Introduction

If you or I were writing David’s biography, we might be inclined to end with one of his great triumphs. Perhaps we would choose his victory over Goliath, or the covenant promise of 2 Samuel 7, or even one of the psalms of praise we read last week in chapter 22. But the final chapter of 1 and 2 Samuel does not end with victory or glory. It ends at an altar. I believe that this is no accident. The Spirit of God concludes David’s story with one last scene that returns us to the heart of life with God, where we place our trust, how He deals with our sin, and how His mercy comes through costly sacrifice.

Where We Put Our Trust (2 Samuel 24:1–9)

2 Samuel 24 opens with a dark sentence. Verse 1 says, “Again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel…” We are not told exactly what Israel had done, only that the Lord’s anger burned against the nation and that David is caught up in that judgment. The verse continues, “... and he incited David against them, saying, ‘Go, number Israel and Judah’” (2 Samuel 24:1b).

Now some see a problem here, because 2 Samuel 24 says that the Lord incited David, while 1 Chronicles 21:1 describes the same event like this: “Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel.” So who moved David to number the people, the Lord or Satan? This is not a mistake in the text. God is sovereign, Satan is real, and David is responsible for his own choices. These truths do not contradict one another. It may be hard to understand tis truth, but there are times when God permits Satan to tempt in order to discipline us, and yet God does so without ever becoming the author of sin. We see this in the story of Job in the Old Testament. We see it in the story of Judas in the New Testament. And here we see this truth play out in the life of David.

Now David hears the tempter’s words: “Go, number Israel and Judah.” We might ask, “Why is that wrong?” After all, there are other censuses in the Bible that are not condemned. The problem is not taking a census. The problem is the heart behind the census.

This is a common tactic of Satan. He does not always lure us with obvious sins, but with subtle, reasonable choices that slowly pull our hearts away from God. Remember Christ in the wilderness, without food, when Satan tempted him to turn stones into bread. Is it wrong to eat bread or to feed the hungry? Certainly not. But in that moment Jesus was fasting in obedience to the Father, preparing for his earthly ministry. To break that fast at Satan’s suggestion would have been to step outside the Father’s will and to lessen the suffering he willingly embraced for our sake.

Remember that David is no longer the young shepherd who trusted the Lord with a sling and five stones. He is now a seasoned king with a powerful army and a long record of victories. Slowly, his heart has shifted from “The battle is the LORD’s” to “Look at what I have accomplished.”

Notice Joab’s instinct. Verse 2: “So the king said to Joab, the commander of the army, who was with him, ‘Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the number of the people.’ But Joab said to the king, ‘May the LORD your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see it, but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?’” (2 Samuel 24:2–3).

Joab is not exactly a spiritual giant, but even Joab can smell what is going on. “Why does my lord the king delight in this thing?” “Why are you so eager to know how mighty your nation is?” “Why are you placing your security in numbers?”

That word “delight” is important. David is savoring this. He wants the data. The verse does not say, “that I may better protect the weak.” It says, “that I may know the number of the people.” This is about his heart, his pride, his sense of power and control.

This is the temptation of every leader and every church. We may start with prayer and dependence, but over time we begin to rest in attendance, budgets, and influence. Numbers themselves are not evil, but they are seductive. They whisper, “You are safe now. You are successful now. Look at how many. Look at how much.”

God had already warned his people about this. In Exodus 30 the Lord gave instructions about taking a census. If you count the people, each man must give “a ransom for his life to the LORD when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you number them” (Exodus 30:12). Counting Israel without ransoming Israel was a way of saying, “These people belong to me,” instead of, “These people belong to the Lord.” When the king claims what belongs to God, he steps into dangerous territory.

Joab pleads, but David insists. Verse 4: “But the king’s word prevailed against Joab and the commanders of the army.” They go out on a months long campaign, nine months and twenty days, from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south. In verse 9 Joab brings the numbers: eight hundred thousand valiant men in Israel and five hundred thousand in Judah. That totals one million three hundred thousand fighting men! Imagine the swelling in David’s chest as he hears that report. Imagine the charts and maps that might have followed. What could the king accomplish with an army of that size? And then, suddenly, the air goes out of the room.

Verse 10: “But David’s heart struck him after he had numbered the people.” Literally, his heart “smote” him. The conscience that had been lulled is suddenly awakened. The Spirit of God brings to David’s mind the warning of Deuteronomy 8, where God told his people not to forget him when they had multiplied and built fine houses. “Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth’” (Deuteronomy 8:17).

