Translation & Sermon by Nate Wilson for Christ The Redeemer Church of Manhattan KS, 12 Feb 2023
Omiteting greyed-out text should bring delivery time to about 40 minutes.
As we move into the final chapter of 2 Samuel, we encounter a surprisingly negative picture of an angry God and an unfaithful king.
Why end with such a negative story? Couldn’t we have ended with one last hurrah for David in some grand military victory instead? Wouldn’t that have been better?
Well, the truth is, it would not have been better to end the story with a triumphant David riding off into the sunset. If that were the case, we would have been left with the impression that looking good and being successful is what really matters in this life, but that’s not the message God wanted us to take away from his book.
What God wants us to get out of this book is that, like David, we are not perfect, and we are not the hero of the story; God is. It is the mercy of God in redeeming sinners that is the final focus of 2 Samuel, and that is the good news which Christian still proclaim in Christ!
So what was the problem that needed God’s merciful salvation in 2 Sam. 24?
“Now, the anger of Yahweh heated up/burned/was kindled again with Israel...”
Why is the word “again” in the first verse?
There is no other time in the entirety of the books of Samuel when the “anger” of the LORD “got hot” against the whole nation of Israel1.
We have to look further back and see 1 & 2 Samuel as a continuation of the book of Judges, which uses this phrase several times:
Judges 10:7 “So the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel; and He sold them into the hands of the Philistines and into the hands of the people of Ammon.” (NKJV)
Judges 3:8 “Therefore the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and He sold them into the hand of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Mesopotamia; and the children of Israel served Cushan-Rishathaim eight years.” (NKJV)
God had warned His people after they entered the Promised Land in Joshua 23:16 “When you have transgressed the covenant of the LORD your God, which He commanded you, and have gone and served other gods, and bowed down to them, then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and you shall perish quickly from the good land which He has given you.” (NKJV)
And, of course there were many instances throughout Exodus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy where God got “angry” with His people for disobeying him or for worshiping other gods and He warned them not to stir up His jealous wrath with any more idol-worship.
I think that this passage in 2 Samuel brings us back out of the heart of David (where so much of the book is focused) to let us see a glimpse of the spiritual state of Israel, that all was not well among the people in the kingdom, even if their king was trying to follow God2.
Without that context, God’s wrath against Israel could seem out-of-character – unprovoked, unjust, capricious, but when you trace this phrase “the anger of the Lord was kindled” throughout the whole of Scripture, we are reassured of God’s justice. The only reason if feels strange is because we know so little of the whole story.
God is not the sort of person who is just looking for an opportunity to punish us, watching like a hawk on a fencepost on the side of the highway for anyone to commit the smallest infraction so He can smite them. He says Ezekiel 33:11, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked; rather, I take pleasure in the wicked turning from his way and living!”
But at the same time, God cannot fail to respond appropriately to high treason against Him. As it says later in 1 Kings 14:15 “...the LORD will strike Israel... because they have made their wooden images, provoking the LORD to anger.” You don’t make wooden idols and worship them by accident; that is a very deliberate act of rebellion which triggers God’s judgment. God’s judgment is fair, and, while we should respect His authority, we should not fear that He is out to get us for some small error that we didn’t know about.
But there is an additional layer of complexity...
The parallel passage in 1 Chronicles 21 says that it was “Satan [who] stood against Israel and incited David to conduct this draft/census/numbering of Israel...”
2 Samuel 24 says “The anger of the LORD… incited David” (the subject of the verb “incited” could be “The LORD” or it could be “the anger of the LORD” – either is grammatically possible). So which account is correct: 1 Chronicles 21 (that blames it on Satan) or 2 Samuel 24 (that blames it on the LORD)?
If we believe this whole book to be the inerrant word of God, then they both must be true, but how can that be?
The first chapters of the book of Job give us some perspective. Job 1:6ff says, “Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan also came among them. And the LORD said to Satan, ‘From where do you come?’ So Satan answered the LORD and said, ‘From going to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it.’ Then the LORD said to Satan, ‘Have you considered My servant Job, that there is none like him on the earth, a blameless and upright man, one who fears God and shuns evil?’ So Satan answered the LORD and said, ‘Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land. But now, stretch out Your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse You to Your face!’ And the LORD said to Satan, ‘Behold, all that he has is in your power; only do not lay a hand on his person.’ So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD.” (Job 1:6-12, NKJV) and Satan destroyed Job’s family and possessions.
The book of Job pulls back the curtain a little bit into the unseen spiritual realities that affect us on this earth and reveals God to be in control of Satan!
Whose idea was it that Satan should target Job? It was God who directed Satan’s attention toward Job!
Could Satan do anything to Job without God’s permission? No! Ultimately, what Satan did to Job was orchestrated by God Himself.
Satan is just a pawn in God’s hands. So it shouldn’t surprise us if Satan was part of the process God used to humble and revive the people of God in David’s day.
2 Sam. 24:1 explicitly tells us that David was incited “against Israel.” This was the king being turned against his own people! “The anger of the LORD burned against Israel and incited David against them to say, ‘Go conduct a draft/census/numbering of Israel and Judah.’”
If we are not careful in our reading of this passage, we look at the end of the story where 70,000 Israelites are killed by God and we might struggle with how unjust it was that all those poor, innocent Israelites died because God was mad at David for committing some small infraction. But that would not be an accurate understanding of what is going on. God is not mad at David; He is mad at Israel, and inciting David against Israel to institute an act of judgment.
Remember, the implication of the words in this verse is that those Israelites were worshiping idols and disobeying God and, according to God’s covenantal arrangements with them (stated many times over in the Pentateuch), it was God’s right to punish them the way He did.
When God allowed Satan to turn David’s heart toward a census, God knew that this was turning the heart of a king against his people, as though they were little more than meat for his military machine, and God knew that it would result in the death of 70,000 Israelites. David didn’t seem to realize the ramifications of his military draft until too late.
This was not merely a census for taking taxes or to determine voting districts; this was clearly a military assessment, which means David was considering engaging in another war.
So, what was the problem?
Taking a census wasn’t wrong in-and-of-itself.
At the beginning of the book of Numbers, God had commanded Moses, “Take a census of all the congregation of the children of Israel, by their families, by their fathers' houses, according to the number of names, every male individually, from twenty years old and above all who are able to go to war in Israel. You and Aaron shall number them by their armies.”
And, in the Gospels, Jesus commended a king who counted the cost before going to war to wisely assess whether he could win it and whether to engage (Luke 14:31).
The problem seems to be in the relationship with God.
I believe that part of the problem was that David was acting apart from God.
In Hebrew, the verb “to say” is an infinitive, most accurately translated as an English infinitive “to say,” and not a participle such as the English word “saying.” This makes a difference in translation. If you are reading the NIV, ESV, or NLT, it will tell you that God told David, “Go number the people,” but if you are reading a more-precise translation like the KJV or NASB, it will say that God incited David to say, “Go number the people.” I believe that the infinitive clears up some of the confusion surrounding this passage and that it was David who commanded Joab3 to go number the people, not God who commanded David to go number the people.
This explains why David’s conscience troubled him later on for numbering the people and he confessed it as a sin. He saw it as an action taken apart from God, a thought which could well have been planted by Satan in his mind4.
In addition to acting apart from God, there is the problem of failing to fulfill God’s directions in the law concerning a census. Although David and Joab followed God’s command about not numbering boys younger than 21 years old (1 Chronicles 27:23 tells us that5), they apparently did not follow God’s command in Exodus 30:12 “When you take the census of the children of Israel for their number, then every man shall give a ransom for himself to the LORD, when you number them, that there may be no plague among them when you number them.” The census wasn’t to be about proving how powerful Israel was, it was to be an opportunity to worship God and offer more sacrifices to Him! David and Joab’s census did not have that attitude6.
Joab, the guy in charge of the Army, had at least some sense of the wrongness of conducting this military draft as David had conceived it, but how do you talk someone who is in authority over you, out of doing something that they really want to do, when it is wrong?
Joab begins with a shared vision of what both he and David want. That should help David see that Joab is not trying to fight against David’s ultimate goals; he is an ally who shares David’s vision for the future: “May Yahweh your God indeed add to the people as they are 100 times more than they are, and may the eyes of my master the king see it!”
Joab seems to be re-purposing an old blessing from Deut. 1:11 “May the LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times more numerous than you are, and bless you as He has promised you!”
Joab wasn’t a particularly godly or wise man, but he does provide a good example at this point. If you want to change a leader’s mind, start by showing your agreement on the things that are most important to him so that he sees you as an ally. If you come at a leader swinging your fists and emphasizing your disagreements, he is liable to see you as an enemy and go onto the defense against you and be resistant even to the good ideas you have.
Secondly, while still affirming his loyalty to David as his master and king, Joab asks a question, “Why should my master the king delight in/be obsessed with this thing?"
Unless we really know a situation inside and out (and we usually don’t), we probably don’t know the inner motivations that are driving a leader, so we are likely to make a false accusation if we try to guess and accuse a leader for wrong motives. That can sidetrack a leader into defending his motives and shutting you down to prevent you from making further false accusations.
That’s why a question can be very strategic, as long as it is designed to open up further communication rather than just being a dismissive “gotchya” (that is really a judgment designed to shut down conversation). Joab asked the question, “O king, what is your reason behind setting your heart on a military census?” Joab wanted David to do some heart-searching.
But this was also a need-to-know issue for Joab:
Joab was the general of the army, and when the general of the army hears the king talking about conducting a draft, that means the king is thinking of launching a military offensive, and the general needs to be in on the planning and preparation for that.
If his question had challenged David on David’s choice of clothing style or worship style, David could have reasonably responded to Joab, “That’s none of your business!” But Joab came up with a necessary and thought-provoking question that could open up further dialogue.
The parallel passage in 1 Chronicles 21 records Joab saying a couple more things to David on this occasion. He added, “Is not my master the king? All of them [the able-bodied men in Israel] belong to my master as servants… Why should it become guilt7 to Israel?”
The very next time this word for “guilt” occurs is in 2 Chronicles 24:18, when it says that the Judean noblemen left the house of God and served wooden idols, bringing God’s wrath upon Judah as a result. Here is yet another ominous background note, implying that all is not well among the Israelites, likely due to idol-worship.
But what does this have to do with Joab’s premise that David has legitimate authority over the troops and that they must serve him? Joab’s argument is obscure, so I might not be understanding it correctly8, but it seems to me that Joab is expressing reservations about whether the nation is in a good-enough spiritual state to remain under God’s favor if they were to fight another war at this time. Joab admits that, of course, David has the power to muster the army and, of course, the citizens of Israel have the duty to obey their king, but the success of whatever the king calls his people to do is dependent on whether God will bless their efforts or not, and there is concern that God might not bless them if idol-worship is running rampant at this time.
At any rate, Joab is politely reminding his king that there is an authority even higher than the king who determines guilt and punishes the guilty, so David needs to consider God’s will in this matter rather than doing his own will.
In the end, however, despite Joab’s appeal, David would not reconsider what he had set his heart upon, and, since he was in authority over Joab, Joab had to do what he was told, and so...
These next few verses describe the route that Joab and his officers took.
They started in Jerusalem, crossed the Jordan River going East, then went South along the Dead Sea to the Arnon River, which was the border between Israel and Moab, and followed that to the town of Arnon. This crossed a valley which belonged to the tribe of Gad and was the Southeast corner of Israel’s land. (The mention of Gad differentiates this “Aroer” from another city of the same name on the West side of the Dead Sea.)
From there, they went North to Jazer, along the Eastern boundary between Israel and the Ammonites. Continuing North up the eastern boundary of Israel, they hit the land of Gilead. Nobody seems to know what Tahtim-hosdhi was, but
The ESV removed the first and last letters in Hebrew and reversed the words to get “Kadesh of the Hittites,” but that would be too far NW of Israel to be conducting a census in, and nowhere near the towns of Jazer and Dan listed before and after it.
The Hebrew words can be translated “lowland of the moon,” but it seems unlikely that Joab made a detour to the moon!
The Latin Vulgate and Andrew Willett suggested it was the Hagarite’s “nether land” or “lowland” in Gilead conquered by Saul in 1 Chronicles 5:10 (also Jamieson).
Most English versions just reproduce the sounds of the Hebrew words, and we figure Tatim-hosdi was somewhere near where the Jordan River flows out of the Sea of Galilee.
From there, it is believed they crossed the Jordan and went around the West side of the Sea of Galilee up to the Northern border of Israel at Dan, as King David had instructed.
Why the word “ja’an” is added to the name of Dan is a mystery. It isn’t spelled that way anywhere else in the Bible.
My hypothesis is that since “Jaan” means “purpose” or “on account of” in Hebrew, perhaps it means that Dan was one of the two towns they had been explicitly instructed to canvas, and so that’s where they went.
They then headed West along the Northern border of Israel all the way over to the Mediterranean sea where the city of Sidon sits, then headed South. (The Hivvites lived up in that NW corner near Lebanon.) The fortress of Tyre would be the Israelite border fortress south of Tyre called Usu, perhaps referenced in Psalms 60:9 & 108:10 (Tsumura, NICOT).
The Mediterranean Ocean forms the furthest Western border of Israel, although that was pushed East by the Philistines in the SW corner of Israel’s territory, so I suspect that “the Canaanites” might be a euphemism for “Philistines,” since they would have had to go along the five Philistine cities in order to get down to the southernmost Israelite city of Beersheba (in the SW corner of Israelite territory).
The return journey would have taken them North through the wilderness of Judea and up to Jerusalem.
The perimeter of that journey would have been about 450 miles, but it was probably much longer, including all the Israelite towns inside that described perimeter. They would have had to stop and take surveys and write down names in every town. What a massive undertaking! And they did it in under 10 months!
The totals are reported as “800,000 men of means to draw a sword,” 500,000 of which were from Judah. The parallel account in 1 Chronicles has a total which is 300,000 higher and a tally for Judah that is 30,000 lower. The latter could easily be explained by rounding9, but we are left to guess why the grand totals were different between 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles. Since we assume that the Bible is true, we assume that they are both accurate totals, but of two different demographics. Even if someone were to assume that the Bible contains errors, that person could not prove that this is an error, because there is not enough information to prove that these different totals were not of two different demographics. The commentaries10 I read suggested that the difference was due to the 12 monthly companies of 24,000 led by David’s mighty men being assumed as already counted and therefore not included in the 2 Samuel total. That would make for a difference of 288,000 which could have been rounded up to 300,000.
We do know, however, from 1 Chron. 27:24 “Joab the son of Zeruiah began a census, but he did not finish, for wrath came upon Israel because of this census; nor was the number recorded in the account of the chronicles of King David.” (NKJV)
So this was not a complete census – the parallel account in 1 Chronicles 21:6 says that the tribes of Levi and Benjamin were not counted,
and the population data Joab collected did not make it into 1 Chronicles.
