David’s Military Census
1 Satan 21:1 Or An adversary; Jb 1:6; Zch 3:1–2, 21:1 Jb 1:6; Zch 3:1–2 rose up against Israel and incited David 21:1–8 2Sm 24:1–10 to count the people of Israel. 2 So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, "Go and count Israel from Beer-sheba to Dan and bring a report to me so I can know their number." 21:2 1Ch 27:23–24
3 Joab replied, "May the Lord multiply the number of his people a hundred times over! 21:3 Dt 1:11 My lord the king, aren’t they all my lord’s servants? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel? "
4 Yet the king’s order prevailed over Joab. So Joab left and traveled throughout Israel and then returned to Jerusalem. 5 Joab gave the total troop registration to David. In all Israel there were one million one hundred thousand armed men 21:5 Lit men drawing the sword and in Judah itself four hundred seventy thousand armed men. 6 But he did not include Levi and Benjamin in the count because the king’s command was detestable to him.