David's Census

Biblical Text and Narrative

This event is recorded in 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21.

• David orders Joab, the commander of his army, to take a census of the people. Joab objects but ultimately carries out the king's command. Over nine months and twenty days, beginning east of the Jordan and traveling as far as Dan in the north and Beersheba in the south, he counts the men who could draw the sword.
• After receiving the report, David's heart smites him, and he confesses his sin. The seer Gad conveys three punishments set forth by God and has David choose one: famine, three months of fleeing before his enemies, or three days of pestilence. David chooses to fall into the hand of the LORD, whose mercies are great, rather than into the hand of man, and seventy thousand people die in the pestilence.
• When the plague reaches Jerusalem, the angel is standing by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite (called "Ornan" in 1 Chronicles). David prays, "let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house" (2 Samuel 24:17). Then, following Gad's instruction, he purchases the threshing floor, builds an altar, and offers burnt offerings and peace offerings, and the plague is stayed.

Differences Between the Two Accounts

• Cause: 2 Samuel states that the LORD, in His anger, "moved David" (24:1), while 1 Chronicles states that "Satan" provoked David (21:1).
• Numbers: 2 Samuel records 800,000 for Israel and 500,000 for Judah. 1 Chronicles records 1,100,000 for Israel and 470,000 for Judah, adding that Levi and Benjamin were not counted.
• Length of the famine: seven years in 2 Samuel; three years in 1 Chronicles.
• Price: In 2 Samuel, David buys the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. In 1 Chronicles, he buys the site for six hundred shekels of gold.
• 1 Chronicles records that fire came down from heaven in answer to the offering, and it identifies the site as the location of the temple and the altar of burnt offering (1 Chronicles 22:1).

Background

In the ancient Near East, censuses were generally conducted for military conscription and taxation. The Law stipulates that when the people are numbered, each person must pay a ransom for his soul (money given as the price of one's life) so that no plague comes upon them (Exodus 30:12).

Significance in Scripture as a Whole

2 Chronicles 3:1 records that Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, the site of this threshing floor. The event is therefore read as the origin of the temple site, and it is also connected with the burnt offering on Mount Moriah in Genesis 22:12–14. The New Testament does not mention this event directly. In Christian interpretation, however, the scene in which judgment is halted by sacrifice is read as a shadow pointing to Christ's atonement, and David's prayer asking to be struck in place of the people is understood as portraying him as a shepherd.

Interpretations and Issues

• What was the sin? The text does not state the reason. Interpretations fall into three broad categories: pride in relying on military strength rather than on God; failure to observe the ransom requirement; or preparation for a military levy that God had not commanded. Because Numbers records censuses commanded by God, interpreters generally do not regard the act of counting itself as sinful.
• God or Satan? Many commentaries explain that Satan was used as an instrument under God's sovereign providence, citing Job 1 as a parallel. Because the Hebrew of 1 Chronicles 21:1 lacks the definite article, some read the word not as a proper name but as the common noun "adversary." Critical scholarship sometimes regards the difference as reflecting later theological development.
• Numerical differences: Proponents of biblical inerrancy attribute them to scribal errors in transmission or to differences in counting criteria. Others see them as reflecting different source traditions.
• Later traditions: One tradition identifies this threshing floor with a particular rock on the present-day Temple Mount in Jerusalem. This identification, however, has not been confirmed by the text or by archaeology.

In the Korean Church

"Neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing" (2 Samuel 24:24) is frequently quoted in sermons on devotion and offerings. The event also serves as a sermon text warning against boasting in numbers and size.