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The first effect of David's act was that of incurring God's severe displeasure. David's eyes were opened to see his sin and its greatness. In earnest prayer he besought God to "do away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly." This, however, cannot be. Sin may be forgiven but its sad consequences must be felt. A man who has brought ruin upon himself and family by a sinful life may have all his sin forgiven, but he must suffer the consequences and his family also, it may be, for generations to come. Nothing is more palpable on every side of us than this law in God's moral government - "visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;" and "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." In David's sin we see also another law in God's moral government - a man's punishment is always in the same line of his sin. David's pride was in the great number of his people; the punishment lay in the destruction of seventy thousand of that number. There is an unvarying connection between the two, indicating the law of righteous retribution. As a judgment the Lord offered David his choice of three evils, and in David's answer we see the true wisdom of a chastened and humbled child of God. "And David said unto God, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the Lord; for very great are his mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of man. So the Lord sent a pestilence, and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men." It is the truest wisdom of the soul in every such emergency to fall into the hand of God. Our loving Father does all things well; and while we must reap what we have sown in order to learn by deep experience what a bitter thing sin is, "a Father's hand will never cause his child a needless tear." God hates sin, and he will have us learn what a fearful thing it is that we may hate it too. The hand of God in this outpour of judgment is vividly pictured in this portion of the chapter. "And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the Lord stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem;" but just as he had begun to destroy, we are told God said, "It is enough, stay now thine hand." How much greater might the destruction have been but for him who in the midst of judgment remembers mercy! Yes, in the midst of all our judgments, our trials, our sufferings, how much greater they might have been, may each one say! We can count our trials, but never our mercies. They are as the sands of the shore or the stars over our heads. The darkest cloud has ever a silver lining. And so it is here. There was another effect of David's sin besides this terrible destruction of Israel, for in its results sin is always hydra-headed. Each one carries with it a fruitful crop. We find this effect in David's own relation to God (ver. 30). "He was afraid." Exactly the same words are used by Adam in the garden, and the slothful servant in the New Testament. Sin produces distance from God. David was as truly behind a tree as Adam in the garden. Peace, communion, freedom, all that sweet interchange of fellowship between God and the soul, have all gone now! O Sin, how terrible art thou in thy consequences! One more thought is suggested by this portion of the chapter. The tabernacle of the Lord and the altar of burnt offering were at this time at Gibeon. Here was the prescribed place of sacrifice and here, according to orthodox ideas, David should have gone to offer his sacrifices. But God can give a man rest anywhere. He can apply his mercy to the soul and accept its sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving as well in Ornan's barn as on Gibeon's high places. David had seen the sheathed sword and the hallowed fire from heaven, not on Gibeon's heights, but in Ornan's barn. Whatever orthodoxy might think of the former, the latter was God's chosen place for the temple. God's experienced mercy, where justice had sheathed its sword and grace had answered prayer, made the ground hallowed. It is so still; and may every member of the Church of Christ never forget it. - W.

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KJV: And God was displeased with this thing; therefore he smote Israel.

WEB: God was displeased with this thing; therefore he struck Israel.