24:1-9, Cf. 1And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.
So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel ... and there died of the people ... seventy thousand men. 24:15
Trivia: Who killed two lion-like men of Moab, a lion in the snow, and a goodly Egyptian with a spear in his hand?
1And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.
God was angry (again) with Israel and he said to David,
Go number Israel and Judah. [1]
2 For the king said to Joab the captain of the host, which was with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the number of the people.
Go number Israel and Judah.
3 And Joab said unto the king, Now the LORD thy God add unto the people, how many soever they be, an hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord the king may see it: but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing?
Why do you want to have a census?It doesn't matter how many people there are in Israel.
4 Notwithstanding the king's word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the host. And Joab and the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel.
5 And they passed over Jordan, and pitched in Aroer, on the right side of the city that lieth in the midst of the river of Gad, and toward Jazer:
6 Then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtimhodshi; and they came to Danjaan, and about to Zidon,
7 And came to the strong hold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites: and they went out to the south of Judah, even to Beersheba.
8 So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.
9 And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.
Joab counted 800,000 and 500,000 men who drew the sword from Israel and Judah, respectively. [2]
10 And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.
David felt guilty for taking the census that God told him to take.
So he said to God,
I have sinned greatly. [3]Please forgive me.
11 For when David was up in the morning, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,
12 Go and say unto David, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.
God came to the prophet Gad, and said,
Go and say to David,
This is what God says,You have three choices.Choose one of them and I'll do it to you.
13So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days' pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me.
So Gad came to David and said to him,
Which would you prefer? [4]
- Seven years of famine.
- Fleeing three months before your enemies.
- Three days of pestilence.
14 And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man.
David said,
I am in big trouble.Let's leave it up to God, since he is so merciful. [5]
Just don't let me fall into the hand of man.
15So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men.
God sent a pestilence on Israel, which killed 70,000 men. [6]
16 And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite.
But just as the angel was stretching out his hand to destroy Jerusalem with God's pestilence, God repented the evil he had planned to do. [7]
God said,
I've killed enough people.Put down your hand.
17And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house.
When David saw the angel killing the people, he said to God,
I've sinned, but what have these people done?Please stop killing them.
18 And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the LORD in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite.
19 And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the LORD commanded.
20 And Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground.
21 And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the LORD, that the plague may be stayed from the people.
22 And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood.
23 All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The LORD thy God accept thee.
Gad came again to David, and said,
Build and altar to God in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite.
And David did as Gad commanded.
24 And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
So David bought the threshingfloor for fifty shekels of silver. [8]
25 And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD was intreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.
Of course, this is a ridiculously high number for a tribal armies in 1000 BCE.
(The United States had 1,347,106 active duty soldiers in 2018.)
So God killed aroung 200,000 people in the pestilence, including women and children.
I guess God took David's non-answer as a choice for option three -- or maybe God just chose for him.
DWB: God killed 70,000 because David had a census that God (or Satan) told him to do
This is the type of thing that could give even a believer pause. I wanted to make sure your translation was accurate, so I went to a Catholic bible site, and it seems correct. God kills 70,000 men because David felt guilty for doing what God told him to do.