2 Samuel 24:18-25

The facts are:

1 . The Seer Gad having directed David to rear an altar to the Lord in the threshing floor of Araunah, he proceeds to carry out the instruction.

2 . Araunah, observing the approach of David and his servants, makes obeisance, and desires to know the purport of his visit.

3 . Ascertaining that David desired to buy the threshing floor that he might there entreat for the staying of the plague, he generously offers all that was requisite for the sacrifices, and expresses the hope that God might be propitious.

4 . But David, not caring to offer to God what cost him nothing, insists on purchasing the place and the oxen required.

5 . The offering being presented on the altar, the plague ceases to trouble Israel.

The way to reconciliation with God a matter of Divine revelation.

God had graciously condescended to reveal himself in visible form both to assure David that the plague was more than a mere natural course of disease ( 2 Samuel 24:17 ), and to render an approach to himself more accessible. The chief effect, however, on David was to deepen his conviction of sin and his pity for his suffering people. His prayer, like that of Moses, was that he might suffer if so be they be set free. It was not till the seer came the next day that David learnt what course to take in order to secure reconciliation, not only for the people, but for himself also. God reveals to man the way of reconciliation.

I. THIS IS TRUE OF THE GROUND OF OUR SALVATION IN CHRIST . As surely as the prophet from God informed David as to what was to be done in order to find favour with God and escape the plague, so surely has God revealed in his Word the fact that through Christ alone do we find favour and eternal life. The work of redemption by the sacrifice of Christ was not discovered by the exercise of human reason. In the desert, when Israel was perishing, God ordained the lifting up of the serpent, and caused information of the fact to be given. In our desert life God sent his beloved Son, independently of our asking or knowledge, and commissioned his servants to announce the way of salvation. Reason may enable us to ascertain the reality of the historic fact, but reason could not discover the way of reconciliation. The Apostle Paul declares that he received it not of man, but of God. They do not understand the gospel who imagine that man, by his learning or reason, could ever find out, apart from special revelation, the only way to God.

II. IT IS TRUE OF THE MEANS BY WHICH SALVATION BECOMES PERSONAL . Salvation may be spoken of in general terms, and in this sense is too often the subject of discussion. But it is, also, a matter of personal experience. The end for which Christ lived and died becomes realized in individual souls, in the form of actual forgiveness, restoration to favour, newness of life and progressive holiness. By what means this is to be brought about, so far as our action is concerned, is purely a matter of revelation. It is revealed from heaven to be of faith ( Romans 1:17 ). As Christ was the Gift of God, so the revelation that we are saved by Christ on condition of our faith is also the gift of God. It was made known to David that sacrifice would be the ground of pardon, and that his personal use or application of that to the need of the hour was the means of his obtaining the benefit of it. The place of our faith in our salvation from the plague of sin is not a question of human speculation: it is fixed by him who gave the sacrifice.

III. IT IS TRUE OF OUR INDIVIDUAL APPRECIATION OF WHAT GOD HAS ALREADY MADE KNOWN . The spiritual bearing of the acts enjoined on David could only be spiritually discerned. That Christ is our great Sacrifice, and that faith is the means by which we are to appropriate it;—these are things plainly revealed in Scripture, and could only be known as Divine ordinations by special revelation; but they are a dead letter to multitudes. We need the revelation of their spiritual bearing to our own souls by the Holy Spirit; and it is only as the Holy Spirit takes of these things pertaining to Christ and reveals them to our individual spirit that we see their force and value their application. Hence a revelation of the matter of revelation is needful to conversion. Hence many read and speak about salvation who never see its real significance or know it as a matter of personal experience. The invisible messenger of God must come to us as truly as the seer came to David, if we are to see his salvation ( John 3:5 ).

Devotion of property to God's service.

Araunah was eager to provide a place and oxen for the celebration of the services about to be rendered to God. His interest in David, in Israel, and his homage for God seem to have prompted the generous proposal. On the other hand, David's sense of what was due to God from himself, and his personal interest in the solemn transaction, would not suffer him to be spared cost through the generosity of Araunah. He must honour God with his own and not with another man's possessions.

I. ALL OUR POSSESSIONS ARE GOD 'S. This is the basis of our devotion of what we hold to his service. We are really but stewards. Our mental powers, our wealth, our personal influence, our very life, are lent to us for a season, and lent with a view to use in God's Name. This is laid down in the words, "Ye are not your own;" in the parable of the talents; in the very constitution and dependence of our lives; in the specific commands concerning "firstfruits;" and this was practically recognized by both David and Araunah in their emulation in self-sacrifice. It would be a great gain to the Church and world if Christian people would only let this truth sink deeply into their hearts. What elevation, tone, and nobility it would import to life!

II. THERE IS NO NOBLER USE OF POSSESSIONS THAN IN GOD 'S SERVICE . David and Araunah were one in this belief. They strove for the honour of devoting substance to God. In a well-ordered Christian life all is devoted to God. The entire life, embracing mental powers, occupations, property, time, is a sacrifice ( Romans 12:1 ). But by reason of custom we recognize that as specially devoted to God which is directly employed in maintaining his holy worship or diffusing a knowledge of his great mercy to mankind. The wonderful way in which the priesthood was set apart, the distinction put in Scripture on men whose lives were chiefly spent in witnessing for God, the significant words of our Saviour in reference to the widow's mite and the box of ointment, and the glorying of the Apostle Paul in that he was called and counted worthy of a special ministry,—these things point out the honour of using our gifts and possessions in furtherance of God's gracious purposes to mankind.

