Tag Archive | Plague

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 143

May23

Day 143.  Reading 2 Samuel 24, 1 Chronicles 21-22, Psalm30

Read Today’s Scriptures.
2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21

Okay, David… sigh.

You “blew it” before, you had to run for your life, and you lost two, no three sons, why would you now do something else foolish?

1 Chron 21:1 says, “Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel.”

God sovereignly used Satan in this matter. And for some reason — perhaps a fear of an attack by enemies, perhaps pride, or maybe ambition, or some other unknown sin of Israel — David yielded to the temptation of Satan, and CHOSE to go against God’s will and NUMBER ISRAEL to see how many men were fit for the army.

DAVID:  “Joab, Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba (top to bottom), and number the people that I may KNOW the number of people…and bring me a report.”

Well, old Joab surprised me here. He actually cautions the king.

JOAB:  “May the LORD add to His people a hundred times as many as they are while the eyes of my lord the king still see it, but why does my lord delight in this thing? Are they not, my lord the king, all of them my lord’s servants?  Why then should my lord require this?  Why should it be a cause of guilt for Israel?”

But David insisted. So Joab and his men went throughout Israel and came back to Jerusalem nine and a half months later with the numbers.

NOTE:  There is a seeming discrepancy between the totals between the 2 Samuel and the 1 Chronicles accounts. Never fear. You can trust the word.  2 Samuel reports a different way of numbering: all the men, plus from Judah, including the ones already in his army. 1 Chronicles says Joab stopped the counting before he included Benjamin (or Levi) because it abhorred him.  David also stopped the counting at some point because of God’s conviction.

David’s heart struck him. “I have sinned greatly in what I have done, but now O LORD, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”

(NOTE: A census is not wrong in itself. God called for them in Numbers 1 and 28.  But they were for reasons the LORD mentioned, and not to puff up a sinful king.)

And so God sent the prophet Gad to David (as he had done with Nathan).  Gad was to give David THREE OPTIONS of judgment, as the result of his sin. And ALL the options meant pain and suffering for ISRAEL

  1. three years of famine on the land
  2. three months of fleeing from a pursuing enemy
  3. three days of plague on the land.

David was in great distress.  “Let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercy is great, but let us not fall into the hand of man.”

And so, the LORD sent a plague on Israel.  From Dan to Beersheba 70,000 men died. But when the Angel of Death put out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, THE LORD RELENTED FROM THE CALAMITY and said to the angel, “It is enough.”

David was distraught. “I have sinned and done wickedly.  But these sheep (the people of Israel), what have they done. Please let your hand be against me and my father’s house.”

The LORD told him to raise an altar on the threshing floor of Araunah/Ornan, the Jebusite. When David went there, the man said he would give the place (and the oxen to sacrifice) to the king FOR FREE. But David said he would not offer to the LORD that which had not cost him anything.  He paid the price asked, built an altar, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings.

And the LORD stopped the plague on the people of Israel (“The Angel of the LORD put his sword back into its sheath”}.

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Psalm 30.

Joy comes in the morning…

  • O LORD my God, I cried to You for help, and you have healed me.
  • O LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; You restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit.
  • Sing praises to the LORD, O you His saints, and give thanks to His holy Name.
  • For His anger is but for a moment, and His favor is for a lifetime.
  • Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning.
  • You have turned for me my mourning into dancing; You have loosed my sackcloth, and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O LORD my God I will give thanks to you forever.

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And David said, “HERE shall be the house of the LORD God and HERE the altar of burnt offering for Israel.”  This is where the Jerusalem temple was to be built by Solomon.

1 Chronicles 22.

And so, David prepares for the Temple building.

David set stonecutters to prepare the great stones for building the House of God.  He provided great quantities of iron for nails and clamps, as well as bronze in quantities BEYOND WEIGHING, and cedar timbers without number from the kings of Tyre and Sidon. (Lebanon)

DAVID:  “Solomon my son is young and inexperienced, and the house that is to be built for the LORD must be exceedingly magnificent, of fame and glory throughout the lands.” 

So David said to Solomon….

  • “My son, I had it in my heart to build a house to the Name of the LORD my God. But the word of the LORD came to me, saying….
  • “You have shed much blood and have waged great wars. You shall not build a house to my Name, because you have shed so much blood before me on the earth. Behold a son shall be born to you who shall be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies.  For his name shall be Solomon (peace), and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days.  HE shall be my son, and I will be his father, and I will establish his royal throne in Israel forever.”
  • Now, my son, the LORD be with you, so that you may succeed in building the house of the LORD your God, as He has spoken concerning you. Only, may the LORD grant you discretion and understanding, that when he gives you charge over Israel you may keep the law of the LORD your God. Then you will prosper if you are careful to observe the statutes and the rules that the LORD commanded Moses for Israel.  Be strong and courageous. Fear not do not be dismayed.  Arise and work!  The LORD be with you!”

