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waged with the Philistines - that David had been the main cause of their fall, had brought about their death by his servants through the wars he waged. The Numbering of the People, the Pestilence, and the Determination of the Site for the Temple - 1 Chronicles 21-22:1
The motive which influenced the king, in causing a census of the men capable of bearing arms throughout the kingdom to be taken in the last year of his reign, has already been discussed in the remarks on 2 Sam, where we have also pointed out what it was which was so sinful and displeasing to God in the undertaking. We have, too, in the same place commented upon the various stages of its progress, taking not of the differences which exist between the numbers given in 2Sa 24:9, 2Sa 24:13, 2Sa 24:24, and those in our record, 1Ch 21:5, 1Ch 21:12, 1Ch 21:25; so that here we need only compare the two accounts somewhat more minutely. They correspond not merely in the main points of their narrative of the event, but in many places make use of the same terms, which shows that they have both been derived from the same source; but, as the same time, very considerable divergences are found in the conception and representation of the matter. In the very first verse, David's purpose is said in 2nd Samuel to be the effect of the divine anger; in the Chronicle it is the result of the influence of Satan on David. Then, in 2Sa 24:4-9, the numbering of the people is narrated at length, while in the Chronicle, 1Ch 21:4-6, only the results are recorded, with the remark that Joab did not complete the numbering, Levi and Benjamin not being included, because the king's command was an abomination to him. On the other hand, the Chronicle, in 1Ch 21:19-27, narrates the purchase of Araunah's threshing-floor for a place of sacrifice, and gives not merely a more circumstantial account of David's offering than we find in Samuel (2Sa 24:19-25), but also states, in conclusion (vv. 28-30), the circumstances which induced David to offer sacrifice even afterwards, on the altar which he had built at the divine command, on the threshing-floor bought of Araunah. The purpose which the author of the Chronicle had in view in making this concluding remark is manifest from 1Ch 22:1, which should properly be connected with 1 Chron 21: “And David said, Here is the house