But the point is that David did mandate a census against the better judgment of his general and against the will of God, for the parallel account in 1 Chronicles 21:7 adds that “this… was bad in the eyes of God.”
“Then David’s heart/conscience struck him after he had thus numbered the people”
1 Timothy 4:2 talks about folks who are so deceived that their consciences become calloused and insensitive to sin, but David had a good conscience because he knew his Bible, and that gave him an accurate sense of right and wrong.
David also had the Spirit of God inside him, as all Christians do, to help him connect the dots between God’s word and his actions and recognize when they were out-of-accord.
We have another example of David’s sensitive conscience in 1 Samuel 24:5 “...David's heart struck him over when he had cut off the flap of the tunic which belonged to Saul.” (NAW)
Do you have a conscience like David’s which is accurately informed by the Bible and which activates by the Holy Spirit to convict you when you do something wrong? That is a good thing! The next step is to go to the Lord to get right.
“David said to Yahweh, ‘I have sinned greatly in what I have done...’”
David understood that there is no other way to deal with the guilt of sin except to confess it to God and ask for God’s forgiveness. (There are, of course, things you can do to make it right with other persons who have been harmed by your sin to make it right with them, but only God can forgive you of your sin, pass over it in judgment, and remove it from you.)
Notice that this is a development over David’s previous confession regarding his adultery with Bathsheba and his murder of Uriah.
In 2 Samuel 12:13, he said, “I have sinned against Yahweh!”
Here he says, “I have sinned greatly...”
Then Nathan said to David, “Yahweh Himself has also passed over your sin.”
Now, David anticipates this, using the same verb: “now Yahweh, please pass over the iniquity of your servant...”
David models for us how we can confess our sins, and we see more examples in his Psalms:
Psalm 25:11 “On account of Your name, Yahweh, even pardon [סָלַח] my iniquity, for it is much.” (NAW)
Psalm 32:5 “ My sin I acknowledge to you, and my iniquity I do not cover over; I talk; I hand against myself my transgressions to You, Yahweh, and You will lift away [נשא] the iniquity of my sin.” (NAW)
Psalm 41:4 “ Yahweh, be gracious [חננ] to me; heal my soul for I have sinned against You.” (NAW)
David admits here that he acted “very foolishly.”
The Hebrew word translated “foolish” denotes, not the silliness of a jester, but rather the making of a faulty plan which exposes people to unnecessary risk.
It’s the same word Eli used to admonish to Saul for impatiently offering sacrifices himself and failing to “keep the command of the LORD.”
Saul also used this word his confession after wrongfully trying to hunt David down in the wilderness of Ziph (1 Sam. 26:21).
And David used it to describe Ahithophel’s support for Absalom’s rebellion (2Sa. 15:31)
Later on, this same word occurs in Hananai the Seer’s admonition to King Asa for entrusting the national security of Israel to an alliance with Syria rather than trusting in God (2 Chron. 16:9), and in the prophet Isaiah’s warning to King Ahaz against going to witch-doctors instead of going to God for advice (Isa. 44:25).
Every time this word is used in the Bible, it is speaking of a political leader who stepped out in human wisdom to act upon a human idea without regard for whether it was God’s will and whether it was God’s way.
If you have done that yourself, don’t cover it up; confess it to God and follow David’s example of...
Pleading for forgiveness: “...now Yahweh, please pass over the iniquity of your servant...”
When a Jew like David uses the same Hebrew word as the word for “passover” to ask God to “take away” his sin, it evokes the powerful imagery of the blood of the sacrificial lamb brushed around the doorways of the Hebrew slaves in Egypt to ward off the angel of death. The Bible11 presents God as the only person who can “pass over” “iniquity,” and the Bible explains that the only grounds on which He can do it is a sacrificial death. That’s why David will offer an animal sacrifice later in this story.
Hebrews 9:13-14 “Now, if the blood of bulls and goats... sanctifies those who had been rendered unclean to the purification of their flesh [in David’s day], how much more will the blood of Christ (who, through the eternal Spirit offered His faultless self to God) purify y'all's conscience from dead works for devotion to the Living God?… 10:19-23 “Therefore, brothers, having, by means of the blood of Jesus, open-access into the entryway of the holy places... and [having] a great priest over the house of God, let's keep approaching with sincerity of heart in full assurance of faith, our hearts having been sprinkled-clean from a guilty conscience… Let's hold onto the unrelenting confession of our hope, because the One who promised is faithful.” (NAW)
So the beginning of John’s first epistle says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous in order to dismiss those sins from us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9, NAW)
David had a prophet of the Lord named Gad in his circle of council.
Gad is the one who had told him back in 1 Samuel 22:5 that God wanted him to return to Judah after after going into hiding from Saul in Edom.
Gad was called a “prophet” because he spoke God’s words to God’s people, and he was called a “seer” because God allowed him to see into the future as part of his ministry.
David could have talked with Gad before ordering the census in order to find out whether it was God’s will and, if it was, he could also have found out from Gad how to conduct it in a way that was pleasing to God, but David apparently had not done so, and now he was living to regret it!
However, God, even in His anger, showed remarkable kindnesses to David because it was David’s desire to continue to be God’s servant. God did not shut down communication with David after being offended by David. God was listening that night as David had confessed his sin and asked for forgiveness, and God communicated a response through His prophet, and sent Gad to communicate it to David the next morning.
“Pick which one of these three things you want me to do to you,” said God.
7 years of famine (some Bibles say 3 years12)
3 months of fleeing from enemies
or 3 days of plague.
It is possible that David factored in the history of God’s judgments to rule out the first two options:
7 years of famine had already happened to Egypt (Gen. 41) and would come later upon northern Israel (2 Kings 813),
and if it was a 3-year famine, David had already experienced one over Saul’s injustice to the Gibeonites (2 Sam. 21:1) and northern Israel also experienced a 3-year famine under Ahab. Been there, done that, never again.
for 3 months, Moses’ family had hidden him from murderous enemies (Ex. 2:2, Heb. 11), and David had already lived the experience of being a hunted fugitive under Saul14. Been there, done that, never again.
There had also been three days15 of darkness as one of the plagues of Egypt (Ex. 10:22), but nothing quite like that in David’s lifetime.
It is also certain that David used the scripture he knew to discern what might be most in line with God’s revealed will.
All three options were related to covenantal curses in the law, such as Leviticus 26:23-26 “If... y'all keep walking defiantly in relation to me... I will cause a sword to come upon y'all avenging the vengeance of the covenant, and though y'all may be gathered into your cities, even then I will send a plague into the midst of y'all, and y'all will be given into the hand of the enemy. When I shatter y'all's food supply, then ten women will bake y'all's bread in one oven…”
But in Exodus 30:12 it says, “When you take the census of the children of Israel for their number, then every man shall give a ransom for himself to the LORD, when you number them, that there may be no plague among them when you number them.”
Perhaps David, as a just judge who sought to implement the judicial principles God gave in the Bible, discerned from Exodus 30:12 that a “plague” was what God had decreed would be a just punishment for the nation when they failed to connect a census to worshiping God, so David chose to stand in solidarity with God’s revealed will on this matter.
It is mind-boggling that, instead of simply imposing a judgment on David, God would actually involve the offender in the sentencing decision. It would be like the judge handing over the gavel to the convicted criminal and yielding the floor to him to give himself his own sentence. Why on earth would God do that?
