2 Samuel 24
from Riverside Reading Plan Hosted by Riverside Church
In the final chapter, David's pride leads him to census the fighting men of Israel against Joab's objection, an action that displeases God. When convicted of this sin, David must choose between three punishments: three years of famine, three months of military defeat, or three days of plague. Choosing to "fall into the hand of the Lord" rather than human enemies, David witnesses a devastating plague that kills 70,000 Israelites before God halts the destroying angel at Jerusalem. At the prophet Gad's instruction, David purchases Araunah's threshing floor (the future Temple Mount) and builds an altar of atonement. When Araunah offers to donate the land and sacrificial materials, David insists on paying full price, declaring, "I will not offer to the Lord that which costs me nothing." This final incident establishes both the location for Solomon's temple and the principle that genuine worship requires personal sacrifice—a truth ultimately fulfilled in Christ's costly atonement at Jerusalem
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