Counting Heads

Passage: 2 Samuel 24:1-17; Exodus 30:11-16

Near the end of his reign, King David is struck by an unusual impulse.  One day, as if on a whim, he tells Joab, his general, “Go take a census of Israel.”  Joab says, “Why would the king ask me to do such a thing?”  The reason for Joab’s response may be sheer laziness; but as things unfold we recognize that Joab resists for more important reasons.  The king prevails, and Joab leads his army out into the countryside to take a census of the men of fighting age throughout the kingdom.  He reports the numbers to David.

At this point, David recognizes that he has been in error.  David repents – of what, we’re not exactly sure – and confesses to the LORD that he has sinned.  The LORD responds, “Okay.  You can choose one of three punishments: three years famine; three months of military loss; or three days of plague?”  David chooses the plague.  70,000 people die.

So what’s going on here?  What’s the harm in David taking a census?  And why does God punish his people so severely?  

The plague relates to a command God gave centuries earlier, when Israel was about to enter the Promised Land.  In Exodus 30 God gives detailed instruction regarding a “census tax”.  He says:

When you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give a ransom for his life to the Lord when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you number them.

But why?  God explains: …to make atonement for your lives.

What does that mean?  God doesn’t require the tax because he needs the money.  And he doesn’t require it as a kind of penalty (the amount he demands is very nominal).  It’s a reminder: Your life is not your own.  The backdrop to all of this is the fact that, having rescued his people from certain death, God now has a claim on each of their lives.  This is a fact they can never forget.

And yet, forget it they do.  David numbers his people as a rich man counts his money.  He forgets the tax, and forgets the reason behind it.  As God’s anointed king, he also forgets this all-important fact: the source of his power isn’t the size of his fighting force.  It’s God himself.  David and his people suffer the harsh reminder.

But the alternative is much harsher.  Life without God is death – not just in the immediate, but for all eternity.  God in his mercy imposes checks and balances to remind his people not only of their dependency on him, but also of his mercy and faithfulness.  God does the same for us.  The introduction to the Heidelberg Catechism reminds us of where true life is found:

What is your only comfort in life and in death?

That I am not my own, but belong – body and soul, in life and in death – to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.

He has fully paid for all my sins with his precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil. He also watches over me in such a way that not a hair can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven: in fact, all things must work together for my salvation.

Because I belong to him, Christ, by his Holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for him.   (Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 1)