And the king said to Joab the captain of the host, who was with him, Go, I pray thee, through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, and count the people, that I may know the number of the people.
David's reign closes with a command that looks harmless: send the army commander across the land to count the fighting men. Yet that order brought a plague on Israel. So what was wrong with counting?
The order covers every tribe in the land. One commentator hears in it a king surveying what he has come to think of as his own:
What a forgetfulness of the Lord! He was everything to David, and everything to Israel, yet David was now repeating the sin of Saul in principle. The people wanted a king, when God was their king; and the king thinks of the people only as his own. The people forgot that their highest portion was God. They wanted to be like the nations. And the king God gave them now wanted a people of his own, just like a foreign ruler.
David gives his reason: he wants the figure. One writer asks why a king in his position would need it:
God "had delivered David out of the hand of all his enemies" (2 Sam. 22:1). What need had he yet to know the number of his warriors? At the end of his life, at Satan's prompting, this godly king's heart went through a temptation quite contrary to his character. David had always been a humble man before the Lord and before men. It did not seem necessary for him to be on guard against pride. In the past the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh had enticed him, and he had suffered severe punishment for this. Now the pride of life tempts him. He does not resist the desire to count up his forces, to know how far he could rely on them. Chastening comes on him to teach him that he could not and should not count on anything but God alone.
Israel had counted its people before, more than once, and God approved. The difference lies in what each count was for:
The first numbering (Ex. 38:25-27) collected the silver that was to form the bases of the pillars of the tabernacle. So that count was made for the Lord, with the worship of Him in view. The second (Num. 1:2-3), at the time when Israel was about to fight the enemy, was meant to determine the number of men able to go to war. This was according to God. A third numbering (Num. 26:2, 52-65) counted those fit for military service, to divide up the land.
Numbering Israel was the Lord's right alone. David reached for it as if the people were his:
It was an offence against this particular right of the Lord that David was guilty of. He claimed something of the divine glory when he sought to number Israel, as though they had been his own people. It was a trespass on God's rights. It was an insult to the majesty of Him who was Lord and King of Israel. He might number Israel, for they were His treasured possession.
David was not the only proud one, and even his own commander saw through the order:
God allowed David to follow his natural inclination to pride in being king of so great a nation. No doubt Israel had the same proud thoughts, and God saw that this needed serious humbling. Even Joab, self-centred as he was, realised that David's desire came only from pride. He protested that it would be good to see Israel increased a hundredfold, but that taking delight in the number of the people seemed unfitting to him. It is often true that an unbeliever can see through the inconsistent ways of a believer.
The law attached a price to every census. One writer notes what seems to have been left out:
Each time Israel were numbered, each man was to give a ransom of half a shekel of silver, "that there be no plague among them, when you number them" (Ex. 30:12); and it seems the ransom money was not paid.
The chapter that begins with a proud head-count ends at a threshing floor bought for an altar:
The plague devoured thousands (2 Sam. 24). David sinned over that numbering, in the pride of his heart — in painful contrast with Him whom he foreshadowed so much. But even there mercy triumphs over judgment at Jerusalem. The threshing floor of Araunah becomes the site of the altar to the Lord, the meeting place of reconciliation for His people for ever.
- Pride starts it. The lusts of the flesh and of the eyes had tripped David before. Here the pride of life does, and he counts his forces to see how far he can lean on them.
- Ownership decides it. God may number Israel, for they are His treasured possession. When David counted them as his own, he trespassed on God's rights.
- Purpose separates it. Earlier counts served the Lord — for worship, for war, and for inheritance. This one served the king.
- Ransom covers it. The law required half a shekel from each man at every count, so that no plague would follow. It seems that price was never paid.
- Mercy outlasts it. The plague ends at a threshing floor. That purchased ground becomes the altar site — the meeting place of reconciliation.
And Joab said to the king, May Jehovah thy God even add to the people, how many soever they be, a hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord the king may see [it]; but why does my lord the king delight in this thing?
Joab was no godly man, yet he is the one who objects here, blessing the thought of a nation a hundred times larger. His protest raises the real question of the chapter: who do the people of Israel belong to, and what does a king gain by counting them?
David's order treats Israel as his own possession. One writer ties this to Israel's old demand for a king.
