Pestilence is a deadly disaster, usually associated with disease, that affects an entire community. It can be an epidemic that is contagious, virulent, and devastates a region, or a pandemic affecting our entire world, such as with COVID 19. Earth been afflicted with pestilences for millennium, ever since the time of man’s expulsion from Paradise. For example, the plagues described in the Book of Exodus, the Black Plague in Europe that killed over thirty percent of the population during the late Middle Ages, as well as epidemics of Leprosy, Cholera, Smallpox, Polio, Typhus, Malaria, Tuberculosis, HIV, and all types or strains of the Flu.
In the Bible, pestilence is usually a sign of God’s judgment on a nation or group of people (Deuteronomy 32:24; 1 Chronicles 21:12; Ezekiel 7:14–15). The God who protects and blesses is also the God who sends disaster and pestilence when it accomplishes His righteous purposes on earth (Isaiah 45:7; Ezekiel 5:16–17; Amos 4:10). Pestilence is also a prophesized “pre-requisite” foreshadowing God’s final judgment on the world (Revelation 18:8).
Because “pestilence” is sometimes translated as “plague” or “disaster” in various versions of the English Bible, its connotation is often paired with both of those, and may imply a greater devastation than mere physical disease. For instance, a pestilence may also refer to any and all forms of public and mass destruction and often is extended to incorporate famine (Ezekiel 7:15) or war (Jeremiah 21:9). Jesus forewarned of such pestilence befalling mankind prior to the end times (Luke 21:11).
During the time of David, the Lord brought judgment upon Israel in the form of pestilence in which 70,000 men died (2 Samuel 24:15). God had also sent pestilence in the aftermath of Korah’s rebellion (Numbers 16:49) and as a judgment for Israel’s immorality (Numbers 25:9), but the epidemic recorded in 2 Samuel 24 was the most deadly ever to hit the Israelites. Then God had mercy and halted the judgment: “When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the LORD relented concerning the disaster and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, ‘Enough! Withdraw your hand’” (verse 16).
Thus, our God is the Lord over any pestilence (Habakkuk 3:5), yet promises protection for those who trust in Him: “You will not fear the terror of night, nor the arrow that flies by day, nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the plague that destroys at midday.” (Psalm 91:5–6). Whatever happens, God’s children need not fear.
Keep in mind that not every epidemic is the direct judgment of God, but the Bible indicates that some instances of pestilence in history have been a punishment for sin. God sent pestilence to punish the Israelites for their ongoing idolatry and disobedience (Deuteronomy 32:24; Jeremiah 42:22), and during the tribulation He will send pestilence to punish the unrepentant: “The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly, festering sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped its image” (Revelation 16:2; cf. Revelation 18:8; Matthew 24:7).