David’s census is recorded in 2 Samuel 24 and in 1 Chronicles 21. According to 2 Samuel 24:1, “Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, ‘Go, number Israel and Judah.’ ” However, 1 Chronicles 21:1 says, “Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel.”
Two related questions:
(1) Who, exactly, is saying “Go, number Israel and Judah.”? Is it the Lord or David? The Holman Christian Standard Bible translates 2 Samuel 24:1 as “The Lord’s anger burned against Israel again, and He stirred up David against them to say: ‘Go, count the people of Israel and Judah.'” Is the biblical Hebrew ambiguous about who is speaking, or is the Hebrew clear and it’s obvious who the speaker is?
(2) In 1 Chronicles 21:1 is it Satan or ha-satan who incites David? Satan with a capital “S” sounds like the full-blown NT arch-enemy of God. That’s different from the ha-satan of the book of Job. So who is it in 1 Chronicles 21:1?
It is puzzling. My instinct was that a king taking a census indicated some sort of greed (more people to tax) or maybe lack of trust in God (how big an army can I field if I have to go to war)–in short some manner of worldliness. But that theory is thin, so I won’t argue it very hard.
Moses takes two censuses in Numbers. Luckily, G-d did not kill anyone or send a plague for those censuses.
It is odd that Joab is very much against taking the census. Joab is often the hot head that David has to calm down. I have read idea like “David was showing a lack of faith by counting the fighting men.”
I did find this, if it sheds any light:
Exodus 30:12
“When you take a census of the Israelites to count them, each one must pay the Lord a ransom for his life at the time he is counted. Then no plague will come on them when you number them.”
Looking at the 2 Samuel account,
2 Samuel 24:1
“Again the anger of the Lord burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, “Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.””
The Lord is angry at the first. This reminds me of Jesus (Joshua) 7:1
“But the Israelites were unfaithful in regard to the devoted things[a]; Achan son of Karmi, the son of Zimri,[b] the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took some of them. So the Lord’s anger burned against Israel.”
There are many times the Lord’s anger burned, about 10 times by my account. What I link between these two passages is how much ink is spilled trying to find out why the Israelite leader failed. In the Jesus (Joshua) account, the Israelites have just defeated Jericho and are about to attack Ai.
Errors made include:
Joshua does not wait for Yahweh to give him instructions,
The spies give a false report,
The Israelites get too cocky.
These ideas would all be legit except that the first verse tells us precisely why Yahweh was angry: Achan stole some restricted loot. Yet commentators have proposed these other ideas for the cause of the defeat of the Israelites at Ai.
Looking up the other mentions of the Lord’s anger burning, all of them immediately precede or follow the reason for the burning anger. Only Samuel 24:1 leaves us wondering. Possibly the reason for the Lord’s anger was cut off, but how or why? The preceding chapters might hold a clue. Instead of narrative, we have David’s song and then a listing of David’s fighting men. Both of these are considered to be addendums (as is the census story itself) to Samuel’s court stories. Perhaps the beginning of the story of the census was lost as the story was added to the scroll or as chapters 22 and 23 were added to the scroll?
another oddity of the Samuel story, btw, is that David’s offering at the site where the temple would later be built is useless – the Lord has already said “enough” to the angel of destruction.
BDEhrman
FreedomBen
evgendob
Robert
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