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Post by Josh on Jul 26, 2012 10:22:15 GMT -8
2 Samuel 24:1
Again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and he incited David against them, saying, "Go and take a census of Israel and Judah."
1 Chronicles 21:1
1 Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel. 2 So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, "Go and count the Israelites from Beersheba to Dan. Then report back to me so that I may know how many there are."
Teaching on this passage this week. This is a classic "apparent contradiction". How do you resolve it?
Talk amongst yourselves.
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Post by robin on Jul 27, 2012 19:07:58 GMT -8
It seems that God sent Satan to temp David.
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Post by christopher on Jul 28, 2012 10:14:22 GMT -8
This is a complex judgment to be sure. It's not quite clear to me why David needed to be "incited" to sin (fortunately, there was a tempter around...huh Josh? ;D ) if God's anger against Israel was already kindled for some reason. Why didn't God just send the judgment against Israel without needing David to be moved to take this census? Also, it's not clear to me if by "Israel" it means the whole nation, or the 10 tribes of Israel since the passage does seem to make a distinction between Israel and Judah in the census. Seems like a relevant passage to this very long thread (which was never concluded by the way) aletheia.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=warfare&action=display&thread=1334&page=8
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Post by Josh on Aug 2, 2012 17:13:24 GMT -8
For the fuller discussion, listen to audio of last weeks teaching, but here is my take on the paradoxical language:
1. If we assume that prior to this incident, pride and rebellion were festered not only in the heart of Israel, but in some way in David himself
And if we assume
2. That God had already attempted to deal with both pf these problems in more subtle ways only to be rebuffed or ignored, then the following sequence seems reasonable:
3. God gives David the idea to take a census, not an evil act in and of itself, to test David's motivations.
4. god then allows Satan, in genesis or job fashion, to tempt David into taking the census for the wrong reasons.
5. god nonetheless uses this stumbling block to bring remedial judgment on David and his people, most likely for taking just one more step away from His sovereignty over them.
6. his remedial punishment, at satan's expense, then staves off the breakup of Israel for another 40+ years and at the same time provides yet another wonderful OT pre-enactment of the saving grace He would demonstrate throu Jesus inJerusalem.
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