Inquiry:
How many valiant men drew the sword in Israel and Judah as counted by Joab? In 2 Samuel 24:9 there are 800,000 for Israel and 500,000 for Judah; but 1 Chronicles 21:5 says 1,100,000 and 470,000 respectively. Is there a contradiction?
Response:
Indeed, it does appear that something is amiss in the numbering of the valiant men as recorded in 2 Samuel 24:9 and 1 Chronicles 21:5. We can see that the numbers are not the same. There is a valid explanation for the variance.
Note a difference in how the numbers are spoken of. 1 Chronicles declares “all Israel,” but 2 Samuel doesn’t. If we look at 1 Chronicles 27, we’ll see who the extra 300,000 men in the Chronicles account are. There were 12 divisions of 24,000 each who were a private militia for the king. Also, the leaders of each tribe had 1,000 men in their company. The Chronicle includes these as part of “all Israel,” but they are excluded in 2 Samuel, as they were enlisted in the royal service already.
The difference of 30,000 between the two records seems to be a group of men whom David had separated to himself in 2 Samuel 6:1.
It should be noted that Joab did not complete the census. We read:
Joab the son of Zeruiah began a census, but he did not finish, for wrath came upon Israel because of this census; nor was the number recorded in the account of the chronicles of King David (1 Chronicles 27:24)
The numbers we have in either 1 Chronicles or 2 Samuel are not complete. The census was left undone.
There is no contradiction.
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