(2) And to the rulers (captains) of the people.--Omitted in Samuel, which reads, "Joab, the captain of the host, who was with him." The "captains of the host" are, however, associated in the work of the census with Joab (2Samuel 24:4). The fact that Joab and his staff were deputed to take the census seems to prove that it was of a military character.

Go.--Plural.

Number.--Enrol, or register (sifr-). A different word (m?n?h) is used in 1Chronicles 21:1, and in the parallel place. Samuel has, "Run over, I pray, all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Beersheba," using the very word (sh-t) which, in the prologue of Job (1Chronicles 1:7; 1Chronicles 2:2) Satan uses of his own wanderings over the earth.

From Beersheba even to Dan.--As if the party were to proceed from south to north. (See 1Chronicles 21:4.) The reverse order is usual. (See Judges 20:1; 1Samuel 3:20.)

Verse 2. - And to the rulers of the people. So Numbers 1:4, "And with you there shall be a man of every tribe; every one head of the house of his fathers" (see also 1 Chronicles 27:22-24; 2 Samuel 24:4, 5).

21:1-30 David's numbering the people. - No mention is made in this book of David's sin in the matter of Uriah, neither of the troubles that followed it: they had no needful connexion with the subjects here noted. But David's sin, in numbering the people, is related: in the atonement made for that sin, there was notice of the place on which the temple should be built. The command to David to build an altar, was a blessed token of reconciliation. God testified his acceptance of David's offerings on this altar. Thus Christ was made sin, and a curse for us; it pleased the Lord to bruise him, that through him, God might be to us, not a consuming Fire, but a reconciled God. It is good to continue attendance on those ordinances in which we have experienced the tokens of God's presence, and have found that he is with us of a truth. Here God graciously met me, therefore I will still expect to meet him.See Chapter Introduction