Oh, what a forgetfulness of the Lord! He was everything to David, and everything to Israel, yet David was now repeating the sin of Saul in principle. The people would have a king, when God was their king; and the king thinks of the people only as his own. The people forgot their highest portion was God, and wanted to be like the nations; and the king whom God gave now sought a people just like a Gentile.
Joab answers with a blessing and a question. One writer turns to the parallel record in 1 Chronicles, where Joab says more.
Satan had blinded David's eyes, but Joab saw the danger. In 1 Chronicles 21:3 we read that he said to David: "May the LORD add to His people a hundred times as many as they are! But, my lord the king, are they not all my lord's servants? Why then should my lord require this? Why should it be a cause of guilt for Israel?"
One writer reads Joab's objection as plain arithmetic: a census adds no soldiers.
Joab would not worry much about a sin if he could see some good come out of it. But he could not understand how a man like David would compromise himself so deeply when nothing at all would change. After all, numbering the people would not bring in one more man. Why take so much trouble and risk a sin, with no practical result?
God twice told Moses to count the people, and each time He gave a reason for it.
God directed Moses to number the people on two occasions. The first went with their camping in the wilderness (Numbers 1). The second had special reference to the different tribal allotments in the land (26:2). Each time he numbered the men from twenty years old and upward, all who were able to go to war. This showed the fighting strength of the people. After they entered the land, God never commanded them to be numbered. There was then no occasion for this census. Joab and the captains of the army knew that well, and they urged David not to do it.
The law set a price on every man counted.
Every time Israel was numbered, each man was to give a ransom of half a shekel of silver, "that there be no plague among them when you number them" (Exodus 30:12). It seems the ransom money was never paid.
Joab never mentions that payment. One writer marks the limit of what a man like Joab could do.
He looked upon Israel as a people belonging to Jehovah; and on David, as committing a trespass in having them numbered for himself. But, like all unbelievers, though he could point out the fault, he was not able to direct David to the remedy. He did not allude to the atonement-money.
Joab is right here, and that is what makes the scene shameful.
Joab criticizes his master. This man who had never judged himself condemns the man of God. The king's word "was abominable to Joab." What a shame that a man like David should be rebuked by a man like Joab! Why should David commit this profane and useless act?
David cannot see what his general sees at once. That blindness is part of the sin itself.
And pride is the giant sin of a fallen nature, the essential evil, man lifting himself up, even against God. It is therefore the pattern of all sin, and God must show Himself against it, in His very mercy. So He brings it into the open and strikes it. It is so plain to see, and the man driven by it is so blind, that Joab sees at once the evil which David cannot see.
The same warning reaches beyond kings. One writer applies it to counting Christians:
We have sometimes seen the same kind of presumption when people boast about how many Christians there are and how well they seem to be doing. Fatal consequences always follow.
- Whose people? Joab's question exposes the flaw: David counted as owner what God owned, thinking of Israel "only as his own."
- Whose increase? Joab's blessing hands growth back to God — a hundredfold more is His to give, and counting "would not bring one more man."
- Whose command? After Israel entered the land, God never ordered another census; this one had no occasion behind it.
- Whose ransom? The law asked half a shekel for each man counted, so that no plague would follow. Joab saw the fault but never pointed to the remedy.
- Whose blindness? Pride is the one sin everybody sees except the man holding it; a self-serving general read David better than David read himself.
But the king's word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the army. And Joab and the captains of the army went out from the presence of the king to count the people of Israel.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And they passed over the Jordan, and encamped in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the midst of the ravine of Gad, and toward Jaazer.
Joab and his officers have crossed the Jordan, and the count of Israel begins at Aroer. Why would God treat a simple headcount as a grave sin — an errand that ends in a plague?
God had ordered counts of Israel before, so the fault does not lie in the arithmetic. One writer asks what was missing this time:
The numbering in our chapter has none of these characteristics... there were still men able to go to war, but God "delivered [David] from the hand of all his enemies." What need had he now to know the number of his warriors? He told Joab his purpose: to "know the number of the people." At the end of his life Satan prompted him, and this godly king's heart went through a temptation quite against his character... now, tempted by the pride of life, he does not resist the desire to count up his forces and see how far he could rely on them. Chastening comes on him to teach him that he could not and ought not count on anything but God alone.
The law had already laid down the one safe way to take a census: every man counted had to hand over half a shekel of silver. That payment carried a meaning, and its absence explains the disaster:
Exodus 30:11-16 ordered that when the people were counted, each one, rich or poor, should give half a shekel as a ransom for his soul or life. This had nothing to do with sin. It had to do with ransom, so that there might be no plague. The half shekel was a recognition that they all alike belonged to God, and could make no human boast in numbers. David himself later brought the plague on Israel.