III. THE USE OF OUR POSSESSIONS IN GOD 'S SERVICE IS A MEANS OF VAST BLESSING MANKIND . By devoting their substance to God on this occasion, David and Araunah knew that they would be doing that which, being graciously accepted, would issue in the removal of the plague from Israel. No wonder that they were ambitious to lay their gifts at the mercy seat! It was a question of staying the plague. Equally in our case it is daily a question of staying the plague, lifting the curse of sin and scattering the wholesome blessings of salvation over the land. He who builds a sanctuary, or endows a college, or send forth missionaries, turns his money into streams of spiritual good.

IV. A TRUE HEART WILL FIND PURE SATISFACTION IN DEVISING MEANS OF DEVOTING GIFTS TO GOD . David honoured the noble impulse of Arannah, but he could not be deprived of the satisfaction claimed by every true man of giving of his own. There is a real blessedness in laying our gifts of mind and body and our material possessions at the altar of God. The meanness which would worship at others' expense, or look on spiritual good done at others' cost, can never dwell in a Christly soul. As the Saviour himself counted it a deep and holy joy to lay down his life for others, so all who enter into his spirit feel it to be a matter of thankfulness when occasion arises for some surrender in his service. The bountiful soul is always rich. The large heart is never in poverty. The joy of their Lord is their portion.

V. IT IS BY THE USE OF SUCH ACTS OF DEVOTION TO HIS SERVICE THAT GOD HAS HITHERTO BLESSED THE WORLD . The self-surrender of Abraham when he left Ur of the Chaldees, the devotion by Moses of his great powers to the leadership of Israel, were simply conspicuous instances in the entire history of redemption of God's acceptance and use of human powers and possessions for carrying out his great purpose of mercy. David was following the usual order in the case before us. Even our blessed Lord came to earth by means of the devotion of a virgin life. The "good news" has been sent abroad by consecration of human speech. Who would not fall in with this glorious succession till the world is saved?

Plague and prayer.

The narrative plainly teaches that this plague was ordained of God for moral ends, and that it was stayed by means of the intercession offered in the manner suited to the age of shadowy sacrifice before the offering of the eternal sacrifice by Christ.

I. AFFLICTIVE EVENTS ARE SOMETIMES TO BE REGARDED AS DIVINE CHASTISEMENTS . This was true of the event here referred to. No sensible man can doubt it. The only way to get rid of the fact is to regard this portion of Scripture as a mere superstitious legend—human superstitions being infused into a natural occurrence. The bad logic of this, in the case of one who accepts the supernatural in the incarnation of Christ, is obvious. If God thought fit to deal supernaturally with men at one time, why not at another? In Scripture many afflictive events are set forth in the same light, and we may fairly say that God's government of men has not yet ceased, and that men, especially communities, need discipline as much now as ever. If men are moral beings under government, and if the order of nature is not beyond the reach and control of God, we have a right to regard the events of Scripture as examples of what God does to the sons of men ( 1 Corinthians 10:11 ).

II. THERE IS MORE IN THESE EVENTS THAN THE NECESSARY ACTION OF PHYSICAL LAWS . The presence of the angel here shows that there was a special Divine element in the event. The same is true of other similar events recorded in Scripture. In modern Divine chastisements of men there may be physical order, but that will not be the interpretation of the moral bearing of the events. There seems to be more than s foreseen coincidence of a chain of physical necessities issuing in an event just at the time when some national or individual sin transpires. Bare prevision of a coincidence that could not be helped is a poor explanation of Divine government. The scriptural idea is the best—that God is free and above and behind all the forces at work, and in some way not revealed and not certainly discoverable by physical science, he does so regulate the succession of physical events as to make them subserve a moral purpose when, in the development of human history, there arises a need of such subservance. We must either admit this, or place God practically outside his own possessions as a helpless spectator, less able to strike in than are we ourselves. The mystery may be great, but it is more mysterious, and certainly more absurd, that there should be such a God deprived of freedom of action.

III. THE REMOVAL OF AFFLICTIVE EVENTS IS CONNECTED WITH THE WORK OF CHRIST . The offering of sacrifice by David was a divinely appointed means of accepting the repentance and homage of the nation. "Without the shedding of blood there is no remission." This deep spiritual truth was doubtless recognized by all the truly pious of those times. Thus it sets forth the greater truth that the sacrifice of Christ is the ground on which God exercises his mercy in forgiving our sins and healing our wounds. The far reaching benefits of his death deserve more consideration than they commonly get. Thousands enjoy the fruit of his sacrifice who know him not. For all men he has lifted up the curse, so that its pressure is not so great as once it was or might have been. When the rod is laid by, and the sinful nation or individual is no longer smitten, it is for "Christ's sake."

IV. PRAYER IS THE HUMAN MEANS BY WHICH CHASTISEMENTS ARE REMOVED . On the basis of the sacrifice typical of Christ's death, David's prayer was accepted and the plague was stayed. In like manner Moses intreated for Israel, and David for his people. The nature of prayer and its place in the Divine government have not changed with years. It is a spiritual power as truly as that gravity is a physical force. Its exercise, according to Scripture, is not exclusive of the use of personal effort to remove physical evils, and certainly not exclusive of moral conduct. As a spiritual power, it is part of our endowment, and to be employed along with our other endowments of good sense, prudence, and correctness of life. It does not follow that answer to prayer is a violation of the order of things. We do not know how far God's personal contact with every force in action is or is not part of the order, and hence we do not know but that his free energy may so modify the course of events as to maintain what seems to us to be natural order, and yet to be the product of his own will. The pointsman on a railway may suddenly save a train from destruction without violating the order of nature. Who shall say that the watchful energy of the Eternal may not, in answer to our urgent cry, so act as to obviate what otherwise would be a great disaster? "The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." It is mighty only as it is the concentrated voice of a "newness of life" lifted up to heaven in the all-prevailing Name of the Lord Jesus Christ.

HOMILIES BY B. DALE