The Devil Wears Pride (1 Chronicles 21:1-4)

The Devil Wears
1 Chronicles 21:1-4

INTRODUCTION:
What is your strength? We all have strengths; we surely know what those strengths are.

Analytical skill
Confidence
Contentedness
Courage
Creativity
Determination
Efficiency
Enthusiasm
Expressiveness
Neatness

But, if we are not careful, Satan can use those strengths and turn them into a weakness. We must submit our strengths to the teachings of the Word of God and allow Him to use our strengths for His glory, not for ours. Consider these same strengths if they are used by Satan…

Analytical skill Critical
Confidence Prideful
Contentedness Lazy
Courage Reckless
Creativity Manipulative
Determination Stubborn
Efficiency Inflexible
Enthusiasm Insensitive
Expressiveness Poor listener
Neatness Perfectionist

Before we talk about King David’s strength that Satan uses for nefarious purposes, let me remind you what God said about a king’s military…

In Deuteronomy 17, God anticipates that Israel will have a king, he will be a king whom God will choose and set over them (17:15). But God specifically says that Israel’s king should not “multiply horses.” That is, the king should not put his trust in his military. In that same passage, God required the kings to make a copy of the Law of Moses and read it constantly…

You may remember my sermon from Psalm 33 just a few Sundays ago where David wrote: “The king is not saved by a mighty army; A warrior is not delivered by great strength. A horse is a false hope for victory; Nor does it deliver anyone by its great strength” (33:16-17). David was a good man. David was courageous. David was a military man. But David was also a godly man and David should have known that taking a census of the military of the nation of Israel was not a good idea.

This year, one of the series of studies we are having is on Satan, our adversary. There are three texts which specifically mention Satan by name: Job 1-2; 1 Chronicles 21; and Zechariah 3. We will study Zechariah 3 next month. Today, I want us to meditate on 1 Chronicles 21.

1 & 2 Samuel tell the story of the reigns of Kings Saul and David. 1 & 2 Kings tell the story of the reign of King Solomon and the division of the nation of Israel into two nations: Israel and Judah and follows the history until they are taken captive by Assyria and Babylon respectively.

Now, 1 & 2 Chronicles tells the same story as Samuel and Kings but Chronicles was written after the 70 years of exile in Babylon. The author of Chronicles leaves out much of the history of Samuel and Kings but he does focus on a few themes: the dynasty of David, the temple and worship, and faithfulness to God.

Now, before we get into our text, I want to draw some verses to your attention. The promise by God to David that God would bless David and his house is found in 1 Chronicles 17. God told David in that text, in verse 8, that He had cut off all the enemies of David from before him. In chapters 18-20, the writer tells us about David’s military victories. He defeated practically all Israel’s enemies: the Philistines, the Moabites, the Arameans, the Edomites, and the Ammonites. Then in these chapters, we have texts that say, “The Lord helped David wherever he went:” 18:6, 11, 13; 19:13. But it seems in our chapter, David kind of sets aside the help from the Lord and he wants to put his confidence in the flesh…

SATAN STANDS UP AGAINST ISRAEL - 1 Chronicles 21:1-4:
I want to point out to you that in 2 Samuel 24:1, the text reads: “Now again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and it incited David against them to say, “Go, number Israel and Judah.”

Here in 1 Chronicles 21, the writer blames Satan for standing up against Israel and moving David to take a census of Israel. God had already struck Israel with a famine for three years during the reign of David and it was because of a sin by King Saul that had not been resolved. So, again, God is angry with Israel. It seems to me as we study the text that the fundamental problem is that David is taking pride in the military strength of the nation of Israel.

But that pride is motivated by Satan, according to the author of 1 Chronicles. Now, we don’t know and scholars are at a loss to explain how 2 Samuel can say it was God’s anger that incited David while 1 Chronicles says it was Satan. It seems to me that the pride in David’s heart came from Satan and God was angry with David because of his pride and so David - through his pride - was incited to take a census of Israel’s military strength.

Moses had taken two censuses in the book of Numbers, recorded in chapters 1 and 26, so taking a census was not inherently sinful. But, God commanded Moses to do that on that occasion. There does not seem to be a command from God on this occasion. It could also be that God commanded a ransom of half a shekel to be taken from each person when a census was taken (Exo. 30:12) and there is no reference to a ransom being taken by David.

Be that as it may, David commanded Joab, his military commander, to take a census (ver. 2). The expression “from Beersheba even to Dan” was a figurative expression to mean “from north to south.” Joab, to his credit, tried to talk David out of it (ver. 3). Joab reminded David that the power for victory would be in God, not in the numbers of men in their army. Joab also suggested to David that he would bring guilt on Israel if he followed through with this census. But, David’s word, as king, prevailed against Joab and Joab did what his king commanded him to do, even though it was against his better judgment.

