1 Chronicles 17-21

1 Chronicles 17-21

1 Chronicles 17-21
Victory on the Battlefield and Mercy on Moriah

I. Introduction

  1. David desires to build God a temple, but is told his son will.
  2. David is promised an everlasting throne and is given many victories on the battlefield.
  3. These victories turn to pride, and a steep price will be paid in the nation for his sin.

II. vv. 1-4 David’s desire to build the Temple.

1 Now it came to pass, when David was dwelling in his house, that David said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the Lord is under tent curtains.” 2 Then Nathan said to David, “Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you.” 3 But it happened that night that the word of God came to Nathan, saying, 4 “Go and tell My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord: “You shall not build Me a house to dwell in.”

  1. David did not feel comfortable living in luxury while God dwelt in a tent.
    1. As David considered the many blessings God had bestowed on him, he felt compelled to honor the Lord with a permanent structure for the Ark.
    2. We must pause and admire David’s zeal for the Lord.
      1. When David gave, he did not want it to be without cost.
      2. David did not disengage from this project because he would not take part in the actual construction. What we observe is him storing up treasure for this construction.
      3. He had a view that went beyond himself.
    3. This scene also stands in contrast to the attitude in Haggai 1.
      1. They felt it was time to build their homes while the Temple lies in ruins.
    4. As you evaluate your heart in giving are you open handed and generous towards the Lord or are you tight fisted and focused on your betterment.
  2. v. 2 Nathan tells David “The Lord is with you,” but the Lord was not with him on this occasion.
    1. Nathan agreed that this would be a great idea, but as we will see Nathan speaks prematurely and was not speaking for the Lord on this occasion.
    2. We must be very careful that when we are telling someone to follow through on their plans that we don’t confirm that which the Lord hasn’t shown us.
  3. Good ideas are not the standard for implementing them.
    1. We must be certain that it agrees with the Lord’s will.
    2. We must make certain that the right person is there to lead it.
  4. First Kings records that God was pleased with David’s heart, but it was not what He wanted.

    1 Kings 8:18 “But the LORD said to my father David, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a temple for My name, you did well that it was in your heart.”
    1. The Lord looks upon the heart.
    2. Even when we ponder service to the Lord that is outside of His will, He stills finds pleasure in our heart.

III. vv. 5-15 The Davidic covenant.

  1. vv. 5-10 David is reminded of all that God has done

    5 For I have not dwelt in a house since the time that I brought up Israel, even to this day, but have gone from tent to tent, and from one tabernacle to another. 6 Wherever I have moved about with all Israel, have I ever spoken a word to any of the judges of Israel, whom I commanded to shepherd My people, saying, ‘Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?’ ” ’ 7 Now therefore, thus shall you say to My servant David, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: “I took you from the sheepfold, from following the sheep, to be ruler over My people Israel. 8 And I have been with you wherever you have gone, and have cut off all your enemies from before you, and have made you a name like the name of the great men who are on the earth. 9 Moreover I will appoint a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own and move no more; nor shall the sons of wickedness oppress them anymore, as previously, 10 since the time that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel. Also I will subdue all your enemies. Furthermore I tell you that the Lord will build you a house.
    1. David will not build the Temple, yet God reminds him of all the favor that has been shown to him.
    2. This is both to encourage and build his faith for the promise that is about to be given that Christ will be a descendant of his.
  2. vv. 11-15 David is promised future blessing

    11 And it shall be, when your days are fulfilled, when you must go to be with your fathers, that I will set up your seed after you, who will be of your sons; and I will establish his kingdom. 12 He shall build Me a house, and I will establish his throne forever. 13 I will be his Father, and he shall be My son; and I will not take My mercy away from him, as I took it from him who was before you. 14 And I will establish him in My house and in My kingdom forever; and his throne shall be established forever.” ’ ” 15 According to all these words and according to all this vision, so Nathan spoke to David.
    1. David will not build the Temple.
      1. The Lord did not hold David guilty for the bloodshed of battles, for God commanded such battles.
      2. This simply shows us that God has a preference as to who does certain works in His name and how it will be viewed.
    2. John told his disgruntled disciples, upon hearing that Jesus was also baptizing, that nothing can be done unless heaven gives it to a man.

