Like any loving father, God cares about our spiritual and moral character, and He wants to teach us right from wrong. He has the power to keep us from temptation. But sometimes He decides to use it to help us see our vulnerabilities and correct them. If we are attentive and recognize it early or heed the warnings He sends our way, then we could escape without any consequences. But sometimes we have to learn our lessons the hard way and that’s better than not learning them at all.
David Takes a Census - 2 Samuel 24:1-10; (1 Chronicles 21:1-8)
Here it says that God was mad at Israel for some reason and He incited David against the people, telling him to take a census. But in 1 Chronicles 21:1 it says that Satan rose up against Israel and moved David to take the census. So, who was it, God or Satan? When David told Joab to number the people, he tried to persuade the king not to do it. He seemed to be saying, “Why does it matter what the number is? If we don’t have enough men right now, God will provide the number we need when the time comes. You have access to many more men than those we would count now.” Then, the chronicler adds that Joab thought taking the census would bring guilt on Israel (v. 3). But David didn’t listen and commanded that he number the people.
So, Joab set out with his men, beginning in the Southeastern corner of Israel, in the town of Aroer, 14 miles east of the Dead Sea, just north of the Arnon River on the Moabite border. From there they traveled north to Jazer, which was in Gad near the Ammonite’s land. They continued north through Gilead and Bashan which were between the Jabbok and Yarmuk Rivers, then to the far north land of Dan, which was 25 miles north of the Sea of Galilee. This completed the census in the land on the eastern side of the Jordan River. So, they headed west to Sidon, in the north, on the Mediterranean coast, then south to Tyre, until they arrived at the southernmost part of Israel, in Beersheba, which was 45 miles southwest of Jerusalem.
After completing the counterclockwise circle, numbering all the people, the chronicler tells us that he failed to number the tribes of Levi and Benjamin (v. 6). Joab probably knew the Levites were not supposed to be counted in the census since they were servants of God (Numbers 1:47-49). Then, because Jerusalem and Gibeon were in Benjamin and that is where they offered sacrifices to the Lord, Joab did not count Benjamin for David.
So, the northern tribes of Israel had 800,000 soldiers, and the southern tribe of Judah had 500,000, which totals 1,300,000. But the chronicler says there was a total of 1,100,000 and that Judah had 470,000 (v. 5). So, in Chronicles there are 200,000 less soldiers, and Judah has 30,000 less men. Why the discrepancy? Presumably the 200,000 missing soldiers would have been found in the land of Benjamin and the author of 2 Samuel was just rounding when he reported the number of soldiers in Judah. But immediately after David heard the numbers, he was convicted that taking the census had been sinful after all. So, he confessed his sin and asked for forgiveness.
David’s Punishment – (2 Samuel 24:11-16); 1 Chronicles 21:9-15
God replied to David through the prophet Gad by giving him a choice between three punishments. Israel could either endure three years of famine, three months of being pursued and killed by their enemies, or three days of God’s destruction by plague, with the angel of the Lord traveling throughout the land striking people dead. These were three of the curses that God told the Israelites they could face if they disobeyed Him when they settled in the Promised Land (Deuteronomy 28:15-68). David chose the plague, not because it would be over with sooner, but because he would rather be at God’s mercy than subjected to the wrath of their enemies.
So, the Lord sent a plague that killed 70,000 people. That is over three times the number of men who died in Absalom’s rebellion. Then, after traveling throughout the land, the angel made his way back to Jerusalem and stood just outside the city, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. But as the angel stretched out his sword over Jerusalem, God stopped him saying, “It is enough” (2 Samuel 24:16).