Let me suggest that it’s because God loves to redeem and restore His people. In these three choices, God offered David a renewed opportunity to choose man’s will and man’s way or to choose God’s will and God’s way, and this time, David got it right! David said, “Leave me in the hands of God.” I want this thing done His way according to His will.
Isn’t that what Jesus did for Peter too? Three chances to re-affirm his love for Jesus after having three times denied Jesus (John 21:15ff). That’s the sort of redeemer we worship. No wonder Peter swam as fast as he could and ran to Jesus on that beach after the resurrection, even though the last thing Jesus had seen him do was deny Him!
Come to Jesus. He will save you! He will redeem you.
So David chose the 3 days of plague. You might think this was because it was the shortest of the three amounts of time16, but what David actually says is that he wanted to chose the thing which would be most under God’s control.
Plagues were considered something God did, and the parallel passage in 1 Chronicles explains more explicitly that this plague meant “the sword of the LORD… the messenger of the LORD laying waste in every precinct of Israel.”
So David said, “...Please let {me} fall into the control of Yahweh, for His mercies are great, and let me not fall in the direction of the control of man!”
David Knew God’s Mercy
Psalm 86:5 “For You, Lord, are good, and ready to forgive, And abundant in mercy to all those who call upon You.”
Psalm 103:8 “The LORD is merciful and gracious, Slow to anger, and abounding in mercy.”
Psalm 130:7 “O Israel, hope in the LORD; For with the LORD there is mercy, And with Him is abundant redemption.”
Psalm 145:9 “The LORD is good to all, And His tender mercies are over all His works.”
It is this mercy which we can find in the hands of God rather than in the hands of man which God wants us to be impressed with as our takeaway from the book of 2 Samuel. When David trusted God, God entrusted a kingdom to him. When David trusted God, God delivered him from enemies. When David trusted God, God forgave him of sins.
The New Testament speaks of us being “in the hands of God” in terms of being “in Christ Jesus,” (Eph. 1) under the control of His Spirit. Brothers and Sisters, let us keep trusting Jesus, our Lord and Savior, rather than human beings, and we too will experience God’s mercy!
Exodus 34:6-7 And the LORD passed before him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation."
Deut. 4:31 (for the LORD your God is a merciful God), He will not forsake you nor destroy you, nor forget the covenant of your fathers which He swore to them.
Isaiah 55:7 Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.
Jer. 33:8 `I will cleanse them from all their iniquity by which they have sinned against Me, and I will pardon all their iniquities by which they have sinned and by which they have transgressed against Me.
Lam. 3:22 Through the LORD'S mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not.
Daniel 9:9 "To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, though we have rebelled against Him.
Jonah 4:2 So he prayed to the LORD, and said, "Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm.
Mic 7:18 Who is a God like You, Pardoning iniquity And passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, Because He delights in mercy.
Greek
OT |
Brenton |
DRB |
KJV |
NAW |
MT 2Sam24 |
NAW |
MT
|
1 Καὶ προσέθετο ὀργὴ κυρίου ἐκκαῆναι ἐν Ισραηλ, καὶ ἐπέσεισεν τὸν Δαυιδ ἐν αὐτοῖς λέγωνB Βάδιζε ἀρίθμησον τὸν Ισραηλ καὶ τὸν Ιουδα. |
1
And the Lord caused his anger to burn forth again in
Israel, and [SatanC]
stirred up David against them, say |
1
And the anger of the Lord [was]
again kindled against Israel, and stirred up David among
them, say |
1 And again the anger of the LORD [was] kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah. |
1 Now, the anger of Yahweh heated up again with Israel, and He incited David against them to say, “Go, conduct a draft of Israel and Judah.” |
(א) וַיֹּסֶף אַף יְהוָה לַחֲרוֹתD בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל וַיָּסֶת אֶת דָּוִד בָּהֶם לֵאמֹר לֵךְ מְנֵהE אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאֶת יְהוּדָה. |
1 Presently, Satan stood against Israel and incited David to conduct a draft of Israel. |
(א) וַיַּעֲמֹד שָׂטָן X X עַל יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיָּסֶת אֶת דָּוִיד X X X לִמְנוֹת אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל X X. |
2
καὶ εἶπεν ὁ
βασιλεὺς πρὸς
Ιωαβ ἄρχοντα
τῆς ἰσχύος
τὸν μετ᾿ αὐτοῦ
Δίελθε δὴ
πάσας φυλὰς
Ισραηλ ἀπὸ Δαν
καὶ ἕως Βηρσαβεε
καὶ ἐπίσκεψ |
2 And the king said to Joab commander of the host, who was with him, Go now through X all the tribes of Israel [and Juda], from Dan even to Bersabee, and number the people, and I will know the number of the people. |
2
And the king said to Joab the general of his army X
X: Go
through X X all
the tribes of Israel from Dan X to
Bersabee, and number
ye the people that I may know the number
of the |
2
For the king said to Joab the captain of the host, which was
with him, |
2 So the king said to Joab, the officer of the armed-forces, who was with him, “Please roam throughout all the tribes of Israel – from Dan all the way to Beersheba – and y’all make an account of the people so that I may know the number of the people.” |
(ב) וַיֹּאמֶר הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶל יוֹאָב שַׂר הַחַיִל אֲשֶׁר אִתּוֹ שׁוּט נָא בְּכָל שִׁבְטֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל מִדָּן וְעַד בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע וּפִקְדוּF אֶת הָעָם וְיָדַעְתִּיG אֵת מִסְפַּר הָעָם. |
2 So David said to Joab and to the officers of the people, “Y’all go, number Israel – from Beersheba all the way to Dan, then bring it to me so I can know their number.” |
(ב) וַיֹּאמֶר דָּוִיד אֶל יוֹאָב וְאֶל שָׂרֵי הָעָם X לְכוּ סִפְרוּ אֶת X X יִשְׂרָאֵל מִבְּאֵר שֶׁבַע וְעַד דָּן וְהָבִיאוּ אֵלַי X וְאֵדְעָה אֶת מִסְפָּרָם. |
3 καὶ εἶπεν Ιωαβ πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα Καὶ προσθείη κύριος ὁ θεός σου πρὸς τὸν λαὸν ὥσπερ αὐτοὺς καὶ ὥσπερ αὐτοὺς ἑκατονταπλασίονα, καὶ ὀφθαλμοὶ τοῦ κυρίου μου τοῦ βασιλέως ὁρῶντες· καὶ ὁ κύριός μου ὁ βασιλεὺς ἵνα τί βούλεται ἐν τῷ λόγῳ τούτῳ; |
3 And Joab said to the king, Now may the Lord X XH add to the people a hundred-fold as many X as they are, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it: but why does my lord the king desire this thing? |
3
And Joab said to the king: XI
The Lord thy God |
3 And Joab said unto the king, Now the LORD thy God add unto the people, how many soever they be, an hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord the king may see it: but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing? |
3 But Joab said to the king, “May Yahweh your God indeed add to the people as they are 100 times more than they are, and may the eyes of my master the king see it, but, why should my master the king be obsessed with this thing?” |
(ג) וַיֹּאמֶר יוֹאָב אֶל הַמֶּלֶךְ וְיוֹסֵף יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ אֶל הָעָם כָּהֵם וְכָהֵם מֵאָה פְעָמִים וְעֵינֵי אֲדֹנִי הַמֶּלֶךְ רֹאוֹת וַאדֹנִי הַמֶּלֶךְ לָמָּה חָפֵץ בַּדָּבָר הַזֶּה. |
3 But Joab said, “May Yahweh cause to add unto His people as many as 100 times! Is not my master the king? All of them belong to my master as servants. Why should my master seek this? Why should it become guilt to Israel?” |
(ג) וַיֹּאמֶר יוֹאָב X X xיוֹסֵף יְהוָה X עַל עַמּוֹ כָּהֵם X מֵאָה פְעָמִים הֲלֹא אֲדֹנִי הַמֶּלֶךְ כֻּלָּם לַאדֹנִי לַעֲבָדִים לָמָּה יְבַקֵּשׁ X זֹאת אֲדֹנִי לָמָּה יִהְיֶה לְאַשְׁמָה לְיִשְׂרָאֵל. |
4 καὶ ὑπερίσχυσεν ὁ λόγος τοῦ βασιλέως πρὸς Ιωαβ καὶ εἰς τοὺς ἄρχοντας τῆς δυνάμεως. καὶ ἐξῆλθεν Ιωαβ καὶ οἱ ἄρχοντες τῆς ἰσχύος ἐνώπιον τοῦ βασιλέως ἐπισκέψασθαι τὸν λαὸν Ισραηλ. |
4 Nevertheless the word of the king prevailed against Joab and X the captains of the host: And Joab and the captains of the host went out before the king to number the people [of] Israel. |
4
But the king's words prevailed over the words of Joab, and of the
captains of the army: and Joab, and the captains of the soldiers
went out |
4
Notwithstanding
the king's word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains
of the host.
And Joab and the captains
of the host went out |
4 But the king’s word prevailed against Joab and over the officers of the army, so Joab went forth, along with the officers of the army, before the face of the king to make an account of the people Israel. |
(ד) וַיֶּחֱזַק דְּבַר הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶלJ יוֹאָב וְעַל שָׂרֵי הֶחָיִל וַיֵּצֵא יוֹאָב וְשָׂרֵי הַחַיִל לִפְנֵי הַמֶּלֶךְ Kלִפְקֹד אֶת הָעָם אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל. |
4 But the king’s word prevailed over Joab, so Joab went forth |
(ד) וּדְבַר הַמֶּלֶךְ חָזַק עַל יוֹאָב X X X וַיֵּצֵא יוֹאָב X X X X X X X X X |
5 καὶ διέβησαν τὸν Ιορδάνην καὶ παρενέβαλονL ἐν Αροηρ ἐκ δεξιῶν τῆς πόλεως τῆς ἐν μέσῳ τῆς φάραγγος Γαδ καὶ Ελιεζερ |
5 And they went over Jordan, and encamped in Aroer, on the right of the city which is in the midst of the valley of Gad and Eliezer.M |
5
And when they had passed the Jordan, they 6 And by Jazer |
5 And they passed over Jordan, and pitched in Aroer, on the right side of the city that lieth in the midst of the river of Gad, and toward Jazer: |
5 And when they had crossed the Jordan, they made a base by Aroer, to the right of the city which was in the middle of the valley of Gad, then at Jazer. |
(ה) וַיַּעַבְרוּ אֶת הַיַּרְדֵּן וַיַּחֲנוּN בַעֲרוֹעֵר יְמִין הָעִיר אֲשֶׁר בְּתוֹךְ הַנַּחַל הַגָּדO וְאֶל יַעְזֵר. |
|
|
6 καὶ ἦλθον εἰς τὴν Γαλααδ καὶ εἰς γῆν Θαβασων, [ἥ ἐστιν] Αδασαι, καὶ παρεγένοντο εἰς Δανιδαν [καὶ Ουδαν] καὶ ἐκύκλωσαν εἰς Σιδῶνα |
6 And they came to Galaad, and into the land of Thabason, [which is] Adasai, and they came to Danidan [and Udan], and compassed XP Sidon. |
X they passed into Galaad, and to the lower landQ of Hodsi, and they came into the woodlandsR of Dan. And going about by Sidon, |
6 Then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtimhodshi; and they came to Danjaan, and about to Zidon, |
6 Then they came to Gilead and to the land of Takhtimkhodshi, then they came to Dan (as planned), then came around to Sidon, |
(ו) וַיָּבֹאוּ הַגִּלְעָדָה וְאֶל אֶרֶץ תַּחְתִּיםS חָדְשִׁי וַיָּבֹאוּ דָּנָה יַּעַן וְסָבִיב אֶל צִידוֹן. |
|
|
7 καὶ ἦλθαν εἰς Μαψαρ Τύρου καὶ πάσας τὰς πόλεις τοῦ Ευαίου καὶ τοῦ Χαναναίου καὶ ἦλθαν κατὰ νότον Ιουδα [εἰς] Βηρσαβεε |
7 And they came to MapsarT of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Evite and the Chananite: and they came by the South of Juda [to] Bersabee. |
7
They passed [near] the walls of Tyre, and all the |
7 And came to the strong hold of Tyre, and [to] all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites: and they went out to the south of Judah, even to Beersheba. |
7 and came to the fortress of Tyre, then all the cities of the Hivvites and the Canaanites. Presently they came out through the Negev of Judah at Beersheba. |
(ז) וַיָּבֹאוּ מִבְצַר צֹר וְכָל עָרֵי הַחִוִּי וְהַכְּנַעֲנִי וַיֵּצְאוּ אֶל נֶגֶב יְהוּדָה בְּאֵר שָׁבַע. |
|
|
8 καὶ περιώδευσαν ἐν πάσῃ τῇ γῇ καὶ παρεγένοντο ἀπὸ τέλους ἐννέα μηνῶν καὶ εἴκοσι ἡμερῶν εἰς Ιερουσαλημ. |
8 And they compassed the whole land; and they arrived at Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. |
8
And having |
8
So when they had |
8 And when they had roamed through all the land, they arrived, after the end of nine months and twenty days, at Jerusalem. |
(ח) וַיָּשֻׁטוּ בְּכָל הָאָרֶץ וַיָּבֹאוּ מִקְצֵהU תִשְׁעָה חֳדָשִׁים וְעֶשְׂרִים יוֹם יְרוּשָׁלִָם. |
And when he had travelled through all of Israel, he arrived at Jerusalem. |
וַיִּתְהַלֵּךְ |
9 καὶ ἔδωκεν Ιωαβ τὸν ἀριθμὸν τῆς ἐπισκέψεως τοῦ λαοῦ πρὸς τὸν βασιλέα, καὶ ἐγένετο Ισραηλ ὀκτακόσιαι χιλιάδες ἀνδρῶν δυνάμεως σπωμένων ῥομφαίαν καὶ ἀνὴρ Ιουδα πεντακόσιαι χιλιάδες ἀνδρῶν [μαχητῶν]. |
9 And Joab gave in the number of the census of the people to the king: and Israel consisted of eight hundred thousand men of might that drew sword; and the men of Juda, five hundred thousand [fighting] men. |
9
And Joab gave up the sum
of the number of the
people to the king, and [there] w |
9
And Joab gave up the sum
of the number
of the people unto the king: and [there]
w |
9 Then Joab gave the number of the accounting of the people to the king: that Israel had become 800,000 men of means to draw a sword, and the manpower of Judah was 500,000 men. |
(ט) וַיִּתֵּן יוֹאָב אֶת מִסְפַּר מִפְקַד הָעָם אֶל הַמֶּלֶךְ וַתְּהִיV יִשְׂרָאֵל שְׁמֹנֶה מֵאוֹת אֶלֶף אִישׁ חַיִל שֹׁלֵף חֶרֶב וְאִישׁ יְהוּדָה חֲמֵשׁ מֵאוֹת אֶלֶף אִישׁ. |
5 Then Joab gave the number of the accounting of the people to David: that all Israel had become 1,100,000 men to draw the sword, and Judah 470,000 men to draw the sword. 6 But of Levi and Benjamin he did not make an accounting among them because the word of the king was abhorrent to Joab. |
(ה) וַיִּתֵּן יוֹאָב אֶת מִסְפַּר מִפְקַד הָעָם אֶל דָּוִיד וַיְהִי כָל יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶלֶף אֲלָפִים וּמֵאָה אֶלֶף אִישׁ X שֹׁלֵף חֶרֶב וִXיהוּדָה אַרְבַּע מֵאוֹת וְשִׁבְעִים אֶלֶף אִישׁ שֹׁלֵף חָרֶב. (ו) וְלֵוִי וּבִנְיָמִן לֹא פָקַד בְּתוֹכָם כִּי נִתְעַב דְּבַר הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶת יוֹאָב. |
10
Καὶ ἐπάταξεν
καρδία Δαυιδ
αὐτὸν μετὰ |
10
And the heart of David smote him after he had X
numbered
the people;
and David said to the Lord, I have sinned grievously, |
10
But David's heart struck him, after X
the people |
10
And David's
heart smote him after that he had X
numbered
the people.