      John 3:27 John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven.”

    3. Before David is told that his son will be the builder of the Lord’s house God announces that he will build an eternal dynasty to rule over Israel through his descendants.
      1. This promise is known as the Davidic covenant.
    4. David is told that it will be his son that will build the Temple.
      1. We know that the son who would build the Temple will be Solomon, the second born son to David and Bathsheba.
    5. The dynasty that God is establishing will be an eternal one because Jesus was born of the lineage of David and He will rule and reign over Israel and the whole world.
      1. This is still a future event waiting to happen at the Second Coming of Christ following the Great Tribulation.
      2. Some say that God is done with Israel and has no more promises to fulfill on her behalf.
      3. This can only be said by spiritualizing the text and removing its literal meaning.
  3. The promise of this eternal throne is the next prophecy of the coming Messiah.
    1. The first promise of the coming of a Savior is found in Genesis 3:15.
    2. The focus narrows in Genesis 12:3 to a man named Abraham and now we look for the Savior of men to be born among the descendants of Abraham.
    3. In Genesis 49:10 the scope is narrowed again among the twelve sons of Jacob to the tribe of Judah
    4. Now, here in 1 Chronicles, the scope narrows once again to David and his descendants.
    5. Zedkeiah was the last king of Israel to sit upon the throne of David in 586 BC.
    6. Even though Israel came back into the land after the exile and again in recent history, there has been no king.
    7. Jesus came, but they rejected Him.
    8. But rest assured this everlasting promise will be fulfilled.
    9. This New Testament makes it clear that this promise is not finished.

      Luke 1:32-33 32 “He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 33 And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.”

      Matthew 19:28 So Jesus said to them, “Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.”

      Acts 1:6–7 6 Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Him, saying, “Lord, will You at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?” 7 And He said to them, “It is not for you to know times or seasons which the Father has put in His own authority.

    10. Today, we are waiting for Jesus to come and take the throne of David.
    11. We are told in Revelation, Daniel, Zechariah, and other Old Testament prophets that Christ would return in the last days, deliver Israel, and establish Christ’s 1000-year reign on the earth.

IV. vv. 16-27 David is humbled at God’s favor.

 16 Then King David went in and sat before the Lord; and he said: “Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house, that You have brought me this far? 17 And yet this was a small thing in Your sight, O God; and You have also spoken of Your servant’s house for a great while to come, and have regarded me according to the rank of a man of high degree, O Lord God. 18 What more can David say to You for the honor of Your servant? For You know Your servant. 19 O Lord, for Your servant’s sake, and according to Your own heart, You have done all this greatness, in making known all these great things. 20 O Lord, there is none like You, nor is there any God besides You, according to all that we have heard with our ears. 21 And who is like Your people Israel, the one nation on the earth whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people—to make for Yourself a name by great and awesome deeds, by driving out nations from before Your people whom You redeemed from Egypt? 22 For You have made Your people Israel Your very own people forever; and You, Lord, have become their God. 23 “And now, O Lord, the word which You have spoken concerning Your servant and concerning his house, let it be established forever, and do as You have said. 24 So let it be established, that Your name may be magnified forever, saying, ‘The Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, is Israel’s God.’ And let the house of Your servant David be established before You. 25 For You, O my God, have revealed to Your servant that You will build him a house. Therefore Your servant has found it in his heart to pray before You. 26 And now, Lord, You are God, and have promised this goodness to Your servant. 27 Now You have been pleased to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue before You forever; for You have blessed it, O Lord, and it shall be blessed forever.”

