Bible Question: I worry about God telling David to take the census in 2 Samuel 24. After David takes the census, he apparently becomes conscience stricken and God disciplines him for doing it. This seems wrong. What am I missing?   Bible Answer: First, we will look at the historical event and then look at the spiritual issues you have raised.      What Happened? The historical event is recorded in both 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21. The 2 Samuel account provides us with the political view and 1 Chronicles provides us with the religious view. The accounts are somewhat different because of different emphases. We visit the first verses of both passages later but for now we will start with 2 Samuel 24:2 where David asks Joab, his general, to count the men of Israel and Judah. That is, Joab was asked to take a census of the men of the nation.     The king said to Joab the commander of the army who was with him, "Go about now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and register the people, that I may know the number of the people." (NASB) 2 Samuel 24:2        Joab Objects. But Joab objects to the command and asks David why he wants the census taken (2 Sam. 24:31). While the conversation is not recorded for us, the conclusion is. David insisted the census be taken (2 Sam. 24:4 and 1 Chron. 21:4) and the men obeyed. Why did David want the census? Scripture never actually tells us but the reason is implied in 1 Chronicles 21:3-4 where it appears that David did not trust God - David was worried about the military power of the nation.     So David said to Joab and to the princes of the people, “Go, number Israel . . . that I may know their number.” And Joab said, “May the LORD add to His people a hundred times as many as they are! . . . Why does my lord seek this thing? Why should he be a cause of guilt to Israel?” (NASB) 1 Chronicles 21:3-4        A Wrong Motive. Notice Joab's comment about the Lord adding a hundred times as many people. Joab understood that this census was wrong. Was the census wrong because it was not directed by God like those in Num. 1 and Num. 26? We do not know since scripture does not clearly say. But it appears that it is wrong for at least one reason. David's motive for doing it is wrong. Later in 1 Chronicles 27:23-24, we are told that David did not believe God would multiply Israel in the future. It appears that he did not trust God for safety in the present, and he was seeking comfort in the military power of the nation. David even wanted the priests to be counted (1 Chronicles 21:6). Joab considers this to be “abhorrent” and refuses to count the men of the tribes of Benjamin and Levi (1 Chron. 21:6). The priests were not to serve in the military. Num. 1:1-16, 47; 2:32-33 did not include the tribe of Levi as a tribe in the military.      Census Completed. After nine months and twenty days Joab completed the task of counting the people (2 Sam. 24:8). He and his generals found there were 800,000 “valiant men who drew the sword” in Israel and 500,000 "men" in Judah (2 Sam. 24:9). 1 Chronicles 21:5 adds another 300,000 men for a total army of 1,100,000 "men who drew the sword" in Israel and 470,000 men in Judah. This number of Judah is rounded up. When Moses had counted people, Israel was only 603,000 strong (Num. 1:46). That count was an act of obedience since God had asked for it. The nation had grown. Now Israel and Judah were probably about 6 million people including women and children.      Discipline Follows. At this point David realizes that he has sinned and God responds by giving David three different ways to be disciplined.     Now David's heart troubled him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the LORD, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O LORD, please take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly." (NASB) 2 Sam. 24:10   At this point God sends the prophet Gad to David. The Lord asks him to choose one of three disciplines. Each discipline results in death throughout the land. This strikes at the heart of David's worry. The Lord is seeking to draw David to Him - to trust Him and not military strength.     So Gad came to David and said to him, "Thus says the LORD, 'Take for yourself either three years of famine, or three months to be swept away before your foes, while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or else three days of the sword of the LORD, even pestilence in the land, and the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.' Now, therefore, consider what answer I shall return to Him who sent me." (NASB) 1 Chron. 21:11-12         < Back   Next >
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