David's Census and the Plague

The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he moved David to command a numbering of the people. David instructed Joab, the captain of the host, to go through all the tribes from Dan to Beersheba to determine the number of the people (2 Samuel 24:2). Joab questioned the king’s command, asking why he would delight in such a thing, but the king’s word prevailed over Joab and the captains of the host. The men traveled for nine months and twenty days, crossing the Jordan and passing through various regions before returning to Jerusalem. Joab reported the number of the people to the king, recording eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword in Israel and five hundred thousand men in Judah (2 Samuel 24:9).

David's heart smote him after he had numbered the people, and he confessed to the Lord that he had sinned greatly. The word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David’s seer, instructing him to offer David three choices of punishment: seven years of famine, three months of fleeing before enemies, or three days of pestilence in the land. David chose to fall into the hand of the Lord, citing his great mercies, rather than into the hand of man. Consequently, the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning until the time appointed, resulting in the deaths of seventy thousand men (2 Samuel 24:15).

When the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented of the evil. Gad commanded David to go up and rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. David approached Araunah, who offered to give the king the threshing floor, the oxen for burnt sacrifice, and the threshing instruments for wood for free. However, David refused to offer burnt offerings that cost him nothing and purchased the floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver (2 Samuel 24:24). David built an altar there and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. The text does not say why the census was considered a sin beyond the initial anger of the Lord.