And David
said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: |
10
Then David’s conscience struck him after he had thus
numbered the people, and
David said to Yahweh, “I have sinned greatly in what I have
done, |
(י)
וַיַּךְ
לֵב דָּוִד
אֹתוֹ אַחֲרֵי
כֵןY
סָפַר
אֶת הָעָם
וַיֹּאמֶר
דָּוִד אֶל
יְהוָה חָטָאתִי
מְאֹד אֲשֶׁר
עָשִׂיתִי |
7 Concerning this word, it was also bad in the eyes of God, therefore He struck Israel. 8
Then David said to God, “I
have sinned greatly in this thing
which I have done, |
(ז)
וַיֵּרַע
בְּעֵינֵי
הָאֱלֹהִים
עַל הַדָּבָר
הַזֶּה
וַיַּךְX
אֶת
יִשְׂרָאֵל.(ח)
וַיֹּאמֶר
דָּוִיד
אֶל הָאֱלֹהִים
חָטָאתִי מְאֹד
אֲשֶׁר עָשִׂיתִי |
11 καὶ ἀνέστη Δαυιδ τὸ πρωί. καὶ λόγος κυρίου ἐγένετο πρὸς Γαδ τὸν προφήτην τὸν ὁρῶντα Δαυιδ λέγων |
11 And David rose early in the morning, and the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, the seer XAB, saying, |
11 And David arose in the morning, and the word of the Lord came to Gad the prophet [and] the seer of David, saying: |
11 For when David was up in the morning, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, |
11 Later when David got up in the morning, the word of Yahweh had come to Gad the Prophet, David’s Seer, saying |
(יא) וַיָּקָם דָּוִד בַּבֹּקֶר וּדְבַר יְהוָה הָיָה אֶל גָּד הַנָּבִיא חֹזֵה דָוִד לֵאמֹר. |
9 Then Yahweh spoke to Gad, David’s Seer saying, |
(ט)
X |
12 Πορεύθητι καὶ λάλησον πρὸς Δαυιδ λέγων Τάδε λέγει κύριος Τρία ἐγώ εἰμι αἴρω ἐπὶ σέ, [καὶ] ἔκλεξαι σεαυτῷ ἓν ἐξ αὐτῶν, καὶ ποιήσω σοι. |
Go,
and speak to David, saying, |
12
Go, and say to David: Thus saith the Lord: I |
12 Go and say unto David, Thus saith the LORD, I offer X thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee. |
12 to go and say to David: “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Three things I am bringing to bear upon you. Choose for yourself one of them, and I will do it to you.’” |
(יב) הָלוֹךְ וְדִבַּרְתָּ אֶל דָּוִד כֹּה אָמַר יְהוָה שָׁלֹשׁ אָנֹכִי נוֹטֵלAD עָלֶיךָ בְּחַר לְךָ אַחַת מֵהֶם וְאֶעֱשֶׂה לָּךְ. |
10 “Go and speak to David, saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh, “Three things I am laying out against you. Choose for yourself one of them, and I will do it to you.”’” |
(י) לֵךְ וְדִבַּרְתָּ אֶל דָּוִיד לֵאמֹר כֹּה אָמַר יְהוָה שָׁלוֹשׁ אֲנִי נֹטֶה עָלֶיךָ בְּחַר לְךָ אַחַת מֵהֵנָּהAE וְאֶעֱשֶׂה לָּךְ. |
13
καὶ εἰσῆλθεν
Γαδ πρὸς Δαυιδ
καὶ ἀνήγγειλεν
αὐτῷ καὶ εἶπεν
αὐτῷ [Ἔκλεξαι
σεαυτῷ γενέσθαι,]
εἰ ἔλθῃ σοι
|
13
And Gad went in to David, and told him, and said to him, [Choose
one of these things to befall thee,AF]
whether there shall come upon thee for |
13
And when Gad was come to David, he told him, saying X X: Either
seven years of famine shall come to thee in thy land: or thou
shalt flee three months before thy adversaries, and |
13
So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall
seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou
flee three months before thine enemies, while |
13 So Gad came to David and brought the response to him and said to him, “Shall seven years of famine come to you in your country, or three months of you fleeing before your oppressor while he hunts you down, or shall it be three days of a plague in your country? {Therefore,} discern now, and perceive which thing I should bring back to the One who commissioned me.” |
(יג) וַיָּבֹא גָד אֶל דָּוִד וַיַּגֶּד לוֹ וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ הֲתָבוֹא לְךָ שֶׁבַע שָׁנִים רָעָב בְּאַרְצֶךָ אִם שְׁלֹשָׁה חֳדָשִׁים נֻסְךָ לִפְנֵי צָרֶיךָ וְהוּא רֹדְפֶךָ וְאִם הֱיוֹת שְׁלֹשֶׁת יָמִים דֶּבֶר בְּאַרְצֶךָ AHעַתָּה דַּע וּרְאֵה מָה אָשִׁיב שֹׁלְחִי דָּבָר. |
11 So Gad came to David and said to him, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Accept for yourself 12 either three years of famine, or three months of being swept away from the presence of your oppressors and overcome by the sword of your enemies, or three days of the sword of Yahweh and plague in the land – that is, the messenger of Yahweh laying waste in every precinct of Israel.’ So now see, which thing shall I bring back to the one who commissioned me?” |
(יא) וַיָּבֹא גָד אֶל דָּוִיד וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ כֹּה אָמַר יְהוָה קַבֶּל לָךְ. (יב) אִם שָׁלוֹשׁ שָׁנִים רָעָב X וְאִם שְׁלֹשָׁה חֳדָשִׁים נִסְפֶּה מִפְּנֵי צָרֶיךָ וְחֶרֶב אוֹיְבֶךָ לְמַשֶּׂגֶת וְאִם X שְׁלֹשֶׁת יָמִים חֶרֶב יְהוָה וְדֶבֶר בָּאָרֶץx וּמַלְאַךְ יְהוָה מַשְׁחִית בְּכָל גְּבוּל יִשְׂרָאֵל וְעַתָּה X רְאֵה מָה אָשִׁיב אֶת שֹׁלְחִי דָּבָר. |
14
καὶ εἶπεν Δαυιδ
πρὸς Γαδ Στενά
μοι [πάντοθεν]
σφόδρα ἐστίν·
ἐμπεσοῦ |
14
And David said to Gad, [On
every side] I
am much straitened: let |
14
And David said to Gad: I am in a great strait: but it is better
that |
14 And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man. |
14 Then David said to Gad, “This is very distressing to me! Please let {me} fall into the control of Yahweh, for His mercies are great, and let me not fall in the direction of the control of man!” |
(יד) וַיֹּאמֶר דָּוִד אֶל גָּד צַר לִי מְאֹד ALנִפְּלָה נָּא בְיַד יְהוָה כִּי רַבִּים רַחֲמָוAM וּבְיַד אָדָם אַל אֶפֹּלָה. |
13 Then David said to Gad, “This is very distressing to me! Please let me fall into the control of Yahweh, for His mercies are very great, and let me not fall into the control of man!” |
(יג) וַיֹּאמֶר דָּוִיד אֶל גָּד צַר לִי מְאֹד אֶפְּלָה נָּא בְיַד יְהוָה כִּי רַבִּים רַחֲמָיו מְאֹד וּבְיַד אָדָם אַל אֶפֹּלx. |
1Although there was one incident where the anger of the LORD burned against Uzzah for touching the ark in an unauthorized way – 2 Sam. 6:7. Keil & Delitzsch, Robert Jamieson, John Gill, and Goldman proposed, however, that the 3-year famine was the previous instance of God’s wrath. Kimchi and Abarbinel suggested other things.
