Why this story matters

(commentary on 2nd Samuel 24, 1st Chronicles 21)

(Page 4 of 4)

Yahweh's plague

Either David is mistaken about the merciful nature of his god, or he has a strange understanding of the word mercy. That is one horrific plague and a disturbing human catastrophe. It is almost as if Yahweh was playing a trick. Three years of famine sounds like a long time compared to just three days of plague. But Yahweh is quite skilled at killing a lot of people in a short space of time. One thing both versions agree on is that Yahweh did the killing. Samuel states: “So the Lord sent a plague on Israel from that morning until the end of the time designated, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died" (2 Sam. 24:15).” Chronicles says, “So the Lord sent a plague on Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell dead (21:14).” If 70,000 men were killed, that means there were many times that figure who would have been devastated by the loss of fathers, sons, and brothers. Families would have been devastated. There is no mention or even thought of how the widows were now supposed to care for and feed their fatherless children. This is not love for humanity; it is petty spite and brutal retribution.

And Yahweh is apparently still not satisfied with 70,000 deaths, so he sends an angel to continue the mayhem and destroy Jerusalem. All of a sudden, however, the capricious creature has a change of heart and feels bad about all the lives he’s just obliterated: “And God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem. But as the angel was doing so, the LORD saw it and was grieved because of the calamity and said to the angel who was destroying the people, "Enough! Withdraw your hand" (1 Chron. 21:15)Ironically, David  gets off personally unscathed. However, as is clearly demonstrated in the book Illustrated Stories from the Bible (that they won't tell you in Sunday school),  this is not unusual for those on Yahweh’s preferred list.

Conclusion

There is nothing good in this story at all. Who cares if David counted his soldiers? Even if one can figure out what was so wrong with it, can it really be worth the lives of 70,000 frail and imperfect human beings, and the torment and endless suffering this would inflict upon the survivors? This isn't compassion or mercy. It is an act committed by a god that appears just as vengeful as any of the gods of antiquity.

However, there is a more rational explanation that could be offered by objective readers of the Bible. Quite possibly a terrible plague, or virus, infected the people. And since it was common for people of that time to attribute disasters to wrathful gods, the Hebrew tribe naturally attributed their catastrophe to their own god, Yahweh. Perhaps, they searched for a reason for Yahweh being so angry and discovered that, just about that time, their king had taken a count of the army. "Aha," they might have thought. "David should have been praying instead of counting his precious army. This is what brought the wrath of our god". In the pages of the Bible, Yahweh is shown to be a very wrathful god indeed. The only thing is, with stories like this, it takes quite a bit of faith to maintain the notion that he's actually kind, loving, and merciful.

END OF COMMENTARY

© IllustratedBibleStories.ca