2 Samuel 24:1-9
1 Now the anger of the Lord burned against Israel again, and He incited David against them to say, “Go, count Israel and Judah.”
2 So the king said to Joab the commander of the army, who was with him, “Roam about now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and conduct a census of the people, so that I may know the number of the people.”
3 But Joab said to the king, “May the Lord your God add to the people a hundred times as many as they are, while the eyes of my lord the king can still see; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?”
4 Nevertheless, the king’s order prevailed against Joab and against the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army left the presence of the king to conduct a census of the people of Israel.
5 They crossed the Jordan and camped in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the Valley of Gad and toward Jazer.
6 Then they came to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi, and they came to Dan-jaan and around to Sidon,
7 then they came to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and of the Canaanites, and they went out to the south of Judah, to Beersheba.
8 So when they had roamed about through the whole land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.
9 And Joab gave the number of the census of the people to the king: in Israel there were eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.
The Sin of Taking the Census
Tempted by Satan
Chapter 21 recorded a three-year famine, the cause of which was the shedding of the blood of the Gibeonites. In today’s passage, it says, “the anger of the Lord burned against Israel again,” but the cause of this is not mentioned. At that time, David committed a serious mistake. Let us look at what happened by reading the parallel account in 1 Chronicles 21. (1) It was Satan who directly tempted David. (2) It was David who gave in to that temptation and took action. (3) The Lord permitted David’s decision and allowed him to carry out the census. (4) The issue, then, was David’s motive. Why did David decide to conduct a census at this particular time? The census itself was not the problem; it was the motive behind it that was regarded as sin. Possible motives include pride, increasing the size of the standing army, or taxation, but most likely, “pride” was his motive.
The sin against the will of God
(1) Joab and the officers who were ordered to conduct the census felt uneasy about David’s motive and hesitated to carry it out. (2) However, because David insisted, they proceeded with the census. They traveled throughout all the land of Israel and completed the task in nine months and twenty days. (3) As a result, the number of registered soldiers was reported to the king: 800,000 from Israel and 500,000 from Judah. These figures represent the number of adult men eligible for military service. With a total of 1.3 million, it is estimated that the total population of the Davidic kingdom at that time was around 6 million. Often times, something that does not seem like a serious sin to us is, in the eyes of God, a very serious sin. Even if the person himself does not notice it, those around him may. At times, even those who are not believers may recognize it. Joab and the officers were usually people who lacked the spiritual discernment that David had. They said to David, “My Lord the king, are they not all my Lord’s servants? Why does my Lord seek this thing? Why should he be a cause of guilt to Israel?” (1 Chron. 21:3). Let us examine ourselves to see whether the sin of pride is hidden within us.
Today's prayer
O God of Israel, please deliver me throughout my life from the sin of pride. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen.