John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 24:5
And they passed over Jordan ,.... To take the number of the tribes of Reuben and Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh first: and pitched in Aroer ; for it seems that Joab and the captains had the army with them, and the several captains under their command, partly to assist in numbering the people, and partly to keep them in awe, lest they should oppose them, not knowing what was the design of all this Aroer was a city given to the tribe of Gad, and rebuilt by them, Numbers 32:34 , on... read more
Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 2 Samuel 24:1-9
Here we have, I. The orders which David gave to Joab to number the people of Israel and Judah, 2 Sam. 24:1, 2. Two things here seem strange:?1. The sinfulness of this. What harm was there in it? Did not Moses twice number the people without any crime? Does not political arithmetic come in among the other policies of a prince? Should not the shepherd know the number of his sheep? Does not the Son of David know all his own by name? Might not he make good use of this calculation? What evil has he... read more