⁸These were born unto the giant[¹] in Gath; and they fell by the hand of David, and by the hand of his servants.
[¹] Hebrew Rapha.
8. These were born unto the giant in Gath] Again “giant” is the Hebrew “Rapha” as in verses 4, 6. The meaning is that these belonged to a branch of the Rephaim which was settled in Gath.
Chapter XXI.
1–27 (= 2 Samuel xxiv. 1–25).
The Numbering and the Plague.
Comparison of these verses with the account given in Samuel discloses not a few interesting divergences, the more important of which are pointed out in the notes below (see especially the notes on verses 1, 6, 25). In general it may be said that the account in Chronicles curtails any features reflecting discredit on David and expands such as do him honour. Some scholars consider that the changes are of such a character that they may all be due directly to the Chronicler, but others see in them motives so various as to suggest the opinion that the Chronicler’s source is not Samuel but an intermediate source. There may be a measure of truth in both contentions. So famous a tale may well have been recounted with modifications in the telling to suit the later idealisation of David. The Chronicler may therefore have been working from the text of Samuel, but some of the changes he introduced may have been generally current, and for these he is in a sense not immediately responsible, although of course all were more or less in accordance with his taste.
The subject of the present section (David’s numbering of the people and the plague which followed) is interesting in itself, quite apart from the comparison with Samuel Why was the census considered a sin? Various replies may be made. (1) Because the pride of David and the ambitions which the census might promote revealed a transference of trust from God to self, from spirit to numbers, from justice to power. This view accords with our modern moralistic standpoint, but other considerations call for mention. (2) Because, unlike the two numberings in the wilderness (Numbers i. 1–16, iii. 39, xxvi. 1–65), it was not made by Divine command (compare verse 1, note). This thought may well have been present in the mind of the Chronicler. To it we may add (3) the popular dread of the census as a sinister and unlucky act. The ground of this dread was no doubt mainly practical, being due to the fear that the records might be used for purposes of fresh taxation or more stringent war-levies, but it may have its roots in an instinct, handed down from the thoughts of primitive ages, when written records were an uncanny mystery. Thus S. I. Curtiss, Primitive Semitic Religion To-day, p. 69, remarks that the persistence of this fear among modern Semites is partially chargeable for the lack of correct statistics as to the population of Oriental towns. Frazer (in Anthropological Essays to E. B. Tylor, p. 174) refers to the dread of enumeration felt by the Lapps and by a West African tribe.
¹And Satan[¹] stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.
[¹] Or, an adversary.