Context No. 2753 of 4322 · 1 Chronicles
Context · Reflection
1 Chronicles 21:1-6: in context
1Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to take a census of Israel. 2David said to Joab and to the princes of the people, “Go, count Israel from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring me word, that I may know how many there are.” 3Joab said, “May the LORD make his people a hundred times as many as they are. But, my lord the king, aren’t they all my lord’s servants? Why does my lord require this thing? Why will he be a cause of guilt to Israel?” 4Nevertheless the king’s word prevailed against Joab. Therefore Joab departed and went throughout all Israel, then came to Jerusalem. 5Joab gave the sum of the census of the people to David. All those of Israel were one million one hundred thousand men who drew a sword; and in Judah were four hundred seventy thousand men who drew a sword. 6But he didn’t count Levi and Benjamin among them, for the king’s word was abominable to Joab.
Satan rises up against Israel and moves David to number the people, and the king orders Joab to count the fighting men from Beersheba to Dan. Even Joab, who is no tender conscience, balks: why does my lord want this? Why bring guilt on Israel? But the king overrules him, and Joab goes and counts, deliberately leaving out Levi and Benjamin because the whole order disgusts him.
The sin is subtle, because counting is not wrong in itself. The problem is a king who wants to measure his own strength, to find his security in the size of the army rather than in God. This is the same David who once faced Goliath with a sling and the name of the LORD, now craving a number to lean on. When even Joab can see that a heart has shifted from trusting God to counting troops, something has quietly gone wrong at the top.
Where am I tallying up my resources to feel secure, leaning on the count instead of on God?
Sources
- 1 Chronicles 21:3: "Why does my lord require this thing? Why will he be a cause of guilt to Israel?"
- Psalm 20:7: "Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God."
- Psalm 147:10: "He has no pleasure in the strength of the horse. He takes no pleasure in the legs of a man."