  1. David does not respond with disappointment for not getting to build the Temple, but rather rejoices in what God has planned for his life.
    1. Considering the way in which David rejoices over these promises, how much more ought we to rejoice?
    2. These promises were far off, but we experience Christ now. Therefore, rejoicing and praising ought to come naturally.
    3. We have been called joint heirs with Christ, we have been told we will rule and reign with him, we have him dwelling in our hearts . . .
  2. Notice in v. 22 that God’s promise of blessing to Israel is an everlasting promise.
    1. Seven times in 1 Chronicles 17 there is a reference to forever.
    2. Many consider the existence of Israel today as insignificant as they see the Church as the recipients of these Old Testament prophecies.
    3. The church is seen as spiritual Israel.
    4. Yet a literal reading of Scripture makes it clear that these prophecies are to the ethnic Israel forever.

      Genesis 13:15 “… to you and your descendants forever.”

      Genesis 17:7 “… an everlasting covenant…”

      Genesis 17:8 “… an everlasting possession…”

      Genesis 48:4 “… as an everlasting possession.”

      2 Samuel 7:24 “… Your people Israel to be Your own people forever…”

      Psalm 105:10 “… the everlasting covenant…”

      Jeremiah 32:40 “…an everlasting covenant with them…”

      Ezekiel 37:25 “…they shall dwell there… forever…”

      Ezekiel 37:26 “…an everlasting covenant with them…”

V. Chs 18-21 Introduction

  1. We will have a much faster pace, which summarizes chapters 18-21.
  2. These chapters chronicle the victories given to David and the nation as they take the land promised them.
  3. We will see that these victories made David prideful, and the Lord humbled him in judgment.
  4. Yet, although God was displeased with David the Lord manifested His amazing grace.

VI. Chs 18-19 The Lord expands the territory of Israel

  1. Map legend
    1. Purple is Saul’s conquests.
    2. Green is David’s conquests.
    3. Tan is Solomon’s conquests.
  2. Ch 18
    1. v. 1 Philistines conquered.

      1 After this it came to pass that David attacked the Philistines, subdued them, and took Gath and its towns from the hand of the Philistines.

    2. v. 2 Moab defeated.

      2 Then he defeated Moab, and the Moabites became David’s servants, and brought tribute.

    3. v. 3 Zobah defeated, and David takes land as far as Hamath

      3 And David defeated Hadadezer king of Zobah as far as Hamath, as he went to establish his power by the River Euphrates. 4 David took from him one thousand chariots, seven thousand horsemen, and twenty thousand foot soldiers. Also David hamstrung all the chariot horses, except that he spared enough of them for one hundred chariots.

    4. vv. 5-6 Syrians come to help Hadadezer, and they are defeated. David puts troops in Damascus.

      5 When the Syrians of Damascus came to help Hadadezer king of Zobah, David killed twenty-two thousand of the Syrians. 6 Then David put garrisons in Syria of Damascus; and the Syrians became David’s servants, and brought tribute. So the Lord preserved David wherever he went.

    5. vv. 7-8 Spoil is taken for future construction

      7 And David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadadezer, and brought them to Jerusalem. 8 Also from Tibhath and from Chun, cities of Hadadezer, David brought a large amount of bronze, with which Solomon made the bronze Sea, the pillars, and the articles of bronze.

    6. vv. 9-11 King Tou of Hamath sends greetings

      9 Now when Tou king of Hamath heard that David had defeated all the army of Hadadezer king of Zobah, 10 he sent Hadoram his son to King David, to greet him and bless him, because he had fought against Hadadezer and defeated him (for Hadadezer had been at war with Tou); and Hadoram brought with him all kinds of articles of gold, silver, and bronze. 11 King David also dedicated these to the Lord, along with the silver and gold that he had brought from all these nations—from Edom, from Moab, from the people of Ammon, from the Philistines, and from Amalek.

