Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Bureaucratic Terrorism | David in 22 | 2 Samuel 24

Starting point is 00:00:00 Welcome to 10-minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life and the time it takes to get to work. I'm Patrick Miller. And I'm Keith Simon. Right now, we're working through the story of David's Life, found in First and Second Samuel. Today is our last episode in Season 2, David's Life and 22 stories. Now, I really hope that you've enjoyed this, and I'm also excited to announce what we will be doing next on our next season. We are going to be focusing on Solomon, David's son. it's kind of a continuation of the story that we are already in. Now, since we're wrapping up

Starting point is 00:00:39 season two today, this episode is going to be a little bit longer than usual, so I hope you can forgive us. This is not technically a 10-minute Bible talk, but here's a podcast pro tip. Just speed up the episode to 1.5, and it'll be right around 10 minutes. So let's hop in, and we're going to look at the final chapter in 2nd Samuel, 2nd Samuel 24. Believe it or not, I still remember reading this chapter for the first time. And the reason why was because it struck me as a really bizarre way to end David's story. It's not at all what I would have expected for a conclusion to, you know, an epic saga. It doesn't tell us how David died, doesn't even tell us what happened after he died. Instead, we get these kind of two miscellaneous stories from earlier in David's reign. To compare it to maybe a modern example,

Starting point is 00:01:30 imagine for a second that you read through all of the Harry Potter books. It doesn't matter if you've actually read them, but just imagine you've read all seven of these epic books, and you get to the epilogue, and you read a chapter, but as you read it, you begin to realize this chapter doesn't belong in the last book. It belongs in the third book. There's no big reveals. It reads kind of like a B-side chapter that J.K. Rowling cut out, and then she got lazy, I guess, and just popped it there at the end. But I want you to imagine that you decide for whatever reason to reread the entire series again years later. And you get back to that epilogue. But this time when you read it, lights start going off. You realize it's not actually a random story at all. It's a story designed to show all the different

Starting point is 00:02:14 sides of Harry Potter. On the one hand in this story, you kind of see the worst parts of Harry. You know, the pensive, mistrustful, angsty teenager who's isolated and almost wrecks all of his friendships in the earlier books. You see that, Harry. But on the other hand, you also see glimmers of the final Harry, the Harry Potter who lays down his life for his friends. Now, you realize this seemingly mundane story from Harry's past, it actually points forward to two different future possibilities. It suggests that the seeds of the future are always planted in the past. And even more so, it gestures beyond itself, beyond what's happened in the book series to new futures that could exist beyond Harry and beyond Harry's story. It gestures to new

Starting point is 00:03:02 possibilities for a new world that could grow from Harry's life. The question, of course, is whether it will be a world of sacrificial love, the true and better Harry that we see at the end of the story, or if it will be a world of distrust and isolation. This is exactly what 2 Samuel 24 does, though it's a lot more honest than that kind of made-up example I made. And it's also a lot more hopeful than that illustration is. Why? Because this story isn't Harry Potter. It's true.

Starting point is 00:03:35 It's real. These things happen. This story's honest. And it's honest because even here in the last chapter, the narrator doesn't airbrush David's warts. It presents him as the king in all of his self-reliant vanity, wielding and finessing his earthly power without any faith or really any trust in God. But the story also takes a turn. There's something hopeful about it. There's also a different

Starting point is 00:03:58 possibility. We see a king who repents, a king who trusts God, a king who intercedes for God's people and allows them to avert disaster, to find mercy ultimately. We see in this story a king who is going to lead Israel toward their always intended destiny, worshiping and living in God's heavenly presence on earth. The story opens up strangely, mysteriously even. We read in verse one, again, the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, go, take a census of Israel in Judah. Now, we don't know at this point why the Lord is angry. And likewise, I don't even think we can even begin to understand why he would incite David to do something wrong.

