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."
//So, David did as God asked. He sent his army commanders through the twelve tribes of Israel to enroll and number all the fighting men. They counted eight hundred thousand fighting men in Israel, five hundred thousand in Judah.
David, however, becomes “conscious-stricken.” Inexplicably, David realizes he has sinned. God is angry, and kills seventy thousand men with a plague because of David’s mistake. But didn’t David do exactly what God asked?
This whole confusing episode is straightened out when the story is rewritten hundreds of years later in the book of Chronicles. There, in 1 Chronicles 21:1, we learn God never told David to number the people. Satan did.
And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.
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