Pastor’s Bible Reading Schedule:
1 Chronicles 20-24
Satan does not come up very often in the Bible as a whole, and very little in the Old Testament. Here in chapter 21, in one of his few appearances, we see him causing trouble for Israel by inciting David to take a census. The parallel passage in 2 Samuel 24 makes clear that Satan could not have done so if God had not permitted it. There is no question that this census was wrong, but we may be puzzled about why it was wrong. After all, there had been a number of censuses in Israel. So what made this one bad?
First of all, this census was the outcome of the sin of pride by David. He was not counting the soldiers already in his army, supplied by the tribes, but he was being presumptuous in setting up for himself how large a reserve he could draw on if it should be necessary. There was no practical reason for doing this census. It was just a matter of David wanting to have an exact idea of how extensive his military resources were.
Second, this census violated several rules in the Old Testament. A broad count of this nature would not take into account the exemptions from military service that God had granted certain men, such as those who had recently become married, built a house, or planted a vineyard. But most importantly, a census was supposed to be taken only of those men who were considered ritually clean according to the Old Testament law.
As we have already seen, Joab’s faith in God was honest and direct. He was not a man of deep theological reflection, but he knew a major violation of God’s law when he saw it. Therefore, when David instructed Joab to take charge of a census from Beersheba to Dan, he, at first, refused. He asked David why he would want to do anything as stupid as to cause problems for the entire nation with this unproductive measure because the census would not add a single warrior to the prospective pool of soldiers.
As Joab had feared, and as David should have known, the Lord punished Israel because of this census. Apparently a plague must have broken out immediately.
Sin is never purely private. The sin of the census turned into a national calamity. With the chronicler’s purpose being to depict David’s kingdom as ideal, it is appropriate that he should zero in on the specific sin that affected the very fabric of the nation.
Prayer Requests:
Personal
- Lord, please help me to remember that sin affects more than just the person committing it.
- Lord, please help me to realize there is always greater responsibility for those in leadership.
- Lord, please help me to make decisions that are consistent with God’s word, in God’s will, that reflect the privilege of doing God’s work.
Political
- Representative Sherry Gay-Dagnogo – District 8 – Detroit
- Senator Erika Geiss – District 9 – Taylor
- Representative Annette Glenn – District 98 – Pinconning