Verses 1-10
David’s Sinful Purpose To Number Israel And The Carrying Out Of That Purpose (2 Samuel 24:1-10 ).
As suggested above David’s sin lay in the fact that he was acting in disregard of the fact that he was YHWH’r regent or Nagid, and not Israel’s sole king. His act was thus seen as an act of rebellion, fostered by his own arrogance and pride. It indicated that he was forgetting his status, which was why it had to be severely dealt with.
It is significant that the book which commences with the unusual birth of the one who would introduce kingship to Israel (1 Samuel 1:0), and a prophecy of the Coming Anointed King (1 Samuel 2:10), finally ends with an indication of the failure of that king to obey YHWH and the need therefore for chastisement and atonement. It was an indication that the final promised righteous king had not yet come.
Analysis.
a And again the anger of YHWH was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah” (2 Samuel 24:1).
b And the king said to Joab the captain of the host, who was with him, “Go now to and fro through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, and number you the people, that I may know the sum of the people” (2 Samuel 24:2).
c And Joab said to the king, “Now YHWH your God add to the people, however many they may be, a hundredfold, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king delight in this thing?” (2 Samuel 24:3).
d Notwithstanding, the king’s word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the host (2 Samuel 24:4 a).
c And Joab and the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel. And they passed over the Jordan, and encamped in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad, and to Jazer, then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim-chodshi; and they came to Dan-jaan, and round about to Sidon, and came to the stronghold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites, and they went out to the south of Judah, at Beer-sheba (2 Samuel 24:4-7).
b So when they had gone to and from through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days . And Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people to the king, and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand (or ‘units of’) valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand (or ‘units of’) men (2 Samuel 24:8-9).
a And David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said to YHWH, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done, but now, O YHWH, put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly” (2 Samuel 24:10).
Note that in ‘a’ David is moved to number Israel, and in the parallel he confesses his sin of having done so. In ‘b’ the numbering is to go on so that David can know the sum of the people, and in the parallel he learns the sum of the people. In ‘c’ speaks of the numberlessness of God’s people, and in the parallel the vastness of the area that they covered in outlined. Centrally in ‘d’ the king’s word prevailed against all advice.
‘ And again the anger of YHWH was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them, saying, “Go, number Israel and Judah.” ’
Many have questioned why the people should have had to suffer for David’s sin, but that question is clearly answered here. David’s action and its punishment was not just the result of his own sinfulness, it was as a consequence of the sin of the whole people. ‘The anger of YHWH was kindled against Israel.’ It was Israel as a whole who had sinned. The nature of Israel’s sin is not described, but it can probably be summed up in two words, widespread disobedience to the covenant Law and growing idolatry (compare Judges 2:11-15; Judges 2:17; Judges 2:19; Judges 3:7-8), something that had been brought out by the two rebellions as the people had rebelled against ‘the Anointed of YHWH’. Thus David’s numbering of Israel, and its consequences, were actually originally brought about as a result of the people’s sinfulness and disobedience. Israel would suffer for their own sins.
The writer puts it in terms of YHWH ‘moving David to number Israel’. But this was the viewpoint of someone who saw everything that happened as being the direct result of YHWH’s will. In fact the Chronicler tells us that David was moved to number Israel by an adversary (satanas), or even by Satan, the greatest of man’s adversaries (1 Chronicles 21:1). Joab meanwhile lays the blame squarely on David himself. All three aspects were in fact involved. History results from sinful man’s random actions, is regularly prompted by Satan, but underneath is finally controlled by an omnipotent God. So when David was prompted by Satan, and took his own rational and sinful decision, behind it all could be seen YHWH’s purpose of punishing Israel for its sinfulness. The phrase ‘Dan to Beersheba’ which is regularly used as describing all Israel, indicates (roughly) the northernmost and southernmost cities in Israel, and occurs previously in Judges 20:1; 1Sa 3:20 ; 2 Samuel 3:10; 2 Samuel 17:11.
‘ And the king said to Joab the captain of the host, who was with him, “Go now to and fro through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, and number you the people, that I may know the sum of the people.” ’
The result was that the king called in Joab, the commander of the host of Israel, and ordered him to number the whole people (i.e. the adult males over twenty) in all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba so that he, David, could know the total sum of the people. The assumption that he was making was that they were his people and that he was therefore summing up his possessions. But this, of course, went totally contrary to the teaching of the Law that they were YHWH’s covenant people, and that it was He alone Who determined, or should be interested in, their number.
The point is that it was not the numbering itself that was sinful. Moses had twice numbered the people, the first time with a view to organising the march through the wilderness and the subsequent invasion (which was then aborted for thirty eight years), and the second time with a view to the second invasion and the apportioning of the land (Numbers 26:53-54). But both were at YHWH’s command and for practical purposes. Here David’s only aim was with a view to self-gloating aver what he was seeing as ‘his people’, and so that he could have a ‘global total’.
‘ And Joab said to the king, “Now YHWH your God add to the people, however many they may be, a hundredfold, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king delight in this thing?” ’
The fact that Joab was appalled at the suggestion indicates that he clearly saw that the number of the people of Israel was neither his nor David’s concern. It was YHWH Who determined the number of people in Israel. He it was who could add to them a hundredfold as He had promised, something in which David could delight, but it was not for David to regulate the number of people. That was YHWH’s prerogative for the people were His ‘portion’ (considerDeuteronomy 32:8-9; Deuteronomy 32:8-9). The fact that they could not be numbered was an indication that they were God’s people (Numbers 23:10). Why then was David concerning himself to do so? He was taking such matters out of God’s hands. Was he then seeking to take over YHWH’s portion and inheritance?