Joab, who led this march, saw more than he could fix:
Joab, who was given the command, was sharp enough to see that his master's desire was not from God. But, like all unbelievers, though he could point out the fault, he could not point David to the remedy. He said nothing about the atonement money.
No one collected the silver, so nothing filtered the list. Joab's route swept in people who did not belong to Israel at all:
One result of this numbering was that the count even took in cities of the Hivites and the stronghold of Tyre. That could never have happened if the silver half-shekel had been asked for. Today people who are not converted are too often counted as part of the church of God. The neglect is the same: no one asks them to openly confess their confidence in the precious blood of Christ before numbering them among the hosts of God.
The march that starts at Aroer ran on for months, and the final figure was still incomplete:
The king's desire prevails. For over nine months Joab and the captains of the army count the people. During those nine months David's conscience is silent. But once he has what he wanted, he finds it tastes bitter. How much effort spent on such a miserable goal! And something was still missing, for they had not counted Levi and Benjamin. Faced with this incomplete result, David must have felt the folly of what he had done twice over.
The pull that sent those men across the Jordan is still with us. It shows up wherever people measure strength by size:
There is a subtle desire for numbers in all of us. Why do we want statistics, numbers of conversions, numbers of "members"? Is it not because we think the power lies in the numbers?... Numbers have too often been the occasion for the pride that goes before destruction. We are not to refuse numbers for their own sake. We should rejoice over the many who receive blessing. But our eye is not to be on the many; it is to be on the Lord.
The chapter that opens with this march does not close in judgment. A place in Jerusalem became something permanent instead:
Then comes the plague that devoured the thousands (2 Samuel 24). In numbering the people David sinned in the pride of his heart — a painful contrast with Him whom he pictured so much. But even there mercy triumphs over judgment at Jerusalem. The threshing floor of Araunah becomes the site of the altar to the Lord, the meeting place of reconciliation for His people forever.
- Motive. Counting was not new or forbidden. What was new was a king who wanted to know how far he could lean on his own forces.
- Ransom. God's rule asked half a shekel from every man counted. The silver confessed that the people were His, and it kept the plague away.
- Reach. David's men skipped that price, so the count ran past Israel's borders and swept in outsiders. The same carelessness still counts the unconverted among God's people.
- Result. Nine months of marching produced an incomplete list and a bitter taste. Great effort went into a miserable goal.
- Mercy. The road that began at Aroer ended at a threshing floor. There judgment stopped, and an altar became the meeting place of reconciliation.
And they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi; and came to Dan-jaan, and to the environs of Sidon;
This verse traces one leg of a survey that swept the whole land — up through Gilead, north to Dan, then round toward Sidon. Behind these travel notes lies a harder question. Why was this count a sin, when God Himself had ordered counts before?
These place names belong to a journey that lasted most of a year. What came back was a count of soldiers, not of the whole nation.
David insisted on having the people numbered, though the commander of the army and Joab did not agree. They were the ones who had to do the job. They travelled through all the country, and the task took nine months and twenty days (v. 8). Yet 1 Chronicles 21:6 tells us that Joab did not count Benjamin and Levi, because David's order disgusted him. The number given, however, is not that of all the people. It is only their military strength: 800,000 soldiers in Israel and 500,000 in Judah.
Older translations read "Dan-jaan" here. One writer argues that this Dan is not the northern city once called Laish:
Dan is clearly not Laish; it was a name known long before, as can be seen from Jor-dan. Compare Deuteronomy 34:1 with this verse and you see the same thing: Dan-jaan was above Gilead — "all the land of Gilead unto Dan."
God had ordered counts of Israel before. Each one served a purpose He gave.
The first numbering mentioned (Ex. 38:25-27) was to gather the silver — a bekah per man — for the bases of the pillars of the tabernacle. So this numbering took place for the Lord and with a view to worshipping Him. The second numbering (Num. 1:2-3), at the time when Israel was about to fight the enemy, was meant to determine the number of men able to go to war. This was according to God. Every Israelite from twenty years old and upward needed to understand his own responsibility in the battles of the Lord.
The same writer places the sin in the motive, and in a weakness David had never had to guard against.
