David's Idolatry (part 1 of 3)

The twenty-fourth chapter of second Samuel begins by stating that “The Lord’s anger again raged against Israel, and He incited David against them, saying, ‘Go count Israel and Judah.’” (24:1)  So David gives an order to his general, Joab, telling him to “Go through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beer Sheba and muster the army, so I may know the size of the army” (24:2b).  Now, this is not precisely what David had been commanded to do, which is somewhat telling when it comes to an overall analysis of David’s character, which was seriously flawed.  Yes, David, as the Apostle Paul would say, “served God’s purpose in his own generation” (Acts 13:36a), but this statement is removed quite a distance from the initial report of David before he was anointed to be king, in which Paul presents David as “a man after My (God’s) heart” (13:22).  With this, Paul borrows from the first book of Samuel, where we read about the Lord having sought out, what is perhaps a better translation, “a man who is loyal to Him” (13:14b). 

God instructed David to number Israel and Judah.  In and of itself, this is not a problem.  God has no problem with a census of His people.  In fact, in His law as given through Moses, the Lord gave instructions as to how it was that the census was to be carried out, and what it was that must occur along with the census.  In fact, the book of Numbers, for the most part, is itself a census.  However, we know that the Lord’s anger was raging against Israel, which is an indication that there was a problem with which God intended to deal.  It seems as if God knew that David would not follow the directive that had been given, which might very well be the implication of the author’s record of inciting David against Israel.  Rather than direct a numbering of the whole of the people, David instead asks for a numbering of the army. 

It seems that Joab better understood the Lord’s command than did David, as he replies to the order that has been given, saying “May the Lord your God make the army a hundred times larger right before the eyes of my lord the king!  But why does my master the king want to do this?” (24:3)  It is worth repeating that the Lord wanted His people numbered, whereas David asked for a numbering of his army.  By all appearances here, Joab is aghast at the king’s command.  However, “the king’s edict stood, despite the objections of Joab and the leaders of the army” (24:4a).  So not only did Joab have a grasp of what it was that the Lord wanted, but so too did the leaders of the army, who were likely influenced by Joab to offer their objections to the king.  Ultimately, the record indicates that “Joab and the leaders of the army left the king’s presence in order to muster the Israelite army” (24:4b), so that David, as he said, could know its size.  After a period of time, “Joab reported the number of warriors to the king” (24:9a).  The given report stated that “In Israel there were 800,000 sword-wielding warriors, and in Judah there were 500,000 soldiers” (24:9b). 

David’s response to the report of more than a million soldiers at his disposal is not what one might expect.  Rather than exulting in the power that such a count represented, “David felt guilty after he had numbered the army” (24:10a).  Why would David feel guilty?  Was it because numbering the people was wrong?  Not at all.  Rather, David felt guilty because he commanded something to be done that was not what the Lord commanded him to do, which also served to give him an insight into his own mindset.  As a result, “David said to the Lord, ‘I have sinned greatly by doing this!  Now, O Lord, please remove the guilt of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.’” (24:10b)  What was David’s sin?  Naturally, we can easily make the case that it was disobedience.  God asked for one thing, and David did something different.  This is not difficult to ascertain.  However, there was something more substantial than disobedience.  It was the same problem that we saw with Saul and the situation with the Amalekites. 

God, through Samuel, had given specific instruction to Saul as to how he was to deal with the Amalekites.  Saul only partially carried out the Lord’s command.  This resulted in Saul being rejected by God as king over His people.  So in David’s actions, we see hints of the same thing.  Saul was given a specific instruction, as was David.  Saul followed the instruction to an extent, as did David.  Saul is rejected as king, and David, knowing this story of Saul and perhaps coming to his senses a bit, feels guilty, offering his plea to the Lord for the removal of guilt.  He did not want to be rejected as king (which would be the second time if this occurs after the Absalom situation), and he did not want to be overtaken by the same fate as that which was experienced by Saul.  In connection with what brought about his downfall, Saul was said to have been setting up a monument for himself (1 Samuel 15:12).  In our exploration of Saul’s life in the course of this study, we determined that this was the beginning of idolatry for Saul.  This idolatry is what would result in Saul being exiled from the throne of Israel, as Saul began to operate outside of God’s purposes for him, though he would remain king until his death.  His idolatry led to exile. 

So what was David’s sin---his great sin, as he said?  Of what was he guilty?  Into what had he entered which he now regarded as foolishness?  What did the numbering of the army rather than the people represent?  Plainly and simply, it was idolatry.  His army, which represented his power and his kingdom, had become his idol.  It seems as though Joab and the leaders of the army had a sense of this, but that David was blinded to this fact.  The fact of his own idolatry appears to have dawned upon him when he received Joab’s count.  As we understand this about David, we are now better positioned to understand what it was that caused the Lord’s anger to rage against Israel.  

