1
Now Satan entered the scene and seduced David into taking a census of Israel.
2
David gave orders to Joab and the army officers under him, "Canvass all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and get a count of the population. I want to know the number."
3
Joab resisted: "May God multiply his people by hundreds! Don't they all belong to my master the king? But why on earth would you do a thing like this - why risk getting Israel into trouble with God?"
4
But David wouldn't take no for an answer, so Joab went off and did it - canvassed the country and then came back to Jerusalem
5
and reported the results of the census: There were 1,100,000 fighting men; of that total, Judah accounted for 470,000.
6
Joab, disgusted by the command - it, in fact, turned his stomach! - protested by leaving Levi and Benjamin out of the census-taking.
Excepting the three last verses, is contained in 2Sa 24:1-25 with some few variations, which are there observed; see the notes there. 18894-950102-2025-1Ch21.2
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.