Why Did God Not Want A Census?

Why Did God Not Want a Census?

In 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21, God sends his rage upon Israel for doing a census. This seems odd for some as in Exodus 30, God actually commands a census, so what is happening here?

There are several explanations for this. Dr. Keneth Berding — a professor of the NT — wrote: 

"Exodus 30 makes it clear that God sometimes expected the taking of census ... The parallels between the two passages are many, including a census (Exod. 30:12; 2 Sam. 24:2), a plague (Exod. 30:12; 2 Sam. 24:13-25), payment of money (Exod. 30:12-16; 2 Sam. 24:21-24), the idea of ransom or atonement (Exod. 30:12,16; 2 Sam. 24:24), for oneself (Exod. 30:12; 2 Sam. 24:17), and a connection with the tabernacle/temple (Exod. 30:16; 2 Sam. 24:18-25; cf. 2 Chron. 3:1, the location of the temple yet to be built) ... if we read 2 Samuel 24 in light of Exodus 30, it was not ordering a census, per se, which was David’s sin, but rather that David did not carry out the census according to the procedure laid down in the law of Moses. Those carrying out the census were not instructed to collect atonement money from each person who was counted. In other words, David at this moment in his life was doing things his own way — probably taking a short cut — rather than acting in accordance with the instructions God had delivered at Sinai so many years before" (Berding 2024).

Dr. Berding makes the point that rather than obeying the method he should have when taking the census, he used a separate process. Other scholars have made the point that it was not sinful to perform a census, but its purpose was sinful. David was relying on men for war rather than God and was acting prideful. This is what likely angered God (Crossway 583). 

References:

Birding, Kenneth. "What Was David's Sin in Ordering a Census? A Possible Resolution of a Biblical

    Difficulty." Biola University, 18 Sept. 2024, www.biola.edu/blogs/good-book-blog/2024/

what-was-david-s-sin-in-ordering-a-census-a-possible-resolution-of-a-biblical-difficulty. Accessed 17 Oct. 2024.

ESV Study Bible. United States, Crossway, 2008.

New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.