(1) Satan’s census and the Lord’s sword (21:1-22:1)
This section begins with the troubling story of Satan’s census and the Lord’s sword (21:1-22:1). The chronicler’s narrative diverges from the parallel account of 2Sa 24. The first word signals one major difference in the story. Who was responsible for this census? According to 1Ch 21:1, Satan inspired David to take a census. In contrast, 2Sa 24:1 attributes the instigation to the Lord. The Chronicles' narrative is reminiscent of Satan’s appearance before the Lord to accuse Job. The text of Job 2:3, which uses the word incited of Satan, may have influenced the chronicler’s composition. Due to his theological sensibilities, the chronicler substitutes Satan where his original source accuses God as being the instigator of the census and its consequences. This is the same theological issue with which the book of Job struggles. Who is ultimately responsible for the suffering of innocent people? The chronicler chooses to blame Satan as the initiator and to focus on the mercy of God in providing both an end to the punishment and the site for the temple. Thus, as in the story of Job, Satan’s wicked intentions are turned around to the glory of God. (The only other appearance of Satan in the OT is the postexilic book of Zechariah. Satan appears in Zec 3 as an accuser of the high priest Joshua.)
The chronicler places the plague in the middle of David’s life, whereas the author of 2Sa 24 sets this story at the end of the king’s life. The issue of David’s temple preparations controls this arrangement. This story tells how David selects the temple site. He chooses to erect the Lord’s house where God demonstrated mercy in the midst of a terrible judgment against Israel.
Despite Joab’s opposition, David sends him to number the troops. Joab avoids completely fulfilling the repulsive command by not reporting the total to David. The census angers the Lord, perhaps because David was tempted to trust human military might alone (21:7). This line regarding the anger of the Lord, unparalleled in the 2 Samuel account, is necessary in Chronicles since the author has attributed the idea for the census to Satan. David begs for God’s forgiveness, and God outlines three options for punishment. David chooses to let a merciful God judge him (v.13).
The Lord, grieved by the calamity, stops the destruction. He instructs David to build an altar at Araunah’s threshing floor where the angel stood. In a manner similar to Abraham’s purchase of the cave at Machpelah (Ge 23), David refuses to take Araunah’s property for less than full price. The Lord accepts David’s offerings with a heavenly fire, just as he would at the same site when Solomon dedicated the completed temple (2Ch 7:1). The plague ceases.
The chronicler’s report and placement concerns the acquisition and future use of Araunah’s threshing floor. God’s mercy, displayed during David’s day, is available to any who turn toward this site after the temple is erected. The temple will be a memorial of an experience of God’s grace and a sign of God’s continued willingness to forgive and heal his people (2Ch 7:14). In 2Ch 3, when Solomon builds the temple, the chronicler reminds the reader of this connection.