This is where sin often lives for God’s people. Not first in scandalous outward acts, but in quiet shifts of trust. When a church starts trusting its programs more than its prayers. When a pastor finds more comfort in charisma than in Christ. When a Christian feels safest not on their knees, but with a certain number in their bank account.

David’s sin here may appear harmless. It might even look wise to the world. But at its root, it is a proud heart drifting from God. And God loves David too much to leave him there. He loves his people too much to let their king live on borrowed glory. So he sends both conviction and consequence.

How God Deals with Our Sin: (2 Samuel 24:10–17)

As soon as his heart strikes him, David does the right thing. He does not excuse himself or blame the pressures of leadership. “And David said to the LORD, ‘I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O LORD, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly’” (2 Samuel 24:10, ESV).

Notice his language. “I have sinned greatly.” “I have done very foolishly.” True repentance does not minimize sin or deny responsibility, Yet repentance is not only confession. It is also casting yourself on the mercy of God. “Please take away the iniquity of your servant.” David knows only God can lift the guilt that weighs on him.

The next morning the prophet Gad comes with a hard word. Verses 12 and 13: “‘Go and say to David, “Thus says the LORD, Three things I offer you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.”’ So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, ‘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? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.’”

This may be one of the most terrifying moments in David’s life. He has three options, all of them terrible. Famine, war, or plague, and all will wound his people. It is a sober reminder to anyone in leadership. The sin of a leader spills over. The sins of politicians hurt citizens, the sins of pastors hurt churches, the sins of fathers hurt families.

David’s answer in verse 14: “‘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.’” David does not say, “Lord, this is too much,” or, “I can handle this myself.” He says, “Let us fall into the hand of the LORD.” He accepts that discipline will come. He does not bargain his way out, yet he clings to what he knows of God’s character. “For his mercy is great.” Human enemies can be ruthless and petty. The Lord may be severe, but he is never cruel. He wounds to heal. He disciplines as a Father. David would rather stand under the rod of the Lord than the sword of men.

“So the LORD sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning until the appointed time. And there died of the people from Dan to Beersheba seventy thousand men” (2 Samuel 24:15, ESV.)

Seventy thousand funerals. Seventy thousand homes are pierced with grief. Numbers like that can feel abstract, but in God’s sight each one is a person. The wages of sin is death. Here we see in concentrated form the judgment that hangs over all humanity. Our sin is not a trifle. When we play with pride and self reliance, we toy with death.

Yet even in the middle of judgment, mercy breaks in. Verse 16: “And 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.”

Try to imagine this scene. A destroying angel, has their hand stretched out toward Jerusalem. The city of the king, the place of God’s name, is under threat. But before the blow falls, the Lord speaks: “It is enough; now stay your hand.” The ESV says the Lord “relented,” not because God is fickle, but because he is revealing his heart. He is just, so he judges. He is merciful, so he limits. David had cast himself into the Lord’s hand because he knew this. “His mercy is great.”

David’s eyes are opened and he sees the angel and says “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.” (2 Samuel 24:17, ESV).

Here David is at his best. He is a flawed man, but he is a real shepherd and a real king. “These sheep, what have they done?” From David’s vantage point, he sees himself as the guilty one and the people as his flock. He offers himself as a substitute. “Let your hand be against me and against my father’s house.”

Do you hear the echo of Christ here. David wishes he could stand in between, to be struck so that the people might be spared. But he cannot stand in the people’s place. He is himself under judgment. But his desire, his intercession, his willingness to bear the blow, all point beyond him to the Son of David who did what David could only offer.

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep” (John 10:11). David says, “Let your hand be against me.” Jesus actually had the hand of God’s wrath turn against Him. David sees an angel with an outstretched arm. Jesus sees the cup of wrath in Gethsemane and says, “Nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). On the cross, the sword does not stop short of Jerusalem. It falls on the King himself.

How Mercy Is Received (2 Samuel 24:18–25)

Now God speaks again through his prophet. “And Gad came that day to David and said to him, ‘Go up, raise an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.’ So David went up at Gad’s word, as the LORD commanded” (2 Samuel 24:18–19). David responds with simple obedience. “David went up.”

