WORD STUDY – NUMBER ISRAEL
Hosea 1:10: “Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, [that] in the place where it was said unto them, Ye [are] not my people, [there] it shall be said unto them, [Ye are] the sons of the living God.”
II Samuel 24:1 “And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.”
1 Chronicles 21:1 “ And Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel.”
Hey kids, what time is it? It is Saturday morning when Chaim Bentorah goes off the grid and into a world of pure speculation and possibly fantasy. A time when I take these seemingly unanswerable questions and conjure up an answer that at least satisfies me.
Today’s unanswerable question comes from a reader in Denmark who really did not send a question but a statement. She wrote that Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem as part of a census taking by the Roman government and yet taking a census was forbidden under Jewish law.
Well, dear reader, a census was not necessarily forbidden under Jewish law. There were several reasons given for a census. God counted the people upon the completion of the Tabernacle as a way of expressing His love for each individual. In other words to demonstrate that He is a personal God and that each person counted, A counting is also taken for a minyan which is the number necessary to conduct a study of the Torah. This was to avoid what I am doing right now and that is arriving at conclusions without the agreement of at least ten other Torah students. Finally a counting was performed to determine how many warriors were available for an upcoming military campaign. All these census’s were performed internally. As far as any outside government goes there was not prohibition on census’s. If the Jewish nation was under the control of a foreign government the Jews were obligated to follow the wishes of the master government so long as it did not violate any of God’s laws. An example is Daniel and his friends who obeyed the laws of Nebuchadnezzar up to the point where they had to eat non-kosher food, but even then they sought the permission of their master before violating the king’s order.
So I want to focus on this story of David and his disobedience in taking a census resulting in the wrath of God who sent a plague that killed 70,000 people. The first issue is very perplexing. II Samuel says that God’s anger was kindled against Israel so he caused David to take a census which resulted in a plague falling on the nation. If we read this right from the KJV it appears to make God out to be the commensurate politician. Start a war, order some poor slob to fire the first shoot and then blame him for the war.
Actually, the parallel passage in I Chronicles addresses this or contradicts it depending upon you translation of the Hebrew. The passage in I Chronicles tells us that the enemy provoked David to take the census.
The passage in II Samuel says that God’s anger was kindled against Israel. The word anger is aneph which is really the expression of a great emotion. Aneph does not have to be anger. Grief, disappointment could be an aneph. This aneph was kindled. The word kindle is charar which is to grow warm. When you experience a great emotion, be it anger or grief it causes your body to grow warm. It really means to become intense. I personally would not render this as God’s anger being kindled but his grief and disappointment reached a point of intensity.
Then it seems to indicate that out of this God moved David to take a census. Actually, God moved David against Israel and this caused him to say: “Go and number Israel.” The word moved is yaseth which is in a Hiphal (causative) form from the root word soth. Soth means to entice, or persuade. In a Hiphal form it would suggest that God was trying persuade David to turn away from Israel. When he did this it caused the enemy to soth, or persuade or provoke David to perform a census.
As with Moses, for the sake of one man interceding God spared the nation of Israel from destruction after they sinned with the golden calf. A civil war was about to break out to in the camp (Exodus 32:17). God wasn’t going to destroy the people, they were going to destroy themselves and because of mans will, God could not intervene until one person, Moses, stood in the gap and to answer Moses’s plea to spare the people, God had to intervene. So too in this case, Israel was on the verge of civil war which eventually broke out 50 years later after Solomon died. David stood in the gap, but God caused David to move away from Israel and this allowed the enemy to provoke David to perform the census resulting in a plague, that killed 70,000 people.
So here is where it gets weird. Why such a devastating punishment for counting the number of people in the land? I was reading in the Talmud this morning in Yoma 22b. The prohibition on taking a census is based upon Hosea 1:10. Note it says: “Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered;” The Talmud teaches that the sands of the sea can be measured and numbered. There is a limit to the number of sands of the sea. Thus, grammatically the positive statement becomes a prohibition, they cannot and must not be numbered. If Israel fulfills the law of God, God’s protection and blessings will be without number. If it fails to serve God the blessings of God become limited. Just as counting the people creates that sense of individuality by not counting the people you were declaring that everyone was in unity and of one mind in serving God and keeping His laws.
So why is there a prohibition to counting. Ultimately, David performed this accounting to determine unity. Counting was done like voting only the outcome had to be North Korean style, 100% for one party. The earliest census was performed by God to show unity and that each individual was important to God, He was a personal God. God would protect each person that was in unity with Him. If there was someone out of unity, then God could not protect them, He could not put His umbrella or protection on disunity and sin. A census would single out the rebellious. Once that happens God is forced to remove that umbrella of protection on the rebel so the enemy can have his own way which is often destruction. But like Moses, David’s personal unity with God protected the entire nation. So when David took the census, I figure, what he was doing was determining who he would stand in the gap for and who he would not. Just as one person standing in the gap for his family or church can protect that family or church. But God can protect the rebellious only if you ask because He cannot violate that rebels will. Yet, God caused David to be removed from the gap which lifted His umbrella of protection against the 70,000 who were in disunity and the enemy was free to bring a plague upon them until David plead with God on their behalf to put his umbrella of protection over them again and for David’s sake God did it.
Ok, that is my understanding. I know it sounds far fetched, so feel free to blast it apart. But I do believe with all my heart that there is something to be said in Scripture about standing in the gap for others and praying in intercession. I do believe we can pray for our church, our family and even our co-workers who are in rebellion against God and God will protect them for our sake. Whether I am right or wrong on this matter, I don’t care, I will still pray for others and stand in the gap for them and I hope you do too.
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