I had a theory when we first read this story back in the Samuels that David’s ordering of the census was a sin because God told Abraham long ago that his ancestors will number more than the stars in the sky and the grains of sands on the ocean shores. Abraham would have so many ancestors, in fact, that they couldn’t be counted, God said. So, by trying to count them, David was sinning. I was hoping when I started reading today’s chapter that I would get answers about my theory, but alas, I did not, so I had to refer to my handy dandy footnotes, which tell me that David’s sin was in counting his military. He didn’t sin because he wanted to know how many men were fighting for him. He sinned because he wanted to know how large his troops had grown so that he could gloat about it. Also, my footnote says, “… he was beginning to trust more in military power than in God.” Those footnotes help a lot, don’t they? And it’s important for us to make some notes of our own, if not literal notes than at least mental notes, that King David, as respected and admired as he was, had his faults … just like the rest of us … and God still loved David with all His heart.
Writing prompt: sin
I started thinking about the modern-day census as I started reading today’s chapter, and after the first sentence, I had to say a little prayer of understanding because I really love the censi and the information they provide. I couldn’t fathom why the census was such a sin, but after the footnotes, I got it, and I realized I didn’t need to repent for my affection for historical files. Glorious. Have you ever felt bad for something and then found out it was perfectly ok and that you didn’t need to feel bad at all? Write about that time, or if you can’t think of anything, write about a time when you were dead wrong and had to apologize (or should have apologized!) profusely for your actions.
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