Then Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number Israel.
One sentence names an enemy the Old Testament has not named before, and it opens a disaster that costs Israel seventy thousand lives. Two questions follow at once. Why is counting an army a sin? And how can this verse say Satan moved David when another account of the same event says God did?
The first appearance of the adversary
This is the first time the Old Testament names Satan. One writer ties that to David's reign, which first put God's kingdom on display.
William KellyUnder the law, God was hidden, and so was the enemy. David was the first to bring out clearly the picture of God's kingdom, and there we first hear of Satan (1 Chr. 21:1). When David counted the people with the pride of a national ruler, he gave up his dependence on the LORD and denied the faith of his own early years. The chastening was seventy thousand men of Israel cut down by plague.
Why he "stood up"
The wording marks a change of tactics. Up to this point the enemy had attacked David through outward persecutors; now he moves against the king's own heart, and aims at the one sin that mirrors his own nature.
The Bible TreasuryAnother thing we do well to mark, that the unwatchful and unfaithful saint is, surely unwittingly, but not the less really, the tool of Satan. It may be that pride and vainglory found a lodging place in David's heart, and so Satan found it no difficult matter to provoke him to number Israel... He has tried fleshly lusts and failed, now he turns to the lusts of the mind. If that which is common to man and to the brute has failed, he will try that which betokens affinity with himself, namely pride. For man's nature is now not only sensual, but also devilish. Satan allures David to think of his own greatness apart from God, and to number the people as if they were his people, and not the people of God.
Where the pride came from
David's fall did not come from nowhere. The chapter just before this one lists his soldiers and their victories.
Arno Clemens GaebeleinThe statement, "He (God) moved David," can also be read in Hebrew as, "He allowed him to be moved." He permitted Satan to do his work. In 1 Tim. 3:6 we read that pride is the condemnation, or word for word "the crime," of the devil. It matters that the names and victories of David's mighty men come just before this record. No doubt his heart swelled with pride over his wins and great achievements.
Satan acts, God permits
So who moved David — Satan or God? One writer answers that God was already angry with Israel, and used the enemy to carry out a chastening He had purposed.
C E StuartAfter Israel entered the land, God never commanded them to be numbered. Joab and the captains of the army knew that well, and urged David not to do it. But God was angry with Israel, and Joab's plea failed... God purposed to chastise them, and He allowed Satan to be the instrument that carried out that purpose on this occasion. Satan is a creature, so God can use him, and does use him, to carry out His wise purposes in His dealings with men. God permitted a lying spirit to lure Ahab to his death at Ramoth-gilead (1 Kings 22:21-22). A messenger of Satan, a thorn in the flesh, struck Paul so that he would not be lifted up too high (2 Cor. 12:7)... So God allowed Satan to move David to number Israel and Judah, for Satan can only act by God's permission.
The missing ransom
Counting was not wrong in itself. The law set one condition for it, and David ignored that condition.
A. J. PollockTurn to Ex. 30:11-16 and you will find that when Israel was counted, every man had to give a ransom for his soul. If they did not, a plague would break out on them. King David once counted the people, but nothing is said about them giving a ransom... God cannot take account of sinful men in the flesh except in judgment. If man is to be in favor before God, it must be through an accepted ransom.
The enemy outmanoeuvred
The chapter that begins with Satan standing up ends at a threshing floor that becomes the temple site. Writers here see the attack turned inside out.
The Christian's FriendIt is a blessing to know that when Satan stands up against Israel, against Job, or against anyone else, he always ends by defeating his own aim. He also ends by making the grace of God abound through His blessed intervention. That is what happened in 1 Chronicles 21. There the great enemy pushed David to number the people, and so to commit the gross sin of acting independently — of counting on physical strength instead of on the Lord.
Summary
- Named — the Old Testament names Satan here for the first time, in the reign that first pictures God's kingdom. Under the law God was hidden, and so was the enemy.
- Aimed — the lusts of the body failed, so he turned to the lusts of the mind. Pride shows his own likeness, and it found a lodging place in the king's heart.
- Permitted — Satan is a creature and can act only by God's permission. The Hebrew allows the sense that God let David be moved. He used the enemy to chasten a people already under His anger.
- Unransomed — Exodus 30 required a ransom for every man counted, or a plague would break out. David gave none, and God can take account of man in the flesh only in judgment.
- Overturned — the attack ends by defeating its own aim. Grace abounds where the enemy meant ruin.