The threshing floor is on a height above the city. It is an exposed place where the wind can carry away the chaff as the grain is tossed into the air. It will become a holy place. One day it will be where Solomon will build the temple of the Lord (2 Chronicles 3:1).

As David approaches, Araunah sees the king and his officials coming.

“And when Araunah looked down, he saw the king and his servants coming on toward him, and Araunah went out and paid homage to the king with his face to the ground. And Araunah said, ‘Why has my lord the king come to his servant?’ David said, ‘To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the LORD, that the plague may be averted from the people.’” (2 Samuel 24:20-21.

David knows there is a connection between the altar and the lifting of the plague. He knows that atonement is needed. God has already said “Enough,” but there must be a visible, sacrificial expression of that mercy. Judgment has stopped at this place because God chose to stay his hand. Now sacrifice will mark that place as the meeting point of wrath and mercy.

Araunah responds with generosity. “Then Araunah said to David, ‘Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Here are the oxen for the burnt offering and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king.’ And Araunah said to the king, ‘May the LORD your God accept you.’” (2 Samuel 24:22-23, ESV)

It is a noble offer. Araunah is willing to give land, animals, and wood. But David’s reply gives us one of the clearest statements about worship in Scripture. Verse 24: “But the king said to Araunah, ‘No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God that cost me nothing.’” (2 Samuel 24:24, ESV)

There it is. David knows that grace is free, but it is not cheap. Forgiveness is a gift, but its fruit in us should never be casual. Worship that flows from repentance will be costly. The Hebrew behind “cost me nothing” can also mean “without cause.” David is saying, in effect, that to offer costless sacrifices would be as wrong as shedding innocent blood without cause. To give God what costs nothing is to treat God, sin, and mercy lightly.

So David buys the threshing floor and the oxen. “So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver” (2 Samuel 24:24, ESV). David pays. He feels the sting of the gift. He will not stand as a spectator at the altar, but as a participant.

Then verse 25 concludes the scene: “And David built there an altar to the LORD and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.” (2 Samuel 24:25, ESV).

Burnt offerings were for atonement, turning aside wrath through the death of a substitute. Peace offerings celebrated restored fellowship with God. First atonement, then fellowship. Wrath turned aside, then peace was enjoyed.

Conclusion:

The final verse of Samuel reads, “So the LORD responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.” The story that began with a barren woman praying in Shiloh ends with a broken king praying on a threshing floor. It opens with corrupt priests mishandling sacrifice and closes with a king offering costly worship on the site that will become the temple. The problem of sin and wrath is not yet finally solved, but the pattern is clear. God averts wrath through sacrifice at a place he appoints, with a son of David at the center.

This altar marks out the place for God’s presence. Second Chronicles 3:1 says, “Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.” David’s repentance and costly worship set apart the ground where God’s house will stand.

Yet even Solomon’s temple could not finally deal with sin. The blood of bulls and goats could never take away sins. They pointed to a greater altar and a better sacrifice. On that same ridge outside Jerusalem, another Son of David would carry a cross up a hill. There would be no oxen there, only the Lamb of God. No silver would change hands, only “the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot” (1 Peter 1:19, ESV).

Christ is both the David who says, “Let your hand be against me,” and the sacrifice who actually bears that hand. He is the true temple where God dwells, the altar where wrath and mercy meet, the final place where the plague of sin is stopped. At the cross God says once for all, “It is enough; now stay your hand.”

On that hill outside Jerusalem, God’s anger against our sin fell not on us but on his own Son. The plague that should have swept us away was stopped. The angel’s sword was sheathed. The curtain was torn. The temple was, in one sense, replaced by a Person. All our repentance, all our worship, all our hope rests there. And the invitation still stands: “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16, ESV).

Let us pray.

Holy God, we confess with David that we have sinned greatly and acted very foolishly. We have trusted numbers and strength and comfort more than we have trusted you. We thank you for your mercy, that you do not leave us in our pride. We praise you for Jesus, the Good Shepherd who laid down his life for the sheep, the final sacrifice who bore our plague. Teach us to say from the heart, ‘We will not offer to the LORD our God what costs us nothing.’ By your Spirit, make our whole lives an altar of praise. In the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Benediction:

Now may the God of peace, who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great Shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, make you complete in every good work to do His will. May He work in you that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.Go in the peace of Christ, strengthened by His grace, guided by His Spirit, and sustained by His everlasting covenant. Amen.