Why was it a sin for King David to order a census of Israel?”

This is referring to 2 Samuel 24:1-17, where God’s anger burned against Israel because David took a census of the fighting men. Even Joab, David’s general, knew this would bring trouble, saying, “Why does my lord the king want to do such a thing?” (24:3). As soon as David did it he, too, knew it was a sin. God’s wrath was so stirred up that 70,000 people died as a result. But, interestingly, the biblical account never explains why this was a sin.

The chapter starts out by saying that the LORD caused David to do this, apparently by giving Satan permission to tempt him. The parallel account in 1 Chronicles 21 says, “Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel.” The record in Chronicles places this right after a great victory over the Philistines, so the sin was probably related to a problem with pride. A census was preliminary to a draft of soldiers and a levying of taxes. David’s intent may have been to increase the royal power in a way that contrasted with being reliant on God. As Deuteronomy chapter 17 firmly insists, the human kingship of Israel was to be noticeably dependent on God’s divine kingship. For Israel’s king to build up the same power common to pagan kings was equivalent to renouncing God’s kingship. This seems to have been David’s sin so God was angered and acted to stop it.