Starting point is 00:04:47 We can ask questions, like, hey, oh, is this a test? Is it a temptation? to be resisted. But the honest truth is we really don't know. And I think that this is here for a reason. This final story is a reminder that Yahweh, the Lord, cannot be tamed. He's wild in his love. He's wild in his mercy. He's wild in his justice. It's a reminder that even though David's personality has loomed so largely in these books, David, at the end of the day, David is not the main actor, God is. And even David, even King David, he has to find his place in God's story. It's never the other way around. So the story goes on and David takes a census despite Joab's protests. And it becomes apparent that this isn't just some harmless counting of people. This census is about

Starting point is 00:05:37 conscription, military drafts, the extension of centralized royal power over all of the tribal societies that used to characterize Israel. David, he actually makes this clear himself in what he says about the census. He tells Joab this in verse two. Go throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan, which was actually the farthest northern point in Israel, to Beersheba, that's kind of the farthest southern point, and in Role, catch this, the fighting men, so that I may know how many there are. We realize David is no longer the humble leader. Now, right now he's being the royal military overlord. He's acting like he can take whoever he wants, whenever he wants for his royal military agenda. One scholar calls this bureaucratic terrorism. It's pretty apt. David is laying

Starting point is 00:06:28 claim to every life in his kingdom, and he doesn't have the right to lay claim to it. But I think we can actually press further than this. The census is telling us something about David's heart. It's telling us that David is no longer trusting in the Lord for his protection. He's not seeking out the Lord's will. He's not leading by faith. Now, right now in this story, David is leading by statecraft. You know, he believes Israel's future hinges on military force, not the provision and the power of the Lord. And so it's at this point in the story, this first story that we see one version of David, the worst David. We see the feckless, faithless, power grabber who rules by fiat. We see the practical politician relying on practice.

Starting point is 00:07:14 means to secure his rule. Faith is dead. And it points forward to a future possibility. The possibility that Judah and Israel, the monarchy is going to be characterized by power, by violence, by command, by domination. And it's sad because that future possibility, that becomes a future reality in Israel and Judah. As the story continues to roll on, as more monarchs come and rise and fall, In fact, I think it's also the dark possibility that comes to life in all empires, all bodies politic, all rulers left unchecked by God's grace and God's faithfulness. Isn't this the future possibility that stands before us personally too? That we could become the kind of people who are just purely practical, people who live

Starting point is 00:08:06 by our own wit, our own intelligence, we kind of rely on our own reason to carry us through life. We've got to figure it out. We can do this on our own. And we may nod and smile at God and say, oh, yeah, God's there. I trust him. Of course, all that stuff. But really, at the end of the day, we trust ourselves. I trust me to get what I need. I trust me to know what's best. I trust me to determine my life, my future. The question that we should ask when we get to the end of this little story about the census. Is this it? Is this the only future possibility? Will the story of Israel just be a descent into darkness? Well, the answer is no. There's another possibility on the horizon. Verse 10 says this. David was conscience-stricken after he'd counted the fighting men. And he said to the

Starting point is 00:08:59 Lord, I have sinned greatly in what I've done. Now, Lord, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I've done a very foolish thing. And we see here, just bear, just bear, slightly, opening up a new possibility, a new kind of future, and that possibility opens up with repentance. But the sin that David's done, it's not without consequences.

Starting point is 00:09:20 Verse 15, so the Lord sent a plague on Israel. From that morning until the end of the time designated, and 70,000 of the people from Dan to Beersheba, everywhere that David does this census, died. We're supposed to be sobered. And I think we're supposed to realize that these future possibilities for a king, they're not just concepts, they're not just ideas. No, these future possibilities represent human lives. As the king goes, so the people go. And this might seem unfair, even terrible. A bad king can destroy so much. But I think, again, we're supposed to be thinking about the converse as well, that a good king might actually be able to do the opposite, might be able to save lives, to seed to restore life. To show this, the narrator goes on to narrate two events that are actually

Starting point is 00:10:14 happening simultaneously. Okay, so let's look at the first one. Verse 16, when the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented concerning the disaster and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, enough. Withdraw your hand. The angel of the Lord was then at the threshing floor of Erunah, the Jebusite. Okay, so what brought this about? Why did God say stop? Well, we read in verse 17, what's happening simultaneously. When David saw the angel, so he's looking at that same angel, standing on the threshing floor, killing thousands of people. When David saw the angel who was striking down the people, he said to the Lord, I have sinned. I, the shepherd, have done the wrong. These are but sheep.

