“Go and say to David that this is what Adonai says: ‘I am giving you a choice of three punishments. Choose one of them, and I will execute it against you.'”-2 Samuel 24:12
So the divine gameshow has begun.
The Lord tells David, as a “reward” for his sin of conducting the census, that he can take his pick among three “prizes.”
Prize #1 was seven years of famine.
Prize #2 was three months of running from his enemies.
And prize #3 was a deadly plague across the whole land.
Obviously, none of these were good options.
Why in the world would the Lord put David through such a strange procedure?
Most likely, this was a test.
Would David make a wise choice that aligned with the Lord’s commandments, especially after making such a bad choice when he ordered the census (something that explicitly went against Torah)?
Understanding that all of the choices were terrible, David decides to throw the decision back onto the Lord.
I think David’s response was a wise one.
Why?
Because David understood that the Lord is merciful.
And that if suffering must come, wouldn’t it be much better to fall into God’s hands than anyone else’s?
So the Lord decided to go with “prize# 3,” which was to send a deadly plague across the whole land.
The plague begins immediately, and within a few hours, 70,000 Israelites end up perishing.
The plague affected every corner of the land from Dan to Be’er Sheva, which is just another way of saying from the farthest north to the farthest south of Israel.
It was only when the plague was about to overtake Jerusalem that God stopped it.
There are a couple of interesting observations here.
First, notice that the punishment the Lord chose was the same penalty prescribed in the Torah.
Here’s the reference:
“Adonai said to Moshe, When you take a census of the people of Israel and register them, each, upon registration, is to pay a ransom for his life to Adonai, to avoid any breakout of plague among them during the time of the census.'”-Exodus 30:11-12
This shouldn’t surprise us at all.
Of course, the divine Lawgiver’s decision would align with the Law.
The second interesting observation is something that can only be recognized in the original Hebrew.
The Hebrew word AM or עַם is used to refer to the 70,000 Israelites who lost their lives in this plague.
Now, here’s the thing.
This word is not a generic term for “people.”
AM is a covenant word.
It refers specifically to God’s own people or those who are in a relationship with Him.
Again, it is NOT some generic word for humans or a mixed crowd.
This distinction is important.
Hebrew has other words for people.
GOY or GOYIM refers to the gentile nations or non-Hebrews.
ENOSH or ADAM refers to humans in a general sense.
But AM refers only to God’s chosen people or the covenant community.
It is the community you are grafted into when you accept the Jewish Messiah as your Lord and Savior.
So what we know for sure is that in this plague, the only ones who died were the Israelites.
If any pagan Gentiles still lived in the land, they were spared.
This leads to an important takeaway.
The Lord’s holy laws and commands are only for God’s worshippers.
This includes BOTH Jews and Gentiles.
The Torah is NOT for the unsaved masses.
Those who are not God’s people are already condemned.
Ya feeling me here?
This is Biblical theology 101, homies.
There’s another important point I need to make.
If you’re an unbeliever, treating the Bible as a self-help book or as just a book of wisdom won’t work for you either.
If you don’t trust the Lord, obeying His commands like some kind of checklist you’re following ain’t gonna benefit you, man.
Just going through the motions of obeying God’s commands means NOTHING if you haven’t first surrendered your life to Him.
So lemme reiterate my point.
The Lord’s commands are only for those who belong to Him.
And the blessings of obedience are only for those who trust Him.
Trust comes first.
Then obedience.
Ya feel me?
Done.
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