2Andrew Willett agreed: “ it seemeth by the words of the text, that it was some generall sinne of the whole land”
3David Tsumura agreed: “The inf. Phrase le’mor here means ‘to say’ in a literal sense; it is not being used as a direct speech marker (‘saying’).” The imperative is addressed to a party who is singular and masculine.
4Willett
agreed: “God is said to haue mooued Dauid, 1. in permitting
and suffring Sathan to put it into Dauids heart, to number the
people…” although his take on David’s sin was
that this census was “a needelesse action, wherof there was no
cause, but onely Dauids curiositie… not for that they were
numbred without that leauie appointed by Moses... for Moses himselfe
did not alwaies leauie that summe when he numbred the people, but...
because this proceeded from pride and carnall confidence…”
So
Matthew Henry: “This was the fault, that he had no orders from
God to do it, nor was there any occasion for the doing of it….
Satan, as an enemy, suggested it for a sin... God, as righteous
Judge, permitted it, with a design, from this sin of David, to take
an occasion to punish Israel for other sins, for which he might
justly have punished them without this.”
Keil &
Delitzsch: “...presupposes guilt on the part of the nation;
and as this is not expressly pointed out, we may seek for it
generally in the rebellions of Absalom and Sheba… the
numbering of the people could not be of any essential advantage to
David's government…”
Robert Jamieson: “David
acted not only independently of such order or sanction, but from...
pride…”
John Gill: “the Lord left him to the
corruption of his nature... which... moved him to say...”
51 Chron. 27:23 “But David did not take the number of those twenty years old and under, because the LORD had said He would multiply Israel like the stars of the heavens.” (NKJV)
6cf. Josephus: “he forgot the commands of Moses, who told them that if the multitude were numbered, they should pay half a shekel to God for every head.”
7This word for “guilt” appears only four times in the Bible before 1 Chronicles, and all four times are in the book of Leviticus, twice regarding profaning holy things and twice regarding stealing and lying. This is where Joab got that word from: the holiness codes of Leviticus.
8My interpretation seems to be different from that of most commentators, so I am offering it tentatively. Keil & Delitzsch instead interpreted Joab’s reasoning in terms of the asham being “a trespass which must be atoned for [as opposed to a trespass] which one commits… ‘Why should Israel expiate thy sin, in seeking thy glory in the power and greatness of thy kingdom.’” Jamieson likewise attempted to divorce asham from the concept of guilt here by interpreting it as “an occasion of punishment,” reasoning that “In the course of Providence, the people frequently suffer for the misconduct of their rulers.” But I would urge caution against denying that asham comes upon the sinner for committing a sin. I am attempting to find another way to interpret this passage in which the people put to death were actually guilty, but David was in a position to exacerbate or bring grace to the situation. Matthew Henry seems to agree with me when he wrote, “Though it was David's sin that immediately opened the sluice, the sins of the people all contributed to the deluge.”
9Or, as Jamieson suggested (citing Davidson in support), by inclusion or avoidance of the 30k already mustered in 6:1.
10Including Andrew Willett (citing support from Borrhaius and Junius), Robert Jamieson, and John Gill.
11The
only conjunctions of those two words in the Bible being:
Job
7:21 “Why do You not carry away my transgression or pass
over my iniquity?”
Psalm 38:5 “For my
iniquities have slipped over my head like a heavy
burden; they have become too heavy for me.”
Micah 7:18
“Who is a God like You, carrying away iniquity and
passing over transgression…”
Zech. 3:4
“...See, I have transferred from off of you your
iniquity…” (NAW)
12Jamieson, Gill, Willett, and Junius attempted to reconcile the two numbers by suggesting that the three years of famine for the offense of Saul against the Gibeonites was part of a 7-year total, and since they were partway into year four, there would be 3 more years to go, but the scriptural account seems to indicate that after the 3-year drought, God was moved by prayer to end it.
132 Kings 8:1 Then Elisha spoke to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, "Arise and go, you and your household, and stay wherever you can; for the LORD has called for a famine, and furthermore, it will come upon the land for seven years."
14Fleeing before enemies was a covenantal curse in Leviticus 26:37 & Deut. 28:25.
15In the Bible, however, the three day theme seems to be most-frequently associated with renewal/resurrection.
16Several commentators also suggested that David chose plague because his wealth and power might protect him from the effects of a famine or a war, but a plague could affect him the same as anyone else.
AMy
original chart includes the NASB, NIV, and ESV, but their copyright
restrictions have forced me to remove them from the
publicly-available edition of this chart. NAW is my translation.
When a translation adds words not in the Hebrew text, but does not
indicate it has done so by the use of italics or greyed-out text, I
put the added words in [square brackets]. When one version chooses a
wording which is different from all the other translations, I
underline it. When a version chooses a translation which, in
my opinion, either departs too far from the root meaning of the
Hebrew word or departs too far from the grammar form of the original
text, I use strikeout. And when a version omits a
word which is in the original text, I insert an X. I also place an X
at the end of a word if the original word is plural but the English
translation is singular. I occasionally use colors to help the
reader see correlations between the various editions and versions
when there are more than two different translations of a given word.
The only known Dead Sea Scrolls containing 2 Samuel 24 are 4Q51
Samuela containing parts of verses 16-22 and dated
between 50-25 BC. Where the DSS is legible and in agreement with the
MT, the MT is colored purple. Where the
DSS supports the LXX or Vulgate with omissions or text not in the
MT, I have highlighted with
yellow the LXX and its translation into English, and where I
have accepted that into my NAW translation, I have marked it with
{pointed brackets}.
In the parallel MT Hebrew readings from 1
Chron. 21, I have colored orange the
words which are spelled differently and colored grey
the words which are not in the 2 Sam. text. In most cases, the
orange words are synonyms for the words in the 2 Sam. text. It is
clear that the differences between them are not the result of
accidental copy errors, but rather are a result of a purposeful
editing process. Tsumura commented that in almost every case the
Psalms edition uses standardized Hebrew spelling with full spellings
of long vowel consonants, so it was written to be read,
whereas the 2 Samuel edition would sound practically the same but
was written to be heard. The 2 Sam. text seems to be the
earlier edition, and 1 Chron. the later edition.
