Home Forums Miscellaneous Topics Christ at the Campfire Can someone please explain this passage for me?

I'm having a hard time understanding 2 Samuel 24. This is the passage where David takes a census of the fighting men and then God punishes Isreal with a plague because of David taking the census, which was the sin of Pride. The thing i don't understand is verse 1.

2 Samuel 24:1 And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.

So God makes David do this, then he goes and punishes many because David did this. That doesn't sound right.

To make it more confusing I found another passage that speak of the same occurance, but says Satan moved David to take the census.

1Ch 21:1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.

Can someone please explain this?

jh:

i'll take a poke at it.

first, the people of israel, that stubborn stiff-necked bunch, hacked off God by joining the sheba rebellion in chapter 20. david's men of judah stuck by him. so it's the tribes of israel in the two-part kingdom against whom God's anger was kindled.

second, David had a shot at double-checking with God over the census order in chapter 24; in verse 3, joab asks david why he wants to do such a thing. now, david was, indeed, a man after God's own heart, a man with an intimate relationship with Father God, so close, in fact, that he could question the census order. despite joab's urging, he did not do so. and then david goes and takes glory for himself in the census numbers.

he recognizes this in verse 10. the sin is glorifying himself in obeying God's order, not in obeying the order. it was the prideful spirit in which he obeyed that got him in trouble.

i hope this was helpful. i pray i am right.

JH: It makes perfect sense from God's point of view.
David is not just another guy. He is the King of Israel appointed by God Himself to rule Israel justly and by God's authority.

Wouldn't it be terrible if Israel had a king who is an example to everyone and that king did not trust in God to protect Israel from her enemies? David had become such a king who did not trust in God.

But the Lord is patient and loving. Rather than wipe David off the face of the earth, He chose to work to cause David to realize and recognize his sin.

Here's where the Devil comes in. To us the Devil is a terrifying unseen enemy who seeks our destruction. To God the Devil is just another tool that He uses to bring about our salvation....and David's salvation. So the Lord permits Satan to cause David to sin against the Lord by counting up the fightin' men because David was relying on his military power (instead of trusting and relying on the Lord).

Then the Lord brings punishment upon Israel for her King's sin (as King, David represents all the Israelites) so that David will see that He has sinned by not trusting the Lord. Indeed, not trusting the Lord is the greatest sin that leads to permanent unbelief and damnation.
The Lord has brought David to see the depth of his sin now. In repentance and faith, David now becomes the lesson that the Lord wants His people to learn in the King of Israel.

"17 Then David spoke to the LORD when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, "Behold, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand be against me and against my father's house."

In his willingness to be destroyed to save the people, We see a foreshadowing of the True King of Israel--not a sinner like David--but the King who reigns with righteousness and mercy, the Shepherd who came to save the lost sheep of Israel, who stood between his people and the wrath of God on the Cross.

The Lord sent Gad to King David and David offered a sacrifice to the Lord for his sin and the sin of the people. Then because of the Lord's mercy in the True King of Israel and His True Sacrifice, He answered David's prayer and accepted this animal sacrifice as St. Paul says, " because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus."

Hope this helps you to see the Lord's great mercy.

Excellent question and good answers! Let me see if I can add a bit. I did a study on this a while back.

Verse 1 begins by telling us, "Again the anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel" Why was God so enraged against His people? The Bible doesn't specifically tell us. There is a clue here though in the first word of the verse. "Again the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel." "Again" is key to our understanding.

Back in chapter 21, we learn that there had been "a famine in the days of David for three years" (v.1). When it continued "year after year" with no reprieve, the king concluded that it was a judgment of the Lord for some sin. When he inquired of the Lord he was told that it was "because of Saul and his bloodthirsty house, because he killed the Gibeonites." Israel had a four hundred-year-old covenant with the Gibeonites. Several years earlier, Saul and his "house" or his sons tried to commit genocide against them. They tried to kill all the Gibeonites. As a result of this violence and the broken covenant, God was angry. He allowed a severe famine to grip the land. It was only when the people repented and put to death the guilty sons of Saul that God removed the famine and again blessed His people.

Now three chapters later we read that "Again the anger of the LORD was aroused" This time we are not told why. All we can do is guess. Maybe Israel had grown cold and lax in her worship of God. Maybe some had turned to idolatry. Maybe they refused to praise God for His abundant blessings under the reign of King David. Maybe He was punishing them for the rebellions of Absalom and Sheba.

