I Chronicles 21: Good Out Of Evil

I Chronicles 21 starts with something evil and ends with something good.

The chapter begins, "Satan stood up against Israel, and incited David to count the people of Israel" (vs. 1).  We might wonder why a census is a satanic idea.  After all, the United States is mandated by our constitution to take one every ten years.  The problem is that this wasn't God's idea; David was motivated by an evil desire to measure the strength of his military might.  Rather than trusting in the Lord's might, David was preparing to wage battles in his own power.  God was justifiably offended.

So God decides to punish David and bring evil upon the nation.  He offers David a stark choice: either three-year-long famine, a three-month-long war, or a three-day-long plague.  David realizes the error of his ways, and, in repentance, comes to appreciate the goodness of God.  He proclaims his choice to trust in God, "I am in great distress; let me fall into the hand of the Lord, for His mercy is very great; but let me not fall into human hands" (vs. 13).  God is beginning to bring something good out of evil.

The plague starts, and 70,000 Israelites die as the destroying angel makes his way to Jerusalem.  But there God's mercy takes over.  At the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, the plague stops.  David and the elders witness the angel with a drawn sword standing over the city, and they fall on their faces.  Their humility and their contrition is seen by God and stays His hand.

What happened at the threshing floor of Ornan is very significant.  David's prayers were answered and the people spared from great punishment.  The Lord's mercy was seen firsthand.  So that very spot of earth became very special to David.  Whereas the chapter begins with evil prompted by Satan, it ends with mercy poured out by the Lord, and that geographic location where it happened is to become the site of the Temple of God.