A No-Cost Sacrifice?

2 Samuel 23:24-24:25; Psalm 123; Proverbs 16:21-23

 

But the king replied to Araunah, "No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels of silver for them. David built an altar to the Lord there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. – 2 Sam. 24:24-25a

 

David sounds so noble. He's the king! Why not take advantage of Araunah's offer? Why not let Araunah donate the oxen and the wood for a burnt offering? Isn't that the privilege of a king?

 

But David wasn't trying to be noble. He was being responsible. He was being realistic. He was being repentant.

 

If we look at the context, there was a reason for this offering. There was a need for this offering. The angel of the LORD had already killed seventy thousand Israelites (2 Sam. 24:15)! What was going on?

 

Here was the problem: David had taken a census of Israel's fighting men (2 Sam. 24:1-9). So what? A census. No big deal, right? But apparently it was a big deal. Joab had tried to discourage David from taking a census. And afterwards, David's conscience felt guilty and he confessed to God that he had sinned in counting the people (2 Sam. 24:3, 10)! Why would he feel guilty for counting the people? There is no direct command against it in the Scriptures. Many people's best guess is that David's purposes were to demonstrate Israel's strength by pointing to military numbers rather than to Israel's God. This would be quite an insult to God, who had demonstrated His ability to protect David and his kingdom against stronger and more powerful enemies since the day David fought Goliath!

 

Regardless, the passage is clear on one thing: It was David's sin that led to God's plague. It was David's sin that opened the gates of destruction on 70,000 Israelites. So when Araunah invited David to accept his oxen and carts as free gifts that David could use in sacrifice, it was impossible for David to accept! He felt the weight of his sin! He had watched its consequences destroy 70,000 of the people he had counted. David's whole point in offering a sacrifice to God was to say once more, "I am the guilty one. I deserve the judgment! Please don't make these people pay for my sins any more!"

 

No, David wasn't being noble. He was admitting his lack of nobility before a holy and righteous God. He was recognizing his sinfulness and the way that it had hurt those in his care. I'm sure David recognized that his cost was light compared to the cost others had paid, even after he had bought the threshing floor and the materials for the offering. But David deserved even worse, and knew it. Paying the price for the offering was an outward statement of his inward deficiency.

 

Father, help me to be deeply aware of my guilt when I sin against you. Help me to recognize that my sin affects more people than just me. And help me, like David, to do everything I can to put myself between other people and the consequences of my sin. At the same time, I know I could never survive Your full judgment against my sinfulness. I could never pay the penalty. It would kill me. Thank You that Jesus Christ died in my place. And rose. And thank You that now you call me to be a living sacrifice – no longer to atone for my sins, but still for the sake of others (Col. 1:24). May my small sacrifices lead many others to Christ's great, all-encompassing sacrifice so that they may join me in being safe from Your coming judgment.