David & Amalek

In between Saul’s visit to the witch at Endor and the record of his death, we can find the story of David and his defeat of the Amalekites.  It is quite interesting that the author of the first book of Samuel saw fit to arrange the material in this way, whether or not the arrangement represents a precise chronological progression of events within Israel’s history (though the beginning of the second book of Samuel indicates that such is the case).  At Endor, Saul has Samuel tell him about his pending death and the re-subjugation of Israel, connecting both with his not carrying out the Lord’s “fierce anger against the Amalekites” (1 Samuel 28:18b).  From there, the story of the book progresses to the story of David being rejected and sent away by the Philistine leaders, which makes for a curious juxtaposition against Samuel’s declaration that Saul will be brought down by those same Philistines. 

After David had been sent away from the Philistines, as they were about to go to war with Israel, “David and his men came to Ziklag” (30:1a).  There, we find that “the Amalekites,” who had not been completely annihilated by Saul, “had raided the Negev and Ziklag.  They attacked Ziklag and burned it.  They took captive the women who were in it, from the youngest to the oldest, but they did not kill anyone.  They simply carried them off and went on their way” (30:1b-2).  Obviously, this only came about because Saul had failed in his duties.  The Amalekites had been left alive to complete (albeit on a smaller scale) that which they had attempted when they had encountered Israel on their way out of Egypt.  Here, David and his men, representative of Israel, were exodus-ing what could be referred to as their Philistine exile, when Amalek attacked.  This is somewhat congruent to Amalek’s attack of Israel while they were exodus-ing Egypt.  While we can see, in the raiding and the burning and the taking captive, something akin to the curses of Deuteronomy, it is clear that these are not being conducted at the hand of God against His wayward people.  What we should see is God providing David, as a deliverer within Israel, with a pretext for the continued efforts against a people that were destined for complete destruction. 

Moving on, we read that “When David and his men came to the city, they found it burned…  Then David and the men who were with him wept loudly until they could weep no more… each man grieved bitterly over his sons and daughters” (30:3-4,6c).  Even though David was suffering right along with his men, having had his two wives taken, “the men were thinking of stoning him” (30:6b), in a vivid reminder of the murmuring and complaining against Moses, by Israel, in the wilderness following the exodus.  Just as Israel wanted to return to their Egyptian exile and their subjugation, so David’s men wanted to subjugate him to death.  However, “David,” like Moses, when faced with this adversity, “drew strength from the Lord his God” (30:6d).  “David inquired of the Lord, saying, ‘Should I pursue this raiding band?  Will I overtake them?’” (30:8a)  The response that came to David was “Pursue, for you will certainly overtake them and carry out a rescue” (30:8b). 

When David did indeed catch up with this group of Amalekites, “They were eating and drinking and enjoying themselves because of all the loot they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah” (30:16b).  Though this could easily have been viewed in accordance with the Deuteronomic curses that stressed Israel’s loss of “loot,” David clearly saw it as an opportunity to enter into the blessings commensurate with faithfulness to God’s covenantal commands, so he attacked.  “David struck them down from twilight until the following evening” (30:17a).  It is said that “None of them escaped, with the exception of four hundred young men who got away on camels” (30:17b).  Not only does this remind us of the promised blessing that Israel’s enemies would flee before them (Deuteronomy 28:7), but it also speaks to the woeful inadequacy of Saul’s striking down of Amalek, especially if there were so many Amalekites that even after experiencing being struck down for an extended period of time, there were still so many men to escape, and so many camels on which to escape, even as it is said that “None of them escaped.”  This speaks to there being a significantly large number of Amalekites with which David had to deal, as he attempted to complete Saul’s mission.  

Among other things, this should bring to mind Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land under Joshua, and the ongoing (yet never completely successful) attempts to rid the land of the people by which it was inhabited, and which God had commanded His people to drive out.  Just as Amalek became this ongoing source of problems for Israel, so too would the people of the land be an ongoing source of frustration---not just by their presence, but through the deleterious effects that they would have upon God’s people and upon what had been ordained as their proper worship. 

Reveling in the blessings of the Lord’s deliverance, David provided rescue.  It is reported that “David retrieved everything the Amalekites had taken” (30:18a).  In a sense, this is the point at which David becomes king, as the Amalekites, figuratively, had taken the kingship from Saul.  Where Saul had failed, David had truly begun to succeed.  When a division arose concerning the sharing of the plunder, David takes up the language of exodus, speaking of the Lord and saying “He has protected us and delivered into our hands the raiding party that came against us” (30:23b).  He had rescued women and children from foreign subjugation, and now, following Saul’s death which immediately follows within this historical record, David is going to be installed as king, and used by God to continue the redemption and rescue of His people.