2Samuel 24: 22Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what is good in his sight. Look, the oxen for the burnt offering, the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. 23“Everything, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the LORD your God accept you.” 24However, the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God which cost me nothing.”
While Araunah may have thought he was making a grand gesture in service to the people, David, and the Lord, David knew better. An offering done in that fashion would have placed an indebtedness upon David to Araunah; it was simply not David’s to offer. If we were to take some thing from some one and give it to another in our own name, would we not owe the first person a debt, even if it was offered as a gift? Not a monetary debt, but a degree of honor would be at least appropriate. Add to that situation that the Lord should be getting the credit for the healing that would take place, and we see we could be taking away our praise from the Lord and giving it to a person instead.
2 Samuel 22
David’s Psalm of Deliverance
1And David spoke the words of this song to the LORD in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. 2He said,
“The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;
3 My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge;
My savior, You save me from violence.
4 “I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,
And I am saved from my enemies.
5 “For the waves of death encompassed me;
The torrents of destruction overwhelmed me;
6 The cords of Sheol surrounded me;
The snares of death confronted me.
7 “In my distress I called upon the LORD,
Yes, I cried to my God;
And from His temple He heard my voice,
And my cry for help came into His ears.
8 “Then the earth shook and quaked,
The foundations of heaven were trembling
And were shaken, because He was angry.
9 “Smoke went up out of His nostrils,
Fire from His mouth devoured;
Coals were kindled by it.
10 “He bowed the heavens also, and came down
With thick darkness under His feet.
11 “And He rode on a cherub and flew;
And He appeared on the wings of the wind.
12 “And He made darkness canopies around Him,
A mass of waters, thick clouds of the sky.
13 “From the brightness before Him
Coals of fire were kindled.
14 “The LORD thundered from heaven,
And the Most High uttered His voice.
14 “The LORD thundered from heaven,
And the Most High uttered His voice.
15 “And He sent out arrows, and scattered them,
Lightning, and routed them.
16 “Then the channels of the sea appeared,
The foundations of the world were laid bare
By the rebuke of the LORD,
At the blast of the breath of His nostrils.
17 “He sent from on high, He took me;
He drew me out of many waters.
18 “He delivered me from my strong enemy,
From those who hated me, for they were too strong for me.
19 “They confronted me in the day of my calamity,
But the LORD was my support.
20 “He also brought me forth into a broad place;
He rescued me, because He delighted in me.
21 “The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness;
According to the cleanness of my hands He has recompensed me.
22 “For I have kept the ways of the LORD,
And have not acted wickedly against my God.
23 “For all His ordinances were before me,
And as for His statutes, I did not depart from them.
24 “I was also blameless toward Him,
And I kept myself from my iniquity.
25 “Therefore the LORD has recompensed me according to my righteousness,
According to my cleanness before His eyes.
26 “With the kind You show Yourself kind,
With the blameless You show Yourself blameless;
27 With the pure You show Yourself pure,
And with the perverted You show Yourself astute.
28 “And You save an afflicted people;
But Your eyes are on the haughty whom You abase.
29 “For You are my lamp, O LORD;
And the LORD illumines my darkness.
30 “For by You I can run upon a troop;
By my God I can leap over a wall.
31 “As for God, His way is blameless;
The word of the LORD is tested;
He is a shield to all who take refuge in Him.
32 “For who is God, besides the LORD?
And who is a rock, besides our God?
33 “God is my strong fortress;
And He sets the blameless in His way.
34 “He makes my feet like hinds’ feet,
And sets me on my high places.
35 “He trains my hands for battle,
So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze.
36 “You have also given me the shield of Your salvation,
And Your help makes me great.
37 “You enlarge my steps under me,
And my feet have not slipped.
38 “I pursued my enemies and destroyed them,
And I did not turn back until they were consumed.
39 “And I have devoured them and shattered them, so that they did not rise;
And they fell under my feet.
40 “For You have girded me with strength for battle;
You have subdued under me those who rose up against me.
41 “You have also made my enemies turn their backs to me,
And I destroyed those who hated me.
