3 Years, 3 Months Or 3 Days?
1 Chronicles 21:7-12
7 And God was displeased with this thing; therefore He
struck Israel.
8 So David said to God, “I have sinned greatly, because I
have done this thing; but now, I pray, take away the
iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”
9 Then the LORD spoke to Gad, David’s seer, saying,
10 “Go and tell David, saying, ‘Thus says the LORD: “I offer
you three things; choose one of them for yourself, that I may do it
to you.” ’ ”
11 So Gad came to David and said to him, “Thus says the LORD:
‘Choose for yourself,
12 either three years of famine, or three
months to be defeated by your foes with the sword of your
enemies overtaking you, or else for three days the sword of
the LORD—the plague in the land, with the angel of the LORD
destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.’ Now consider
what answer I should take back to Him who sent me.”
After defeating the Philistine giants in 1 Chronicles 20, the Israelites
was in the mood to celebrate their victories with great joy. They were doing very well under King
David. But the devil was against Israel, and he tempted and prompted David to
count the people of Israel.
So David gave an order to Joab, the commander of his army, and also
the leaders of his people. He said, “Go and count all the
Israelites. Count everyone from Beersheba to Dan. Then tell me so I
will know how many people there are.”
But Joab answered to David, “May the Lord bless and make the nation
to be 100 times larger. My master and king, all the Israelites are
your servants. Why do you want to do this, my king? You will make
Israel guilty of sinning against the Lord.”
But King David persisted, and made Joab to follow and do his order
accordingly. So Joab left, and went through all Israel, counting the
people.
Then he returned to Jerusalem. He told David how many people there
were. In Israel, there were 1,100,000 men who could use a sword. And
there were 470,000 men in Judah who could use a sword.
But Joab did not count the tribes of Levi and Benjamin. He did not
count them because he did not fully agree with the order of King
David. Joab knew that counting the people would not be right in the
sight of God!
Exodus 30:11-13
11 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying:
12 “When you take the census of the children of Israel for
their number, then every man shall give a ransom
for himself to the LORD, when you number them, that there
may be no plague among them when you number them.
13 This is what everyone among those who are numbered shall give:
half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (a shekel is
twenty gerahs). The half-shekel shall be an offering to the
LORD.
The people of Israel belonged to God. The Lord had sovereign
ownership of His people. In ancient times, a man only had the rights
to count or number what belonged to him. As Israel did not belong to
David but God, David did not have the rights to conduct the census.
If the Lord had commanded a counting, everyone among those who were
numbered would have to pay a ransom money as an offering to the
Lord! If they did not do accordingly to what the Lord required,
there might be a plague among them.
Thus by taking the census of His people, King David greatly
displeased God. The king of Israel had done something that God had
said was wrong. So God punished Israel.
Then David said to God, “I have done something very foolish. It was
a terrible sin. Now, I beg You to forgive me, Your servant.”
At this time, Gad was David’s seer. And the Lord said to Gad, “Go
and tell David: ‘This is what the Lord says: I am going to give you
three choices. Choose one, and I will punish you in that way.’”
So Gad went to David and said to him, “This is what the Lord says:
‘Choose which punishment you want. You may choose three years
without enough food for the nation. Or choose three months of
running from your enemies as they chase you with their swords. Or
choose three days of punishment from the Lord. A terrible disease
will spread through the country. The angel of the Lord will go
through Israel destroying the people.’ Now, David, decide which
answer I will give to the Lord, who sent me.”
David said to Gad, “I am in trouble. I don’t want some men to punish
me. The Lord is very merciful. So let the Lord punish me.”
So the Lord sent a terrible disease on Israel, and 70,000 people
died. God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem. But when the angel
started to destroy it, the Lord saw it and felt sorry. So He said to
the angel who was destroying, “That is enough! Stop!” The angel of
the Lord was then standing at the threshing floor of Ornan the
Jebusite.
David looked up and saw the angel of the Lord in the sky. The angel
was holding his sword over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders
bowed face down on the ground. They were wearing sackcloth to
signify
their sorrow and sadness.
David said to God, “I am the one who sinned. I gave the order for
the people to be counted. I have done wrong. These people are only
sheep. What wrong have they done? O Lord my God, please punish me and my
family. But stop the terrible disease that is killing Your people.”
