Why was taking census a bad thing?

Question

In Chronicles, David took a census on the people of Israel. However, God became angry at this, and he proceeded to destroy about 70,000 people in result.

1 Chronicles 21:1-16: ¹Satan rose up against Israel and caused David to take a census of the people of Israel. ²So David said to Joab and the commanders of the army, “Take a census of all the people of Israel—from Beersheba in the south to Dan in the north—and bring me a report so I may know how many there are.” ³But Joab replied, “May the Lord increase the number of his people a hundred times over! But why, my lord the king, do you want to do this? Are they not all your servants? Why must you cause Israel to sin?”

⁴But the king insisted that they take the census, so Joab traveled throughout all Israel to count the people. Then he returned to Jerusalem ⁵and reported the number of people to David. There were 1,100,000 warriors in all Israel who could handle a sword, and 470,000 in Judah. ⁶But Joab did not include the tribes of Levi and Benjamin in the census because he was so distressed at what the king had made him do.

Judgment for David’s Sin
⁷ God was very displeased with the census, and he punished Israel for it. ⁸Then David said to God, “I have sinned greatly by taking this census. Please forgive my guilt for doing this foolish thing.” ⁹Then the Lord spoke to Gad, David’s seer. This was the message: ¹⁰“Go and say to David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I will give you three choices. Choose one of these punishments, and I will inflict it on you.’”

¹¹So Gad came to David and said, “These are the choices the Lord has given you. ¹²You may choose three years of famine, three months of destruction by the sword of your enemies, or three days of severe plague as the angel of the Lord brings devastation throughout the land of Israel. Decide what answer I should give the Lord who sent me.”

¹³“I’m in a desperate situation!” David replied to Gad. “But let me fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is very great. Do not let me fall into human hands.”

¹⁴So the Lord sent a plague upon Israel, and 70,000 people died as a result. ¹⁵And God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem. But just as the angel was preparing to destroy it, the Lord relented and said to the death angel, “Stop! That is enough!” At that moment the angel of the Lord was standing by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

¹⁶David looked up and saw the angel of the Lord standing between heaven and earth with his sword drawn, reaching out over Jerusalem. So David and the leaders of Israel put on burlap to show their deep distress and fell face down on the ground.

But this passage does not state the reason for God doing this. What was so wrong about taking census of people of Israel?

Answer 1

You're right in that the Bible does not state why it was a sin, so we won't be able to cite verses to support any answer to this.

However, the one thing that is clear is that Satan provoked David to take the census. The Bible doesn't explain why this is, and the there are several theories, but no Biblical statement on the matter. Clearly, however, it was Satan that provoked David to take the census, and following Satan's leading is almost certainly a sin.

The explanations that I've heard on why it was bad had to do with the motivation of David's heart in the matter.

• One theory is that he was taking the census to determine the might of his army, because he was counting on this, rather than God to provide military victory and strength. (I'm not sure I buy that one.)
• Another says that it may have been pride. David wanted to know how mighty a kingdom he had. (Knowing how God hates pride, this is at least feasible to me.)

Unfortunately, the Scriptures don't give an answer, so in all honesty, I don't think this question is answerable in the usual sense.

Answer 2

The problem with the census Joab took under David's authority was that Joab began to number (count) those under twenty years of age, something forbidden by the Torah! 1 Chronicles 27:23-24

Chronicles places blame on Joab where it should be placed given that 1 Kings 15:5 only blames David in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.

Josephus relates that he did not collect the half-shekel temple tax requred by the Torah in taking this census.

Answer 3

In Biblical times, censuses were taken for two basic reasons: taxation, and war. David took the census for one (or both of) those reasons, which was against the will of God.

Israel, at the time, was a fragile nation, having barely captured a capital (Jerusalem), thereby uniting north and south, and then driven out the Philistines, which threatened its western border. The country needed a period of peace and prosperity after these tremendous exertions.

Basically, David had won his earlier battles with an all-volunteer army. He told the people of Israel what he wanted to do (capture Jerusalem, drive out the Philistines), and through the grace of God, just enough of them volunteered for these projects. Later on, David wanted to conquer neighboring lands and peoples, which created two problems: 1) He would introduce foreign, non-believing people into Israel and 2) he would shed Israeli blood for this purpose. Worst of all, the purpose of the census was that David could DRAFT the soldiers he thought he'd need, instead of trusting God to give him "just enough" (along with God's power to "veto" certain projects by giving David "not enough").

But buoyed (and probably made overconfident) by his successes, David tried to push ahead and expand his kingdom for HIS wealth and glory (not God's). That was the sin.

Answer 4

I find a comparison with this same event as recorded in II Samuel 24 quite intriguing. Here it says that the anger of the LORD burned against Israel and it incited David against them, indicating that there were nationwide sins at that time and also that David's motive came out of anger.

The census taking must have been a glaring offense against God, because even Joab, who never seemed to be godly or moral warned David that it would bring sin against Israel and the 3 choices of punishment that came were all against Israel, not against David personally.

In II Samuel, this account comes late in David's reign, after the kingdome is secure militarily, just before the peaceful days of Solomon. Within the halls of power, however, it has been a very different story with the kings sons vying for the crown. During these times of striving the priests, prophets and people all chose sides and were fickle and many disloyal to David. I would suspect that may have been why the LORD and David were angry at Israel and why the LORD allowed satan to incite David. The guilt of the people may have been thier rebellion against David as they followed various ones of his rebellious sons while David was still on the throne Psalm 105:15 says, "Do not touch my annointed ones, and do My prophets no harm." David himself had quoted this Scripture as he fled from Saul and when he refused to kill the foolish, murderous king when he was right in his grasp. David paid such a high price to obey this principle he must have been grievously hurt, offended and angered by the disloyalty of the people and his sons, who tried to usurp his right to appoint Solomon king as directed by God.

