2 Samuel 24:2-4

2 So the king said to Joab and the army commanders^[a] with him, “Go throughout the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba and enroll the fighting men, so that I may know how many there are.”

3 But Joab replied to the king, “May the LORD your God multiply the troops a hundred times over, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king want to do such a thing?”

4 The king’s word, however, overruled Joab and the army commanders; so they left the presence of the king to enroll the fighting men of Israel.

2 Samuel 24:2-4 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 24

In this chapter an account is given of David's numbering of the people, 2Sa 24:1-9; of the sense he had of his sin, and of his acknowledgment of it; and of the Lord's displeasure at it, who sent the prophet Gad to him, to propose three things to him, one of which he was to choose as a punishment for it, 2Sa 24:10-13; when he chose the pestilence, which carried off a great number of the people, 2Sa 24:14-17; and David was directed to build an altar to the Lord in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite, with whom he agreed for it, and built one on it, and offered upon it, and so the plague was stayed, 2Sa 24:18-25.

Cross References

• 1. S 2 Samuel 20:23
• 2. Judges 20:1; S 2 Samuel 3:10
• 3. 2 Chronicles 2:17; 2 Chronicles 17:14; 2 Chronicles 25:5
• 4. S 2 Samuel 2:18
• 5. S Deuteronomy 1:11

Footnotes

• [a]. Septuagint (see also verse 4 and 1 Chron. 21:2); Hebrew "Joab the army commander"