2 Samuel 24:1

1 And the anger of Jehovah addeth to burn against Israel, and [an adversary] moveth David about them, saying, `Go, number Israel and Judah.'

2 Samuel 24:1 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 24:1

And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel,
&c.] It had been kindled, and appeared before in sending a three years' famine among them for Saul's ill usage of the Gibeonites, ( 2 Samuel 21:1 ) ; and now it broke forth again, either for some secret sins committed, as Kimchi suggests, or for the rebellion of Absalom, and the insurrection of Sheba, in which multitudes of them joined; so Abarbinel; no doubt there was cause for it, though it is not expressed:

and he moved David against them;
not the Lord, but Satan, as may be supplied from ( 1 Chronicles 21:1 ) ; or "it moved him"; the anger of the Lord, as the last mentioned writer interprets it; or the heart of David, as Ben Gersom; that is, the evil imagination of his heart, as Kimchi; the Lord left him to the corruption of his nature, sometimes called Satan, ( 2 Corinthians 12:7 ) ; which wrought powerfully in him, and stirred him up to take a step contrary to the interest of Israel, and what was prejudicial to them, as the event showed: it moved him to say; to Joab and his captains:

go, number Israel and Judah:
not all the individuals, but such as were fit for war, able to bear arms, see ( 2 Samuel 24:9 ) .

2 Samuel 24:1 In-Context

1 And the anger of Jehovah addeth to burn against Israel, and [an adversary] moveth David about them, saying, `Go, number Israel and Judah.'

2 And the king saith unto Joab, head of the host that [is] with him, `Go to and fro, I pray thee, through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even unto Beer-Sheba, and inspect ye the people -- and I have known the number of the people.'

3 And Joab saith unto the king, `Yea, Jehovah thy God doth add unto the people, as they are, a hundred times, and the eyes of my lord the king are seeing; and my lord the king, why is he desirous of this thing?'

4 And the word of the king is severe towards Joab, and against the heads of the force, and Joab goeth out, and the heads of the force, [from] before the king to inspect the people, even Israel;

5 and they pass over the Jordan, and encamp in Aroer, on the right of the city that [is] in the midst of the brook of Gad, and unto Jazer,