God did. 2
Samuel 24:1 And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against
Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.[i]
Satan did. 1
Chronicles 21:1 And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David
to number Israel.
The sentence in 2 Samuel 24:1 attributes directly
to God the things that come under his sovereign control. Men will use whatever
expressions necessary to soothe their own consciences and support their own
beliefs. “God caused it” on the one hand, or “God permitted it” on the other. Even the stout predestinarian
Baptist John Gill equivocates in his commentary, writing, “he moved David
against them; not the Lord, but Satan, as may be supplied from 1 Chronicles
21:1.” Nevertheless, in whatever ways one wishes to speculate, the statements are still that both “God
moved David” and “Satan provoked David” to number Israel.
God’s anger was kindled against the nation Israel for
some sin or sins committed, which are not here named. The sin in 2 Samuel 24 verse 1 is not
a reference to the numbering, which takes place only after the kindling of
God’s righteous anger. Here God does not expose Israel’s “secret sin,” to tell
us what it is, but rather judges them with a sin that is public, obvious, and alarming prior to its execution. Matthew Henry writes, “It is certain that it was a sin, and a great
sin; but where the evil of it lay is not so certain.” We can be sure that David’s
purpose in numbering the people was sinful, if we accept the Bible as written.[ii] Joab immediately recognized
it as a wrong (v.
3; 1
Chronicles 21:3). David quickly grasped that after the fact and
freely admitted it was wrong (v.
10).
The situation of both God and Satan inciting David
to number Israel finds a close parallel in the book of Job, in the first two
chapters.[iii] Even
though Satan was the immediate cause for Job’s suffering, we find Job saying, “the
Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away” and “shall we receive good at the hand
of God, and shall we not receive evil?” These statements of Job are followed by
biblical commentary: “In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly”
and “In all this did not Job sin with his lips.” Even in the conclusion the
inspired author wrote “Then came there unto him all his brethren, and all his
sisters, and all they that had been of his acquaintance before, and did eat
bread with him in his house: and they bemoaned him, and comforted him over all
the evil that the Lord had brought upon him…” (Job 42:11).[iv]
God’s authority, sovereignty, and providence
extends over the affairs of men and the actions of Satan. The word can speak of
God, Satan, and man performing the same act. We intuitively perceive that there
is a “reasonable” explanation, but (if we are honest) are frequently flummoxed floundering
to find it. These acts of God, men, and devils are intricately interwoven,
sometimes cryptically concealed and otherwise mysteriously moved. May we accept
that there are puzzling aspects of this incident of the numbering of Israel
that we are not able to understand fully in our present state of existence. It
is better to live with the enigma than to twist the Bible to make its plain
statements incomprehensible. Though there is sin and sorrow in this world, God
will accomplish his purpose (Isaiah
14:24) and work together good for his people (Romans
8:28). We can know that assuredly.
[i] Summary of 2 Samuel 24:
Israel sinned. God was angry. God and Satan moved David to number Israel. David
sinned in numbering Israel. God judged Israel. David fell on the mercies of
God. God revealed the way of relief and then withdrew his hand of judgement
when the relief was applied.
[ii]
Numbering of itself was not sinful. God twice commanded Moses to number the
Israelites. The first occurred in the second year after they came out of Egypt
(Numbers
1:1-3,19). The second occurred near the end of Israel’s wanderings in
the wilderness (Numbers
26:2-4,63-64). The book “Numbers” even receives its title from these
two occurrences. Perhaps David violated the legal instructions concerning number
the people (cf. Exodus
30:12-16) or placed his trust in the strength of numbers rather than
God (cf. Isaiah
31:1). Perhaps there is some implication of pride in David’s
statement “that I may know the number of the people.”
[iv] “Evil” here is used in
the sense of “calamity,” referring to all the things that came upon Job, from
the loss of property, to the loss of children, to the loss of health. As in 2
Samuel 24:1, the book of Job attributes directly to God the things
that come under his sovereign control.
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