Read: 1 Chronicles 19:1-21:30; Romans 2:25-3:8; Psalm 11:1-7; Proverbs 19:10-12
There are some things that David did that he should have asked the Lord about and honoring Nahash’s death was one of them. Nahash means “a serpent”. He is the king that came against Israel in 1 Samuel 11 and 12 and told them that they would spare them if they would cut out all of their right eyes to be a reproach upon all Israel. Saul rose up and rallied all Israel to fight for them and they won and Saul was made king. We don’t hear about Nahash again until now so he must have given David peace making David think they were friends. You can’t make friends with a serpent. Satan doesn’t make friends.
David’s act of sympathy turned into a full scaled war against the Ammonites and the hired Armenians. Israel won.
Chapter 20 starts out “In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war…David remained in Jerusalem.” Joab went out for him to Rabbah where the Ammonite king lived and took the city and killed the king and took his crown. He took many more Ammonite cities and made the people servants of Israel. Joab then fought the Philistines and took them also.
Since Satan, the arch-enemy of good, couldn’t win on the battlefield, he came up with a new strategy which was pride. He invoked David to number his fighting men across the land. Joab tried to talk him out of it but David insisted, so Joab traveled across Israel counting the fit men.
What is so bad about numbering the fighting men? God told Moses to number the men over 20 in Numbers and nothing happened. In Exodus 30:12 it says that when you number the people you are to take a ransom for their souls from them. They were to give an offering because they had been counted. Again, in Numbers 31, Moses counted the men of war and every man gave gold, chains, bracelets, rings, etc. as an atonement for their souls. David wasn’t requiring anything for their souls. To be counted was to be reckoned before the Lord. These men were not given the chance to give an atonement for their soul. Not to do this would bring a plague which was what happened in David’s time. He chose the plague as his punishment. The plague stopped at the very place that Jesus would make atonement for all sin.
In Romans, Paul is continuing his teaching on the law. If you live by the law, then the law will condemn you if you break it. Circumcision was a commandment of the law to represent a spiritual truth. Paul was trying to tell them that it is not the one who is a believer in the heart is more important than a native born Jew. The truth was first given to the Jew, but they have to receive God’s truth just like the Gentile.
Our Proverbs warrants repeating: “A man’s wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.”
Lord, thank you for your grace and your mercy toward all people. Help us to overlook offenses.
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