2 Samuel 24:1

DAVID'S SIN OF NUMBERING THE PEOPLE AND GOD'S PUNISHMENT BY PESTILENCE

"Again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, `Go, number Israel and Judah.'" (2 Samuel 24:1).

The time of the events mentioned here was evidently near the end of David's reign.[1] The great problem of the chapter appears in this very first verse, where it is stated that, "God incited David against Israel by commanding him to number Israel and Judah." If God had indeed commanded David to number Israel, it could not have been a sin for him to have done so.

The true solution of what some view as a difficulty lies in 1 Chronicles 21:1, where it is flatly declared that, "Satan stood up against Israel, and incited David to number Israel." Significantly, the statement in Chronicles was written at practically the same time, historically, as were the Books of Samuel; and therefore we reject categorically the notion of critical scholars who claim that the account in 1 Chronicles 21:1 represents, "A subsequent advance of religious thought,"[2] in Israel, erroneously supposing that, "In this passage we have an illustration of the imperfect recognition of the moral nature of Yahweh."[3] "The language here leaves no doubt of the author's theory that God incites men to do that for which he afterward punishes them."[4] Such viewpoints are not merely erroneous, they are also founded in ignorance and misunderstanding.

No! God does not move men to do certain things and then punish them for it. That principle is made clear in the Exodus example of God's hardening Pharaoh's heart. That was done by the Lord only at a time subsequent to the ten-fold Biblical statement that Pharaoh hardened his own heart. God always allows the triumph of man's own free will; and, in doing so, what God thus allows is very properly said by the sacred writers to have been done by the Lord.

That is exactly the situation here. David was determined to number Israel, knowing full well that it was a sin for him to do so for the purposes which he had in mind. The temptation had come from Satan himself (as stated in Chronicles), and in all probability via the mouth of some of David's associates or advisers. David went forward with that determination despite solemn warnings from Joab. God is here said to have done it in the sense that, knowing David's willful heart, he allowed it.

Several Biblical examples show the same situation. When Judas Iscariot already had fully determined to betray the Lord, the Lord said, "What thou doest, do quickly"! (John 13:27). Thus, God commanded Judas to betray Christ! Also when Balaam, who was sinfully making his way to the court of Balak for the purpose of cursing Israel, was enabled to see the angel with the drawn sword, he would have turned back; but God spoke through the angel, saying, "Go with the men"! (Numbers 22:35) Thus it is not incorrect to say that God commanded Balaam to go to Balak's court where he was assigned the task of cursing Israel. Exactly the same situation is visible here in the statement that God commanded David to number Israel.

Caird wrote of the opinions of some modern critical commentators who find here a theological view of God, "Which was later outgrown," pointing out that, "It was not really outgrown; because it recurs in the Biblical account of the hardening of Pharaoh's heart."[5]

Not only that, exactly the same principle is still operative during the Christian dispensation. Paul pointed out that people who do not love the truth but have pleasure in unrighteousness are actually incited by God to believe a falsehood that they might be condemned (2 Thessalonians 2:9-12). "Therefore God sends upon them a strong delusion to make them believe what is false, so that all may be condemned, etc."

We are certain, therefore, that something exactly like this lies behind what is written here in this first verse.

The sinful error of Biblical critics who slander the character of God himself, basing their allegations upon a single, isolated text, is primarily the result of a false method of interpretation. There is no isolated text that should be interpreted without consideration of the light that falls upon it from other Biblical declarations. Satan certainly justified his appeal for Christ to jump off the pinnacle of the temple, if only the text Satan quoted had been considered; but Jesus reminded him of what was also written (Matthew 4:7). The whole counsel of God is never available in some isolated text, a fact made perfectly dear in Isaiah 28:10,13.

Over and beyond all that we have written above, this first verse here is written in the shadow of the ancient Oriental conviction which, "Acknowledges the great truth that all actions, both good and bad, are of God. `Shall there be evil in a city and Jehovah hath not done it (Amos 3:16)'?"[6] What is meant is that nothing on earth ever happens, whether good or bad, which is not covered under the blanket of God's permissive will. It is in that understanding that 2 Samuel 24:1, above, must be interpreted.

"The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel" (2 Samuel 24:1). It is considered uncertain by many as to why God was angry with Israel; but Keil and Payne both accepted the view that the anger of the Lord was probably due to the twin rebellions of Israel against David under the leadership of Absalom and of Sheba.[7]

"Again" (2 Samuel 24:1). A number of scholars apply this as a reference to the famine mentioned in 2 Samuel 21[8] but this is very uncertain. There were almost countless times when God was angry with Israel.

"Go, number Israel and Judah" (2 Samuel 24:1). The mystery here is, "Just why was that a sin"? "What harm was there in it? Moses numbered the people twice. Should not the shepherd know the number of the sheep? What evil did David do when he numbered the people? It is certain that it was a sin, a very great sin, but wherein lay the evil of it is not exactly clear."[9]

A number of writers have offered reasons why the action was sinful, which reasons may or may not be correct. That David did so with an inglorious intention of boasting, that he had in mind the military extension of his kingdom, or that he intended to use the information for the purpose of levying heavier taxes, or for a more vigorous prosecution of his forced labor projects - all of these reasons have been advanced by able scholars. Evidently some, or all, of these reasons were applicable.

That his numbering the people was indeed sinful appears in the fact that even Joab knew it was wrong; and without any further instruction whatever from the Lord, David himself admitted that he had sinned grievously in doing so (2 Samuel 24:10).