King David was the undisputed ruler of Israel after Joab ended the rebellion of Absalom. From Dan in the north, to Beer Sheba in the south the Israelite people belonged to David’s kingdom. David was their shepherd, but he came to believe he was also their Lord. David began to think of the people of God as if they were the people of David.

David is Incited to Take a Census

2 Samuel 24:1 says that God was angry at Israel and he incited David against them by telling him to take a census. 1 Chronicles 21:1 says that Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census.

Different translations attribute the action against David to different protagonists. In the original Hebrew, the verb translated “incite” actually doesn’t have a subject. To translate the verse literally, we would say, “There was who moved David against them” or “For one moved David against them.”

It might have been David’s own selfish ambition that led to his desire to take a census. But wherever the idea came from, it made God angry and it pleased Satan. God wasn’t against counting the people of Israel, but he was against the motive behind it.

The Census Moses Took

God told Moses to count all of the men over twenty years of age when Israel left Egypt. He told Moses to do it again just before they entered the Promised Land forty years later. Each time they took a census Israel could see what God had done for them.

The first census by Moses showed that the children of Israel had grown from seventy individuals who went down to Egypt, to 600,000 men, plus their families. The second census revealed that the generation God had said would die in the desert actually died.

“Among them there wasn’t a single one of the Israelites Moses and the priest Aaron had counted in the Desert of Sinai.” Numbers 26:64

The two censuses demonstrated that Israel belonged to God. He gave them life and multiplied them, and he took their lives when they were disobedient. Every individual who was counted knew he belonged to God.

The Problem with David’s Census

David ordered Joab to conduct the census, “but Joab replied, ‘May the Lord multiply his troops a hundred times over. My lord the king, are they not all my lord’s subjects? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?’” 1 Chronicles 21:3

Joab understood that David was acting as if he were the owner of Israel. The people of Israel were his subjects, but they ultimately belonged to God and God had not ordered a census.

The primary reason a king took a census was to glorify himself. Perhaps he wanted to fill his treasury by collecting tribute from people, or maybe he wanted to display his military strength to other nations. Earthly kings established their fame by counting what belonged to them.

But there is no record that David ever taxed his people, and the nations around him already knew the strength of Israel. They also knew that David’s power came from the Lord whom he publically worshiped in Psalms and hymns. Taking a census implied that David believed his strength lay in the number of men he commanded.

It took more than nine months for Joab to complete the census and he reported that there were over a million able-bodied men in Israel, not counting the Levites or the tribe of Benjamin. David’s order was repulsive to Joab and he made an executive decision to leave those two tribes out of the numbering.

Judgment for David’s Sin

David knew he had sinned as soon as he received the report on the census from Joab.

“[He] was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the Lord, ‘I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, Lord, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very foolish thing.’” 2 Samuel 24:10

The king knew by now that even if the Lord forgave him there were consequences for sin. He knew that whatever the Lord did would be perfectly just; he hoped his people would not suffer to much.

The Lord gave David three options to choose among: Israel could have three years of famine, three months of fleeing from their enemies, or three days of a plague that would sweep the land.

David had just brought Israel through three years of famine and didn’t want to face that again. He also didn’t want his people to be subjected to the cruelty of human enemies for three months. So he cast himself and his people on the mercy of God and agreed to the plague.

God sent a destroying angel that very morning, who began striking down people from Dan to Beer Sheba. Seventy thousand died before the angel turned toward Jerusalem and God stopped him as he held out his hand to destroy the city.

“The Lord relented concerning the disaster and said to the angel who was afflicting the people, ‘Enough! Withdraw your hand.’” 2 Samuel 24:16

David saw the angel and cried out, “I have sinned; I, the shepherd, have done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Let your hand fall on me and my family.’” 2 Samuel 24:17

The angel stopped where he was and sheathed his sword at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

David Builds an Altar

The prophet Gad went to David and told him to build an altar where the angel had halted. David went and purchased the threshing floor from Araunah, as well as some oxen and wooden threshing equipment to use for sacrifices.

“David said to [Araunah], ‘Let me have the site of your threshing floor so I can build an altar to the Lord, that the plague on the people may be stopped. Sell it to me at the full price.’” 1 Chronicles 21:22

David realized that both he and Israel had made God angry. So he made sacrifices on behalf of the whole nation and the Lord stopped the spread of the plague. Ordinarily, David would have gone to the tabernacle in Gibeon and made sacrifices on the altar there, but he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the Lord so he stayed where he was safe and made his sacrifices there.

“Then David said, ‘The house of the Lord God is to be here, and also the altar of burnt offering for Israel.’” 1 Chronicles 22:1

The vision for the new temple was coming into focus and it was going to be built in the center of Jerusalem, on the former threshing floor of Araunah.

Preparations for the Temple

David drew up plans for the temple based on the design of the tabernacle and then he began gathering the materials to build it. He already had skilled laborers among the foreigners Israel had subjugated and pressed into service over the years. He put them to work dressing stones, making nails and stockpiling lumber.

Then David summoned his son Solomon.

“David said to Solomon: ‘My son, I had it in my heart to build a house for the Name of the Lord my God. But this word of the Lord came to me: ‘You have shed much blood and have fought many wars. You are not to build a house for my Name, because you have shed much blood on the earth in my sight.

But you will have a son who will be a man of peace and rest, and I will give him rest from all his enemies on every side. His name will be Solomon, and I will grant Israel peace and quiet during his reign. He is the one who will build a house for my Name. He will be my son, and I will be his father. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever.’” 1 Chonicles 22:7-10

David was the warrior and king through whom God firmly established Israel as a nation. But much blood was shed along the way, some of it perhaps unnecessarily. Just as the blood of Abel cried out to God from the earth, so the earth was a witness to the lives lost at the hand of David.

Solomon, however, was coming to the throne as a man of peace. His hands were clean and God accepted him as the builder for his temple in Jerusalem. David’s last great work was going to be supplying all that was needed for his son to create a permanent home for the ark and the furnishings of the tabernacle.

For more information on David’s sin in taking a census, check out this website:

https://www.gotquestions.org/David-census.html