ISRAEL IS ENCOURAGED TO TRUST ITS MILITARY - 21:5-8:
Job and his military leaders did what David told them to do and they brought back word so David would know the number. The men of Israel who “drew the sword” were 1.1 million. The men of Judah who “drew the sword” were 470,000. Highlight that expression “draw the sword” because: 1) it illustrates that the problem here was pride in the military, and; 2) God is going to punish Israel with the sword in the hand of the angel of Jehovah. 2 Samuel tells us the census took almost 10 months to complete.

Verse 7: “God was displeased with this thing.”

Now, the reason why God did not destroy more people in Israel and why God did not strike David with the sword is found in verse 8: “I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing. But now, please take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly.” In 2 Samuel 24:10, the text says that David’s heart troubled him after he had numbered the people and that prompted David to confess his sin to God.

However, remember that it took 10 months to take the census, so David’s heart did not trouble him for quite some time!

GOD’S PUNISHMENT OF ISRAEL FOR DAVID’S PRIDE - 21:9-17:
God speaks to Gad, a prophet of God and tells him to go to David and give him a choice:

3 years of famine, as in 2 Samuel 21
3 months chased by enemies - which would actually entice David to continue putting his trust in his military, but we would presume the destruction would have been more intense than what David experienced.
3 days of the sword of the Lord

Well, David chose to throw himself on the “mercy of the court.” He knew and trusted that God’s mercies are very great. He had already expressed his repentance and his contrition twice back in verse 8.

I earlier made reference to Deuteronomy 17. In that text, God told Israel not to multiply horses. He also said that they should not go to Egypt to multiply horses (Deut. 17:16). Well, David has effectively “gone to Egypt” and put his trust in his military. But if Israel is going to act like Egypt, then God is going to treat Israel like Egypt… Thus God sends a pestilence over Israel.

Verse 14 summarizes what God then does. He sends a pestilence and strikes down 70,000 of those military men whom David trusted. This was done by an angel whom God sent to destroy Jerusalem.

But then Jehovah felt sorry for the destruction that His people was experiencing so by his own mercy, He commanded the “destroying angel” to stop his destruction (ver. 15). The angel was by the threshing floor of a Jebusite named Ornan / Araunah (2 Sam.). God allowed David to see the angel with his sword drawn in his hand, pointing at Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of Israel fell on their faces in prayer, wearing sackcloth and David prayed to God (ver. 17).

David accepts responsibility for the sin - the pronouns in this verse are emphatic.
David acknowledges that the Israelites were innocent of sin.
David asks to be punished himself, in place of his sheep, just like the later “Son of David” will be punished in place of His sheep.

GOD BLESSES DAVID DESPITE HIS SIN - 21:18-30:
God responds, in mercy, to David’s prayer by commanding David to build an altar and worship God (ver. 18). Ornan also saw the angel and so did his four sons who hid themselves out of fear. But Ornan saw King David coming to him and went out to meet him.

David offered to buy the threshing floor from Ornan so he could build an altar as Jehovah had commanded him (ver. 19, 22). Ornan offered to give the threshing floor to the king for free, as well as oxen for burnt offerings and the wood from the threshing sledge for wood and wheat for a grain offering. But David turned down all the gifts. He states in verse 24 that he cannot worship God through the gifts of someone else. The gifts have to be his own.

So David built the altar (ver. 26) and offered the oxen for a burnt offering, which symbolized total commitment to God, and he offered grain offerings, a sign of thanksgiving and, peace offerings, which were a sign of fellowship with God. We’ll study the purposes of the different sacrifices in our Wednesday night class starting in May. And verse 26 states that fire came out from the presence of Jehovah in heaven and burned the sacrifices. Then God commanded the angel who was about to destroy Jerusalem to sheathe his sword.

Beginning in chapter 22, we learn that the temple of Solomon was built on this site and in 2 Chronicles 3:1, the writer associates this site with Mount Moriah. And the only other place where “Mount Moriah” is mentioned in the Scriptures is in Genesis 22 when Abraham was commanded to offer Isaac as a burnt offering on Mount Moriah. So we have a connection between Abraham offering Isaac with the location of the temple of God built by Solomon and this location - the threshing floor of Ornan - in response to God forgiving David of his pride.

CONCLUSION:
As far as this specific theme is concerned, the writer will point out especially in 2 Chronicles (13:18; 14:11; 16:8; 20:15) that victory does not come to those who trust in the flesh. The theme culminates in King Jehoshaphat’s prayer in 20:15 and a prophet’s response from God to the king’s prayer: “Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s.”

So we need to submit our strengths to the authority of the word of God and not put trust in our strengths. Peter reminds us that “God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you at the proper time” (1 Peter 5:5-6).

Take home message: Don't let pride cloud your judgment - put your trust in the unwavering word of God.