I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Chronicles 20-23.

    Today’s passage references the attack on Rabbah, where David sent the army out under Joab and remained behind in Jerusalem without mentioning his sin with Bathsheba. It mentions that David sent the army out at the time of year when kings normally go to war, which appears to me to be a slight criticism of David. After that, David went to war with the Philistines and defeated them. The passage focuses on the fact that David’s men defeated and killed multiple giants who fought for the Philistines. David’s warriors defeated bigger and stronger warriors (the Philistine giants) because they put their trust in God, not their own abilities.

    It is in this context that David called for a census. This leads me to believe that David desired the census in order to know how large an army he could muster. Based on the accounts of David’s wars we find elsewhere, all of his wars up to this point had been responsive. In none of the accounts of David’s census does it tell us why it was a sin for David to do so. However, the timing as relayed in this passage and Joab’s response suggests that David’s request for a census demonstrated a lack of faith that God would provide sufficient warriors for the needs of the kingdom. Another possible explanation for what sin David was committing is that this census was preparation for drafting an army to go to war. All of the accounts we see up to this point imply that the army of Israel consisted of those warriors who chose to answer the call to arms.