The evil in counting.

Dan,

I was thinking of Deut 17:14-17;

14 “When you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you, and you possess it and live in it, and you say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations who are around me,’ 15 you shall surely set a king over you whom the LORD your God chooses, one from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your countryman. 16 “Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the LORD has said to you, ‘You shall never again return that way.’ 17 “He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself. (NASB)

But, there was no mention of a census! I was wrong. Obviously there were principles laid out here that may be taken to cover the way in which David carried out his census.

The passage you spoke of was II Sam. 24 and its parallel is in in I Chron. 21.

My footnotes (Geneva) make some good points:

II Sam. 24:2 For the king said to Joab the captain of the host, which [was] with him, Go speedily now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the (c) number of the people.

(c) Because he did this to try his power and so to trust therein, it offended God, else it was lawful to number the people, Exod. 30:12; Num. 1:2.

I Chron. 21:1 And (a) Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.

(a) He tempted David, in setting before his eyes his excellency and glory, his power and victories, read 2 Sam. 24:1.

21:3 And Joab answered, The LORD increased his people an hundred times so many as they [be], O my lord the king: [are] they not all my lord’s servants? wherefore doeth my lord require this thing? why should he be a cause of (c) trespass to Israel?

(c) It was a thing indifferent and usual to number the people, but because he did it of an ambitious mind, as though his strength stood in his people, God punished him.

Conclusion: Numbering the people was not itself a sin. But, it could be a sin if done for the wrong reasons as evidenced by the scriptural account with David, Joab, et al.