    7. vv. 12-13 Edomites defeated in the Valley of Salt

      12 Moreover Abishai the son of Zeruiah killed eighteen thousand Edomites in the Valley of Salt. 13 He also put garrisons in Edom, and all the Edomites became David’s servants. And the Lord preserved David wherever he went.

    8. vv. 14-17 Leaders in the nation of Israel

      14 So David reigned over all Israel, and administered judgment and justice to all his people. 15 Joab the son of Zeruiah was over the army; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder; 16 Zadok the son of Ahitub and Abimelech the son of Abiathar were the priests; Shavsha was the scribe; 17 Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the Cherethites and the Pelethites; and David’s sons were chief ministers at the king’s side.
      1. Joab was a general.
      2. Jehoshaphat was a recorder.
      3. Zadok and Abimelech were priests.
      4. Shavsha was a scribe.
      5. Benaiah was over the palace guards.
      6. His sons were chief ministers.
  3. Ch 19
    1. vv. 1-5 David is disrespected by Hanun

      1 It happened after this that Nahash the king of the people of Ammon died, and his son reigned in his place. 2 Then David said, “I will show kindness to Hanun the son of Nahash, because his father showed kindness to me.” So David sent messengers to comfort him concerning his father. And David’s servants came to Hanun in the land of the people of Ammon to comfort him. 3 And the princes of the people of Ammon said to Hanun, “Do you think that David really honors your father because he has sent comforters to you? Did his servants not come to you to search and to overthrow and to spy out the land?” 4 Therefore Hanun took David’s servants, shaved them, and cut off their garments in the middle, at their buttocks, and sent them away. 5 Then some went and told David about the men; and he sent to meet them, because the men were greatly ashamed. And the king said, “Wait at Jericho until your beards have grown, and then return.”

    2. vv. 6-7 The Ammonites hire troops from Mesopotamia, Syria, Zobah, and Maacah.

      6 When the people of Ammon saw that they had made themselves repulsive to David, Hanun and the people of Ammon sent a thousand talents of silver to hire for themselves chariots and horsemen from Mesopotamia, from Syrian Maacah, and from Zobah. 7 So they hired for themselves thirty-two thousand chariots, with the king of Maacah and his people, who came and encamped before Medeba. Also the people of Ammon gathered together from their cities, and came to battle.

    3. vv. 8-19 Israel defeats the Ammonite alliance

      8 Now when David heard of it, he sent Joab and all the army of the mighty men. 9 Then the people of Ammon came out and put themselves in battle array before the gate of the city, and the kings who had come were by themselves in the field. 10 When Joab saw that the battle line was against him before and behind, he chose some of Israel’s best, and put them in battle array against the Syrians. 11 And the rest of the people he put under the command of Abishai his brother, and they set themselves in battle array against the people of Ammon. 12 Then he said, “If the Syrians are too strong for me, then you shall help me; but if the people of Ammon are too strong for you, then I will help you. 13 Be of good courage, and let us be strong for our people and for the cities of our God. And may the Lord do what is good in His sight.” 14 So Joab and the people who were with him drew near for the battle against the Syrians, and they fled before him. 15 When the people of Ammon saw that the Syrians were fleeing, they also fled before Abishai his brother, and entered the city. So Joab went to Jerusalem. 16 Now when the Syrians saw that they had been defeated by Israel, they sent messengers and brought the Syrians who were beyond the River, and Shophach the commander of Hadadezer’s army went before them. 17 When it was told David, he gathered all Israel, crossed over the Jordan and came upon them, and set up in battle array against them. So when David had set up in battle array against the Syrians, they fought with him. 18 Then the Syrians fled before Israel; and David killed seven thousand charioteers and forty thousand foot soldiers of the Syrians, and killed Shophach the commander of the army. 19 And when the servants of Hadadezer saw that they were defeated by Israel, they made peace with David and became his servants. So the Syrians were not willing to help the people of Ammon anymore.

