In this math, it’s the answer that makes the problem: 1,570,000 – 70,000 = so much heartache!
Numbering Israel’s warriors without collecting the ransom silver was a serious matter—as if these men belonged to the king and not to God. The penalty? “Then every man shall give a ransom for himself to the Lord, when you number them, that there may be no plague among them” (Ex 30:12). Having violated this important principle, David and the nation must face the consequences. The Lord sent His servant Gad to the king with three offers: “either three years of famine, or three months to be defeated by your foes with the sword of your enemies overtaking you, or else for three days the sword of the Lord” (1 Chron 21:12). David’s answer is not choice-specific. Rather, he replies, “I am in great distress. Please let me fall into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are very great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man” (v 13). Whatever David’s failings, this tells us a great deal about the man. Even when under discipline in “the hand of the Lord,” he still implicitly trusts the heart of the Lord! But the consequences were dire. David’s careless addition turned horrifically into tragic subtraction. “So the Lord sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell” (v 14). Remember, for a reason unknown to us, “the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel” (2 Sam 24:1), and this was before David numbered the people. In the mysterious and complicated world of divine sovereignty, the Lord who was angry with Israel had allowed Satan to move David to instruct Joab to commit an act that brought judgment on Israel! However, that is not the end of it. As we will see in the next episode, this domino effect continued, with the purchase of the temple site, and the illustration of the truth that God has found a ransom for us, too!