Temptations
What strikes me first as I read this passage is that God is angry with Israel and David, and yet it seems that it is God who incites David to do the numbering. It simply doesn't make sense that God would cause David to do something, and then later be angry about David's obedient action. As we look closer at this, the truth becomes clear. The first piece of important evidence is found in 1 Chronicles 21 verse 1 which is a parallel account of this story, with an important difference. In the Chronicles account, Satan is actually named as the person inciting David. In 2 Samuel, the "he" is unnamed and it is implied that it is Jehovah God. Chronicles answers the "he" question. But what still remains to be answered is why 2 Samuel is written as it is? It's because God is taking a passive role and allowing David to be tempted and not guarding or keeping the temptation from him. God is not doing the tempting...God is allowing it. When temptations come into our life, there are no doubt some which God will block since He knows we are incapable of resisting that temptation. But then there are others which He allows into our life where He expects us to have the ability to resist. Unfortunately, he David all too dramatically reveals the fact that even though we are capable of resisting a temptation, there will be times when we will fail. In this episode, David failed not only himself, but also his nation. Similarly, we must remember that in our own temptations, we will often fail those outside of ourselves if we give in to the deceptions of the enemy...