    4. David, Joab, and Abishai go into battle and defeat the alliance.

VIII. Ch 20 God gives victory over giants

  1. Three giants are put to death.

    1 It happened in the spring of the year, at the time kings go out to battle, that Joab led out the armed forces and ravaged the country of the people of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David stayed at Jerusalem. And Joab defeated Rabbah and overthrew it. 2 Then David took their king’s crown from his head, and found it to weigh a talent of gold, and there were precious stones in it. And it was set on David’s head. Also he brought out the spoil of the city in great abundance. 3 And he brought out the people who were in it, and put them to work with saws, with iron picks, and with axes. So David did to all the cities of the people of Ammon. Then David and all the people returned to Jerusalem. 4 Now it happened afterward that war broke out at Gezer with the Philistines, at which time Sibbechai the Hushathite killed Sippai, who was one of the sons of the giant. And they were subdued. 5 Again there was war with the Philistines, and Elhanan the son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath the Gittite, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver’s beam. 6 Yet again there was war at Gath, where there was a man of great stature, with twenty-four fingers and toes, six on each hand and six on each foot; and he also was born to the giant. 7 So when he defied Israel, Jonathan the son of Shimea, David’s brother, killed him. 8 These were born to the giant in Gath, and they fell by the hand of David and by the hand of his servants.

  2. David’s exploits in slaying Goliath seem to have given an example to follow.


    1. It was the fear of the giants in Numbers 13 that kept the children of Israel from entering the Promised Land.
    2. One of the giant slayers was Jonathan, the nephew of David.
  3. Who were these giants?
    1. They are descendants of the Anakim.

      Joshua 11:21–22 21 And at that time Joshua came and cut off the Anakim from the mountains: from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, from all the mountains of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel; Joshua utterly destroyed them with their cities. 22 None of the Anakim were left in the land of the children of Israel; they remained only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod.
      1. The Anakim were descendants of the Nephilim.

        Numbers 13:31–33 31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we.” 32 And they gave the children of Israel a bad report of the land which they had spied out, saying, “The land through which we have gone as spies is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people whom we saw in it are men of great stature. 33 There we saw the giants (the descendants of Anak came from the giants); and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight.”
    2. We are first introduced to these giants in Genesis 6.

      Genesis 6:1–4 1 Now it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born to them, 2 that the sons of God saw the daughters of men, that they were beautiful; and they took wives for themselves of all whom they chose. 3 And the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” 4 There were giants on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of men and they bore children to them. Those were the mighty men who were of old, men of renown.
      1. The word translated “giants” is the Hebrew word nephilim.
      2. “5303. נְפִילִים nep̱iyliym:  A masculine noun used only in the plural meaning giants. The celebrated, puzzling passage where this term is first used is Genesis 6:4 which merely transliterates the Hebrew word into English as Nephilim. These beings evidently appeared on the earth in the ancient past when divine beings cohabited with woman, and Nephilim, the mighty men or warriors of great fame, were the offspring.”[1]
    3. Michael Heiser, in his book The Unseen Realm, argues that it was because of these Nephilim being in the land that God instructed the Israelites to eradicate those dwelling in the associated locales with the Nephilim.

      “In the view of the biblical writers, Israel is at war with enemies spawned by rival divine beings. The Nephilim bloodlines were not like the peoples of the disinherited nations. Genesis 10 clearly casts the human inhabitants of those nations as owing their existence to Yahweh, as they descended from Noah’s sons and, therefore, Noah—all the way back to Adam, Yahweh’s first human son. The Nephilim bloodlines had a different pedigree. They were produced by other divine beings. They did not belong to Yahweh, and he therefore had no interest in claiming them. Coexistence was not possible with the spawn of other gods.

