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Ecclesiastes 1:1-2
King James Version
1 The words of the Preacher,
the son of David, king in Jerusalem.
2 Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher,
vanity of vanities; all is vanity.
The world is in great sin.
This sin of pride, and vanity.
Wanting to know how many likers, followers, members.
This addiction to fans, and fame.
As if strength comes in numbers.
King David became susceptible to that, too.
Causing great wrath to come upon him, and Israel.
Here's the story:
1 Chronicles 21:1-30
King James Version
21 And Satan* stood up against Israel,
and provoked David to number Israel.
1 Chronicles 21:1-30
King James Version
2 And David said to Joab and to the rulers of the people,
Go, number Israel from Beersheba even to Dan;
and bring the number of them to me,
that I may know it.
The captain of hosts reaction:
1 Chronicles 21:1-30
King James Version
3 And Joab answered,
The Lord make his people an hundred times
so many more as they be:
but, my lord the king,
are they not all my lord's servants?
why then doth my lord require this thing?
why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel?
But David's word prevailed:
1 Chronicles 21:1-30
King James Version
4 Nevertheless the king's word prevailed
against Joab. Wherefore Joab departed,
and went throughout all Israel,
and came to Jerusalem.
The number given:
1 Chronicles 21:1-30
King James Version
5 And Joab gave the sum
of the number of the people unto David.
And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand
and an hundred thousand men that drew sword:
and Judah was four hundred threescore
and ten thousand men that drew sword.
For Israel, that's 1,570,000 men fit for "military service".
For Judah, it's 470,000.
That must have pleased the king.
Still, Joab was not about to defy the LORD GOD:
1 Chronicles 21:1-30
King James Version
6 But Levi and Benjamin counted he not among them:
for the king's word was abominable to Joab.
GOD's reaction to David?
1 Chronicles 21:1-30
King James Version
7 And God was displeased with this thing;
therefore he smote Israel.
David realizes his error.
1 Chronicles 21:1-30
King James Version
8 And David said unto God,
I have sinned greatly,
because I have done this thing:
but now, I beseech thee,
do away the iniquity of thy servant;
for I have done very foolishly.
GOD's response:
1 Chronicles 21:1-30
King James Version
9 And the Lord spake unto Gad,
David's seer, saying,
10 Go and tell David, saying,
Thus saith the Lord,
I offer thee three things:
choose thee one of them,
that I may do it unto thee.
The punishment:
1 Chronicles 21:1-30
King James Version
11 So Gad came to David, and said unto him,
Thus saith the Lord, Choose thee
12 Either three years' famine;
or three months to be destroyed before thy foes,
while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee;
or else three days the sword of the Lord,
even the pestilence, in the land,
and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout
all the coasts of Israel.
Now therefore advise thyself what word
I shall bring again to him that sent me.
What would you have chosen?
David's choice:
1 Chronicles 21:1-30
King James Version
13 And David said unto Gad,
I am in a great strait:
let me fall now into the hand of the Lord;
for very great are his mercies:
but let me not fall into the hand of man.
The results:
1 Chronicles 21:1-30
King James Version
14 So the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel:
and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.
1 Chronicles 21:1-30
King James Version
15 And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it:
and as he was destroying, the Lord beheld,
and he repented him of the evil,
and said to the angel that destroyed,
It is enough,
stay now thine hand.
And the angel of the Lord stood by
the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.
David repents:
1 Chronicles 21:1-30
King James Version
16 And David lifted up his eyes,
and saw the angel of the Lord stand
between the earth and the heaven,
having a drawn sword in his hand
stretched out over Jerusalem.
Then David and the elders of Israel,
who were clothed in sackcloth,
fell upon their faces.
1 Chronicles 21:1-30
King James Version
17 And David said unto God,
Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered?
even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed;
but as for these sheep, what have they done?
let thine hand, I pray thee, O Lord my God, be on me,
and on my father's house;
but not on thy people,
that they should be plagued.