At the end of his life, Satan stirred up in this godly king's heart a temptation quite contrary to his character. David had always been a humble man before the Lord (2 Sam. 7:18) and before men (1 Sam. 26:20). It did not seem necessary for him to be on guard against pride. In the past the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh had enticed him, and he suffered severe punishment for it. Now the pride of life tempts him. He does not resist the desire to count up his forces and see how far he could rely on them. Chastening comes on him to teach him that he could not and should not count on anything but God alone.
The law attached a payment to every census. That payment explains why a count could be dangerous.
The law of Moses had a rule for counting the people. Everyone from twenty years old and upwards had to give the Lord a half shekel as a ransom for his soul, so that no plague would come on them (Ex. 30:11-16; 38:25-26). The numbering was an occasion when flesh might exalt itself in their numbers as a whole, and each individual was noticed as well. But they had to recognise this: the Lord could take them into account only on the ground of redemption. They needed the reminder that they belonged to God (Deut. 7:6), and each one had to pay a ransom for himself.
The one who objected was no model of godliness, which makes the objection sting.
Even Joab was alarmed and shocked. He felt that it was not only a crime, but — what he cared about far more — a blunder. Joab would not have hesitated much over a sin if it seemed useful for his politics. But he was too good a politician to be guilty of a blunder. His quick eye soon saw that numbering Israel was a fatal mistake. He did not care to please the Lord. He only wanted to avoid His displeasure, and he had the interests of the kingdom of David, his uncle, at heart.
The march that starts in this verse ends at a threshing floor.
Then follows the roll of David's mighty men on the one hand, and the plague that devoured the thousands (2 Sam. 24), about whose numbering he sinned in the pride of his heart... But even there mercy glories against judgment at Jerusalem. The threshing floor of Araunah becomes the site of the altar to the Lord — the meeting-place of reconciliation for His people for ever.
- Counting — God commanded counts before, for worship and for war. The act itself is not the offence.
- Motive — What changed was the reason. David wanted to know how far he could rely on his forces, so chastening taught him to count on God alone.
- Ransom — Every census carried a half-shekel payment. It marked the people as God's by redemption, so numbers gave them nothing to boast in.
- Reach — Joab's unwilling march covered the whole land for nine months and twenty days, and still came back incomplete.
- Mercy — The road that began in pride ends at a threshing floor turned into an altar — the lasting meeting-place between God and His people.
and they came to the fortified city of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites and of the Canaanites; and went out to the south of Judah, to Beer-sheba.
Joab's census route swings north-west to the fortress of Tyre, then through Canaanite towns, then far south to Beersheba. The place names raise a sharp question: who belonged on this list, and why did David want it?
This leg of the journey was part of one long assignment:
David insisted on having the people numbered, though the commander of the army as well as Joab did not agree. They were the ones required to do the job. They travelled through all the country, and the task took nine months and twenty days. Yet 1 Chronicles 21:6 tells us that Joab did not count Benjamin and Levi because he was disgusted with David's order. The number given, however, is not that of all the people. It counts only their military strength: 800,000 soldiers in Israel and 500,000 in Judah.
The verse ends at Beersheba, a name with its own history:
This name, meaning well of the oath, was given to the place where Abraham and Abimelech made a covenant not to trouble each other, and confirmed it by an oath... after the settlement of the land it is always spoken of as the most southern part of the land they held, as Dan is pointed to as the most northern. So "from Dan to Beersheba" was the common expression for the whole territory, even in the days of Solomon (1 Kings 4:25).
God's law had already set a rule for counting Israel, and it involved a payment:
The law of Moses said that when the people were counted, everyone from twenty years old and upwards should give the Lord a half shekel as a ransom for his soul. Then there would be no plague among them (Exodus 30:11-16; 38:25-26). The numbering was an occasion when flesh might exalt itself over their numbers as a whole, as well as each individual being noticed. But they had to recognise this: the Lord could count them only on the ground of redemption.
Nobody collected that half shekel this time, and the place names in this verse show the result:
One result of this numbering was that even cities of the Hivites, and the stronghold of Tyre, were included in the count. This could never have happened if the silver half shekel had been required. Today, unconverted people on earth are too often classed as belonging to the church of God. The same neglect causes it: no one asks them to confess openly their confidence in the precious blood of Christ before they are counted among the hosts of God.
