2 Samuel 24:1-2

( 1 Chronicles 21:1 , 1 Chronicles 21:2 ).—( JERUSALEM .)

A sinful census.

1 . This census appears to have been ordered by David in one of the later years of his life. The word "again" ( 2 Samuel 24:1 ) indicates that it was subsequent to the famine ( 2 Samuel 21:1 , 2 Samuel 21:14 ; verse 25); and a measure that occupied Joab and the captains of the host nine months and twenty days could only have been accomplished during a time of settled peace, such as succeeded the rebellions of Absalom and Sheba. "Three great external calamities are recorded in David's reign, which may be regarded as marking its beginning, its middle, and its close—a three years' famine, a three months' exile, a three days' pestilence" (Stanley). No man, however advanced in life, or whatever the wisdom he may have "learnt by experience," is wholly exempt from the power of temptation.

2 . It was a census of those who were capable of bearing arms ( 2 Samuel 24:9 ), and of the nature of a military organization ( 2 Samuel 8:15-18 ). "But David took not the number of them from twenty years old and under," etc. ( 1 Chronicles 27:23 , 1 Chronicles 27:24 ). The result showed a great increase of the people—800,000 (1,100,000) warriors of Israel, 500,000 (470,000) of Judah, omitting Levi and Benjamin ( 1 Chronicles 21:6 ); representing a population of about five millions.

3 . Its direct and declared object was that David might "know the number of the people," or become fully acquainted with its military strength, "its defensive power" (Keil). Of any additional object, except what is implied in the words of Joab, "Why does my lord the king delight in this thing?" nothing is stated.

4 . It, nevertheless, was wrong and exceedingly sinful. This is evident, not only from the expostulation of Joab, but also from the confession of David himself ( 2 Samuel 24:10 ), and the Divine chastisement that followed. Wherein consisted his sin? A census was not in itself and always sinful; for it had been expressly directed by God ( Exodus 30:11-16 ; Exodus 38:26 ; Numbers 1:2 ; Numbers 26:14 , Numbers 26:63-65 ), and it was (as it still is) attended with important advantages. But this census was determined upon by David,

I. GOD IS NEVER ANGRY WITH ANY PERSON OR PEOPLE EXCEPT ON ACCOUNT OF SIN , "David's causing the people to be numbered was the immediate cause of the pestilence; for the procedure originated in motives which the Lord condemned. But the primary and real cause is to be found in the verse which introduces the narrative; and which is almost invariably lost sight of in the common accounts of this transaction. It is that 'the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.' Now, the anger of the Lord could only be awakened by unfaithfulness and evil doing; and that, whatever its precise nature, was the real cause of the calamity that followed, and relieves the case of the apparent harshness, of which so much has been said, of making the people suffer for the offence of their king" (Kitto, 'Daily Bible Illus.').

1 . Sin alone excites the anger of God; which is his holy opposition to sin and sinners, and not inconsistent with his love, but rather the effect of resistance to it ( 2 Samuel 11:27 ).

2 . Whenever sin dwells in the heart, no less than when it is expressed in outward actions, God observes it, and is displeased with those who are guilty of it. "For he knoweth the secrets of the heart" ( Psalms 44:21 ).

3 . His displeasure with a whole people implies prevalent and persistent sin among them, such as the spirit of unbelief, disobedience, vain glorious pride, and presumption, which was manifested in the recent rebellions of Israel, and appears to have been subsequently indulged.

4 . So far from being palliated or passed over because of their exalted position and privileges, their sin is aggravated, and more fully ensures their chastisement on that account. "You only have I known," etc. ( Amos 3:2 ). "It may be not unreasonably surmised that they were smitten with the same unhallowed elation of heart (as the king); that they were tempted to exult in their own strength; that they rejoiced in the prospect of beholding the proud array of their multitudes of fighting men; and that dreams of grandeur and glory may have been before their eyes, and may have caused them to depart from the Lord" (Le Bas). "The important lesson for all here is this—that even the smallest feeling of national pride is a sin against God, and, unless there be a powerful reaction, calls down the judgments of God. With this feeling even the Romans presented offerings of atonement at their census."

II. SIN IN A PEOPLE IS USUALLY ASSOCIATED WITH SIN IN THEIR RULER .

1 . The former may be incited by the latter ( 1 Kings 15:30 ). Or:

2 . It may be an incitement to it ( John 19:12 ). "The people had infected the king with their own arrogance, which had been called forth by their success." Or:

3 . Both people and ruler may alike participate in the same prevalent, sinful disposition or tendency of the age. As formerly ( 2 Samuel 15:1-5 ), "soft indulgence" and sensual desire; so now, "the lust of the eyes and the pride of life" ( 1 John 2:16 ) seem to have taken possession of his mind.

