1 Chronicles 21:1

[Rob McNair]

"Satan stood up against Israel, and incited David to count the people of Israel." Anyone know why conducting a census was such a bad idea? It states David will "bring guilt on Israel" (v. 3) and that "God was displeased" (v. 7). I am not clear why counting the people is such a sin?

[Tracy Bieger]

Okay, so I'm a slacker, and I'm behind, but it seemed like I'd read this already...........and I was right. Back in 2 Samuel 24:1. My bible's notes indicate that the reason the taking of this "census" was evil, is because it would be David turning his eyes from God, in order to boast about the number and strength of his men, instead of relying solely on the strength of God. So why would God "incite" David to do this? Am I wrong about God not tempting us? He obviously lets temptation happen, right?

[Abby Kalina]

i thought before though in like...exodus or leviticus, numbers?.... God told moses to take a census of the whole people of israel.
maybe david was trying to boast how many people they had?

[Amber Kalina]

David's like "Oh, look at us. We bad! We so bad! We got, like, a bajillion people, so that makes us better than all-a yalls!" ... Sorry. That probably doesn't make any sense. Just adding DRAMA to this scene.