Counting the Troops

Passage: 2 Samuel 24:1-17

This confounding passage begins with the words,

Again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, "Go and take a census of Israel and Judah."

This in itself raises some questions. The first is, “Why is God angry with Israel?” The passage doesn’t provide a satisfactory answer. The second is, “How is taking a census any kind of punishment?” These two questions are important, but they give way to two much more pressing questions as the passage wears on.

As the story progresses, we’re told that David, against the warnings of his advisers, goes ahead with the census. Once the census is complete, David feels great remorse, and is confronted with God’s severe judgment. Two questions these parts of the story bring to mind are: “Why is it so wrong for David to take a census?” and “How is it fair that God punishes David/Israel so severely for something God incited David to do?”

One question at a time. Although it’s not clear why “the LORD’s anger burns against Israel”, there are some ongoing sources of tension between God and his people. The most likely contender is the fact that the Israelites regularly forget that they’re the People of God, and start thinking and acting like everyone else. They think of their affluence and their political/military might as the sources of their comfort and security. The economy, the army, and the king take the place of God in their minds. If we look back we recall God warning his people against this very thing (see post, “So, You Want a King” and related passage). David, God’s anointed king, becomes the mechanism by which God reminds his people that they’re living under a flawed system. God told his people that even the best king would still cause them to suffer, and this is a prime example.

The census is a harsh imposition on the people. It is pursued as a way of tracking young men for military draft. The very act of taking such a census is a reminder to the people of Israel that their lives are not under their control. They are subject to the king, and he may arbitrarily choose to press them into life-threatening service at any time. The king, moreover, cannot be fully trusted to have God-honoring motives in his choice of military exploits. As such, this census is a threat – clear evidence that life is not as it should be amongst God’s people.

For David, the census is a means of quantifying power and influence. Any king’s power is limited by the resources and the fighting force he controls. David pursues the census because, in a moment of weakness, he imagines that his hold on the throne depends on his own political and military might. David forgets that he is God’s anointed; forgets that the only source of his influence is the power of God that undergirds his kingdom.

God both incites David and punishes him because God needs to remind David and his people that God is in control. Theirs is not a kingdom like any other. Their king is God; the only secret to their success as a nation is that they are gathered, led, and governed by God. Their victories come by the sword of the LORD; their provision is by God’s hand alone. The people have replaced God with a king – a king who, left to his own devices, will only hurt them. The king has replaced God’s power with his own – power that is all too limited.

God’s lesson seems harsh and arbitrary, but it is a lesson in an endless line of lessons all intended to teach the same thing: God’s people cannot live without God. There are no substitutes for God. Any attempt to live without God leads to death.

We ourselves need regularly to evaluate the sources of our influence, affluence, and security. Is it our talent and hard work that have secured our fortunes? Or is it the grace and mercy of God? Is it our government and military that afford us security? Or is the mighty hand of God working on our behalf? Is it for our status and our benefit that we’ve been give so many resources? Or is it for the glory of God and the expansion of his Kingdom? Life on our terms leads only one place. The only real life is life on God’s terms.