Hello Whitfield. It appears confusing & contradicting when we look at 2 Samuel 24:1 & then compare it with 1 Chronicles 21:1. The first Scripture suggests that it was God Who incited King David to conduct this census, whereas the second Scripture tells us that it was Satan who was involved. I see this matter with David as similar to the encounter that Satan had with Job ( Job 1:6-12), where Satan came before God desiring to test Job's mettle. God sometimes uses or allows Satan to have his way with people for a variety of reasons; in the case with Job, to test his love & faithfulness to the God he worshipped & served; & in the case of King David, to test his trust in the power & sovereignty of the God Who was his delight. Job passed - David failed.
If it weren't for the 2 Chronicles reference, one could easily accept that God instigated David to sin; but God's Spirit saw to it that we would be clear in understanding this: that God allowed David to fall under the testing of Satan. And by David hearkening to Satan's voice rather than trusting in the Power & Will of God for him & all Israel, we see that David failed & allowed his desire to know the strength of his forces against his enemies rather than trusting that God can deal with any enemy with only a few men or even none. 1 Samuel 14:6, reveals this Truth, when Jonathan declared to his armour-bearer, "for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few." And it was this faith by Jonathan in God, that got him the victory.
Even with Joab, David's army captain urging him to not take that path to conduct this ill-considered census, David even disregarded his advice, rather gave into his own fleshly lusts, inspired of Satan, to disregard the power of God & to elevate his own power & prestige. So, in 2 Samuel 24:1, God's Anger was "kindled against Israel" & "moved in David", but I believe it would be correct to give much regard to Satan's initial work of inspiration to bring folly to the people of God.
If it weren't for the 2 Chronicles reference, one could easily accept that God instigated David to sin; but God's Spirit saw to it that we would be clear in understanding this: that God allowed David to fall under the testing of Satan. And by David hearkening to Satan's voice rather than trusting in the Power & Will of God for him & all Israel, we see that David failed & allowed his desire to know the strength of his forces against his enemies rather than trusting that God can deal with any enemy with only a few men or even none. 1 Samuel 14:6, reveals this Truth, when Jonathan declared to his armour-bearer, "for there is no restraint to the LORD to save by many or by few." And it was this faith by Jonathan in God, that got him the victory.
Even with Joab, David's army captain urging him to not take that path to conduct this ill-considered census, David even disregarded his advice, rather gave into his own fleshly lusts, inspired of Satan, to disregard the power of God & to elevate his own power & prestige. So, in 2 Samuel 24:1, God's Anger was "kindled against Israel" & "moved in David", but I believe it would be correct to give much regard to Satan's initial work of inspiration to bring folly to the people of God.
This comment thread is locked. Please enter a new comment below to start a new comment thread.
Note: Comment threads older than 2 months are automatically locked.
Do you have a Bible comment or question?
Posting comments is currently unavailable due to high demand on the server.
Please check back in an hour or more. Thank you for your patience!
Report Comment
Which best represents the problem with the comment?