2nd Samuel 24

Rik Brooks said:

Ok,I'm stuck again. 2 Samuel 24:1 starts with the Lord being angry with.Isreal...why?

Now it says that He tells David to take a census but in the parallel verse, 1Chr 21 it is Satan that commands the census. So which is it?

And if it is the Lord then why is taking the census a sin?

Click to expand...

We were discussing this a week or so ago. The two accounts of the census both have it that the census was evil, with one account attributing it to Satan, the other attributing it to God.

Ancient Judaism was composed of three major divisions, those being the Saduccees, the Pharisees, and the Essenes. The Essenes had a saying that went "all things are best ascribed to God". Meaning that regardless of what may happen, good or bad, it is best to ascribe it to the will of God.

So one account of the census may have been Pharisaical, and since it was evil, it was ascribed to Satan. The other account being Essenic, even though it was evil, it was ascribed to God.

So in the end, it is a matter of the perspective of the writer.