27. What final sin does David commit? How is the resulting plague stopped?

²⁷ Finally, David sins in numbering the people. Pleading with God for mercy, he is given the choice between three punishments: seven years of famine, three months of military defeats, or three days of pestilence in the land. David replies: “Let us fall, please, into the hand of Jehovah, for many are his mercies; but into the hand of man do not let me fall.” (24:14) The nationwide pestilence kills 70,000 persons, being stopped only when David, acting on Jehovah’s instructions through Gad, purchases the threshing floor of Araunah, where he offers up burnt sacrifices and communion sacrifices to Jehovah.

30. What principles are applied and illustrated in Second Samuel?

³⁰ The application of many Bible principles is also to be found in Second Samuel. Among these are the principles of community responsibility (2 Sam. 3:29; 24:11-15),