1 Chronicles 21:4, commentary and pictures

Joab protested the order to number Israel, warning that it would make the king answerable for Israel's trespass, but the king's word prevailed against him. In obedience to that overruling order Joab departed, went throughout all Israel, and then came back to Jerusalem. The proposed census was for the purpose of extending military service. That project caused dissatisfaction among the people.

Numbering Israel in this way ran against the principles of a theocracy and was not work after God's order. The numbering was sinful. David's sin in counting the people was selfishness. The counting was still unfinished when David became convicted of his sin. His repentance came only after the Lord's judgment had been declared.

The history to which the verse belongs culminates at Ornan's threshing floor, where the sacrifice offered there turned aside the destroying angel. That scene at the threshing floor served as a symbol of the Saviour's sacrifice and mediation for guilty people. The verse warns God's workers not to turn inward to count Israel while large numbers in the world, in the very cities at hand, have not heard the message of warning. It warns against bringing on the time of trouble before the time. It warns against building up a wall of separation between workers and the world by advancing their own ideas and notions.

Instead, the verse points to abundance of earnest work in cities that have not been worked, enlightening souls with pen and voice in simple, stirring presentations of faith and love. The same selfish sin is repeated in every age by selfish people who try to make eternal life a monopoly and a local and national benefit while excluding the rest of God's family. That exclusive spirit stands opposite Christ's work of breaking down every wall of partition to show that mercy and love are as unconfined as air and water and that eternal life is free to all without nationality, tribe, or clan.