I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on 2 Samuel 23-24.

Today’s passage contains what appears to be accounts about King David which the writer wanted to include, but could not fit in anywhere else.  He lists here the Three and the Thirty, mighty warriors in David’s service.  We do not really know a lot about what it meant to be one of either of these groups.  My best guess is that the Thirty was a special forces type unit in David’s forces before he became king and perhaps after as well.  I suspect that there were legends regarding many of these men, and regarding them as a group as well.  I suspect that when this book was written, the Three and the Thirty were sort of like the Knights of the Round Table or Robin Hood’s Band.  I think the writer of this book lists them out here in order to tell people that these two groups actually existed and they were real people.

I do not really understand the point of the story about the plague which followed David’s census.  Once again, the story shows us more about the relationship between David and Joab.  Joab questions the value of taking the census, but carries it out anyway when David insists.  After the census is completed, David realizes it was a bad idea and a sin (although I am not sure what the sin was that David committed by taking the census).  Perhaps the key take away comes when David chooses to suffer his punishment at the hand of God rather than at the hand of humans.  This story also teaches us that others may suffer the consequences of our sins.  All too often we tell others to stay out of our business when they point out the wrong we are doing.  However, we are often not the only ones to suffer when we do wrong, which makes it not just our business.