The angel speaks to the prophet:
1 Chronicles 21:1-30
King James Version
18 Then the angel of the Lord
commanded Gad to say to David,
that David should go up,
and set up an altar unto the Lord
in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.
19 And David went up at the saying of Gad,
which he spake in the name of the Lord.
The angel must have looked frightening, and yet magnificent:
1 Chronicles 21:1-30
King James Version
20 And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel;
and his four sons with him hid themselves.
Now Ornan was threshing wheat.
David makes arrangements with Ornan:
1 Chronicles 21:1-30
King James Version
21 And as David came to Ornan,
Ornan looked and saw David,
and went out of the threshingfloor,
and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground.
22 Then David said to Ornan,
Grant me the place of this threshingfloor,
that I may build an altar therein unto the Lord:
thou shalt grant it me for the full price:
that the plague may be stayed from the people.
1 Chronicles 21:1-30
King James Version
23 And Ornan said unto David,
Take it to thee, and let my lord the king
do that which is good in his eyes:
lo, I give thee the oxen also for burnt offerings,
and the threshing instruments for wood,
and the wheat for the meat offering;
I give it all.
24 And king David said to Ornan,
Nay; but I will verily buy it for the full price:
for I will not take that which is thine for the Lord,
nor offer burnt offerings without cost.
25 So David gave to Ornan for the place
six hundred shekels of gold by weight.
David builds an altar.
1 Chronicles 21:1-30
King James Version
26 And David built there an altar unto the Lord,
and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings,
and called upon the Lord;
and he answered him from heaven
by fire upon the altar of burnt offering.
Peace reigns.
1 Chronicles 21:1-30
King James Version
27 And the Lord commanded the angel;
and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof.
1 Chronicles 21:1-30
King James Version
28 At that time when David saw
that the Lord had answered him
in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite,
then he sacrificed there.
29 For the tabernacle of the Lord,
which Moses made in the wilderness,
and the altar of the burnt offering,
were at that season in the high place at Gibeon.
30 But David could not go before it to enquire of God:
for he was afraid
because of the sword of the angel of the Lord.
Many have no idea GOD's POWER.
But look what He can have ONE of His angels do:
2 Kings 19:35
King James Version
35 And it came to pass that night,
that the angel of the Lord went out,
and smote in the camp of the Assyrians
an hundred fourscore and five thousand:
and when they arose early in the morning,
behold, they were all dead corpses.
That's 185,000 that perished in a night.
And that's from only ONE angel the LORD commands.
GOD is no respecter of persons.
He takes no favorites.
King, or commoner, we're all subject to GOD's laws.
May we refrain from this sin of pride, and vanity.
Especially of numbering.
The only thing JESUS cares to number are these:
Luke 12:7
King James Version
7 But even the very hairs of your head
are all numbered.
Fear not therefore:
ye are of more value
than many sparrows.
Luke 15:3-7
King James Version
3 And he spake this parable unto them, saying,
4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep,
if he lose one of them,
doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness,
and go after that which is lost, until he find it?
5 And when he hath found it,
he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
6 And when he cometh home,
he calleth together his friends and neighbours,
saying unto them,
Rejoice with me;
for I have found my sheep which was lost.
7 I say unto you,
that likewise joy shall be in heaven
over one sinner that repenteth,
more than over ninety and nine just persons,
which need no repentance.
Apart from that?
It's all vanity.
*NOTE:
The "Chronicles" book cited here says it was Satan who "provoked" David to number Israel.
The "Samuel" book says the LORD "moved" David to do so.
2 Samuel 24:1
King James Version
24 And again the anger of the Lord
was kindled against Israel,
and he moved David against them to say,
Go, number Israel and Judah.
Which one do we follow?
That's the beauty of the Bible for a born again.
SPIRIT invites us to look deeper.
Which we already have an idea of.
But it will have to be for a future post.
Related material:
Image: Clipart Library