      Viewed against this backdrop, Joshua’s kherem is a holy war begun under Moses in the Transjordan, specifically against the Amorite giant kings Sihon (Deut 2:34) and Og (Deut 3:6). The lives of Israel’s enemies were to be “devoted to destruction” as an act of sacrifice to Yahweh… Verse 29 has the spies noting that they saw Anakim in those locations among Amalekites, Hittites, Jebusites, Amorites, and Canaanites. This point helps explain something that will become apparent as we proceed—that the lemma kharam in the conquest accounts is used only of assaults in cities or locales that overlap with giant clan population clusters.”[2]

    4. Some see the cohabitation of the sons of gods as an attempt, both in the pre-flood world and in the days of the conquest, to contaminate the messianic bloodline.

IX. Ch 21 A sinful census

  1. vv. 1-2 David’s pride got the best of him.

    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.”
    1. David’s pride of accomplishments led him to an unlawful census.

      Deuteronomy 8:13-17 13 “and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; 14 when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; 15 who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water; who brought water for you out of the flinty rock; 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end—17 then you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.'”

    2. The Law stated that if a census was taken, then a redemption price was to be paid to the Lord.

      Exodus 30:12-13   12 “When you take the census of the children of Israel for their number, then every man shall give a ransom for himself to the LORD, when you number them, that there may be no plague among them when you number them.  13 This is what everyone among those who are numbered shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (a shekel is twenty gerahs). The half-shekel shall be an offering to the LORD.”
  2. vv. 3-6 David ignores godly counsel.

    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?”
    1. Joab, although far from a perfect man, warned David of this sinful act.
    2. He faithfully warns his king, but it is not heeded.
      1. Is there someone you need to warn?
      2. Have you had people concerned for your well-being warning you about the way you’re living your life? TAKE HEED!
    3. David’s sin affects the entire nation.
      1. 70,000 will die in a plague.
        1. You may say that is not fair, but that is real life.
        2. Our actions have an impact for good or evil.
      2. So, it is in the Church.
      3. So, it is in your home.
    4. vv. 4-6 David prevails in sin.

      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, and Judah had four hundred and seventy thousand men who drew the sword. 6 But he did not count Levi and Benjamin among them, for the king’s word was abominable to Joab.
      1. David pressed headlong into his plan even though he knew it was wrong.

        Galatians 6:7-9 7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. 8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. 9 And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.
  3. vv. 7-12 David must choose his punishment.

    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.”
    1. Three years of famine.
    2. Three months of defeat from enemies.
    3. Three days of plague from the Lord.
  4. vv. 13-17 David chooses to fall into the hands of the Lord.

    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.”
    1. David chose the plague because it was the hand of the Lord and not man.
    2. David knew God to be merciful and would rather suffer at the hands of a merciful God than the hands of a cruel enemy.
    3. As the plague breaks out, 70,000 people die.
    4. David sees the sword of the Lord drawn over Jerusalem and repents.
    5. David pleads for the judgment to be against him and his household rather than the nation.
    6. Are you in need of repentance for your choices?
  5. vv. 18-30 Mercy on Moriah.

    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. 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.
    1. Ornan and David exemplify sacrificial giving.
    2. The scene gives us a picture of God’s grace.



    3. The location of this piece of land is where Abraham was promised by God to provide Himself a sacrifice.
    4. It is in David’s sin that God provides the land for the Temple to be built by Solomon, who is the son of Bathsheba.

X. Conclusion

  1. God is blessed by our hearts for His Kingdom.
  2. God has made an everlasting covenant with Israel, and He will fulfill those promises at the Second Coming of Christ.
  3. Listen when the Spirit of the Lord warns you.
  4. Don’t be deceived into thinking that you can sin against God without consequence.
  5. Remember the grace of God and seek Him in your sin.

[1] Warren Baker and Eugene Carpenter, The Complete Word Study Dictionary: Old Testament (Chattanooga: AMG Publishers, 2003), 743–744.

[2] Michael S. Heiser, The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible, First Edition (Bellingham: Lexham Press, 2015), 205.

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