42 “They looked, but there was none to save;
Even to the LORD, but He did not answer them.
43 “Then I pulverized them as the dust of the earth;
I crushed and stamped them as the mire of the streets.
44 “You have also delivered me from the contentions of my people;
You have kept me as head of the nations;
A people whom I have not known serve me.
45 “Foreigners pretend obedience to me;
As soon as they hear, they obey me.
46 “Foreigners lose heart,
And come trembling out of their fortresses.
47 “The LORD lives, and blessed be my rock;
And exalted be God, the rock of my salvation,
48 The God who executes vengeance for me,
And brings down peoples under me,
49 Who also brings me out from my enemies;
You even lift me above those who rise up against me;
You rescue me from the violent man.
50 “Therefore I will give thanks to You, O LORD, among the nations,
And I will sing praises to Your name.
51 “He is a tower of deliverance to His king,
And shows lovingkindness to His anointed,
To David and his descendants forever.”
2 Samuel 23
David’s Last Song
1Now these are the last words of David.
David the son of Jesse declares,
The man who was raised on high declares,
The anointed of the God of Jacob,
And the sweet psalmist of Israel,
2 “The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me,
And His word was on my tongue.
3 “The God of Israel said,
The Rock of Israel spoke to me,
‘He who rules over men righteously,
Who rules in the fear of God,
4 Is as the light of the morning when the sun rises,
A morning without clouds,
When the tender grass springs out of the earth,
Through sunshine after rain.’
5 “Truly is not my house so with God?
For He has made an everlasting covenant with me,
Ordered in all things, and secured;
For all my salvation and all my desire,
Will He not indeed make it grow?
6 “But the worthless, every one of them will be thrust away like thorns,
Because they cannot be taken in hand;
7 But the man who touches them
Must be armed with iron and the shaft of a spear,
And they will be completely burned with fire in their place.”
His Mighty Men
8These are the names of the mighty men whom David had: Josheb-basshebeth a Tahchemonite, chief of the captains, he was called Adino the Eznite, because of eight hundred slain by him at one time; 9and after him was Eleazar the son of Dodo the Ahohite, one of the three mighty men with David when they defied the Philistines who were gathered there to battle and the men of Israel had withdrawn. 10He arose and struck the Philistines until his hand was weary and clung to the sword, and the LORD brought about a great victory that day; and the people returned after him only to strip the slain.
11Now after him was Shammah the son of Agee a Hararite. And the Philistines were gathered into a troop where there was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the people fled from the Philistines. 12But he took his stand in the midst of the plot, defended it and struck the Philistines; and the LORD brought about a great victory.
13Then three of the thirty chief men went down and came to David in the harvest time to the cave of Adullam, while the troop of the Philistines was camping in the valley of Rephaim. 14David was then in the stronghold, while the garrison of the Philistines was then in Bethlehem. 15David had a craving and said, “Oh that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem which is by the gate!” 16So the three mighty men broke through the camp of the Philistines, and drew water from the well of Bethlehem which was by the gate, and took it and brought it to David. Nevertheless he would not drink it, but poured it out to the LORD; 17and he said, “Be it far from me, O LORD, that I should do this. Shall I drink the blood of the men who went in jeopardy of their lives?” Therefore he would not drink it. These things the three mighty men did.
18Abishai, the brother of Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was chief of the thirty. And he swung his spear against three hundred and killed them, and had a name as well as the three. 19He was most honored of the thirty, therefore he became their commander; however, he did not attain to the three.
20Then Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done mighty deeds, killed the two sons of Ariel of Moab. He also went down and killed a lion in the middle of a pit on a snowy day. 21He killed an Egyptian, an impressive man. Now the Egyptian had a spear in his hand, but he went down to him with a club and snatched the spear from the Egyptian’s hand and killed him with his own spear. 22These things Benaiah the son of Jehoiada did, and had a name as well as the three mighty men. 23He was honored among the thirty, but he did not attain to the three. And David appointed him over his guard.