Then the angel of the Lord gave an order to Gad. He told Gad to tell
David to build an altar to worship the Lord. It was to be at the
threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. Gad told David these things
from the Lord. So David went to Ornan’s threshing floor.
Ornan was separating the straw from the wheat. When he turned
around, he saw the angel of the Lord. Ornan’s four sons were with
him, and they were afraid and hid away.
David went to Ornan. When Ornan saw David, he left the threshing
floor. He bowed face down on the ground before David.
David said to him, “Sell me your threshing floor. Then I can build
an altar to worship the Lord here. Then the terrible disease will be
stopped. Sell it to me for the full price.”
Ornan said to David, “Take this threshing floor. You are my master
and king. Do anything you want. Look, I will also give you oxen for
the burnt offerings. I will give you wood for the fire. And I will
give the wheat for the grain offering. I will give all these to
you.”
But King David answered Ornan, “No, I must pay the full price. I
won’t take anything that is yours and give it to the Lord. I won’t
give an offering that costs me nothing.” So David paid Ornan 600
shekels of gold for the place.
David built an altar to worship the Lord there. He offered burnt
offerings and fellowship offerings. David prayed to the Lord. And
the Lord answered him by sending down fire from heaven. It came down
on the altar of burnt offering. Then the Lord commanded the angel to
put his sword back into its holder.
David saw that the Lord had answered him on the threshing floor of
Ornan. So he offered sacrifices to the Lord there.
At this time, the holy tabernacle of the Lord and the altar of burnt
offerings were in Gibeon. The place of worship was there. Moses had
made this Holy Tent while the Israelites were in the desert. But
David could not go to the Holy Tent to speak with God as he was
afraid of the angel of the Lord and his sword.
This is the Biblical account of 3 choices that God
placed before King David after he sinned against the Lord.
Each of
these 3 choices has its pros and cons. Each of them will incur the
loss of many lives! Each of these 3 choices is not easy to make:
- 3 years of famine
- 3 months to be defeated and killed by foes or
- 3 days of plague in the land
The results and devastations of the first choice would be
controlled and determined by the forces of weather and nature; the
second by evil men, and the degrees of their hatred and enmity
against Israel; and the third by the angel of the Lord.
1 Chronicles 21:13
And David said to Gad, “I am in great distress.
Please let me fall
into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are very great; but do
not let me fall into the hand of man.”
King David opted for the third choice. He would rather fall into the
hand of the Lord than into the hand of man or nature! Even though
70,000 people died as a result, David had made the right choice! If he had
chosen the first or the second, more people might have lost their
lives!
David knew that God would be merciful even in the midst of
His wrath and judgment! Like David, we should learn something about the
mercies of the Lord!
Lamentations 3:22-24
22
Through the LORD’s mercies we are not consumed,
Because His compassions fail not.
23
They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness.
24 “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul,
“Therefore I hope in Him!”
The compassions of the Lord never end. It is only because of His
great mercies that we are not destroyed. Great is
His faithfulness. His lovingkindness begins afresh each day.
Therefore, we can say that the Lord is all that we have, and we will
hope in Him.
Habakkuk 3:2
O LORD, I have heard Your speech and was afraid;
O LORD, revive Your work in the midst of the years!
In the midst of the years make it known;
In wrath remember mercy.
Through the years, we are amazed at the powerful things that the
Lord have done. As He had done in the past, the Lord will continue
to do great things in the present! Yes, making those things happen
again in our days! Even when the Lord is angry, His compassions are
always there! He will remember His mercies.
James 2:13
For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy.
Mercy triumphs over judgment.
The mercies of the Lord are new every morning. Even in judgment, God
is merciful! His mercies will triumph over His judgment! As God is merciful, we need to be merciful to others!
On the day of judgment, there will be no mercy for those who have
shown no mercy to others.
If God gives us three choices
today, which
one will we choose? It is not a
matter of time duration - 3 years, 3 months or 3 days. It is a matter
of faith -
whether we trust in the Lord or not. Do we choose to fall under the
hand of nature, man or God? Do we know the mercies of the Lord?
Psalm 89:1
I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever;
With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all
generations.
Great is His faithfulness, and His mercies are new every morning!
We will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever!
Written on 16 December 2021