David also commended all the leaders of Israel to help Solomon.  “Arise and build the sanctuary of the LORD God, so that the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD and the holy vessels of God may be brought into a house built for the Name of the LORD.

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Days 61 & 62

Mar3
Day 61 – 62.  Reading Numbers 16-17 and 18-20. (Sunday & Monday Combined)
 

Read today’s scripture.

What do you learn about God’s goodness?

Who can you share that with today?

Numbers 16.

Rebellion, sin, and death starts, and it all begins in the House of the Lord.

Remember how Miriam and Aaron in pride thought THEY should be just as powerful in leadership as Moses was?  Now, Korah, from the family of Kohath, the Levites who served and carried the holy items of the Tabernacle, and two from the tribe of Rueben, stepped forward along with 250 other well-known men, chiefs of the assembly to oppose Moses and Aaron. 

“ALL the congregation is holy,” they said, “every one of them, and the LORD is among them.  Why do you, Moses and Aaron, exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD?

Moses responded by falling to his face, an attitude of desperate prayer to God. He told them all that “In the morning the LORD will show who is His, and who is Holy.” 

They were to all bring their lit censers  to the Tabernacle and the LORD will choose who is the holy one.

“You have gone too far, sons of Levi! Is it too small a thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to Himself, to do service in the tabernacle of the LORD and to stand before the congregation to minister to them, and that He has brought you near HIM, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? And would you seek the priesthood also?  What is Aaron that you grumble against him?”

But Korah’s two buddies from the tribe of Rueben, Dathan and Abiram, refused to make an appearance.  Instead they blasted Moses,  “Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey (that they feared to enter), nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men?  WE WILL NOT COME UP!”

Oh, dear.

Next day, the LORD proposed a wipe out of the whole congregation, yet Moses pleaded before the LORD. So God told everyone to step away from from the tents of Kohath, Dathan, And abiram.  The people moved away, but these three men stood in defiance with their families at their tent doors. 

And Moses announced, “Hereby you shall know that the LORD has sent ME to do all these works, and that it has NOT been of my own accord. If these men die as all men die, then the LORD has not sent me.

“BUT … if the LORD creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you will KNOW that these men have despised the LORD.”

And then ………………………….. the ground under them split apart. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. And the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly. 

PANIC!!! 

All Israel fled.

And the LORD’s fire came out and consumed the 250 unqualified men with censers.

Aaron’s son Eleazar, at God’s word, collected all the censers because they were holy. Later they were hammered into a bronze covering for the Altar. 

All this was to be a reminder to the people that NO OUTSIDER WHO WAS NOT OF THE DESCENDANTS OF AARON should burn incense before the LORD. 

AND STILL THE PEOPLE GRUMBLED!!! “You have killed the people of the LORD!”  The whole congregation turned against Moses and Aaron.

Moses and Aaron turned toward the Tabernacle and the glorious Presence of the LORD appeared.  The two men fell on their faces as a PLAGUE OF WRATH was sent out from the LORD into the people.

Then, at Moses’ word, Aaron put holy incense on his own censer and ran among the company of dying people.  He stood between the dead and the living and made atonement for them.  And the plague stopped. 

But not before 14,700 people were killed (besides those in the affair of Korah).

Number 17.

Then, the LORD preempted another rebellion by showing clearly just WHO was to be Priest to the Lord God of Israel.

A staff from the head of each of the twelve tribes of Israel, including Aaron’s staff representing the tribe of Levi, were to be gathered.  Each was to have the person’s name written on his staff.  Then Moses was to take them inside the Tabernacle and to lay them before the Ark of the Covenant.  

“The staff of the man whom I choose shall sprout. In this way, I will make the grumblings of the people of Israel against you TO CEASE.”

Moses did as the LORD instructed.

The next morning, Moses went in and brought the staffs out.  Behold, the staff of Aaron for the house of Levi had not only SPROUTED, but PUT FORTH BUDS, and PRODUCED BLOSSOMS, and BORE RIPE ALMONDS. 

No question at all.

Moses then put Aaron’s staff before the Ark of the Covenant (later inside it) as a testimony and a sign for the rebels.

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Numbers 18.

In an unexpected way, the LORD speaks directly to Aaron (not through Moses) as the High Priest. He tells him that the priests are directly responsible for the priesthood and the things inside the Tabernacle. He and his sons are to keep guard of the Tabernacle, and the rest of the Levites are to keep guard over them and the rest of the tent while they minister. 

