Bethel Evangelical Church, Clydach
  • Finding faith
  • Sermons
  • Find us
  • Contact us
  • New here?
    Let’s get introduced
    • About Us
      • Our beliefs
      • Our history
      • Our photos
      • Our sermons
    • Bethel people
    • What does God offer?
    • Contact us
    • Find us
  • What’s on
    Something for everyone
    • Sunday worship
    • Finding faith
      • Food for Thought
    • Fellowship and growth
      • Bible study and prayer
      • Fellowship groups
      • Growing together… in God’s Word
      • Oasis
      • Time2Talk
    • Children and youth
      • Sunday school
      • Adventurers and Discoverers
      • Impact
    • Special events this Easter
  • Meet us
    Stories of changed lives
    • Anna — I learned to trust God
    • Siân — I found something better
    • Esther — It feels like I’m finally alive!
    • Mary — I am a much calmer and happier person
    • Friends of Bethel
      • Garin Jenkins — God has been with me all my life
      • Billy Burns — He tried to kill me, but when I met him, I liked him
      • Alison Stewart — The truth set me free from heroin addiction
      • John Mosey — My daughter was killed at Lockerbie

Sermons

  • Our beliefs
  • Our history
  • Our photos
  • Our sermons

How to interpret the Old Testament. (2 Samuel 24:1-25)

Paul Clement, March 26, 2017
Part of the Miscellaneous series, preached at a Sunday Morning service

Tags:

https://www.bethel-clydach.co.uk/sermons/?show&file_name=2017-03-26-am.mp3 Download
Earlier: Same day: Later:
« How can we live holy lives? How Shall They Hear? How should we approach Jesus? »

2 Samuel 24 (Listen)

24:1 Again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.” 2 So the king said to Joab, the commander of the army, who was with him, “Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the number of the people.” 3 But Joab said to the king, “May the LORD your God add to the 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 the king delight in this thing?” 4 But the king’s word prevailed against Joab and the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel. 5 They crossed the Jordan and began from Aroer, and from the city that is in the middle of the valley, toward Gad and on to Jazer. 6 Then they came to Gilead, and to Kadesh in the land of the Hittites; and they came to Dan, and from Dan they went around to Sidon, 7 and came to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites; and they went out to the Negeb of Judah at Beersheba. 8 So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. 9 And Joab gave the sum of the numbering of the people to the king: in Israel there were 800,000 valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were 500,000.

10 But David’s heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the LORD, “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.” 11 And when David arose in the morning, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, saying, 12 “Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the LORD, Three things I offer you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’” 13 So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall three years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.” 14 Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.”

15 So the LORD sent a pestilence on Israel from the morning until the appointed time. And there died of the people from Dan to Beersheba 70,000 men. 16 And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD relented from the calamity and said to the angel who was working destruction among the people, “It is enough; now stay your hand.” And the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. 17 Then David spoke to the LORD when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father’s house.”

18 And Gad came that day to David and said to him, “Go up, raise an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 19 So David went up at Gad’s word, as the LORD commanded. 20 And when Araunah looked down, he saw the king and his servants coming on toward him. And Araunah went out and paid homage to the king with his face to the ground. 21 And Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, in order to build an altar to the LORD, that the plague may be averted from the people.” 22 Then Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Here are the oxen for the burnt offering and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. 23 All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “May the LORD your God accept you.” 24 But the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will buy it from you for a price. I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25 And David built there an altar to the LORD and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD responded to the plea for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel.

(ESV)

Powered by Sermon Browser
Fellowship and growth
We grow in many different ways, but a great deal of Christian growth is done in fellowship and community with others. That's why we offer many different ministries to help with our growth, from relaxed fellowship at our coffee morning, to in-depth study at Growing Together.
More about Fellowship and growth…
Keith’s story

“I started to see I wasn't the nice guy I thought I was”

After I retired I missed spending time with people and thought I’d find some sort of community in a church. I was quite nervous about going by myself. Eventually, when I did go to Bethel, it was quite reassuring. There were even people on the front door to welcome me. Listening to the preacher came as a bit of a shock though. He said no-one was good enough to go to heaven. I thought that as long as your good deeds are more than your bad you’ll be fine and go to heaven but this wasn't what God said in the Bible. I started to see I wasn't the nice guy I thought I was. God was on my mind more than ever and I knew I needed him so I started to go to Bethel regularly. I often thought about the wrong things I’d done in my life and wondered if God really wanted me.
Read more of Keith’s story

Latest Tweets

…

Connect with us

Recent sermons

  • As the Lord had told him on July 6, 2025.
  • When pigs fly on July 6, 2025.
  • Just deserts? on June 29, 2025.
  • I saw a true vision of Jesus on June 29, 2025.
  • Yet I will rejoice on June 22, 2025.

 Bethel Evangelical Church, Heol-y-nant, Clydach     Tel: 01792 828095     Registered charity: 1142690