BThe Hebrew is infinitive (“to say”), but the LXX verb is a participle (“saying”). While Hebrew infinitives are sometimes best translated into an English participle, in this case, the infinitive implies that Yahweh’s anger incited “David to say, ‘Go conduct a census,’” whereas changing the infinitive to a participle implies that Yahweh Himself commanded “David, saying, ‘Go conduct a census.’” The parallel passage in 1 Chronicles elaborates that this wasn’t a direct command from Yahweh, but rather an indirect influence which involved Satan.
CNeither the Vaticanus nor Rahlfs’ edition of the Septuagint mention “Satan.” This must have been an editorial insertion in Brenton’s English version based on the parallel passage in 1 Chron.
DThe only previous instances in the books of Samuel of Gods “anger” “burning” to which the “again” might refer are 2 Sam. 6:7 & 22:8.
Ecf.
Genesis 13:16 "And I will make your [Abraham’s]
descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number
the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be
numbered.” (NKJV)
1 Kings 20:25 "and you
shall muster [number] an army like the army that you have
lost, horse for horse and chariot for chariot. Then we will fight
against them in the plain…” (NKJV)
Fv. 4 as well as the parallel passage in 1 Chron. here explain the plural verb: David is talking not only to Joab but also to his army officers.
GSyriac reads “bring to me” (following the 1 Chron. parallel in part) instead of “that I may know.”
HLXX reads “your God” (along with the MT), but the Vaticanus reads “God,” and Brenton omitted even that.
ISyriac and Lucian Rescription support the Vulgate here in omitting the conjunction, but it doesn’t change the meaning.
JSyriac, Targums, and Greek Lucian Rescription read the synonym על along with 1 Chronicles.
KThe Syriac (מן), Latin (a), and Lucian Rescription (ek) read “from,” but the MT preposition is “before” – perhaps a “passing in review.”
LLucian Rescription instead reads erxanto apo arohr (“came from Aroer”).
MThe MT puts a space between “el” (“toward”) and “iazer” (“Jazer”) so it reads “toward Jazer,” but it is easy to see how the whole prepositional phrase could be seen by the LXX as a proper name without the space. The Syriac reads as though the “el” were repeated “el eliazer.”
NInstead of the MT “camped,” the Lucian Rescription, Syriac, and Vulgate read “came.”
OThe cantillation markings at https://hb.openscriptures.org/structure/OshbVerse/index.html?b=2Sam&c=24&v=5 indicate that the phrase “to the right side of the city which is in the midst of the valley of Gad” all goes together with “Aroer.” (K&D also affirmed this.)
PVaticanus omits the preposition “into,” which is in the majority text of the LXX as well as in the MT, Vulgate, & Syriac.
QThe Hebrew Tattimhodschi means “lowlands of the moon.”
RThe Hebrew is ya’an (“purpose”) but the Vulgate translated it “forest” as though it were the Hebrew word ya’ar.
SESV may have followed the Syriac with “Hittites,” but it didn’t follow the rest of the Syriac, which reads hoschi as “Canaanites,” and “they went” as “Jebusites.” The Syriac mixes up phrases in this verse and the next with each other. Symmachus has τὴν κατωτέραν ὁδόν (“the low road”); Jonathan Targums לְחָדְשִׁי דָרֹומָא לְאַרְעָא (“into the southland Chodshi”).
TThis is just a transliteration of the Hebrew word instead of a translation of it.
UThis is one of only 10 temporal uses of this word (the others being Gen. 8:3; Deut. 14:28; Josh. 3:2; 9:16; 1 Ki. 9:10; 2 Ki. 8:3; 18:10; and Ezek. 3:16 & 39:14); all the rest are locative.
VThis verb is feminine and singular, so “800,000 men” cannot be the subject; Israel is the subject.
WLXX (including Vaticanus) makes this verb “number” an infinitive, but it is a regular Qal (active contra the Latin Vulgate) perfect verb in the MT, and Brenton’s English translation of the LXX reflects the MT rather than the LXX at this point.
XBrenton mixed up the order of the words in his English translation. The LXX (including Vaticanus) actually follows the word order of the MT, putting “O LORD” and “Now” after “I have sinned greatly in what I have done.”
Y“Thus” is not in the Syriac, LXX, or Vulgate (or in any standard English version), but it is in the Targums and the Lucian Rescription, and the word “this” (describing “thing”) might be correlated to it from the 1 Chron. parallel account.
Zcf. the same words used in David’s previous confession regarding Bathsheba and Uriah: 2 Samuel 12:13 So David said to Nathan, "I sinned against Yahweh!" Then Nathan said to David, "Yahweh Himself has also passed over your sin; you will not die. There are only four other places in the Bible where this verb AVR (“pass over”) is used in conjunction with the noun AVN (“iniquity”): Job 7:21; Ps. 38:5; Mic. 7:18; and Zech. 3:4.
AAThe Hebrew word translated “foolish” denotes making a faulty plan which exposes people to unnecessary risk, not the silliness of a jester. It is found in 6 other places in scripture, notably in Eli’s admonition to Saul for impatiently officiating sacrifices before the appointed time (1 Samuel 13:13), in Saul’s confession of wrongdoing to David in the wilderness of Ziph (1 Sam. 26:21), in Ahithophel’s siding with Absalom in his rebellion against David (2 Sam 15:31), and in Hananai the Seer’s admonition to King Asa for trusting in Syria instead of in God (2 Chron. 16:9). Other instances are Laban’s criticism of Jacob for his hasty departure (Gen. 31:28), and Isa. 44:25 (in the context of political counsel).
ABVaticanus omits “of David,” the Syriac omits “the Seer of David,” and 1 Chron. omits “the prophet,” but it is all in the majority LXX and Vulgate, as it is in the MT.
ACThese extra words are not in the LXX or Vaticanus; they are just Brenton editing for precise meaning in English.
ADRare word found only 3 other places: Isaiah 40:15 & 63:9, and Lam. 3:28, denoting “carry.” The 1 Chron. parallel changes the last letter to make it into a more-common verb denoting “extend.”
AE1 Chron. uses a feminine form of “them,” since the words “three” and “one” are feminine, but 2 Samuel uses the generic masculine form for “them.”
AFThese extra words are in the parallel passage in 1 Chron.
AGMT, Vulgate, Syriac, Arabic, Targums, and Josephuys all read “seven,” but the parallel passage in 1 Chronicles is “three.” A comparison of the two parallel accounts makes clear that more was said than either passage recorded, so there is no way to prove it wasn’t said both ways.
AH1 Chronicles adds a conjunction before this word, as do the LXX, Vulgate, and Syriac of the 2 Sam. edition.
AIThe Vaticanus reads plural here, while the majority LXX reads singular. In the next instance in this verse, the LXX and Vaticanus agree in the plural, but in both cases, the MT is singular.
AJLXX follows the reading of the 1 Chron. parallel here with the addition of the word “very.” It doesn’t make a practical difference in meaning beyond emphasis.
AKLXX adds “Thus David chose for himself death.”
ALLXX, Syriac, and Vulgate all read “let me fall” instead of the MT “let us fall.” The MT in 1 Chron. is also “let me fall.” It doesn’t make a practical difference in meaning, though.
AMQere adds a yod before the end to make the plural more obvious רַחֲמָיו, which is also the way it is spelled in the parallel passage in 1 Chron., but the meaning is the same either way.