23 David did not take the number of the men twenty years old or less,because the Lord had promised to make Israel as numerous as the starsin the sky. 24 Joab son of Zeruiah began to count the men but did not finish. God’s wrath came on Israel on account of this numbering, and the number was not entered in the book[e] of the annals of King David.
I kept reading this morning, until something popped. The first thing was the casting of lots, again. I still think its funny how they split up the assignments by throwing the die......funny. Then I saw this at the end of 27. It strikes me how meticulous God is, and how he wants his direction following to the letter. If they did all that he asked, and then just a little more, he got very upset. I wonder how often I put him in that position? First of all, its hard for me to depend on his direction, without inserting my own plan. Second, how many times do I add a little to his leading, to make it more palette-able for me?
Something to think about as I go through my day.
tp
That is so true, to follow his direction means I need to be listening to begin with. I'm probably more like a kid who is halfway out the door before the parent can finish giving the directsions.
ReplyDelete27 This is the list of the Israelites—heads of families, commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, and their officers, who served the king in all that concerned the army divisions that were on duty month by month throughout the year. Each division consisted of 24,000 men.
One thing I always amazed with not just in the bible but in these times is how a king or a leader can effectively control such a large group of people. Its not like there is an easy electronic medium to get your message out and how do you monitor their activities in a timely manner?
just random thoughts,
knut