He built an altar to the Lord there and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the Lord was receptive to prayer for the land, and the plague on Israel ended. (2 Samuel 24:25)
Today we are concluding our look at 2 Samuel and see that David called for a census to be taken in Israel. Despite the urging of Joab to reconsider this census, David let pride cloud his judgment. Then in verse 10, David realized his sin against God and was willing to accept whatever God’s punishment was for him. God presented David three choices of judgment to choose from.
The first two options of judgment could have been little consequence to David and his family due to his position. In verse 14, David knew that he had to choose the option that would expose him to the chastisement of God. So David chose option 3, the plague. Maybe David chose the plague because he knew the other 2 options would mean falling into human hands being at the mercy of neighboring countries (begging for help from the famine) or being attacked by enemies. Or maybe David knew that God was more gracious and merciful than man and was hoping for God’s mercy upon him.
In this chapter we see God’s heart for His children to repent of their evil ways and to turn to God and worship Him. So after David buys the threshing floor, he builds an altar to the Lord and offers a burnt offering and peace offering. David understood that the 70,000 men who died from the plague didn’t atone for David and Israel’s sins against God. Atonement could only be made through the blood of an approved substitute. For us today, we ought to be thankful every moment of every day for Jesus being our atonement for our sins. For David, the burnt offerings atoned for sin and the peace offerings were to enjoy fellowship with God. David finally did what God wants for all of us, and that is to worship our Lord. So what was God’s reaction to David’s truly repentant heart? God was receptive to the prayers of the land and He ended the plague over Israel. When you feel distant to God, remember God’s desire for all of us… repent of our sin and come back to worshipping God.