This morning I was reading in Exodus 30:11-16. (Yes, a passage that is sandwiched between instructions for the construction of the incense altar and directives for how priests should ritually wash). Let us grant that this section of Scripture may not be the most riveting to read, but since I firmly believe that all Scripture is inspired by God, I was reading there anyway. Besides, you just never know what you might discover…

And I did discover something this morning! If I have understood it correctly, Exodus 30:11-16 may help to resolve a biblical difficulty I have never known how to resolve: what was David’s sin in ordering a census in 2 Samuel 24 (also recorded in 1 Chronicles 21)?

The passage makes it clear that David committed sin in ordering this census. Even his unscrupulous commander-in-chief, Joab, knew that it was a bad thing David had demanded (2 Sam. 24:3-4). No sooner had Joab delivered the number of fighting men to David than “David’s heart struck him” (24:10) — with regret over his sin. Furthermore, as a result of David’s action, God ordered a three-day plague in which 70,000 people died (24:15-16). David confessed his evil directly: “I have sinned, and I have done wickedly” (24:17).

Thus, there is no doubt that David is portrayed as sinning in 2 Samuel, but what was the sin involved with David ordering a census? The passage does not tell us directly. Could it have related somehow to David’s pride, since the passage suggests that David wanted to know a particular number (24:2)? Or did it relate to a sinful trust in the strength of his army rather than in God, suggested perhaps by the fact that the number delivered by Joab was only of the fighting men (24:9)? Let us grant that either or both — or even something else — could be what constituted David’s sin in ordering a census.

But I think we might find a more satisfactory resolution to our problem if we pull Exodus 30:11-16 into the discussion. Exodus 30 makes it clear that God sometimes expected the taking of census. (Fun fact: Did you know that in English census is also the plural form of the singular noun census? Who knew? Maybe it’s because censi as a plural noun just looks too weird, and censuses is simply too hard to pronounce. OK, back to Exodus 30…).

In Exodus 30:11-16, it appears that the Lord assumes that they will sometimes take census (“When you take the census of the people of Israel…” v. 11). But, here is the key insight that might aid us in understanding David’s later sin. In Exodus 30, in order to prevent whatever taint adheres to census-taking, God provides a remedy — a simple means of atonement — in the form of a half-shekel offering from every person over twenty years of age. Look at the passage with me.

The LORD said to Moses,“When you take the census of the people of Israel, then each shall give a ransom for his life to the LORD when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you number them. Each one who is numbered in the census shall give this: half a shekel according to the shekel of the sanctuary (the shekel is twenty gerahs), half a shekel as an offering to the LORD. Everyone who is numbered in the census, from twenty years old and upward, shall give the LORD’s offering. The rich shall not give more, and the poor shall not give less, than the half shekel, when you give the LORD’s offering to make atonement for your lives. You shall take the atonement money from the people of Israel and shall give it for the service of the tent of meeting, that it may bring the people of Israel to remembrance before the LORD, so as to make atonement for your lives.”

You couldn’t convince me if you tried that the author/compiler of Samuel (not to mention, of Chronicles) didn’t know about the existence of Exodus 30:11-16. Furthermore, there is every reason to think that he had the former passage in mind while writing his account of David’s census. The parallels between the two passages are many, including a census (Exod. 30:12; 2 Sam. 24:2), a plague (Exod. 30:12; 2 Sam. 24:13-25), payment of money (Exod. 30:12-16; 2 Sam. 24:21-24), the idea of ransom or atonement (Exod. 30:12,16; 2 Sam. 24:24), for oneself (Exod. 30:12; 2 Sam. 24:17), and a connection with the tabernacle/temple (Exod. 30:16; 2 Sam. 24:18-25; cf. 2 Chron. 3:1, the location of the temple yet to be built). Honestly, I was more-than-surprised to discover that my English Bible’s cross references in 2 Samuel 24 did not include a single citation of Exodus 30:11-16. Nevertheless, the connection between the two passages appears highly likely.

Consequently, if we read 2 Samuel 24 in light of Exodus 30, it was not ordering a census, per se, which was David’s sin, but rather that David did not carry out the census according to the procedure laid down in the law of Moses. Those carrying out the census were not instructed to collect atonement money from each person who was counted. In other words, David at this moment in his life was doing things his own way — probably taking a short cut — rather than acting in accordance with the instructions God had delivered at Sinai so many years before. We can still grant that pride or dependence upon military might could be part of the sin he committed. But paying attention to the connection between 2 Samuel 24 (also 1 Chronicles 21) and Exodus 30:11-16 may provide a helpful answer — or at least partial answer — to the question of what sin David committed when he ordered a census.

This post and other resources are available at Kindle Afresh: The Blog and Website of Kenneth Berding.