When Good Kings Make Terrible Choices
What’s 1 Chronicles 21 about?
King David decides to count his army – sounds innocent enough, right? But this seemingly administrative decision triggers divine judgment that costs 70,000 lives and forces David to face the devastating consequences of his pride. It’s a story about how even good leaders can make catastrophically bad choices when they trust in their own strength rather than God’s.
The Full Context
1 Chronicles 21 takes place near the end of David’s reign, when Israel had reached unprecedented military and political success. The Chronicler is writing to post-exilic Jews who have returned from Babylon, trying to help them understand their identity and relationship with God through the lens of David’s kingdom. This particular incident – David’s census – appears in both Chronicles and 2 Samuel 24, but with some intriguing differences that we’ll explore.
The census wasn’t just about counting people – it was a military assessment, a way of measuring national strength and preparedness for war. But here’s the thing: Israel’s strength was supposed to come from God, not from the size of their army. When David orders this count, he’s essentially saying, “Let me see what I’ve built” instead of “Let me trust in what God has given.” The consequences are swift and severe, leading to a plague that only ends when David purchases a threshing floor that will eventually become the site of Solomon’s temple.
What the Ancient Words Tell Us
The Hebrew word for “census” here is sāfar, which literally means “to count” or “to number.” But this isn’t your modern population survey – this is specifically about counting fighting men, those available for military service. The text makes it clear this is about milchāmāh (warfare) preparation.
What’s fascinating is how the Chronicler describes David’s motivation. The verb used suggests David was “incited” or “moved” to do this – but moved by what? Here’s where it gets interesting: 2 Samuel 24:1 says “the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, ‘Go, number Israel and Judah.’” But Chronicles says Satan stood up against Israel and incited David to number Israel.
Grammar Geeks
The Hebrew word śāṭān in Chronicles appears with the definite article, making it “the adversary” rather than a proper name. This represents a development in Jewish theology between the writing of Samuel and Chronicles – the concept of a supernatural opponent to God’s purposes becomes more defined over time.
Both accounts can be true – God’s sovereignty and Satan’s opposition working within the same event, but Chronicles emphasizes human responsibility and the reality of spiritual warfare that the post-exilic community needed to understand.
What Would the Original Audience Have Heard?
For Jews returning from Babylon, this story would have hit close to home. They’d just experienced seventy years of exile – divine judgment for national unfaithfulness. Now they’re hearing about how even their greatest king, David, could make decisions that brought divine judgment and death to thousands of innocent people.
But there’s hope woven into this dark story. The plague stops at the threshing floor of Ornan (also called Araunah), and David purchases this site to build an altar. This isn’t just any random piece of real estate – this is the future site of Solomon’s temple, the place where God will dwell among his people.
Did You Know?
Archaeological evidence suggests that threshing floors were often located on elevated, windy areas outside city walls – perfect for separating grain from chaff. The threshing floor of Ornan was likely on Mount Moriah, the same mountain where Abraham nearly sacrificed Isaac and where the temple would eventually stand.
The returning exiles would have understood: even in judgment, God is preparing a place for restoration. Even when leaders fail catastrophically, God’s purposes aren’t thwarted.
But Wait… Why Did They Do This?
Here’s something that puzzles many readers: why was taking a census so wrong? After all, God had commanded censuses before (Numbers 1, Numbers 26). What made this one different?
The key lies in the motivation and timing. David wasn’t taking this census because God commanded it – he was doing it to assess his own military strength. Look at Joab’s response in 1 Chronicles 21:3: “Why does my lord require this? Why should it be a cause of guilt for Israel?” Even David’s military commander knew something was off about this request.
Wait, That’s Strange…
Joab – not exactly known for his moral sensitivity – immediately recognizes this census as problematic. When your morally questionable military commander is questioning your ethics, that should be a red flag. The Hebrew suggests Joab understood this would bring ’āšām (guilt/liability) on the nation.
The issue wasn’t the counting itself, but what it represented: a shift from trusting in God’s protection to trusting in military might. It was a heart issue disguised as an administrative decision.
Wrestling with the Text
The most difficult part of this chapter isn’t the sin – it’s the consequences. Seventy thousand people died because of David’s pride. That’s a staggering number, roughly equivalent to the entire population of a major ancient city.
How do we reconcile a loving God with such devastating judgment? The text doesn’t give us easy answers, but it does give us important clues. Notice that David is given three choices for punishment: famine, military defeat, or plague. He chooses to “fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is very great” rather than “fall into the hand of man.”
Even in judgment, David recognizes God’s character. And sure enough, God’s mercy appears: the plague stops short of Jerusalem, and when David offers to build an altar, God provides a way for the judgment to end.
“The place where judgment falls becomes the place where grace rises.”
The threshing floor where the plague stops becomes the temple site – the place where sacrifices will be offered for the sins of the people. In the ancient Near East, threshing floors were places of separation, where wheat was separated from chaff. How fitting that this becomes the place where God separates his people from their sin.
How This Changes Everything
This story transforms how we think about leadership, consequences, and God’s sovereignty. David’s failure doesn’t disqualify him from God’s purposes – it redirects them. The same pride that brought judgment also leads to the identification of the temple site, the place where God will dwell with his people.
For the returning exiles, this was crucial: their current hardship didn’t mean God had abandoned his promises. Like David, they could experience both judgment and restoration, both consequences and hope.
For us, it’s a sobering reminder that our choices – especially as leaders – affect more than just ourselves. But it’s also a beautiful picture of how God can use even our failures to accomplish his purposes.
The angel’s sword is stopped not by David’s righteousness, but by God’s mercy. The place of judgment becomes the place of worship. The king’s failure becomes the foundation for the temple.
That’s the kind of God we serve – one who can take our worst moments and weave them into his best purposes.
Key Takeaway
Even when good leaders make catastrophically bad choices, God’s mercy is greater than our failures, and his purposes are not derailed by our pride – he can even use the places of our greatest mistakes as the foundation for his greatest works.
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