Through the Bible – Day 147

₁Some time later, King Nahash of Ammon died, and his son Hanun became king.

₁The next spring, the time when kings go to war, Joab marched out in command of the Israelite army and destroyed towns all over the country of Ammon. He attacked the capital city of Rabbah and left it in ruins. But David stayed in Jerusalem.

₂Later, David himself went to Rabbah, where he took the crown from the statue of their god Milcom. The crown was made of about thirty-four kilogrammes of gold, and there was a valuable jewel on it. David put the jewel on his crown, then carried off everything else of value. ₃He forced the people of Rabbah to work with saws, iron picks, and axes. He also did the same thing with the people in all the other Ammonite towns.

David then led Israel's army back to Jerusalem.

₄Some time later, Israel fought a battle against the Philistines at Gezer. During this battle, Sibbecai from Hushah killed Sippai, a descendant of the Rephaim, and the Philistines were defeated.

₅In another battle against the Philistines, Elhanan the son of Jair killed Lahmi the brother of Goliath from Gath, whose spear shaft was like a weaver's beam.

₆Another one of the Philistine soldiers who was a descendant of the Rephaim was as big as a giant and had six fingers on each hand and six toes on each foot. During a battle at Gath, ₇he made fun of Israel, so David's nephew Jonathan killed him.

₈David and his soldiers killed these three men from Gath who were descendants of the Rephaim.

₁Satan decided to cause trouble for Israel by making David think it was a good idea to find out how many people there were in Israel and Judah. ₂David told Joab and the army commanders, “Count everyone in Israel, from the town of Beersheba in the south all the way north to Dan. Then I will know how many people can serve in my army.”

₃Joab answered, “Your Majesty, even if the LORD made your kingdom a hundred times larger, you would still rule everyone in it. Why do you need to know how many soldiers there are? Don't you think that would make the whole nation angry?”

₄But David would not change his mind. And so Joab went everywhere in Israel and Judah and counted the people. He returned to Jerusalem ₅and told David that the total number of men who could serve in the army was one million one hundred thousand in Israel and four hundred and seventy thousand in Judah. ₆Joab refused to include anyone from the tribes of Levi and Benjamin, because he still disagreed with David's orders.

₇David's order to count the people made God angry, and he punished Israel. ₈David prayed, “I am your servant. But what I did was stupid and terribly wrong. Please forgive me.”

₉The LORD said to Gad, one of David's prophets, ₁₀“Tell David that I will punish him in one of three ways. But he will have to choose which one it will be.”

₁₁Gad went to David and told him:

₁₃David was miserable and said, “It's a terrible choice to make! But the LORD is kind, and I'd rather be punished by him than by anyone else.”

₁₄So the LORD sent a horrible disease on Israel, and seventy thousand Israelites died. ₁₅Then he sent an angel to destroy the city of Jerusalem. But just as the angel was about to do that, the LORD felt sorry for all the suffering he had caused the people, and he told the angel, “Stop! They have suffered enough.” This happened at the threshing place that belonged to Araunah the Jebusite.

₁₆David saw the LORD's angel in the air, holding a sword over Jerusalem. He and the leaders of Israel, who were all wearing sackcloth, bowed with their faces to the ground, ₁₇and David prayed, “It's my fault! I sinned by ordering the people to be counted. They have done nothing wrong—they are innocent sheep. LORD God, please punish me and my family. Don't let the disease wipe out your people.”

₁₈The LORD's angel told the prophet Gad to tell David that he must go to Araunah's threshing place and build an altar in honour of the LORD. ₁₉David followed the LORD's instructions.

₂₀Araunah and his four sons were threshing wheat at the time, and when they saw the angel, the four sons ran to hide. ₂₁Just then, David arrived, and when Araunah saw him, he stopped his work and bowed down.

₂₂David said, “Would you sell me your threshing place, so I can build an altar on it to the LORD? Then this disease will stop killing the people. I'm willing to pay whatever you say it's worth.”

₂₃Araunah answered, “Take it, Your Majesty, and do whatever you want with it. I'll even give you the oxen for the sacrifice and the wheat for the grain sacrifice. And you can use the threshing boards for the fire. It's all yours!”

₂₄But David replied, “No! I want to pay you what they're worth. I can't just take something from you and then offer the LORD a sacrifice that cost me nothing.”

₂₅So David paid Araunah six hundred gold coins for his threshing place. ₂₆David built an altar and offered sacrifices to please the LORD and sacrifices to ask his blessing. David prayed, and the LORD answered him by sending fire down on the altar. ₂₇Then the LORD commanded the angel to put the sword away.

₂₈When David saw that the LORD had answered his prayer, he offered more sacrifices there at the threshing place, _29-30because he was afraid of the angel's sword and did not want to go all the way to Gibeon. That's where the sacred tent that Moses had made in the desert was kept, as well as the altar where sacrifices were offered to the LORD.

₁David said, “The temple of the LORD God must be built here at this threshing place. And the altar for offering sacrifices will also be here.”

₁Jesus said:

₆Jesus told the people this story. But they did not understand what he was talking about.

₇Jesus said:

₁₉The people took sides because of what Jesus had told them. ₂₀Many of them said, “He has a demon in him! He is mad! Why listen to him?”

₂₁But others said, “How could anyone with a demon in him say these things? No one like that could give sight to a blind person!”

₂₂That winter, Jesus was in Jerusalem for the Temple Festival. ₂₃One day he was walking in that part of the temple known as Solomon's Porch, ₂₄and the people gathered all around him. They said, “How long are you going to keep us guessing? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly!”

₂₅Jesus answered:

₃₁Once again the Jewish leaders picked up stones in order to kill Jesus. ₃₂But he said, “I have shown you many good things that my Father sent me to do. Which one are you going to stone me for?”

₃₃They answered, “We are not stoning you because of any good thing you did. We are stoning you because you did a terrible thing. You are just a man, and here you are claiming to be God!”

₃₄Jesus replied:

₃₉Again they wanted to arrest Jesus. But he escaped ₄₀and crossed the Jordan to the place where John had earlier been baptizing. While Jesus was there, ₄₁many people came to him. They were saying, “John didn't perform any miracles, but everything he said about Jesus is true.” ₄₂A lot of those people also put their faith in Jesus.