It is my opinion that Israel as a nation had grown fat and proud under David's leadership. I think they were like the church of Laodicea. Jesus said of those people in Revelation 3:15-16:

"I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth."

I believe Israel's sin was a lack of dependence on the Lord. The nation trusted in her own resources, her own wealth and her own military might. We all fall under the discipline of the Lord when we begin to trust in the gifts rather than the Giver.

God was "angry" with national Israel and determined to punish them so he "moved David against them" to count them. We already understand that David's taking of this census was very sinful. Yet here we read that God "moved" him to do it. This presents us with a serious problem. It was a sin to number the people but God seems to be the author of or at least the instigator of this sin. It appears at first glance that God caused David to sin and this completely violates the character of God.

Here's a principle of biblical interpretation: when you study the Bible and find something that appears to be a contradiction, God's Word is not wrong, your understanding is wrong! When you come across a dilemma like this, you must dig a little deeper and investigate more fully.

We know for absolute certain that God did not cause David to sin. We can rule that interpretation out completely. James 1:13 clearly says, "Let no one say when he is tempted, I am tempted by God'; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone." God is holy. God is transcendent. God hates sin with a white-hot passion. God cannot abide with sin at all. The only way that we could have access to God is by the fact that Christ had paid for all our sins and covered us in His righteousness. God despises sin so He will never, never, never tempt you to sin.

So what does this passage teach? What does it mean that God "moved David" to do what was sinful? To help us understand the Bible presents a parallel account in 1 Chronicles 21. In verse 1 of that chapter we read, "Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel." Ah, here's a clue. Satan was involved.

David already wanted to number Israel, particularly his army. He wanted to see just how great his nation was. He wanted to count to measure his success. It was already in his heart to sin, he just needed to be "moved" or tempted.

Understand that Satan always stands ready to lead us into sin. In Revelation 12:10 he is called "the accuser of our brethren." Remember Job? Satan wanted him. Satan was sure he could get him to sin. Satan said to God "Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him?" (Job1:9-10). Remember what Jesus said to Peter? He said in Luke 22:31, "Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat." It would seem that God does have a hedge of protection around His people.

God uses Satan's evil acts for His own good purposes. For example in 1 Corinthians 5:5 Paul says of a rebellious, adulterous believer "deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus." Outside the protection, instruction and fellowship of the church, the unrepentant believer will be so abused by Satan that he will come back willingly and remorsefully to the Lord. In a similar way, in 1 Timothy 1:20, Paul speaks of "Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I delivered to Satan that they may learn not to blaspheme." Even further, 2 Corinthians 12:7 says, "And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure."

So here's what this verse means. To bring about the greater good of punishing Israel for her sins, God allowed Satan to tempt David to number them. In His omniscience, God knew what David would do but He did not cause David to do it. In that same way God knew Adam and Eve would sin but He certainly didn't cause them to sin. God knew Judas would betray Christ. It was prophesied in the Old Testament. Yet He didn't cause Judas to do this. He used Judas' sin but He didn't cause Judas' sin. God used David's sin but did not cause David's sin. As Joseph said to his brothers, "But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good"(Gen.50:20).

Willard

see, that's not so hard ... ouch ... head ... hurts ...

Thanks guys! It makes alot more sense to me now.

Glad to help. Now let's go shooting.

Ok, let's shoot...as long as there's no water or fenceposts around for Willard and I to bounce our bullets off of!

I should have never told that story...

Willard: I won't tell your Dad about it if you don't tell my Dad that my friend, Porter didn't really fall down and cut his nose on a rock. It was actually a bottle rocket fired through a PVC tube ....by me! (We were reckless teenagers).

you guys must be awfully young ... pvc pipe for bottle-rocket bazookas? when i was a kid, we had to use plain old "lead" pipe to bazooka bottle rockets at one another - and flips to fling m-80s and cherry bombs in the air.
Haw!

Yea, Fish We were real hi-tech for our day. And thank God we all still have our eyesight. One fella's hair caught on fire during one of our "wars" but he just patted it out with his hands and kept on shooting rockets. We were unbelievably stupid. God must have committed an entire troop of angels just to keep us from maiming and killing ourselves. Mercy!