I Chronicles 21:5
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And Joab reported to David the total number of the troops. In all Israel there were 1,100,000 men who drew the sword, including 470,000 in Judah.
Commentaries
Excerpts gathered from published commentaries to ground the reading.
INTRODUCTION TO 1 CHRONICLES 21 Excepting the three last verses, is contained in Sa2 24:1 with some few variations, which are there observed; see the notes there.
Open source ↗As this rehearsal makes no mention of David's sin in the matter of Uriah, so neither of the troubles of his family that followed upon it; not a word of Absalom's rebellion, or Sheba's. But David's sin, in numbering the people, is here related, because, in the atonement made for that sin, an intimation was given of the spot of ground on which the temple should be built. Here is, I. David's sin, in forcing Joab to number the people (Ch1 21:1-6). II. David's sorrow for what he had done, as soon as he perceived the sinfulness of it (Ch1 21:7, Ch1 21:8). III. The sad dilemma (or trilemma rather) he was brought to, when it was put to him to choose how he would be punished for this sin, and what rod he would be beaten with (Ch1 21:9-13). IV. The woeful havoc which was made by the pestilence in the country, and the narrow escape which Jerusalem had from being laid waste by it (Ch1 21:14-17). V. David's repentance, and sacrifice, upon this occasion, and the staying of the plaque thereupon (Ch1 21:18-30). This awful story we met with, and meditated upon, 2 Sa. 24.
Open source ↗Cross-references
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And Joab reported to the king the total number of the troops. In Israel there were 800,000 men of valor who drew the sword, and in Judah there were 500,000.
David did not count the men aged twenty or under, because the LORD had said that He would make Israel as numerous as the stars of the sky.