Thread: 1 Chron 21:1,7,8 What was the sin?

1Ch 21:1,7,8 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel ... And God was displeased with this thing; therefore he smote Israel. And David said unto God, I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing: but now, I beseech thee, do away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.

In 2 Samuel 24 it says that David's heart smote (conscience bothered) him after he numbered the people.

Anybody know why it was such a great sin for David to number Israel?

The sin of David numbering the people consisted in its being either to gratify his pride to ascertain the number of warriors he could muster for some meditated plan of conquest; or, perhaps, more likely still, to institute a regular and permanent system of taxation, which he deemed necessary to provide an adequate establishment for the monarchy, but which was regarded as a tyrannical and oppressive exaction--an innovation on the liberty of the people--a departure from ancient usage unbecoming a king of Israel.

Matthew,
Thanks for your response.

Do you know of any place where God told him (or somebody else) not to count the people of Israel? I'm struck by the severity of the punishment vs. the seemingly "innocent" thing that he did.

1Ch 21:14 So the LORD sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.

Bob

God had commanded a census before, but He did not command this one! (Number 1:1-2; 26:1-4).

It appears that David was motivated by pride and a dependence upon the size of his army instead of dependence upon God for maintianing and even growing the kingdom. (for a contrast see Psalm 20:7; 25:2; 44:6-8).

So although the Scriptures do not tell us the specifics, we can deduce that David did not act out of obedience or out of faith, but began to depend on what he could see (his army) instead of what he could not see (his God).

Phillip

Exodus 30:1-2 -
"When you take the census of the children of Israel for their number, then every man shall give a ransom for himself to the LORD, when you number them, that there may be no plague among them when you number them. 13 "This is what everyone among those who are numbered shall give: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (a shekel is twenty gerahs). The half-shekel shall be an offering to the LORD."

David did not inquire of the Lord here. "And God was displeased with this thing." David seems to have been numbering them for tax purposes, as I mentioned. As a result, God was angry.

Matthew and Pastor Way,
Thanks for your help with this passage.

Its really been a bit sobering reading the passage in 1 Chronicles, along with the verses you mentioned. As the scriptures say, its a fearful thing to fall into the hands of an angry God. What a picture of God's mercy. And what a lesson about the seriousness of sin!

Can you imagine the relief David must have felt as the story progressed from 1 Chronicles 21:16 (right after 70,000 men died) to 1 Chronicles 21:26 to 1 Chronicles 21:27?

1 Chronicles 21:16 And David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem.

1 Chronicles 21:26 And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the Lord; and he answered from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering.

1 Chronicles 21:27 And the Lord commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof.

What a relief that must have been to see the angel put the sword into the sheath.

Once again, God used the "wrath of man" to praise Him. This was how they discovered the site where the Temple was to be built.

Anybody know who Cornelius Betram is?

John Gill writes:

1Ch 27:23 - But David took not the number of them from twenty years old and under,.... Only those that were twenty years and upwards; but, according to [b:51e04cd4e5]Cornelius Bertram[/b:51e04cd4e5] (k), he numbered them that were under twenty, though but sixteen, seventeen, eighteen, or nineteen years of age, provided they were of robust bodies, and of a tall stature, and able to bear arms; which he takes to be the sin of David, in numbering the people, being contrary to the law of God; yet though he had ordered them to be numbered, and they were, yet he would not take them and put them into the account of his chronicles, as in the next verse, that his sin might not be known, see 2Sa_24:9.

because the Lord had said, he would increase Israel like to the stars in the heavens; which are not to be numbered, and therefore David sinned in attempting to number the people.