David had no war to prepare for:
The tabernacle had been built. The Levites had taken the place of the firstborn. Most of the inheritance had been conquered. There were still men able to go to war, but God "had delivered David out of the hand of all his enemies." What need had he now to know the number of his warriors?... In the past the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh had enticed him, and he was severely punished for this. Now, tempted by the pride of life, he does not resist the desire to count up his forces and learn how far he could rely on them. Chastening comes on him to teach him that he could not and should not count on anything but God alone.
The same writer weighs what the long count produced:
The king's desire prevails. For over nine months Joab and the captains of the army number the people. During all these months David's conscience is silent. But once he has obtained what he wanted, he finds it has a bitter taste. So much effort put out for such a miserable object!
David is not the last person to want a total:
There is a subtle desire for numbers in all of us. Why the desire for statistics, numbers of conversions, numbers of "members," if people do not think the power is in the numbers?... Numbers have too often been the occasion for the pride that goes before destruction. When the numbers of the disciples increased, the murmuring began. Far be the thought that we are to refuse numbers for their own sake. We should surely rejoice over the many who receive blessing, but our eye is not to be on the many, but on the Lord.
- Route. The count ran the whole length of the land, from Tyre in the north to Beersheba in the south. It took nine months and twenty days.
- Ransom. God's rule was simple: no Israelite was counted until he paid a half shekel. The Lord counted them only on the ground of redemption.
- Reach. With no payment required, the count swelled to take in Tyre's fortress and Canaanite towns. Commentators see the same error when unconverted people are counted as part of the church.
- Reason. David counted his fighting men, but no war was coming. He wanted to know how far he could lean on his own strength.
- Result. He gained an incomplete list and a bitter taste; the lasting warning is that our eye belongs on the Lord, not on the many.
And they went through all the land, and came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.
Joab and his officers finish their tour of the land and return to Jerusalem. Nine months and twenty days have passed. The verse is only a note of time. But commentators read it closely, because of what David had ordered and what happened when the figures reached his hand.
Joab spent those months counting fighting men. God had already given David rest from every enemy, so writers ask what the count was for.
There were still men able to go to war, but God "had delivered [David] out of the hand of all his enemies" (2 Sam. 22:1). What need had he yet to take knowledge of the number of his warriors?... At the end of his life, at Satan's prompting, this godly king's heart came under a temptation quite contrary to his character. David had always been a humble man before the Lord and before men. It did not seem necessary for him to be on guard against pride. In the past the lust of the eyes and the lust of the flesh had enticed him, and he had been severely punished for this. Now, tempted by the pride of life, he does not resist the desire to count up his forces, to know how far he could rely on them.
Where did the thought come from? One writer traces it to God's anger with Israel, and notes that Joab saw the evil first.
Israel's condition has provoked God to anger against them, and out of this comes the thought that God allows to be put into David's mind: to number the people. It is a military order, clearly having to do with the people's strength for war. It shows the spirit behind it, a spirit shared by king and people alike... And pride is the giant sin of a fallen nature, the essential evil, man lifting himself up, even against God... So plainly is it visible, and yet so blind is the one driven by it, that Joab sees at once the evil which David cannot see. He objects to the numbering, avoids it as far as he can, but is overruled by the king's command. The sum of the people is handed to the king; and only then does his conscience wake to the meaning of what he has done.
Through all those months David felt nothing.
When can man's good sense ever help against the will of God in chastening, and against Satan's malice? It is an awful thing to be given up to his power. Nine months of sin on David's part, and of patience on God's part, show us the deadly influence of the enemy. But the sin, once completed, is what wakes David's conscience. Enjoying the fruit of our sin undeceives us. It is chasing it that attracts our hearts... Happily, where there is life, conscience regains its power in such a case.
Joab's men covered the whole land. Yet the number they brought back left out two tribes.
1 Chronicles 21:6 tells us that Joab did not count Benjamin and Levi because he was disgusted with David's order. But the number given is not that of all the people. It counts only their military strength: 800,000 soldiers in Israel and 500,000 in Judah.
What David finally gained, he did not enjoy.
Once he has obtained what he wanted, he finds it has a bitter taste. So much effort spent for such a miserable goal! And something was still lacking, for Levi and Benjamin had not been numbered. Faced with this incomplete result, David must have felt the folly of his action twice over.
As far as the record shows, no one confronted David. Conviction came from God, and the answer came the next morning.
