JoeB131
Diamond Member
- Thread starter
- #61
The word in both verses is cuwth, which means incite, lure, instigate, or entice. It does not mean ordered.
Incite or instigate means that they wanted David to do this, so God would come back later and punish him for it. Logically, I suppose the Chronicles version makes a bit more sense, Satan being a cosmic Eddie Haskel always getting David and the Beav in trouble.
Really, though, totally inexcusable to kill 70,000 people over something as petty as a census.
Now, a rational person would realize these were Bronze Age savages, and "God" was the go to explanation for everything they didn't understand. THunder? Must be God. Plague? Must be God. Hoard of Locust? Must be God. Enemies who don't believe in God defeat you and burn down your temple? You must not be believing in God sincerely enough.
It that some of you want to use this as a basis of morality in the 21st century that's kind of scary. 9/11? God must be unhappy about the Gheys (Robertson) or racial inequality (Wright).
Actually, it doesn't. You can be held legally responsible for inciting a riot even if you can prove you did not want to start one.
Is that really the best you can come up with?
We are talking about God, he who knows all and sees all (again, if you buy the version in 2 Samuel and not the one in 1 Chronicles). How could he not "incite" a census when he didn't want to start one.
Why would he need to incite a census at all, since he knows all and sees all? He already knows how many Israelites he has available to torture and kill, which seems to be his predominate activity in the Bible.