Bible Questions Answered: Numbering The People

Bible Questions Answered:
I see a error in Davids numbering the people, in one case it says the devil made him do it, yet also it says God told him to do it.
Ben/ Winnipeg, Manitoba-Canada

Bible Answers:
The scripture to which you refer is:

I Chronicles 21:1-8 KJV
1 Satan rose up against Israel and caused David to take a census of the people of Israel.
2 So David said to Joab and the commanders of the army, “Take a census of all the people of Israel—from Beersheba in the south to Dan in the north—and bring me a report so I may know how many there are.”
3 But Joab replied, “May the Lord increase the number of his people a hundred times over! But why, my lord the king, do you want to do this? Are they not all your servants? Why must you cause Israel to sin?”

(Jeremiah 17:5 KJV
Thus saith the LORD; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the LORD.
Mankind that refuses to trust in the Lord, but who rather trust in their own failing might.)

4 But the king insisted that they take the census, so Joab traveled throughout all Israel to count the people. Then he returned to Jerusalem
5 and reported the number of people to David. There were 1,100,000 warriors in all Israel who could handle a sword, and 470,000 in Judah.
6 But Joab did not include the tribes of Levi and Benjamin in the census because he was so distressed at what the king had made him do.
Judgment for David’s Sin
7 God was very displeased with the census, and he punished Israel for it.
8 Then David said to God, “I have sinned greatly by taking this census. Please forgive my guilt for doing this foolish thing.”

Sure enough, in these verses we read without any doubt it was the enemy that enticed David to number the people.

But you rightly point out that else where it states that the Lord told David to do the act.

II Samuel 24:1 KJV
And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and He moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.

Would God, let the people have something they shouldn't have?
Yes!

Psalm 106:15 KJV
And He gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul.

Psalm 106 fully explains God's anger, His giving His people their wayward desires, and then sending them judgment.

Psalm 106:1-48 NLT
1 Praise the Lord! Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! His faithful love endures forever.
2 Who can list the glorious miracles of the Lord? Who can ever praise Him enough?
3 There is joy for those who deal justly with others and always do what is right.
4 Remember me, Lord, when you show favor to your people; come near and rescue me.
5 Let me share in the prosperity of your chosen ones. Let me rejoice in the joy of your people; let me praise you with those who are your heritage.
6 Like our ancestors, we have sinned. We have done wrong! We have acted wickedly!
7 Our ancestors in Egypt were not impressed by the Lord’s miraculous deeds.
They soon forgot His many acts of kindness to them. Instead, they rebelled against Him at the Red Sea.
8 Even so, he saved them— to defend the honor of His name and to demonstrate His mighty power.
9 He commanded the Red Sea to dry up. He led Israel across the sea as if it were a desert.
10 So He rescued them from their enemies and redeemed them from their foes.
11 Then the water returned and covered their enemies; not one of them survived.
12 Then His people believed His promises. Then they sang His praise.
13 Yet how quickly they forgot what He had done! They wouldn’t wait for His counsel!
14 In the wilderness their desires ran wild, testing God’s patience in that dry wasteland.
15 So He gave them what they asked for, but He sent a plague along with it.
16 The people in the camp were jealous of Moses and envious of Aaron, the Lord’s holy priest.
17 Because of this, the earth opened up; it swallowed Dathan and buried Abiram and the other rebels.
18 Fire fell upon their followers; a flame consumed the wicked.
19 The people made a calf at Mount Sinai; they bowed before an image made of gold.
20 They traded their glorious God for a statue of a grass-eating bull.
21 They forgot God, their savior, who had done such great things in Egypt—
22 such wonderful things in the land of Ham, such awesome deeds at the Red Sea.
23 So He declared He would destroy them. But Moses, His chosen one, stepped between the Lord and the people. He begged Him to turn from His anger and not destroy them.
24 The people refused to enter the pleasant land, for they wouldn’t believe His promise to care for them.
25 Instead, they grumbled in their tents and refused to obey the Lord.
26 Therefore, He solemnly swore that He would kill them in the wilderness,
27 that He would scatter their descendants among the nations, exiling them to distant lands.
28 Then our ancestors joined in the worship of Baal at Peor; they even ate sacrifices offered to the dead!
29 They angered the Lord with all these things, so a plague broke out among them.
30 But Phinehas had the courage to intervene, and the plague was stopped.
31 So he has been regarded as a righteous man ever since that time.
32 At Meribah, too, they angered the Lord, causing Moses serious trouble.
33 They made Moses angry, and he spoke foolishly.
34 Israel failed to destroy the nations in the land, as the Lord had commanded them.
35 Instead, they mingled among the pagans and adopted their evil customs.
36 They worshiped their idols, which led to their downfall.
37 They even sacrificed their sons and their daughters to the demons.
38 They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters.
By sacrificing them to the idols of Canaan, they polluted the land with murder.
39 They defiled themselves by their evil deeds, and their love of idols was adultery in the Lord’s sight.
40 That is why the Lord’s anger burned against His people, and He abhorred His own special possession.
41 He handed them over to pagan nations, and they were ruled by those who hated them.
42 Their enemies crushed them and brought them under their cruel power.
43 Again and again He rescued them, but they chose to rebel against Him, and they were finally destroyed by their sin.
44 Even so, He pitied them in their distress and listened to their cries.
45 He remembered His covenant with them and relented because of His unfailing love.
46 He even caused their captors to treat them with kindness.
47 Save us, O Lord our God! Gather us back from among the nations, so we can thank your Holy Name and rejoice and praise you.
48 Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, who lives from everlasting to everlasting! Let all the people say, “Amen!” Praise the Lord!

Judgment is always the result of sin:

I Chronicles 21:9-14 KJV
9 Then the Lord spoke to Gad, David’s seer. This was the message:
10 “Go and say to David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I will give you three choices. Choose one of these punishments, and I will inflict it on you.’”
11 So Gad came to David and said, “These are the choices the Lord has given you.
12 You may choose three years of famine, three months of destruction by the sword of your enemies, or three days of severe plague as the angel of the Lord brings devastation throughout the land of Israel. Decide what answer I should give the Lord who sent me.”
13 “I’m in a desperate situation!” David replied to Gad. “But let me fall into the hands of the Lord, for His mercy is very great. Do not let me fall into human hands.”
14 So the Lord sent a plague upon Israel, and 70,000 people died as a result.


Ezekiel 18:4 KJV
"...the soul that sinneth, it shall die."

Romans 3:23 KJV
For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Romans 6:23 KJV
For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

John 1:12,13 KJV
[12] But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name:
[13] Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.