For more than nine months David seems to have been unfeeling about his sin. At last he woke up to it, without, as far as we know, any human instrument convincing him of the evil he had done. But God would not leave him indifferent about it. God worked on his conscience. He confessed his sin at night, and in the morning the prophet Gad came to him with the answer from God.
Confession did not cancel what came next. The discipline landed exactly where the pride had been.
But he must be corrected, and in the very place of his sin. He had boasted of his thousands, so his thousands must be reduced. God would now number to the sword those whom David had numbered for his pride.
- Numbered for pride. David counted fighting men he no longer needed to count, wanting to know how far he could rely on his own forces.
- Numbered in blindness. Joab saw the evil at once; the king driven by pride could not see it at all.
- Numbered over nine months. The long delay was sin on David's side and patience on God's; conscience only stirred once the sin was complete.
- Numbered and still short. The total came back bitter and incomplete, two tribes missing — effort spent on a miserable goal.
- Numbered to the sword. God struck the very thing David had boasted in, reducing the thousands he had counted for his pride.
And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people to the king; and there were of Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.
David ordered a national count. Joab carried it out against his own judgment, and now the figures reach the king. The totals look like a triumph — well over a million fighting men. The chapter treats them as evidence against the king.
These figures count soldiers, not the whole nation. One commentator notes that even that count stopped short.
David insisted on having the people numbered, though the commander of the army as well as Joab did not agree. They had to do the job, and they travelled through the whole country. It took them nine months and twenty days (v.8). Yet 1 Chronicles 21:6 tells us that Joab did not count Benjamin and Levi, because David's order disgusted him. The number given, however, is not that of all the people. It is only their military strength: 800,000 soldiers in Israel and 500,000 in Judah. Judah's population was proportionately much higher than that of the other nine tribes.
Counting people is not wrong in itself. David's motive was.
This numbering was most sinful, for by it David had sought his own glory instead of the Lord's glory. He wanted to know his own resources instead of relying on those of God. Yet God had raised David up. He had taken him from the pastures and the flocks, made him prince over Israel, and given him a name like the name of the great ones on earth! What more did David want? Sadly, under Satan's prompting he wanted to make a name for himself and see what resources he could count on while leaving the Lord out. If he had succeeded, he would have glorified himself and become independent of God.
The law of Moses set a condition on every count of Israel.
The law of Moses had a rule for counting the people. Everyone from twenty years old and upward had to give the Lord a half shekel as a ransom for his soul. Then no plague would come on them (Exodus 30:11-16; Exodus 38:25-26). The numbering gave flesh a chance to boast in their numbers as a whole, and it also brought each individual into view. But one thing had to be clear: the Lord could take account of them only on the ground of redemption. They needed reminding that they belonged to God, and each one had to pay a ransom for himself.
That missing ransom is what these totals expose:
King David once numbered the people, but there is no mention of their giving a ransom… God cannot take account of sinful men in the flesh except in judgment. If man is to be in favour before God it must be through an accepted ransom.
Chronicles gives different totals for the same count. Commentators differ on why. One explanation: the two accounts set out to do different things.
A difference of purpose explains away many an apparent discrepancy. One statement is as true as the other, but it is not the same… So we see a difference in the sum Joab gave to David: in the first, 800,000 of Israel and 500,000 of Judah; in the second, 1,100,000 and 470,000. But Israel's smaller number carries the description "valiant men," while Judah's is a round number.
Another explanation: Joab never finished the survey.
We read that Joab did not finish the numbering of the people "because wrath came upon Israel for it" (1 Chronicles 27:24). So the number in Samuel may be of those counted. The number in Chronicles may include an estimate of the districts left out.
The judgment falls on the people whose numbers flattered the king.
The plans of men do not succeed, especially among God's people. The king's word was abhorrent to Joab, and God was displeased with this thing, so He struck Israel. This seems strange at first sight — why God should strike Israel — but God was wise. It was Israel that had become a snare and a boast to the king. Did he not number them? They must be reduced now. God would cut down the number, and would make David feel that, instead of being a blessing to His people, he was a curse through his folly and his pride.
Yet the chapter does not end at the plague:
In the middle of judgment mercy triumphed over it. And Jerusalem, the very city where the guilty order started, was the place where the hand of judgment stopped… The guilty one who had brought the plague on Israel pleads and is heard. It was at the threshing floor of a poor stranger — a Gentile — that the raised hand of the angel was stopped.