4 . The sin of a people may culminate in, and be manifested and represented by, the sin of their ruler. For this he is eminently responsible, and when his piety, which should have checked the evil tendency of the people, and may hitherto have restrained the righteous judgment of God, begins to fall, it becomes the occasion of the breaking forth of his fiery indignation. "It was the final offence which filled up the cup of wrath, and the punishment smote the nation, and, through the nation, its ruler" (Kirkpatrick, Horn. Quart; 6 . ). "The Lord was wearied with the sins of Israel and Judah; and he likewise beheld the secret pride of David's heals; and for these things he was resolved to visit both the people and the king." "Pride, or vain glory, or self-sufficiency, which was the sin of David, and which, for the very reason that it effects us less, because it is not so much against man as against God, offends him the more. It is a substitution of ourselves in his place; an impious thought of independence, and transference to ourselves of that confidence and admiration which are due to him alone. It is an invasion of his throne, an assumption of his sceptre, an attempt to rob him of that glory which he will not give to another, a removing of the crown from his head to put it on our own. 'Wherefore it is said, God resisteth the proud'" (J. Leifchitd). "He was, for the time, the image and emblem of all who in any age, or in any country, love to have arrayed before them the elements of their worldly strength; who delight to see spread out the full enrolment of their powers and resources, and who forget that there is One before whose breath all these things shall be even as the cloud capped towers and palaces before the breath of the whirlwind."

III. THE SINFUL MEASURES OF A RULER ARE SOMETIMES THE EFFECT OF THE DIVINE DISPLEASURE WITH HIS PEOPLE , whose sin he shares, and of whose punishment he is made the instrument. "And he [Jehovah] moved [incited, provoked] David to say," etc. "The thought is—there should come a pestilence over Israel, and David become the occasion thereof" (Thenius). "The ruler's sin is a punishment to a wicked people." Sin implies personal responsibility; and "God tempts no man" ( James 1:13 ). But in his universal sovereignty:

1 . He appoints the circumstances , which are adapted to test and manifest character, and often conduce to sin.

2 . He suggests thoughts which, although right and good in themselves, are sometimes perverted to wrong and evil by human folly and infatuation (verse 10). "All good thoughts, counsels, just works, come from the Spirit of God; and, at the same time, we are in the most imminent peril at every moment of turning the Divine suggestions into sin by allowing our selfish and impure conceits and rash generalizations to mix with them" (Maurice).

3 . He withdraws his restraining grace in consequence of sin, and permits men to be tempted of Satan ( 1 Chronicles 21:1 ), who readily seizes the opportunity to lead them into transgression. Deus probat, Satan tentat .

4 . He even constrains the manifestation of the iniquity of the heart for holy and beneficent ends. "God's influence, making use of Satan as its instrument, leads the corrupt germ to its development, rousing into action that which slumbers in the soul, in order to bring about the retributive judgment in which man, if otherwise well intentioned, learns fully to recognize his sinful condition, and is moved to repentance. The question is not of simple permission on the part of God, but of a real action, and that of the nature which each one may perceive in his own tendencies. Whoever once yields to his sinful disposition is infallibly involved in the sinful deed which leads to retributive judgment, however much he may strive against it" (Hengstenberg). "Though it was David's sin that opened the sluice, the sins of the people all contributed to the deluge" (Matthew Henry).

IV. AN ADEQUATE REASON IS AFFORDED BY SUCH MEASURES FOR THE CHASTISEMENT OF RULER AND PEOPLE . "It was needful for an external, visible manifestation of the sin to precede the judgment, in order to justify the ways of God to men. The temptation was presented to David; he fell, and in his fall represented truly and faithfully the fall of the nation. The nation was not punished vicariously for its ruler's sin, but for a sin which was its own, and was only embodied and made visible by its ruler's act. And the punishment struck the very point of their pride, by diminishing the numbers which had been the ground of their self-confident elation" (Kirkpatrick, 2 Samuel). "Because David was about to boast proudly and to glory in the number of his people, God determined to punish him by reducing their number, either by famine, war, or pestilence" (S. Schmid).

1 . Sinful actions serve to manifest the hidden sin of the heart.

2 . They show the connection between such sin and its just retribution.

3 . They make chastisement more signal and salutary.

