← All Chapters The Book of 2 Samuel · Chapter 24

2 Samuel 24: The Cost of Worship

David's census brings a deadly plague, but his repentance and a purchased altar bring mercy and atonement to the land.

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2 Samuel 24 (WEB)

1 Again Yahweh’s anger was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.”

2 The king said to Joab the captain of the army, who was with him, “Now go back and forth through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the sum of the people.”

3 Joab said to the king, “Now may Yahweh your God add to the people, however many they may be, one hundred times; and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king delight in this thing?”

4 Notwithstanding, the king’s word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the army. Joab and the captains of the army went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel.

5 They passed over the Jordan, and encamped in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad, and to Jazer:

6 then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim Hodshi; and they came to Dan Jaan, and around to Sidon,

7 and came to the stronghold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites; and they went out to the south of Judah, at Beersheba.

8 So when they had gone back and forth through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.

9 Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

10 David’s heart struck him after that he had numbered the people. David said to Yahweh, “I have sinned greatly in that which I have done. But now, Yahweh, put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly.”

11 When David rose up in the morning, Yahweh’s word came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying,

12 “Go and speak to David, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “I offer you three things. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.”’”

13 So Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, “Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now answer, and consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me.”

14 David said to Gad, “I am in distress. Let us fall now into the hand of Yahweh; for his mercies are great. Let me not fall into the hand of man.”

15 So Yahweh sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning even to the appointed time; and there died of the people from Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men.

16 When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, Yahweh relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who destroyed the people, “It is enough. Now stay your hand.” Yahweh’s angel was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

17 David spoke to Yahweh when he saw the angel who struck the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done perversely; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me, and against my father’s house.”

18 Gad came that day to David, and said to him, “Go up, build an altar to Yahweh on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”

19 David went up according to the saying of Gad, as Yahweh commanded.

20 Araunah looked out, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. Then Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground.

21 Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David said, “To buy your threshing floor, to build an altar to Yahweh, that the plague may be stopped from afflicting the people.”

22 Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Behold, the cattle for the burnt offering, and the threshing instruments and the yokes of the oxen for the wood:

23 all this, king, does Araunah give to the king.” Araunah said to the king, “May Yahweh your God accept you.”

24 The king said to Araunah, “No; but I will most certainly buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to Yahweh my God which cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

25 David built an altar to Yahweh there, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So Yahweh was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

Summary

The book closes with a sobering account of David's sin and God's mercy. Stirred to number Israel and Judah, David sends Joab throughout the land despite the general's protest, counting the fighting men. Afterward David's heart smites him, and he confesses that he has sinned greatly and acted foolishly. The Lord, through the prophet Gad, offers David a choice of three judgments, and David, trusting God's great mercy over the hand of man, accepts a three-day pestilence. Seventy thousand die, but as the angel stretches out his hand toward Jerusalem, the Lord relents and stays the destruction at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. David sees the angel and pleads that the judgment fall on him and his house rather than on the people, who are like sheep. Gad directs him to build an altar there. When Araunah offers to give the king the threshing floor and oxen freely, David refuses, insisting that he will not offer to God what costs him nothing, and buys it for fifty shekels of silver. He builds an altar, offers sacrifices, and the Lord is entreated for the land, and the plague is stayed.

Main Characters

  • David — The king whose census provokes judgment, but whose repentance, intercession, and costly worship bring the plague to an end.
  • Joab — The commander who protests the census as unwise yet carries out the king's word, counting the men of Israel and Judah.
  • Gad the prophet — David's seer, who brings the Lord's offer of three judgments and later directs David to build the altar at Araunah's floor.
  • Araunah the Jebusite — The owner of the threshing floor, who freely offers it for sacrifice, but from whom David insists on buying it at a price.

Key Verse

2 Samuel 24:24 (WEB)

The king said to Araunah, “No; but I will most certainly buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to Yahweh my God which cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

Lessons Learned

  • Pride and self-reliance, even in a good king, can lead to sin that harms many.
  • When we fall into the hands of God, we fall into the hands of great mercy.
  • A true shepherd intercedes for the people, willing to bear judgment in their place.
  • Worship that costs us nothing is unworthy of the God who gives us everything.
  • Trusting numbers can dishonor God. David numbers the people and his heart smites him: “I have sinned greatly” (2 Samuel 24:10, WEB). Counting our strength can quietly displace our trust in the Lord.
  • God's mercy is greater than man's. David chooses to fall “into the hand of Yahweh; for his mercies are great” (2 Samuel 24:14, WEB). Even in judgment, the Lord is the safest place to be.
  • The shepherd intercedes for the sheep. David cries, “these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me” (2 Samuel 24:17, WEB), foreshadowing the Shepherd who would truly bear his people's judgment.
  • True worship is costly. David refuses a free altar: “I will not offer burnt offerings… which cost me nothing” (2 Samuel 24:24, WEB). Worship that asks nothing of us is not worthy of God.
  1. Why might numbering the people have been a sin, and what does David's later remorse suggest about its root?
  2. Why does David choose to fall into the hand of God rather than into the hand of men?
  3. What does David's plea—that judgment fall on him rather than the people—reveal about him, and whom does it point us toward?
  4. Why does David insist on paying for the threshing floor rather than accepting Araunah's gift?
  5. Where in your own life might you be offering God worship or service that actually costs you nothing, and what would costly devotion look like?
  1. Numbering the fighting men seems to express pride and reliance on military strength rather than on God, which is why David's conscience strikes him afterward (24:10). The root is self-trust creeping in where dependence on the Lord should reign, a temptation even for the faithful in times of security.
  2. David reasons that God's mercies are great, so he would rather face direct judgment from the Lord than the cruelty of human enemies (24:14). It is a striking act of faith: he trusts the character of the God he has sinned against more than he trusts men.
  3. Seeing the angel, David offers himself and his house in place of the people, calling them innocent sheep (24:17). His shepherd-heart willing to bear judgment for others points unmistakably to Jesus, the Good Shepherd who truly laid down his life for the sheep.
  4. David refuses to let his worship cost him nothing, paying full price for the floor and oxen (24:24). He understands that genuine devotion involves real sacrifice, not a bargain. Worship that demands nothing of us cheapens the God to whom it is offered.
  5. This is a personal-application question. David would not give God a costless offering. Invite members to examine where their faith may have become convenient and undemanding, and to consider one area of costly obedience or generosity. As leader, close the study by pointing to the cross, the supreme costly offering, and inviting wholehearted, sacrificial worship in response.

Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (WEB), the King James Version (KJV), and the American Standard Version (ASV), all of which are in the public domain.