Why do you need to count the soldiers when our Commander can win with many or with few?
Here we have a story that provides an important clarification. The first rendition reads, “The anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel, and He moved David against them to say, ‘Go, number Israel and Judah’” (2 Sam 24:1). The capital H on “He” is a judgment call of the translators, and in this case it’s both wrong and misleading. The “he” mentioned wasn’t the Lord at all. The Lord would not move David to commit sin! “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone” (Jas 1:13). So here’s one reason we are grateful to get to 1 Chronicles 21. We read, “Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel” (v 1). So the “he” in 2 Samuel 24:1 was the Adversary! This is the first time the word “Satan” appears in our English Bible. Obviously the Lord was angry with Israel; we see that the judgment fell on Israel, not David, though the shepherd was obviously grieved when the sheep came under judgment. And why was census-taking wrong? At a personal level, it seems to have been something to feed David’s ego. But there was a more serious matter. Six verses in Exodus 30:11-16, known as Parashat Shekalim, include these words: “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” (v 12). Whether rich or poor, each man was to contribute a half shekel of silver. This was originally used to lay the foundation for the tabernacle. The tabernacle was soon to be replaced by the temple. Would the temple’s foundation also be prepared by paying the redemption price? Yes, as we will see—and the king will pay the price for his people, just as our blessed Lord did for us.