David Counts the Fighting Men

1 Chronicles 21:1-17
Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel. So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, “Go and count the Israelites from Beersheba to Dan. Then report back to me so that I may know how many there are.
The king’s word, however, overruled Joab; so Joab left and went throughout Israel and then came back to Jerusalem. Joab reported the number of the fighting men to David: In all Israel, there were one million one hundred thousand men who could handle a sword, including four hundred and seventy thousand in Judah.
But Joab did not include Levi and Benjamin in the numbering, because the king’s command was repulsive to him. This command was also evil in the sight of God; so he punished Israel.
So Gad went to David and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Take your choice: three years of famine, three months of being swept away before your enemies, with their swords overtaking you, or three days of the sword of the Lord—days of plague in the land, with the angel of the Lord ravaging every part of Israel.’ Now then, decide how I should answer the one who sent me.”
David said to Gad, “I am in deep distress. Let me fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is very great; but do not let me fall into human hands.
David said to God, “Was it not I who ordered the fighting men to be counted? I, the shepherd, have sinned and done wrong. These are but sheep. What have they done? Lord my God, let your hand fall on me and my family, but do not let this plague remain on your people.”
For the Chronicles, the census assessing Israel's military strength suggests lack of trust in God and plague are significant simply as the lead-in to David's decision to build the temple on the site of Ornan's threshing-floor, a fact not even mentioned in Samuel.
Why?
As a king make a wrong decision and caused many people to died, so David knew he sinned against the Lord for he lacks faith in the Lord.
Even Joab knew what is right and wrong, but the king's word overruled Joab, so Joab has to execute this order.
There are 110000 fighting men in Isreal, 470000 in Judah.
David chose to fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great.
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當國家愈來愈強盛，四周的國家都懼怕以色列。強壯後最怕就是驕傲，不是數人口，而是數戰士，好像是閱兵，告訴人我的王位，我的國最強。但是在這件事連約押都厭煩此事，這是愚昧的有。西西加王也做了類似的事，給外邦使節看他的財寶。
神讓大衛透過瘟疫、飢荒， 無法面對，完全被打敗。有時候我們在展示我們的能力中，很容易落入驕傲。瘟疫使以色列人死七萬多人，比打戰死的人還要多。
神本來盼望人有悔改前，神已經施憐憫，其實神早已經預備恩典，大衛禱告後災停止。神本來沒有傷害的意念，而是存恩典的神。
我們費事每個時刻在主裏面。
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How?
Let the Lord be my king forever, trust in the Lord, doing the right things.