- Counted: The 1,300,000 are fighting men, not the whole nation. Even that count stopped short: Joab skipped Levi and Benjamin.
- Coveted: The sin was not the counting but the motive. David wanted to trust his own resources, not God's.
- Uncovered: The law required a ransom at every count. Without it, God can take account of people only in judgment.
- Compared: Chronicles gives larger totals. Commentators point either to a different purpose in the two accounts or to a count Joab never finished.
- Covered: God cut down the people David boasted in. Yet at a stranger's threshing floor the judgment stopped, and mercy had the last word.
And David's heart smote him after he had numbered the people. And David said to Jehovah, I have sinned greatly in what I have done; and now, I beseech thee, Jehovah, put away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.
David has just finished counting the people, and the count took Joab more than nine months. Only now does his own heart accuse him, and he asks God to take the iniquity away — long after the deed is done.
Nothing outside David broke him down. No prophet had come, and no plague had fallen. What struck him was his own heart.
Joab, the captain of the army, David's willing instrument on other occasions, took up this task with obvious reluctance. It occupied him nine months and twenty days. When he returned with the results of his mission, David's heart struck him, and he spoke to God, saying, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O LORD, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly." For more than nine months David seems to have been unfeeling about his sin. At last he woke up to it, without, as far as we know, any human instrument convincing him of the evil he had done. But God would not leave him indifferent about it. God worked on his conscience. He confessed his sin at night, and in the morning the prophet Gad came to him with God's answer. "Take away the iniquity of your servant" had been David's request. But the Lord had a dispute with Israel, so His dealing with the nation in judgment could not be turned aside.
Why does the eye open at the end and not at the start?
Nine months of sin on David's part, and of patience on God's part, show us the deadly influence of the enemy. But the sin, once done, only awakens David's conscience. Enjoying the fruit of our sin undeceives us. It is the pursuit of it that lures our hearts. When Satan has succeeded in getting the children of God to commit the evil he tempts them to, he no longer cares to hide from them its emptiness and folly. Happily, where there is life, conscience regains its power in such a case.
Counting Israel was not wrong in itself, so the offence has to be looked for somewhere other than the act.
David's sin does not lie in the bare fact of numbering the people, for they had been numbered by God's command before. God looks at the hidden spring. Fleshly and worldly display, springing up in his heart, shut out the thought of God for the moment. God judged the secret motive, and later on David judges himself.
That explains why David calls his act foolish.
By it David had sought his own glory instead of the Lord's glory. He had wanted to know his own resources instead of relying on God's. It was God who had raised David up. He had taken him from the pastures and the flocks, made him prince over Israel, and given him a name like the name of the great ones on earth. What more did David want? Sadly, at Satan's prompting he wanted to make a name for himself and see what resources he could count on while leaving the Lord out. This is what made this fault so serious and so foolish for a believer like David. When he came to himself he confessed this sin, which was nothing other than independence and human self-will.
David asks God to put the iniquity away. But the prayer comes after the deed.
How David must now wish he could erase those nine ruinous months! He cannot. And so he lays hold of the only resource left to him and addresses the Lord. … The consequences of his act make him afraid, but too late; they ought to have frightened him before he went down this path. His repentance cannot lessen the guilt of the evil he committed, or make it less deserving of judgment. His repentance cannot atone for his sin or free him from its consequences. What is left for David? To submit to the judgment he would have liked to avoid.
The confession is not the end of the story.
Yet chastening must follow a sin carried out despite so much patience. But God reaches His servant's conscience. He brings the sincere affections of David's heart into play, to carry out His own sovereign purpose. David shows that never-failing mark of a heart that knows the Lord — confidence in God above all, and at whatever cost. "Let me fall into the hand of the Lord." … The plague breaks out. But in the middle of judgment the Lord remembers mercy. When the destroying angel reached Jerusalem, the Lord commanded him to hold back his hand.
- Spring. The wrong was not the counting. It was the motive — pride that wanted to measure its own resources and leave God out.
- Sleep. Nine months passed with no sense of sin. Chasing the sin blinds us; enjoying it opens our eyes.
- Strike. No prophet and no plague woke David. God worked on his conscience, and where there is life, conscience recovers its power.
- Submission. Repentance is real, but it cannot lessen the guilt or cancel the consequences. David must accept the judgment he now dreads.
- Sanctuary. The confession opens on mercy. David trusts himself to God's hand, not man's, and at Jerusalem God halts the destroying angel.