GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
1 CHRONICLES 21:26-27
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26 David built an altar to the LORD there and sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then he called on the LORD, and the LORD answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering. 27 Then the LORD commanded the angel, who put his sword back into its sheath.
This passage sketches an excellent picture of what worship was like in David’s life. But it doesn’t seem very much like (1) the worship God commanded Moses to do, (2) the worship that was done at the temple, (3) the worship that was done after the temple was destroyed, (4) the worship that was going on after the temple was rebuilt and in the time of Jesus, or (5) worship that we enjoy today. We will ponder this both here and in the next passage (21:28-30, tomorrow’s verses), but for now let’s just see David’s worship as it was, and not so much what it was not.
Like the ancient patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, David built a new altar of piled stones on top of the mountain, north of the city walls and uphill from the city limits. He made two kinds of offerings there, burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. A burnt offering is not the same as a sin or guilt offering. A burnt offering could be purely an act of devotion to God. By consuming the entire bull in flames, the worshiper said, “I devote my whole life to God, and I keep nothing back for myself.” Later on God said that he wasn’t pleased with such offerings. People were doing it for show, or for other reasons that were equally wrong. So “burnt offerings you did not desire, and you were not pleased with them, but he (Christ) said, ‘Here I am. I have come to do your will’” (Hebrews 10:9-10). But David made his burnt offering in good faith and with good reason. He showed with his actions what was there in his heart: He wanted to follow God and to do his whole will.
He also made fellowship offerings. This could be made to end a vow or simply as a sign of thanks. Certainly David meant this offering as a thank-you to God for ending the terrible destructive plague. A fellowship offering was also shared; after a portion was burned, the rest was shared as a meal between the worshiper and the priest who officiated. It would not be a surprise to us if Gad were the priest in David’s case, although prophets were not always priests or Levites (see Amos 1:1; 7:14).
What did these sacrifices do in the hearts and the minds of the worshipers? Then, as now, some of them may have gone through the motions out of habit, simply because they found beauty, solace, or joy in the simple repetition of a ritual that had been familiar since childhood. But doubtless there were many who asked: “What does this mean?” (Exodus 13:14). One of our esteemed Seminary Professors comments:
“While sacrifice dominated the worship of tabernacle and temple, the symbolism of much of the sacrificial symbolism proclaimed the divine plan of reconciliation: ‘Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness’ (Hebrews 9:22). To those who would ponder it, the message of public worship pointed to the finale of God’s promise to send a conqueror: his own Lamb who would take away the sin of the world. This was the ritual the Lord established for the nation by law; to acclaim and proclaim. In their acclamation, Israel proclaimed the name of the Lord.”
A remarkable and unusual event here is that the Lord answered David immediately with fire from heaven. This was a rare occasion, something that the Lord seems to have reserved for a public offering such as this one (remember the response to Elijah’s prayer on Mount Carmel, 1 Kings 18:38). But the Lord seems to have done something like this for Abel’s offering, too, when he accepted Abel’s but rejected Cain’s offering (Genesis 4:4-5). The fire of heaven devouring David’s offering showed that the Lord without any doubt accepted David’s repentance and worship. And this also brought about the final result: The Lord commanded the angel, who returned the killing sword to its sheath. That act, no matter how many people were present to witness it, or how few, showed David that the destroying plague was over. The king and his people were once again at peace with God.
A final point here: David called on the Lord. This is different from the familiar, “Called on the name of the Lord” (Genesis 12:8; 26:25; Psalm 99:6). To call on God’s name in the Old Testament is a way of describing preaching. Men called on the name of the Lord as they were proclaiming him and teaching people about him. Here, David seems to be simply praying, “calling on the Lord” as we see in 1 Corinthians 1:2, which is an act of worship rather than an act of proclaiming or preaching. David prayed, and the Lord answered right away. David asked for forgiveness, and the Lord forgave. He teaches us by his divine example what it means to forgive sins, even as we ourselves have been forgiven.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – 1 Chronicles 21:26-27 Fire and sheath