps of Samson at Lehi, and when the men fled, he took his stand in a field of lentils, and the LORD worked a great victory. These mighty men risked their lives to get a drink of water for David from the well of Bethlehem. They broke through the camp of the Philistines and brought water to David. But he would not drink of it. He poured it out to the LORD and said "Far be it from me, O LORD, that I should do this. Shall I drink the blood of the men who went at the risk of their lives?" Therefore he would not drink it. We often focus on the devotion of the Three to David. But David's action in response is equally significant. He pours it out before the LORD not just "on the ground" but "before the LORD." It is like a drink offering or perhaps even better, like the blood of the peace offering which was poured out before the LORD. But David will not drink the water which signifies their blood. Sometimes I think we tend to view this act from a modern perspective. If I risked my life to get my king a drink of water, I would be offended if he poured it out on the ground! But from an Israelite point of view, David's action honors his Three Mighty Men more than drinking. He treats the water that they have brought as a holy thing. He pours it out before the LORD, so that the LORD might drink of it! Verses 18-39 then speak of the Thirty. Abishai, the brother of Joab, was the chief of the thirty. He killed 300 with his spear. Benaiah was from the far south of Judah, near Edom. He struck down two "ariels" of Moab (whatever that means!) He had a name "beside" the Three, but did not attain to them. He was chief of David's bodyguard, the Cherethites and Pelethites. Then we have a list of thirty names concluding with the claim that there were 37 in all. (We have 35 in this list including the three and Abishai and Benaiah; if we include Joab, that is 36, and perhaps David is 37. It is also possible to read some of the names in the list as totaling more than 30, since at least Uriah died in the middle of the story!) It is here that we see some of the internal dynamics of David's reign. While there are at least 9 from Judahite cities, there are also mighty men from all over Israel (From Benjamin 3, Gad 1, Ephraim 4). But then there are also foreigners: Eliphelet was from Maacah (a Syrian kingdom in the north of Israel) Zelek was an Ammonite, and Uriah was a Hittite. In David we have a king who calls the Gentiles into his service 3. From War to Worship (24:1-25) Chapter 24 then deals with David's census. Verse 1 is somewhat cryptic: Again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying "Go, number Israel and Judah" Why is God angry with Israel? Generally God is angry with his people because of their sin and rebellion. But it is interesting that Samuel chooses to say that God incited David against them. The LORD's anointed will be the instrument of God's wrath against his people. (Just as our Lord Jesus Christ is the agent of judgment!) But here it is David's folly that God uses. (Chronicles will say that Satan incited David and generally has a different perspective on this event. We will not spend much time on the differences tonight leaving that for when we go through Chronicles) Why is it a problem for David to take a census of the troops? Exodus 30:11-16 regulated the practice of taking a census. When you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give a ransom for his life to the LORD when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you number them. Everyone 20 and older was to pay half a shekel, which is described as "atonement money" for the service of the tent of meeting. This is lodged right in the middle of the description of the Tabernacle. Just after the altar of incense, and just before the bronze basin. Exodus 25-31 is all about the Tabernacle, and this regulation regarding the census is couched in sacrificial language. Why? Because the census is finding out how many men you have for battle. Why do you count your men? Because you want to know how big your army is! And what is the effect of taking a census? If David followed Exodus 30, then the tabernacle took in 650,000 shekels (half a shekel per warrior). The census connects war to worship. The reason why you take a census is to get ready for battle but you are not supposed to trust in your own strength, but in the LORD and so the census is dangerous. It brings all Israel into jeopardy. That is why Exodus 30 warns that a plague may strike when you take a census. And the way to avert the plague, in Exodus 30, is to offer « shekel per warrior as an atonement. Joab understood that David should not be trusting in the might of his army. He is the LORD's anointed. When he goes out before his troops, it doesn't make a difference how many men are behind him. What matters is that the LORD is at his right hand! Since there is no mention of any tax in 2 Samuel 24, I suspect that David did not follow Exodus 30. Hence, the plague! 