The LORD’s anger against Israel
flared again,a and
he incited David against them: “Go, take a census of Israel
and Judah Israel
10Afterward, however, David
regretted having numbered the people. David said to the LORD: “I have sinned
grievously in what I have done.b Take
away, LORD, your servant’s guilt, for I have acted very
foolishly.”*11When David rose in the morning,
the word of the LORD came to the
prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying:12Go, tell David: Thus says the
LORD: I am offering you three options; choose one of them, and I will give you
that.13Gad then went to David to inform him. He asked: “Should three
years of famine come upon your land; or three months of fleeing from your enemy
while he pursues you; or is it to be three days of plague in your land? Now
consider well: what answer am I to give to him who sent me?”c14David answered Gad: “I am
greatly distressed. But let us fall into the hand of God, whose mercy is great,
rather than into human hands.”15Thus David chose the plague. At
the time of the wheat harvest it broke out among the people. The LORD sent plague over Israel from morning until the time
appointed, and from Dan to Beer-sheba seventy thousand of the people died.16But when the angel stretched forth his hand toward Jerusalem
What’s the big deal about David counting
the military men? Wouldn’t a king want to know how many troops he has? Why is God
so upset that David counted his men? There are several reasons.
First, David could have been proud that
Judah, the tribe to which he belonged, had 500,000 soldiers, whereas the other
11 tribes of Israel
Secondly, the book of Numbers is filled
with numbers of the people. So why is God upset that David is counting the
people when one of the books in the Bible is all about numbers?
The issue involves trust. As David
develops in his relationship with God, God expects more of him that he did
earlier. David has gone through some very serious sins of adultery and murder,
and God showed him that he forgave those sins and still loved David and kept
his covenant with him. So David should’ve trusted that God would take care of
him.
More is expected of those to whom more has
been given. As David grows in his relationship with God, he is expected to grow
in trust of God. Perhaps he trusted himself and his troops more than God. Maybe
he was considering what battles he could win or if he could win them, and he
wanted to know the number of troops in order to make this determination. God
held David to a higher standard than other military leaders and kings, because
God had shown David that he, God, could be trusted. When David went out to
destroy Goliath with a slingshot and five stones, God gave him the victory.
Then 40 years later, when David is returning from battle, the women sing, “Saul
has killed his thousands and David his 10,000s.” This certainly indicated that
the victory was God’s, not David’s.
David has a lack of trust that God could
deliver him from his enemies no matter how many troops he has or how many
troops the enemy has. Unlike the time when David sinned with Bathsheba, this
time David feels guilty before the prophet comes to him. In the case of
Bathsheba, and the killing of Uriah the Hittite, David did not recognize his
sin until the prophet Nathan confronted him with it. In the situation of the census
of his people, David recognizes his sin before the prophet Gad comes. David asks
God for forgiveness, and then speaks to Gad who comes to tell David, “OK. God
has forgiven you. But you don’t get off scott free. As a punishment, do you
want a b or c?” David’s response is interesting. He says, “Let us fall by the
hands of God rather than by the hands of men because God is the most merciful.”
David understood God’s mercy. He wrote
about this mercy many times in the Psalms. David is writing from his own
experience. He experiences a deep sense of sorrow in his heart, a sorrow for
the suffering of his people. He had been protective of his people before, but
now we see the compassion and tenderness he has toward his people.
David does not say, “I, the king have
sinned” or “I, the leader, have sinned.” Rather he says, “I, the shepherd, have
sinned.” By calling himself a shepherd, he may have been looking back to his
childhood when he, as a shepherd used to watch his sheep and have to take care
of them. At that time he would defend his flock by using a sling to ward off
predators, and God protected his flock. David says that he killed a bear and a
lion who were going to attack his flock, all by the grace of God. David sees
the people as sheep who are vulnerable, gentle, unsuspecting. He feels a deep
love for the people. This shows that he has a deeper understanding of God.
David says, “Punish me, not the sheep. I
am the one who is guilty. I am the one who lost trust.” David is not just
willing to fight for his people but also to suffer for those in his charge.
This passage from Scripture helps us to consider what God
has done for us and the many graces that he has given to us. Are we responding
to those graces? Am I worrying about things? Am I still lazy? Do I not put up a
fight? Am I not responding to what God has done in my life? Am I not responding
appropriately to God? Is my trust in God strong in comparison to what he has
shown about trusting him in Scripture? My trust is so small compared to what I
have seen. My failure to trust, my lack of trust is not in accord with what God
has done in my life. Why is that?
Consider the mercy of God. Do I trust enough in God’s
mercy? Do I trust God’s mercy, not my own
ability, talent, work? Where is my heart? Am I willing to not only trust God
but also love him and love my neighbor? Am I advancing in love of neighbor or
do I just love myself? Do I think I am this, I am that, it’s all about me, or
am I truly beginning to think about those whom the Lord has given me to care
for and pray for? Do I want to not just fight for Christ but also to enter into
suffering with him, to lay down my life for him?
What about those of us who are in religious life in the
first, second, or third orders? Jesus told us that the good shepherd would lay
down his life for his sheep. David said that he would rather be punished for
the sake of the others. Wasn’t that an example of the good shepherd? The
willingness to suffer penance for our sins, however that penance may come, all
done out of the love of Jesus, shows our love for him and for the sheep. And I
willing to give Jesus my all? Do I trust in God and in his mercy and in the
love that he showed us on the cross?
-- Transcribed as best as possible from a homily by Father
David Engo, FBM
