We need a couple of background reminders before this narrative makes any sense. Exodus 30:11-16 is where God gives instructions about taking a census. This was during the march from Egypt to the Promised Land, when technically God Himself was the King of Israel, and Moses was merely His viceroy, in terms of governing authority. When God orders a census, there will be a census, because it is His nation. The census always came with a Temple tax that could be hard for some to bear. Modern notions of fairness and equality do not reflect God’s mind about divine justice.
It was David’s nature to be humble about God anointing him king. He was always a shepherd at heart. He genuinely loved the nation of Israel and suffered the pangs of sorrow any literal father would over the people. This was why he was such a fierce warrior on their behalf, and kept saying what a mighty and wonderful nation they were.
God used Satan to provoke David to call a census without God’s actual command. David slipped into a kind of pride that was quite uncharacteristic of him. It caused him to move away from his typical passionate concern for their welfare. He wanted a body count of able men who could be conscripted. The text does not say specifically, but apparently this time David did not collect the Temple tax. There’s no other explanation possible for why it kindled God’s wrath. For all his moral weaknesses, Joab for once understood what a mistake this was. It wasn’t like David to demand something that could only reflect pride, and it was certainly contrary to Covenant Law.
You can find any number of commentaries that speculate about other moral flaws that counted against David in this command, but most of them are unwarranted. They tend toward attempting to justify it all from a Western standard of justice. But from a genuine Hebrew point of view, it’s enough to note the obvious facts from Scripture here: David was the king and his sins could bring God’s wrath on the people, much to his chagrin.
The journey described gives us a hint to the method: The command staff would set up camp in several convenient central locations based on the terrain and hold musters of the able-bodied adult men in that area. The census is recorded in the text in round numbers, typical of Hebrew writing for something like this.
Then the blinders were off and David realized what a massive mistake he had made. He had exposed the people to God’s wrath by not taking the Temple tax. Keep in mind, there was no reason at all for a Temple tax, as there was neither Temple nor Tabernacle at this time. The Ark of Covenant was sitting in a Tent of Meeting in his palace courtyard. David’s cry of repentance is not as self-oriented as it sounds to us in English. With his normal moral sensitivity restored to him, David felt the full load of a shepherd’s guilt who had set his own flock on fire. He wanted to take the blame on himself alone.
Upon Gad’s message, David could net decide between a long famine or a quick and deadly plague, but didn’t want to run the risk of another flight in the wilderness from human enemies, not at his now advanced age. So the Lord chose the plague and it cost a significant element of that mighty army he mustered over the previous month or so.
In very dramatic imagery we are told that the death angel approached David’s capital and stopped just outside the city on a threshing floor that was once the place where Abraham prepared to offer Isaac. The Lord didn’t recall the angel, but had him stop in place. David was permitted to see this angel, and his heartfelt cry on behalf of the people is altogether typical of him.
Gad told David his duty now was to erect an altar of sacrifice on that same spot Abraham had used. At this time, it was the threshing floor of a loyal Jebusite noble still living in the area, here called Araunah. It happened he was there on his threshing floor that day. As he spotted the king’s entourage approaching, he paid his lawful respects. Notice the very thoughtful answer the man gave to his king upon hearing the reason for this visit. The text notifies us that Araunah was not a convert, but a resident alien who ruled over some of his own Jebusite people.
It would hardly be any kind of sacrifice for David to accept the generous offer, even though it would have been part of Araunah’s feudal obligations. The ritual would have to come at some personal cost to David to have any meaning. David’s offering had to be under Moses’ Law, not the Noahic Law binding on the Jebusties. So far as anyone can say, David paid a premium price for parcel of land with the oxen and materials. This offering was accepted and the Lord recalled the death angel.
If nothing else, this serves as the moral model of biblical manhood. Men will always fail, and those who really do take on a heavy load of care will be even more tempted than others. But the sense of personal loss felt over the souls of others is what distinguishes a shepherd from ordinary guys.
