The Lesser of Two

Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress.  Let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.”  2 Samuel 24:14  ESV

The hand of man – Life often produces great distress.  It’s usually not accidental.  In fact, from a biblical perspective, it is never accidental.  Distress is one of those opportunities YHWH provides to refine His purposes in us.  Even distress that comes from disobedience still finds its place in the purposes of the Lord.  That doesn’t mean it is any less painful, but according to David, YHWH’s exercise of chastisement and correction is far preferable than the alternative – to fall into the hand of man.

The Hebrew text reads uveyad-adam.  It’s worth noting that David uses adam rather than ish, especially since ish is by far the more frequent word in Scripture.  Why use adam rather than ish?  Perhaps its because ish is fundamentally a word about relationships, about the interconnectedness of human beings and their mutual dependency.  But David isn’t concerned about empathetic connections with those who might exact punishment.  He is concerned about their lack of empathy and for that he needs the much less communal word, adam.  Adam is connected with the Genesis account of creation.  As such, adam represents God’s regent, the one who exercises God’s will on earth.  And when it comes to distress as a result of sin, adam is likely to play the role of prosecutor, judge and jury rather than the role of Father (a term of relationship).  David doesn’t need adam.  He needs ish.  He needs YHWH to act as one sympathetic toward weakness and failure.  He needs one who is rav hesed, ‘erek apayim and rahum (as we read in Exodus 34:6).  How much better to fall into the hand of the living God, the God who describes Himself in terms of intimate relationship, than to fall into the hand of the executor of God’s regulations!  Men are cruel, vindictive, ruthless and unforgiving.  God is not!  David understands perfectly that he needs God’s chastisement, not Man’s punishment.

What do we learn from this insight?  Perhaps we learn that it is far better to accept the correction of the Lord than it is to seek the reprisals of men.  Perhaps we learn that when God corrects we are actually spared far greater evil.  Perhaps we must come to terms with our complaints about God’s reproofs by recognizing just how merciful they really are.  When life produces distress, perhaps the first action we must take is the expression of gratitude that God in His mercy has not allowed all the evil that might befall us to actually occur.  Even if the distress is the direct result of Torah disobedience, even if we are entirely to blame, we must acknowledge that God’s merciful rebuke is the far lesser of two possibilities.  Therefore, we rejoice.  We rejoice in our distress because the hand of God is so much better than the hand of Man.  We rejoice in our distress because we count on the paqad of YHWH (a word that certainly cannot mean “visiting retribution” – see the examination of Exodus 34:7).  We rejoice because everything works together for the good and our distress is simply one more piece in the puzzle of His purposes.

Topical Index:  hand of man, uveyad-adam, ish, distress, 2 Samuel 24:14