Bible Studies

---

So there was once this great man called King David who conducted a census in Israel when it was a United Kingdom. The problem seems to be that there are two vastly different sets of figures reported in II Samuel and I Chronicles. You see, David was a man of war and had blood on his hands. The purpose of his census was to determine the number of men in Israel who “drew the sword” or rather who were qualified and fit to serve in David’s Army. Therein lies the sin of David. While there is much more to the story of the census than meets the eye, I only wish to briefly address the two sets of figures reported by Joab. The verses are presented below:

II Samuel 24:9 (KJV)

9 …and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

I Chronicles 21:5-6 (KJV)

5 …And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and an hundred thousand men that drew sword: and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand men that drew sword.
6 …But Levi and Benjamin counted he not among them…

The importance of verse 6 will be evident when we look at the numbers reported in more detail. Let’s take a closer look now…

II Samuel

Israel--800,000
Judah--500,000

I Chronicles

Israel--1,100,000
Judah--470,000

While it may not be readily apparent to all, the reader should be able to make one very important observation. As Israel was united at the time of the census, the numbers should have been combined rather than reported separately for Israel and Judah! Therefore, we are being directed to look to a point in time when the Kingdom was divided in order to discern the significance of the reported numbers. For that we turn to I Kings.

I Kings 11:31 and 35 (KJV)

31 And he said to Jeroboam…and will give ten tribes to thee…
35 …and will give it unto thee, even ten tribes.

It is necessary at this point to provide a brief overview of what is being related in I Kings Chapter 11. Solomon made Jeroboam the ruler of the House of Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh). The prophet Ahijah the Shilonite and Jeroboam are in a field together and Jeroboam is informed that he will be given ten of twelve tribes (Levi not being counted). At this time also, Benjamin was considered as part of the Tribe of Judah. When Solomon died in 931-930 B.C.E., this would come to pass. Jeroboam would rule over Israel and Rehoboam would rule over Judah (combined with Benjamin). Now, we must return to look at the two different sets of numbers reported for David’s census.

When we compare the numbers in I Chronicles with those reported in II Samuel, we find that Israel (the Northern Ten Tribes) gained 300,000 while Judah actually lost 30,000! What we see is a ratio of 10 to 1. For every person gained by each of the ten tribes of Israel, Judah lost a person! What we know from history and archaeology is that Israel was indeed very much stronger than the small tribe in the South especially during the Omride Dynasty. To wit, archaeologists acknowledge that Israel became a major regional power during the days of Omri and Ahab in particular. The numbers reported in the two slightly different versions of the Census Story confirm what we have learned from history. Having demonstrated what the census numbers are really conveying to the reader, we must now go back and look at II Samuel and I Chronicles one more time before “wrapping this up”.

II Samuel 24:3

3 And Joab said unto the king, Now the Lord thy God add unto the people, how many soever they be, an hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord the king may see it: but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing?

I Chronicles 21:3

3 And Joab answered, The Lord make his people an hundred times so many more as they be: but, my lord the king, are they not all my lord’s servants? Why then doth my lord require this thing? Why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel?

So how do the above verses further connect David’s Census (and the sin thereof) with the dividing of the United Kingdom? Remember that I mentioned the names of the two kings in question? The name of the king of Israel was Jeroboam and the king of Judah was Rehoboam. It may be surprising to many to learn the meaning of those two Hebrew names! Jeroboam typically means “he strives with the people” and Rehoboam typically means “he sets the people at liberty”. However, there is another connotation or meaning that both names share! Jeroboam also connotes that the “people will become numerous” and Rehoboam connotes that “he enlarges his people”.

In summary, there is a much deeper meaning to the story of the census that was conducted by King David. At the first, it would seem that the two versions of the story as set forth in II Samuel and I Chronicles are so vastly different as to be completely contradictory. However, with a little Biblical study we find that there is a beautifully woven tapestry of connections being played out in the very words themselves. Stories in the Bible are multi-layered and convey truths that are often astounding in their simplicity!

---

PLEASE ENCOURAGE AUTHOR BELOW LEAVE COMMENT ON ARTICLE