24Asahel the brother of Joab was among the thirty; Elhanan the son of Dodo of Bethlehem, 25Shammah the Harodite, Elika the Harodite, 26Helez the Paltite, Ira the son of Ikkesh the Tekoite, 27Abiezer the Anathothite, Mebunnai the Hushathite, 28Zalmon the Ahohite, Maharai the Netophathite, 29Heleb the son of Baanah the Netophathite, Ittai the son of Ribai of Gibeah of the sons of Benjamin, 30Benaiah a Pirathonite, Hiddai of the brooks of Gaash, 31Abi-albon the Arbathite, Azmaveth the Barhumite, 32Eliahba the Shaalbonite, the sons of Jashen, Jonathan, 33Shammah the Hararite, Ahiam the son of Sharar the Ararite, 34Eliphelet the son of Ahasbai, the son of the Maacathite, Eliam the son of Ahithophel the Gilonite, 35Hezro the Carmelite, Paarai the Arbite, 36Igal the son of Nathan of Zobah, Bani the Gadite, 37Zelek the Ammonite, Naharai the Beerothite, armor bearers of Joab the son of Zeruiah, 38Ira the Ithrite, Gareb the Ithrite, 39Uriah the Hittite; thirty-seven in all.
2 Samuel 24
The Census Taken
1Now again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and it incited David against them to say, “Go, number Israel and Judah.” 2The king said to Joab the commander of the army who was with him, “Go about now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and register the people, that I may know the number of the people.” 3But Joab said to the king, “Now may the LORD your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king still see; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?” 4Nevertheless, the king’s word prevailed against Joab and against the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to register the people of Israel. 5They crossed the Jordan and camped in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad and toward Jazer. 6Then they came to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi, and they came to Dan-jaan and around to Sidon, 7and came to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and of the Canaanites, and they went out to the south of Judah, to Beersheba. 8So when they had gone about through the whole land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9And Joab gave the number of the registration 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.
10Now David’s heart troubled him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the LORD, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O LORD, please take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.” 11When David arose in the morning, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, 12“Go and speak to David, ‘Thus the LORD says, “I am offering you three things; choose for yourself one of them, which I will do to you.”’” 13So 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 consider and see what answer I shall return to Him who sent me.” 14Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us now fall into the hand of the LORD for His mercies are great, but do not let me fall into the hand of man.”
Pestilence Sent
15So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning until the appointed time, and seventy thousand men of the people from Dan to Beersheba died. 16When the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD relented from the calamity and said to the angel who destroyed the people, “It is enough! Now relax your hand!” And the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 17Then David spoke to the LORD when he saw the angel who was striking down the people, and said, “Behold, it is I who have sinned, and it is I who have done wrong; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let Your hand be against me and against my father’s house.”
David Builds an Altar
18So Gad came to David that day and said to him, “Go up, erect an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 19David went up according to the word of Gad, just as the LORD had commanded. 20Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants crossing over toward him; and Araunah went out and bowed his face to the ground before the king. 21Then Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” And David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the LORD, that the plague may be held back from the people.” 22Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what is good in his sight. Look, the oxen for the burnt offering, the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. 23“Everything, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the LORD your God accept you.” 24However, the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, for I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God which cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25David built there an altar to the LORD and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. Thus the LORD was moved by prayer for the land, and the plague was held back from Israel.
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Psalm 69
A Cry of Distress and Imprecation on Adversaries.
FOR THE CHOIR DIRECTOR; ACCORDING TO SHOSHANNIM. A PSALM OF DAVID.
1 Save me, O God,
For the waters have threatened my life.
2 I have sunk in deep mire, and there is no foothold;
I have come into deep waters, and a flood overflows me.
3 I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched;
My eyes fail while I wait for my God.
4 Those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head;
Those who would destroy me are powerful, being wrongfully my enemies;
What I did not steal, I then have to restore.
5 O God, it is You who knows my folly,
And my wrongs are not hidden from You.
6 May those who wait for You not be ashamed through me, O Lord GOD of hosts;
May those who seek You not be dishonored through me, O God of Israel,
7 Because for Your sake I have borne reproach;
Dishonor has covered my face.
8 I have become estranged from my brothers
And an alien to my mother’s sons.
9 For zeal for Your house has consumed me,
And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.
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