Paul Kretzmann Commentary - 2 Samuel 24:1 - 24:9

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Paul Kretzmann Commentary - 2 Samuel 24:1 - 24:9


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The People Numbered

v. 1. And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, as in the former famine, 2Sa_21:1-14, and He moved David against them, namely, the members of the nation, by giving Satan leeway to tempt David, to say, Go, number Israel and Judah, by taking a census chiefly for military purposes.

v. 2. For the king said to Joab, the captain of the host, which was with him,
having held his post as commander-in-chief of the army, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, from the extreme north to the extreme south end of the land, and number ye the people that I may know the number of the people, really get the exact statistics of the country's military strength.

v. 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?
Joab noticed that the pride of the king was his motive for instituting this census, that he wanted to boast of the imposing and growing military strength of his people, and he feared that no good would come of it, especially since the people themselves might resent the procedure. Joab's native shrewdness here stood him in good stead.

v. 4. Notwithstanding the king's word prevailed against Joab,
his sinful exaltation insisted upon having his command carried out, and against the captains of the host, for the practical sense of the latter had caused them to side with Joab. And Joab and the captains of the host, without further opposition, went out from the presence of the king, before his very eyes, to number the people of Israel.

v. 5. And they passed over Jordan,
in order to begin the census in the southeastern part of the country, in the territory of Reuben, and pitched in Aroer, on the right side of the city that lieth in the midst of the river, that is, the valley, of Gad, and toward Jazer, preferring to camp in the open on account of the large numbers of people who had to be summoned to be enrolled in the census lists.

v. 6. Then they came to Gilead,
the hill country along the Jabbok, and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi, probably a lower section of the east-Jordan country, which had but recently been settled; and they came to Dan-jaan, in Northern Perea, southwest of Damascus, and about to Zidon, as they turned to the west across the foothills of the Lebanon,

v. 7. and came to the stronghold of Tyre,
still a Phenician city, and to all the cities of the Hivites and of the Canaanites, for here the heathen nations had never been fully exterminated, and the mixed population of Galilee was notorious even in Old Testament times; and they went out to the south of Judah, even to Beersheba, omitting Benjamin, however, and not including the Levites, 1Ch_21:6.

v. 8. So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days,
the census not being really finished, because wrath came upon Israel and caused the suspension of the project.

v. 9. And Joab gave up,
reported, the sum of the number of the people unto the king; and there were in Israel, in the northern tribes, eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men. These were round numbers, and the statement in Chronicles, 1Ch_21:5, includes either the standing army or the heathen proselytes. So David had yielded to the temptation of pride, an abomination to God, even as murder and adultery. Every believer must guard against this sin with all earnestness, lest it become a snare to him.