1 Chronicles 21 Footnotes

21:8 Here is evidence that the Chronicler had no intention of “whitewashing” David or any other character about whom he wrote. David had his faults, but not every existing story about them served the author’s purposes. The Chronicler included this story of the census, but omitted the Bathsheba affair (see 20:1 with 2Sm 11:1). One major difference between the two events is that while David’s sin and murder affected only a small number of people, his ordering the census had consequences for many thousands. Put another way, the Chronicler chose to omit personal sins, but he included sins of a king that had negative consequences for “all Israel.”