John Gill's Bible Commentary Ver. 1. And again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel , etc.] It had been kindled, and appeared before in sending a three years’ famine among them for Saul’s ill usage of the Gibeonites, ( 2 Samuel 21:1); and now it broke forth again, either for some secret sins committed, as Kimchi suggests, or for the rebellion of Absalom, and the insurrection of Sheba, in which multitudes of them joined; so Abarbinel; no doubt there was cause for it, though it is not expressed: and he moved David against them ; not the Lord, but Satan, as may be supplied from ( 1 Chronicles 21:1); or “it moved him”; the anger of the Lord, as the last mentioned writer interprets it; or the heart of David, as Ben Gersom; that is, the evil imagination of his heart, as Kimchi; the Lord left him to the corruption of his nature, sometimes called Satan, ( Corinthians 12:7); which wrought powerfully in him, and stirred him up to take a step contrary to the interest of Israel, and what was prejudicial to them, as the event showed: it moved him to say; to Joab and his captains: go, number Israel and Judah : not all the individuals, but such as were fit for war, able to bear arms, (see 2 Samuel 24:9).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-9 - For the people's sin David was left to act wrong, and in his chastisement they received punishment. This example throws light upo God's government of the world, and furnishes a useful lesson. The prid of David's heart, was his sin in numbering of the people. He though thereby to appear the more formidable, trusting in an arm of flesh mor than he should have done, and though he had written so much of trustin in God only. God judges not of sin as we do. What appears to u harmless, or, at least, but a small offence, may be a great sin in the eye of God, who discerns the thoughts and intents of the heart. Eve ungodly men can discern evil tempers and wrong conduct in believers, of which they themselves often remain unconscious. But God seldom allow those whom he loves the pleasures they sinfully covet.
Original Hebrew ויסף3254 אף639 יהוה3068 לחרות2734 בישׂראל3478 ויסת5496 את853 דוד1732 בהם לאמר559 לך1980 מנה4487 את853 ישׂראל3478 ואת853 יהודה׃3063
