David Prepares for a Temple

David's Census

David was incited to count all of the people in Judah and Israel. David told Joab that he was to go through the tribes of Judah and Israel and count the population. Joab and his commanders went out and counted all of the people, crossing the Jordan River and starting in Aroer. They went to every city and counted. There were 800,000 men in Israel, and Judah had 500,000 men.

David knew that taking a census was wrong because he was only supposed to count what belonged to him—and Israel belonged to God. This was an act of pride on David's part. Realizing that what he had done was wrong, David asked God to take his sin away. God's word came to the prophet Gad (a prophet for David). God gave David three choices of punishment. David had to choose between either three years of famine, three months of being pursued by his enemies, or three days of pestilence in Israel. David was upset and said that he wanted God to decide because he knew God's mercy was great.

God sent a pestilence into the land, and seventy thousand men died, from Dan to Beersheba. David saw the angel that was spreading death, and David asked the angel to spare his people because it was he who had sinned. David requested that the angel let his hand fall on David and the house of David's father instead of on the people. Gad came to David and told him to build an altar on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite (where the angel was). David came to Araunah and asked to buy his threshing floor in order to build an altar. Araunah offered to give it to David, as well as an animal for sacrifice, but David refused and bought the threshing floor and oxen for sacrifice. David built the altar and made a sacrifice, and God responded by stopping the plague from destroying Israel.

In 1 Chronicles 21-22, it is revealed that God had not commanded the census be taken—Satan had. This account in 1 Chronicles differs in the number of men counted by Joab, with this count being that Israel had 1,100,000 men who were warriors and that Judah had 470,000 men who were warriors. In this account, Joab did not count the houses of Levi and Benjamin because David's command was wicked to Joab.

The Temple

David commanded that the resident aliens (non-Israelites) be gathered. He made stonecutters prepare dressed stones to construct a temple to God, and he provided iron for nails, significant quantities of bronze, and cedar timbers from the Sidonians and Tyrians. David said that Solomon (his son) was young and inexperienced. David wanted to prepare for the temple's construction before he died.

David called for Solomon and gave him the task of building the temple. God had said that there was too much blood on David's hands, and He did not want David to build His temple. God stated that He would give Solomon rest from the enemies of Israel and that Solomon would build a house for Him. He instructed Solomon to keep His laws and commandments. David told Solomon that he had provided everything that Solomon would need to build the temple. He commanded the leaders of Israel to help Solomon build the temple so that the ark and all of the holy vessels could be placed in the temple made for God.

Summary

David ordered Joab to take a census of all of the men of Israel. God was angry that David had done this, and He gave David a choice between three different punishments for this sin. David chose three days of plague, which killed seventy thousand. David offered himself and his own family to try to save Israel from this punishment. David made plans to build a temple for God.

Application and Reflection

Application

David sinned when he took a census of the people of Israel. He was faced with a choice of punishment for his sin. The punishment tragically killed seventy thousand people. God stopped the plague when David offered himself and his family up for punishment. We are often faced with choices in life. The first choice in this situation was not the punishments but the initial decision to sin or not to sin.

Reflection

David was going to build a temple for God, but David had sinned so much that God did not want him to build it. God wanted Solomon to do it instead, so David prepared Solomon for the job. When we have a task, it works out better with careful preparation. When you have a project to complete, do you prepare or wait until the last minute without proper planning?