II SAMUEL 24:1 (I CHRONICLES 21:1)

 Q: The passage states David was incited by Satan to take a census. Joab seems to recognize immediately this is wrong and questions David as to why he would do such a thing. The commentary in The Daily Bible acknowledges the sinfulness of this act is less than clear. He suggests that perhaps it is because David is depending upon the strength of his numbers instead of the strength of God. Are there other plausible suggestions?

The explanation you mention is the most common one offered. “The strength of the nation's population was a kind of barometer of the Lord's favor. As such, it was not to be 'read' so as to justify human pride in human achievements, or to boost royal ambitions.” (Joyce Baldwin, 1&2 Samuel, p. 295) However, other possibilities as to David's sin have been proposed. You can judge for yourself how plausible they are:

1. A census was used as the basis for introduction of a military draft or taxation of the people, both being unacceptable changes in Israelite society. (NRSV Study Bible)

2. “If the taking of a military census almost always preceded a battle, then it is possible that David was either planning an inappropriate military operation or taking steps towards forming a standing army.” (Robin Wakely, Dictionary of Old Testament Theology & Exegesis, Vol. 3, p. 659)

3. David sinned by including males under 20 in the census, (or possibly even women, children and Levites). (Hard Sayings of the Bible, p.240)

4. The census was carried out in such a casual manner that the ritual purity law outlined in Exodus 30:12 was violated. (Kyle McCarter, II Samuel, p. 512-4) In favor of that explanation is the fact that the Exodus passage promised a plague among the people if the proper procedure was not carried out, and in fact that is exactly what happened to the Israelites.

An additional problem with this passage that is not evident in The Daily Bible is that these parallel accounts actually read quite differently from one another, and The Daily Bible has chosen to give the I Chronicles version only and omit the II Samuel account. The difference between the two is simple – II Samuel relates that God incited David to carry out the census whereas I Chronicles states that Satan did the inciting.

When one runs across apparent inconsistencies in parallel biblical accounts, there are two general approaches one can take. The first, taken by The Daily Bible in this case, is to choose one of the versions over the other. And from a theological viewpoint, it is certainly easier to understand why God would be more upset over an action of David initiated by Satan than over one initiated by Himself. However, it is this very difficulty with the Samuel account that is actually the strongest argument in favor of it being the preferred version. It is much easier to believe that the Chronicler was offended by the idea that God would incite David to sin (and therefore substituted the word “Satan” instead) than the reverse scenario whereby “God” was for some unknown reason substituted for an original reading of “Satan.”

Two other examples of such “theological euphemisms” found throughout the Hebrew Bible are (1) spelling Yahweh with the vowels for “Lord” instead so that the divine name would not be inadvertently pronounced by one reading it, and (2) proclaiming a curse on anyone who “blesses” God (in fact meaning one who “curses” God).

Tsumura (The Second Book of Samuel) suggests two other possibilities: (1) Satan is not a proper name but refers to any adversary or (2) the Samuel account actually ascribes the prompting to “the anger of God,” which is not exactly the same as God Himself. Neither approach is especially convincing.

The favored approach one can take in regard to apparent discrepancies is to attempt to harmonize them – in other words, assume that both versions are correct. In this case, it would mean that somehow both God and Satan were involved in inciting David. And here we have a clear parallel in Job 1-2. God first brings the subject of Job to Satan's attention, Satan proposes a test, and God agrees but sets limits on what Satan is allowed to do. God allows the test because he knows the positive outcome in advance, whereas Satan is approaching the test as a chance to show up both God and Job. It is a similar alignment of opposite motives that one sees later when Satan's inciting of Judas leads to Christ's crucifixion, but also to salvation for mankind.