BibleProject | One Story That Leads to JesusSample

“In the spring, at the time when kings go off to war, … David remained in Jerusalem” (1 Chron. 20:1). Uh oh. We’ve seen this story before. When David abdicates his responsibilities, things end in disaster—sexual assault and murder plunge David’s family into a spiral of relational feuding and fractures.

This time, the story skips right over David’s catastrophic sins of adultery and murder. It might seem as if the chronicler is trying to sweep David’s dirty secrets under a rug, but the chronicler has read Samuel and Kings. He knows his readers have too. He omits this failure in David’s story to inspire hope for a future messianic king—one who would never take another man’s wife and cover it up with murder.

This doesn’t mean the chronicler leaves out all of David’s mistakes, though. Today’s reading does include the story about David taking a military census instead of trusting Yahweh. Here, the chronicler uses a story of major transgression to portray David as a priestly intercessor.

David pleads with Yahweh to spare the people from severe judgment. This is a hyperlink to Moses after the golden calf incident, begging Yahweh to spare the people (Exod. 32:30-32).

David also builds an altar on the future foundation of Yahweh’s temple. When David offers sacrifices on this altar, he calls on Yahweh, who responds by sending fire from heaven—just like the story of Elijah on Mount Carmel (1 Kgs. 18:36-38).

A king is coming. Like Moses, he will intercede to save the people. He will channel God’s mountaintop power like Elijah, offer sacrifices like Aaron, and succeed where David failed.

Reflection Questions

• Look closely at 1 Chronicles 18:1-12. What does David do with the wealth and horses he wins through battle? Compare these details to the Torah’s rules for Israelite kings in Deuteronomy 17:14-20. What do you notice? How does the chronicler use these hyperlinks to present David as an obedient king?
• Compare the chronicler’s account of David buying the threshing floor (1 Chron. 21:18-26) to the account in 2 Samuel 24:18-25. What differences do you notice? What aspects of David’s character might the chronicler be highlighting through these details?