(For David to number the people would be like the church counting up its converts so that it could rule them and pride itself in its achievements. It was a sad day when it began to do so. It was an indication that the church saw themselves as ‘possessing’ those souls and as having authority over them, and a sign that they were failing to recognise that they themselves were only the servants of God in winning men to Christ and building them up, and not the masters of the church. Such numbers have to left to God, for it is He Who alone can determine their number).
‘ Notwithstanding, the king’s word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the host. And Joab and the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel.’
Despite Joab’s protest, seemingly also backed up by David’s principle military officers, the count was to go on, for the king ordered it and his word necessarily prevailed. Joab and David’s principle officers therefore went out from his presence to number the men of Israel.
‘ And they passed over the Jordan, and encamped in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of Gad, and to Jazer, then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim-chodshi, and they came to Dan-jaan, and round about to Sidon, and came to the stronghold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites, and they went out to the south of Judah, at Beer-sheba.’
It would appear that what happened as they reached each area was that they encamped and then summoned to them all the adult males of Israel in order to carry out the count. It would be a huge task. They commenced in Transjordan, at Aroer, encamping in the valley of Gad (which was to the south), then moving to Jazer, which had been a city of Sihon, the Amorite king captured by Moses (Numbers 21:32), which was more central, after which they came to Gilead in the north, to the land of Tahtim-chodshi. The census in Transjordan having been completed they then moved over to Dan-jaan, west of the Jordan, a site which is unidentified, although distinguished from Dan to the far north. If all the census points are mentioned (but this is unlikely. The writer probably mentions the Canaanite cities specifically in order to bring out why YHWH was angry at Israel) then from Dan-jaan the call went out to most of Israel west of the Jordan. They then followed this up by going up to an area around Sidon on the west coast, which, while Canaanite (Phoenician), was seemingly fairly heavily populated with Israelites, after which they moved down to the stronghold of Tyre. They then covered all the cities of the Hivites and of the Canaanites which had not been conquered or divested of their inhabitants by the Israelites, and in which seemingly many Israelites dwelt (it was this contact with Canaanites and their ways which may help to explain YHWH’s anger against Israel). This would cover large parts of northern Israel, including Asher, Naphtali, Zebulun and Issachar. They then moved south to the Negev of Judah and to Beersheba, which was in the Negev, finally completing the task there.
‘ So when they had gone to and fro through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.’
Having covered the whole land, moving too and fro, they returned to Jerusalem. Their journeying had taken nine moon periods and twenty days. It had been a long and arduous process.
‘ And Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people to the king, and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand (or ‘units of’) valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand (or ‘units of’) men.’
And at the end of it all Joab was able to give the totals that they had arrived at to the king. Note that it is not said that they were accurate or true, only that that was the figure that Joab had arrived at. They would, in fact, inevitably not have been strictly accurate (even if Joab had not fiddled the figures - 1 Chronicles 21:6; 1 Chronicles 27:24), for many who should have been included may well not have been available in their areas at the time that their censuses were taken, but they probably did present a fairly accurate and comprehensive picture, even if only roughly. The total came to eight hundred eleph (military units/families/tent groups) for Israel, and five hundred eleph (military units/families/tent groups) for Judah. The word translated ‘thousand’ (eleph) has varying meanings, e.g. ‘a thousand, a military unit, a family unit, a clan’.
The Chronicler in fact has differing figures, giving one thousand one hundred military units/familes/tent groups for Israel and four hundred and seventy military units/families/tent groups for Judah. But we have to take into account the probability that the statistics gathered produced a number of totals, e.g. those of ‘true’ Israelites, and then those of Canaanites and Israelites combined, and so on. Furthermore the Chronicler tells us specifically that because Joab was unhappy at the situation he was fiddling the figures, leaving out Levi and Benjamin (1 Chronicles 21:6). So Joab was not intent on providing accurate figures.
The ‘one thousand one hundred eleph in Israel’ in Chronicles may therefore have been a figure which included Canaanites, for we must see it as very probable that a number of different sets of figures would be presented to David which conveyed different statistics. The eight hundred in Samuel would then refer to true Israelites. Furthermore in his usual way Joab deliberately sabotaged what he disagreed with, so that we are specifically told in 1 Chronicles 21:6; 1 Chronicles 27:24 that in fact not everyone was counted, that the counting was thus incomplete, and that no actual numbers were put in the official records, so that the whole result was clearly inaccurate anyway. It did not point to reliable figures having been obtained. The four hundred and seventy military units of Judah (where there would have been few Canaanites) may have been a more specific figure, of which the five hundred was simply a round number, or the four hundred and seventy units may have omitted the Benjaminites, with the five hundred units including an estimate of them (at least one of the captains would have a good idea of Benjamin’s military strength as he would have commanded them).
We do, also have to bear in mind the huge problems of taking an accurate census and take into account the fact that a number of the captains may have kept their own count as a kind of counter-check on each other, coming up with differing figures, with two or even more sets of numbers being presented to the king. (The writer in Samuel was not interested in the details of the census results). Thus David may have received two or more versions of what had been assessed which according to the Chronicler included a certain amount of guesswork due to the incomplete nature of the census.
If David found himself being drowned in differing figures which presented him with different pictures, it may well explain why his conscience was then stirred by the recognition that God’s people were indeed numberless, and that he had just been foolish.
‘ And David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said to YHWH, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done, but now, O YHWH, put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”
For once David received the numbers he realised what a fool he had been. He was faced up with the fact that these were not his men but YHWH’s, and that they were as numberless as the stars in Heaven (1 Chronicles 27:23). His conscience being thus smitten, he cried to YHWH and sought His forgiveness, declaring that he had sinned greatly through his arrogant attitude, and asking Him to put away his iniquity. And no doubt YHWH would have done so more easily had He not also had a controversy with the people as a whole (verse 1).
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