2 Samuel 24:2

AFTER PROTESTING; JOAB TAKES THE ILLEGAL CENSUS OF ISRAEL

"So the king said to Joab and the commanders of the army, who were with him, "Go through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and number the people, that I may know the number of the people." 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 still see it; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing"? But the king's word prevailed against Joab and the commanders of the army. So Joab and the commanders of the army went out from the presence of the king to number the people of Israel. They crossed the Jordan, and began from Aroer, and from the city that is in the middle of the valley, toward Gad and on to Jazer. Then they came to Gilead, and to Kadesh in the land of the Hittites; and they came to Dan, and from Dan they went around to Sidon, and came to the fortress of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and Canaanites; and they went out to the Negev of Judah at Beersheba. So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. And Joab gave the sum of the numbering 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."

The place names mentioned here are by no means a complete list of the places enumerated but are mentioned merely to indicate the obedience of the king's orders to enumerate the people from "Dan to Beersheba," the idiomatic way of saying, "from one end of the nation to the other."

"Why does my lord the king delight in this thing?" (2 Samuel 24:3). Joab's protest was as vigorous as could have been expected; and it was backed up by all of the army commanders who accompanied Joab into David's presence (2 Samuel 24:4). Although detailed reasons for this opposition to David's numbering the people are not given, it is clear enough that all Israel seriously objected to it. Tatum wrote that, "The people did not want to be enlisted for further military duty";[10] and that opinion is supported by the fact that Joab did not count all the people, but only, "the valiant men who drew the sword," (2 Samuel 24:9).

"They began from Aroer, and from the city that is in the midst of the valley" (2 Samuel 24:5). "These same places are mentioned in Deuteronomy 2:36 as forming the southern boundary of the territory taken by Israel from Sihon."[11]

Although Joab and his men went practically all over Israel, they did not fully obey David's orders. "He did not include Levi and Benjamin in the numbering, for the king's command was abhorrent to Joab" (1 Chronicles 21:6). The fact of its not being mentioned here does not contradict the truth that, in all probability, this preliminary move toward mustering an army of more than a million men by David must have encountered widespread opposition and dissatisfaction in Israel. It appears possible that such an unpopular move by David might have helped to open his eyes regarding his sin in the numbering of the people.

"Eight hundred thousand ... five hundred thousand" (2 Samuel 24:9) Chronicles gives different numbers here; but as DeHoff noted, "There is less to be gained from discussing the numbers given in the historical books of the O.T. than any other part of the Bible."[12] Many of the discrepancies are doubtless due to two things (1) the imperfect manner of the Hebrew system of writing numbers, and (2) imperfections in the manuscripts that have come down through history to us.

It is of interest that the term "Israel" in 2 Samuel 24:1a and 2 Samuel 24:2 refers to the whole nation, whereas the same word in 2 Samuel 24:1b and 2 Samuel 24:9 distinguishes between the northern Israel and Judah.