For this special duty to the LORD, the rest of Israel will bring a tithe to them of all the earn and raise as their support.  The Levites will then give a tithe of what they get to the LORD. 

“You shall have no inheritance in their land, neither shall you have any portion among them. I am your portion and inheritance.”

Numbers 19.

In the following 38.5 years, over 1.2 million people died in the wilderness. As the old generation died off (as God had said they would) many, people were touching dead bodies, to dispose of them. ALL needed purification ceremonies. The “water for purification” that would be sprinkled on them was made in a certain way.

Aaron’s oldest son (deputy high priest) Eleazar would take a spotless red heifer outside the camp to slaughter it. (This is the only sacrifice noted of a female animal. A heifer was a cow that had not yet given birth, and in this case, had also never been yoked.)  After it was killed, Eleazar would flick some blood on his finger towards the front gate of the Tabernacle seven times. Then the entire animal would be burned up, with the addition of cedarwood, hyssop and scarlet yarn.

Later a man who is clean is to gather the cooled ashes and deposit them in a clean place outside the camp. The ashes of the heifer and the other three items (used in the skin disease purification ritual) would be mixed with water to make a symbolic cleansing agent.  (For people who had touched a dead body.) Anyone clean (not just the priests) could sprinkle an unclean person. Then both will be considered unclean until evening.

  • Weird, I know. But think how all these rituals kept their eyes on a HOLY God and themselves as unclean sinners with an ultimate death sentence. Also remember how the Lord Jesus was taken “outside the city” to be crucified. And it is by this horrible act that we can be cleansed from all sin.

Numbers 20.

As the years pass and grow towards 40, first we see Miriam dying.  If she was a young girl when Moses was put into the Nile in a basket, she is probably at least 130 by now. The people mourned this great prophetess lady for a month. She was buried near Kadesh.

And….. there was no water. This younger generation quarreled with Moses. “Would that we would have died with our brothers.  Have you brought us out into the wilderness that we and our cattle should die of thirst? This “evil place” is not for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates…AND THERE IS NO WATER TO DRINK.”

Seriously!!!  The new, younger generation is now going to start up complaining about water?? It’s like they just came out of Egypt. I’m with God. Kill them and dust off your hands.

But when Moses and Aaron went to God, fell on their faces before Him, His glorious presence appeared to them.  He gave them instructions – VERY EXPLICIT INSTRUCTIONS – on how to give the people water.

“Take the staff, and the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and TELL THE ROCK before their eyes to yield its water. So (in this way) you shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.”

Moses and Aaron gathered the people before the rock and Moses said… TO THEM (not the rock), “Hear now, you rebels: shall WE bring water for you out of this rock?”  And Moses lifted up his hand and STRUCK THE ROCK WITH HIS STAFF, TWICE.

And water came out abundantly and the congregation drank and their livestock.

The people were happy and knew nothing about the utter disaster this was for their leaders.

The LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold ME as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore YOU shall not bring this assembly into the land that I gave them.”

Period. 

  • Why? You might ask?  For one, Moses and Aaron glorified themselves not God.
  • And two…. remember Paul says that all that happened to them was for OUR instruction (1 Corinthians 10:1-11).  Christ is pictured as that Rock in the wilderness. Struck once for their life giving water. (As Jesus died ONCE for all for our salvation). After we are saved, we need only ask of Him for our daily needs and He will supply them.  Moses ruined that “picture” by striking the Rock again, not once but twice, making the picture seem to say that Christ had to keep dying again and again in order to save us. 
  • This was a big act of rebellion and disobedience BY MOSES.  And, like with that older generation, he would NOT be allowed to enter the promised land. Aaron too, since he was with him.

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Next on the agenda was to pass through the land of Edom (descendants of Esau, Jacob/Israel’s brother). Edom rightly refused (Imagine 2 million people with lots of animals trudging down your freeway for hours and hours).  Moses asked “Please” to pass through a second time, and the Edomites sent out a large army to protect their boarder by force.  So, Israel had to go around them. (They were not allowed to fight their “brothers.”)

Israel came to Mt. Hor on the boarder of Edom and the LORD told Moses and Aaron that Aaron was going to die there (for they had rebelled against Him at the rock).  Moses was to take Aaron and his oldest son, Eleazar up the mountain and take off the high priest’s garments and put them on Eleazar. 

Moses did this in the sight of the whole congregation. And when only Moses and Eleazar, wearing the priestly garment came down, they KNEW Aaron had died. They mourned for him for 30 days.

His death foreshadowed Moses’ own death.