2 Samuel uses this to connect war to worship. David is the warrior king. He will not build the temple. God will establish David's house, and then David's son will build God's house. And in the same way that Exodus 30 uses the census to connect war to worship, so 2 Samuel does the same. Because through this census, Yahweh is determined to identify the place where his name will dwell! But David does not listen to Joab, So Joab obeys his king, and the commanders of the army go out to number the troops. Verses 5-9 details their trip. Nine months and 20 days later, they return and tell David that he has 1.3 million men at his disposal. (1 Chronicles 21:5 reports 1.1 million from Israel and 470,000 from Judah. The 470,000 is close enough to 500,000 as to suggest rounding, But 1.1 million appears considerably different from 800,000. Maybe there is a copyist's error; Maybe there were two different methods of counting; Or maybe these are round numbers being used for symbolic purposes. The number 8 is an important number in the OT-- perhaps the author uses it to connect us to the liturgical use of the 8th day. Certainly the death of 70,000 should be taken as a round number that reflects the completeness, or fullness of God's anger against Israel) After all, it is when David hears the number of his valiant men that David realizes that he has sinned against Yahweh in numbering the people. But now, O LORD, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly. When you sin, you need to repent! But repentance does not guarantee that you will avoid the consequences of sin. If repentance does not pre-empt consequences, then why repent? If you repent, then God may chasten you, if you do not repent, then God will destroy you! Hmmm. Maybe he'll chasten me... or, he'll certainly destroy me... Repentance has it's perks! And so the prophet Gad came to David saying, Thus says the LORD, Three things I offer you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.... Shall three years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' pestilence in your land? Great choices! Famine, war, or pestilence? But David replied immediately, I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man. This definitely chooses against war, and implicitly against famine (since three years famine would put Israel at the mercy of their neighbors). But three days pestilence would not give their neighbors time to do anything to them. After all, Exodus 30 had warned that a faulty census would expose the people to plague and that is what happens. And 70,000 died in the three days' pestilence. Verses 16-25 tell this story in reverse. Verse 16 describe the events of that day from God's perspective: When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was working destruction among the people, It is enough; now stay your hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. Why did God say this? Well, verse 17 reports what David said, when he saw the angel who was striking the people: Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father's house. Why was David in a position to see the angel who was striking the people? Verses 18-25 reports what had happened first. God had come that day to David and sent him to raise an altar to Yahweh on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. There are lots of echoes of the Pentateuch here: the Passover sacrifice designed to stop the angel of death (Exodus 12) Aaron's offering incense before the LORD to stop the plague of Numbers 16. So David buys the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite (another Gentile who apparently worshiped Yahweh). Note that Araunah wanted to give the gifts to the LORD on behalf of David, but David could not offer something that cost him nothing. It is not a sacrifice unless it costs you something! When we offer the sacrifice of praise, we are expending ourselves in the worship of God. Worship is not cheap. That's the irony, isn't it? God's grace is utterly free and yet it will cost you everything you have! And so David offers the oxen before the LORD, as burnt offerings and peace offerings. the burnt offerings as a pleasing aroma before the LORD, and the peace offerings as the covenant meal whereby man enters God's shalom. So the LORD responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel. 1000 years later, the LORD's anointed again will say Please let your hand be against me. But in this case he will be innocent of all guilt. But he will see his people being struck down by the plague of God's wrath, and he will interpose himself. He will be struck down in the same city where God had mercy in the days of David. And the LORD laid upon him the iniquity of us all. All this, so that God might dwell with his people. Because 1000 years earlier, the heir of the promises also stood in the same vicinity. In Genesis 22 Abraham came to the mountains of Moriah, in the region around Jebus Jerusalem where God told him to offer his only son as a sacrifice. Jewish tradition said that the threshing floor of Araunah was the exact same place. The Bible does not say that it was the exact same place, but the connection is very clearly made. The place where Abraham was to sacrifice Isaac, is the place where David will sacrifice to stop the plague, the place where Solomon will build the temple, and the place where Jesus will be handed over to be crucified. It is here at the threshing floor of Araunah where we see that it is only through the sacrifice of the Son of God that enables us to live before God's presence. David is the new Son of God (in the place of Isaac). He was the one who should have died in the place of Israel. And he does die (figuratively) in the death of the oxen. He takes upon himself the penalty of the plague. (That is why he cannot offer a sacrifice that costs him nothing). He must pay so that his people will not die. And through this death, God will now dwell with his people in this place. But of course, David only dies by proxy in the sacrifices of the oxen. Jesus fulfilled all these things in his own death on the cross. And in so doing, he became the temple he became the place where God dwells with his people.