Posted by
Bob Siegel on Friday, August 22, 2008 11:54:43 AM
“In the Old Testament, King David, (apparently out of pride) decided to
take a census of Israel.
This
bothered God very much. As a result, God punished David and the entire
nation. The problem is that 1 Chronicles and 2 Samuel
give two completely contradictory accounts of this incident. The
writer of Chronicles tells us that Satan
put the idea into David’s mind. The writer of Samuel tells us that God
put the
idea into David’s mind. We couldn’t possibly have more of a
contradiction!”
1 Chron 21:1
Satan rose up against Israel and
incited David to take a census of Israel.
2 Sam 24:1
Again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and he
incited David against them, saying, "Go and take a census of Israel and Judah."
Yes, this does look like a contradiction.
The solution comes with an understanding of the way ancient Jews
spoke. They used extreme, exaggerated
phrases and spoke somewhat poetically a great deal of the time. They also talked from the point of view of
God’s sovereignty. At times, they spoke
as if every event, (even an action of Satan ) was caused by God. What they
meant, of course, is that every event is allowed by God. He may disapprove, but
He still allows the free will of people and even the free will of evil
spirits. An ancient Jew could say that
Satan told David to take the census. This same Jew could say God told David to
take the census and mean, that God allowed Satan to tell David to take the
census. Strange as it may seem to us, the ancient Jews would not have even
flinched with such a variety of speech. We must realize that if the Bible did
not contradict itself to the original audience it was written for, it cannot
contradict itself to us.
If you’ll notice, God was just as upset with David in either account:
1 Chron 21:7-8
This command was also evil in the sight of God; so he punished Israel.
Then David said to God, "I
have sinned greatly by doing this. Now, I beg you, take away the guilt of your
servant. I have done a very foolish thing."
The LORD said to Gad, David's seer, 10 "Go and tell David, 'This is
what the LORD says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to
carry out against you.'"
2 Sam 24:10-12
David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and
he said to the LORD, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done. Now, O
LORD, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant. I have done a very
foolish thing."
Before David got up the next morning, the word of the LORD had come to Gad
the prophet, David's seer: "Go and tell David, 'This is what the LORD
says: I am giving you three options. Choose one of them for me to carry out
against you.'"
Wouldn’t this be an even bigger contradiction, that God would get cross
with David for doing the very thing, He, Himself commanded? The obvious answer is that God did not
command it. He allowed Satan to put the idea in David’s mind. There is Biblical
precedent for God permitting Satan to do things that are against His ideal will:
Job 1:9-12
"Does Job fear God for nothing?" Satan replied. "Have you not put a hedge around him and
his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so
that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But stretch out your hand and strike
everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face."
The LORD said to Satan, "Very well, then, everything he has is in
your hands, but on the man himself do not lay a finger."
And yet, throughout the book of Job, people talk is if this calamity came
from God. Satan is never mentioned again after Chapter Two. Even when God talks to Job at the end of the
book, God does not feel the need to deny the suggestion that He did this.
That’s because “God doing it” or “God allowing Satan to do it” were simply two
different ways of saying the same thing.
Scripture taken from THE HOLY
BIBLE
New International Version NIV
Copyright 1973, 1979, 1984 by International Bible
Society
Used by permission of Zondervan
Publishing House.
All rights reserved.
Also by Bob Siegel:
1)
Skeptical Questions About Christianity (Apologetics)
Can The Existence of God Be Proven?
If The Gospel Was Fake, This Would Have Been A Really Dumb
Thing To Include
Did Jesus Fulfill Bible Prophecy? Isaiah 53
Was
Jesus The Promised Messiah? Daniel 9
Just
What Is It About Genesis That You Find So Illogical?
Is The DaVinci Code Something to be Taken Seriously?
Try
To Follow This Logic: If God Exists, God is Real.
My Brief Time In the Occult
How Do We Know Which Manuscript Copies Truly Belong In The
Bible?
Why Are There Different Versions of the Bible?
Three Questions That Test Your Friend's Opinions
The Day God Gave Me One Hundred Dollars (And Believe Me; I
didn't Deserve It)
The Day A Scholar Said Scholars Aren't Scholarly
Why
Do Most People Think God Will Not Talk?
A
Biblical Case For Authentic Healing: No, I Don't Mean That "Name It, Claim
It" Nonsense.
Does the Bible Really Speak About the Future?
An
Identity Crisis: God or Satan?
2) The Nature of God
Does The Bible Teach That God Is Everything or that God Created
Everything?
Of course the Trinity is Impossible! Haven't You Ever Studied
Math?
Does
God Have a Sense of Humor?
3) Questions About Jesus
Was Jesus Gay?
Was Jesus A False Prophet?
Did Jesus Really Claim To Be God?
Did Jesus Really Claim to be The Messiah?
4) Moral Objections to Christianity
Oh, That Horrible Christianity!
Subsiding All The Passion Over "The Passion"
Was Judas Forgiven?
If You Don't Like Her, Take It Up With Jesus
Behavior Not Even A Christian Apologist Can Defend
Evidently Christians Don't Hold A Monopoly On Stupidity
A Pro-Choice Christmas Card?
Are Christian Ministers Just In It For The Money?
Got
A Beef Against Religion? You May Have Something In Common With Jesus!
5) Questions About Church Life and Church Practices
My
High View of Church Kept Me From Church
Is Persecution Good For The Church?
Are Christians Expected to Keep the Sabbath?
Is Tithing Really Biblical?
The Prayer Game
Oh Yeah? Well David Did Alot of Stupid Things
I
Rolled Down The Window So God Could Hear Me A Little Better
Children
Cry and Parents Deny
Trouble
in Paradise
He
Told Me My Prayer Was Not A Valid Prayer
How Should We Pray For Healing?
That
Other Thing We Committed Ourselves To As Christians
6) Theology Questions
Cherry Picking Our Doctrines
St. Bob's Epistle To The Calvinists
Baptism:
To Dip Or Not To Dip
Catholics
In A Protestant Church
7) Christianity and Its Relationship To Other Religions
Is Mormonism Really a Cult? Let's Finally Settle This Once and
For All
How a Reformed Jew Became an Evangelical Christian Part One
The
Mystery of Anti-Semitism: Have You Heard The One About the Jew and the Nitwit?
How To Cause A Muslim Freudian Slip
Calling God Allah: What's In A Name?
Christianity, Judaism and Islam: Comparison
8) Christianity and Its
Relationship to the Rest of the World
Does
Jesus Belong on the College Campus?
Can A Christian Be Pragmatic?
The No Longer Sacred Santa
I'm Not Doing It For the Warthog and the Pine Cone
Now Kids, Keep The Name of the Holiday a Secret
Say,
Doc, Will I Ever Be Allowed To Play The Violin Again? Because You Won't!
9) Assurance of Salvation
How Does One Become a Christian?
Can't I Accept Christ On My Deathbed?
What is the Unforgivable Sin and How Do I Know If I've
Committed It?
Does The Bible Teach An Age of Accountability?