Starting point is 00:11:02 What have they done? Let your hand fall on me and my family. David intercede. David intercede. seeds. David, the king, he begs for mercy, and God hears him. God relents. And again, right here we see that second future possibility, the one opened up with repentance. We see it open up even further. Is it possible that there could be a merciful king, a king who sacrifices his own well-being for the well-being of others? Now, I realize in this episode, David is far from innocent. But again, maybe that's inviting us to imagine. Imagine the possibility of an innocent, king doing what David is doing right here with a perfectly pure heart. It's inviting us to imagine a king who actually lives by faith in the Lord, a king who is actually merciful, a king who sees the

Starting point is 00:11:50 sins of God's sheep, and like a good shepherd, lays down his life to rescue them. Can you see the outlines of Jesus being drawn by these strange, seemingly miscellaneous stories? In the final section of 2nd Samuel 24, David goes to the the spot where he saw the angel standing, this threshing floor, and he purchases it from the owner, and he builds an altar to God there. Now, the attuned reader of the Bible realizes that this is going to be the future site of the temple. And again, future possibilities, they just begin to burst open. The idea that a king might come who could bring God's presence to dwell on earth, the same way God dwelt in the temple, that a king might come who could reunite heaven and earth, so that a king might come who could

Starting point is 00:12:35 reunite heaven and earth so that God's people could do what they were always made to do, to live with him, to worship him, to enjoy him. And again, can't we see Jesus? The living temple, the one who was the living place of God's presence, the king who unites heaven and earth in his own flesh, and through his resurrection promises to unite heaven and earth eternally. This final chapter, it is artistic subtlety at its finest, its theology at a its finest. It's honest about the failures of human rule. Israel's first and greatest king in his final evaluation was a failure. And his progeny, his children will be failures as well. And us, when we take rule and ownership over our own lives, we become failures too. We can't rule ourselves

Starting point is 00:13:25 well, much less try to rule others well. But again, this story, this final chapter, it is just jittering and jilting with raw and hopeful potential. What if, what if, what if a different kind of king could come along whose mercy and sacrifice would intercede for us before God, whose life and reign would establish God's presence, God's kingdom on earth as in heaven? What if? What if? What if? I think that's the question 2 Samuel 24 is trying to leave us with, a question that we have to account for in our own lives. Because Jesus came and he claimed, I mean, it was an audacious claim,

Starting point is 00:14:05 but he claimed to be exactly that kind of king that we long for. And if he is that king, we have to ask ourselves a question. Will I continue to rule my own life? Or will I enter into his kingdom through his mercy and experience the slow reunion of heaven and earth

Starting point is 00:14:26 in my heart, in my home, in my community and one day in all creation. Will you set down your crown? Will you set down your scepter? And will you give your allegiance instead to King Jesus and to His kingdom? David isn't the perfect king, but he makes our heart long for him. We know who he is. So let's give our life to him.

Starting point is 00:14:53 Amen. We hope you've enjoyed this series through First and Second Samuel. Thanks for listening. If you've enjoyed this content, please subscribe and give us a rating. That helps other people find this podcast more easily. Also, ask yourself, who could you share this podcast with? Texting an episode to a friend or a family member is a great way to help them grow spiritually. If you want to go deeper, check out our show notes for book recommendations.

Ten Minute Bible Talks Devotional Bible Study - Bureaucratic Terrorism | David in 22 | 2 Samuel 24

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