David's sin may have stemmed from his departure from his prior practice of seeking the LORD before decisions. He did not ask the prophet first, either. This is a departure from the Theocratic rule that had characterized his kingdom before. Nonetheless,when the plague took effect, David's heart and the LORD'S relented in mercy and David, like Moses, interceeded for the sinful Israelites. Like Moses, he pled to take the sin on himself so the people could be spared.

Answer 5

It was a bad thing because of David's motivation for doing it. He was afraid of his enemies instead of trusting that God would take care of him.

In Matthew 6:25 Jesus says: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life"

If you look at the battles that ancient Israel fought in, they won most often when all the odds were against them. God always demanded they put ALL their trust in Him and not in circumstance.

Answer 6

I don't know that I would go so far as some of the assertions in user4705's downvoted answer, but in support of the assertion that the promise of the multiplication of Israel, and that they would be impossible to number (Genesis 13:16, 15:5, 16:10), should factor into the understanding of this passage, please see:

1Ch 27:23-24 But David took not the number of them from twenty years old and under: because the LORD had said he would increase Israel like to the stars of the heavens. (24) Joab the son of Zeruiah began to number, but he finished not, because there fell wrath for it against Israel; neither was the number put in the account of the chronicles of king David.

Little known fact: 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, and 2 Kings used to be 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 3 Kings, 4 Kings. Actually the naming of these books has a varied history (see Wikipedia's article, "Books of Kings"). I mention this just to set forth that perhaps "the chronicles of king David" points to 2 Samuel. That the number was not recorded would indicate the number itself as being an offense. In 2 Samuel:

2Sa 24:9 And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

But in 1 Chronicles:

1Ch 21:5 And Joab gave the sum of the number of the people unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and an hundred thousand men that drew sword: and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand men that drew sword.

Notice the discrepancy in numbers. Again, "neither was the number put..." Approximations seem to be the matter of course, and, again, the number itself seems to be the offense. Additionally:

Exo 30:12 When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them.

The Lord seems to have expected David to see past the explicit legality of the issue. Here in Exodus, beyond the explicit legality, we see, again, that numbering the people, and that alone without any mention of motive, is offensive. Which brings us again to the first passage quoted:

1Ch 27:23 But David took not the number of them from twenty years old and under: because the LORD had said he would increase Israel like to the stars of the heavens.

There are other places where explicit legality is not the only requirement: 2 Kings 13:14-19 (legally did the king do as he was asked?), Romans 14 (especially that last verse), and 1 Corinthians 8 and 10, to name some that I have seen. Also see John 17:19; Christ was a man, and could legally have experienced the pleasures of marriage and the blessings of earthly children, but thank the Lord that for our sakes He sanctified Himself.

Answer 7

Israel was a nation founded and elected by God.

You could only take a census of a nation/population/community, if you belonged to it.

Since Israel belonged to God, David was pridefully exalting his position to God's when he tried to conduct a census. It was nationalism in its most blasphemous form.

Have a nice day.

Answer 8

A primary prohibition against a census of Israel is Hosea 1:10 (Tanakh Online Bible):

And the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which shall neither be measured nor counted; …

Yes, this scripture was written long after David's sin, but the principle was known long before that.

Counting the children of Israel is presented as something that only God is capable of, in Numbers 23:10 (KJV):

Who can count the dust of Jacob, and the number of the fourth part of Israel? …

Genesis 32:12:

And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude.

Exodus 30:12 talks about a census and how it must be conducted:

When thou takest the sum of the children of Israel after their number, then shall they give every man a ransom for his soul unto the LORD, when thou numberest them; that there be no plague among them, when thou numberest them.

Judaism interprets this as not directly counting the people, but as counting the number of coins collected. But even then, the counting must be performed for God's purposes, not for personal reasons.

Laws of Counting Jews - Parshat Bamidbar - Chabad.org says:

What is the reason for this prohibition? The commentaries say that counting Jews directly can bring a judgment on the individuals who, if not deemed worthy, may be punished.

In addition, the Panim Yafot explains that when the Jews are in a state of unity, they are connected to their Source and do not need added protection. When they are counted as individuals, they become "separated" and are subject to individual scrutiny.

For this reason, King Saul counted his army by means of requiring each soldier to submit one shard of pottery, which he then counted, and later on by using kid goats.

King David, on the other hand, forgot this prohibition and counted the Jews directly. This resulted in a plague which killed some 70,000 Jews.

Some say that King David certainly did not forget the prohibition, and he, too, counted the Jews indirectly; the problem was that he performed the count simply to satisfy his own curiosity, and not for a specific purpose. Counting Jews without a purpose is forbidden even if done indirectly.

Answer 9

the census is an attack on the promise to Abraham to multiply his seed as the sand of the seashore and stars of heaven. It is a violation of the promise of God and a demonic counteraction to the blessings promised. I have seen that whenever this is done there is a migration of people out of the place that it is conducted or serious deaths that take place. Census is demonic and is not a kingdom thing. No where in the bible is there ever an accurate number concerning people it is always given as approximates like 5000 men besides women and children or in the case of angels one third of the stars of heaven or in the case of those saved a number that no man can number. census is simply wrong.