4 . They are often overruled to the glory of God and the welfare of men. [ Note: Some of the difficulties indicated above would be removed by regarding the first sentence as "the heading of the whole chapter, which goes on to describe the sin which kindled this anger, viz. the numbering of the people" ('Speaker's Commentary'); and by reading, "And one moved David," etc.; i.e. "one of his courtiers or attendants, who is therefore called satan, or an adversary, either designedly or consequentially both to David and his people. The people were themselves very culpable; as they knew, or might have known, that, upon being numbered, they were to pay the prescribed ransom, which yet they neglected or refused" to do; as partners in the offence, they justly shared m the penalty inflicted (Chandler). But this explanation is not satisfactory.]—D.

Verse 2

( 1 Chronicles 21:2 ).—( THE KING 'S PALACE .)

Self-elation.

This chapter contains the spiritual history of a great soul in its "fall and rising again," its sin and recovery—its

and self-dedication to God (verses 24, 25). Of self-elation, pride, presumption, vain glory (the sin of David), it may be said that it is—

I. A COMMON EFFECT OF EXTRAORDINARY PROSPERITY , temporal or spiritual. Pride; war, famine, or pestilence; suffering and humiliation; peace and industry; prosperity—pride again; such is the melancholy circle of human affairs ( Exodus 8:14 ). "If we knew how to enjoy our blessings in the fear of God, they would be continued unto us; but it is the sin of man that he extracts, even from the mercies of God, the poison which destroys his comforts; he grows fat upon the bounties of Heaven, spurns its laws, and awakens its vengeance" (R. Watson).

II. AN UNGRATEFUL PERVERSION OF DIVINE BENEFITS . "The grave sin of proud exaltation, which David and the people of Israel here had in common, presupposed the elevation to victory and power that God had bestowed by his gracious mind; and its consequence was the judgment that revealed God's anger against the perversion of his favours into plans of self-aggrandizement" (Erdmann). What should produce thankfulness and humility too often results in unthankfulness and vain glory ( 2 Kings 20:13 ).

III. A SPECIAL TEMPTATION OF THE EVIL ONE . ( 1 Timothy 3:6 .) "And Satan [an adversary] stood up," etc. ( 1 Chronicles 21:1 ). "We see that God and Satan both had their hand in the work; God by permission, Satan by suggestion; God as a Judge, Satan as an enemy; God as in a just punishment for sin, Satan as in an act of sin; God in a wise ordination of it to good, Satan in a malicious intent to confusion" (Hall).

IV. A GRIEVOUS EXHIBITION OF SPIRITUAL BLINDNESS ; inconsideration of dependence, self-ignorance, self-deception, and foolish infatuation ( Jeremiah 49:16 ). "David, when strongly tempted to this gratification of his vanity, was not at all sensible of the evil of such an act; while Joab was. Joab, though a man of blood, and apparently hardened in iniquity, could see through David's vain and arrogant feelings, while David himself, whose mind was under ordinary circumstances eminently sensitive and pious, could not discover the impiety of his proceeding, but persevered in evil for several months. Such is the infatuation of sin!" (Lindsay).

V. A PECULIAR PROVOCATIVE OF DIVINE WRATH ( 1 Samuel 2:3 ; Proverbs 16:5 ); most odious of all things in the sight of God, because most directly opposed to him. "Pride is the beginning of sin" (Ecclesiasticus 10:13). "And what is pride but the craving for undue exaltation? And this is undue exaltation when the soul abandons him to whom it ought to cleave as its end, and becomes a kind of end to itself. This happens when it becomes its own satisfaction. And it does so when it falls away from that unchangeable good which ought to satisfy it more than itself".

VI. A PERNICIOUS INFLUENCE IN RELATION TO OTHER PEOPLE ; inciting in them a similar spirit, and bringing untold miseries upon them. What oppression, strife, and other deadly fruits grow out of this "root of bitterness" ( Exodus 14:5 )!

VII. A RUINOUS TENDENCY IN RELATION TO MAN HIMSELF . ( Daniel 4:28 ; Proverbs 16:18 .) "Pride wishes to dethrone God. Pride takes occasion from virtue itself. Pride was particularly odious in David, who was exalted from so lowly a state. His pride was accompanied by falsehood; for he had protested his humility in the psalms which he made for all the people to sing. David was a just man; but this was a reason why God should punish him more severely. For it is certain that the sins of the children of God are more deserving of condemnation than the sins of reprobates and slaves of the devil. These only offend their master, but those do outrage to their Father; these are only rebel subjects, but those are unnatural children and barbarians; these only abuse the gifts of nature, but those profane miserably the gifts of grace. And how much more abominable is Judas than Pilate! Be not surprised, then, that when David, who was complete in a thousand graces, committed the crime of felony against him, the Eternal could not suffer such an indignity without punishing him severely" (Du Bose, in Vinet's 'Histoire de la Predication').—D.