David initiated a census, which had disastrous consequences.  The question arises, who actually prompted David to count the Israelites? Let’s see the two passages that allude to this:

“Again, the anger of the Lord was aroused against Israel, and He ‎moved David against them to say, ‘Go, number Israel and Judah.”‎ (2 Samuel 24:1)

“Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David ‎to number Israel.”‎ (1 Chronicles 21:1)

There seems to be a contradiction here because in Samuel it says the Lord moved David to perform the census, but in Chronicles it says Satan moved him to do it. So, was it God or Satan?

The short answer: Satan did. ‎

Today in theology, we often talk about the “active” and “passive” or ‎‎“permissive” will of God. We recognise that saying God allows something to take place is not the ‎same thing as saying God is the one who directly causes it to occur. God actively redeems his ‎people because he permitted them to sin of their own free will. The Ancient Hebrew mindset, it ‎seems, did not account for such a strong distinction between the two. It seems they would have ‎been able to recognise the difference if they talked about it (hence the distinction that was made ‎by the ‘later’ writer of Chronicles), but nothing in their language could directly account for this. ‎

Satan directly tempted David, David freely chose to give in to this temptation, and God allowed it ‎all to come about because he was sovereign over the entire situation. The difference in the two ‎passages, though, brings out a different emphasis in both. While in the Chronicles passage, the ‎idea is that David had gone so low as to succumb to the temptation of the devil, in the Samuel ‎passage, the main idea is that God did not abandon Israel, nor was God’s sovereignty ever in ‎question. Given the themes of both books, this makes sense. Chronicles seems heavily “David-focused”, and Samuel seems heavily focused on the relationship of God to the rulers of Israel ‎‎(and how their rule is paralleled or not by God’s rule). In other words, the word he moved” ‎David to do it means God permitted David’s temptation and his free will.‎

There are many examples in the bible of both God’s and the devil’s involvement in mankind’s ‎affairs, each for different purposes; God’s purpose is for man to acquire virtues, righteousness, ‎repentance and holiness, while Satan’s purpose is to make man sinful, corrupted and enslaved.‎

‎1.‎  In the book of Job, chapters one and two, we find a challenge to Satan from God ‎, allowing Satan to bring upon Job his calamities. God’s purpose was to purify Job’s faith ‎and to strengthen his character using discipline through adversity, whereas ‎Satan’s purpose was purely malicious, wishing Job as much harm as possible so that he ‎would recant his faith in his God.‎

‎2.‎  Similarly both God and Satan are involved in the sufferings of persecuted Christians ‎according to 1 Peter 4:19 and 5:8. God’s purpose is to strengthen their faith and to ‎enable them to share in the sufferings of Christ in this life, that they may rejoice with ‎Him in the glories of heaven to come (1 Peter 4:13-14), whereas Satan’s purpose is to ‎‎‘devour’ them (1 Peter 5:8), or rather to draw them into self-pity and bitterness, and ‎down to his level.‎

‎3.‎  God allowed Satan the three temptations of Jesus during his earthly ministry. ‎God’s purpose for these temptations was for him to triumph completely over the very ‎tempter who had lured the first Adam to his fall, whereas Satan’s purpose was to deflect ‎the Saviour from his messianic mission.‎

‎4.‎  In the case of Peter’s three denials of Jesus in the court of the high priest, it was Jesus ‎himself who pointed out the purposes of both parties’ involvement when he says in Luke ‎‎22:31-32, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for ‎you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen ‎your brothers.”‎

‎5.‎  And finally, the crucifixion itself bears out yet another example where both God and ‎Satan are involved. Satan exposed his purpose when he had the heart of Judas filled ‎with treachery and hate (John 13:27), causing him to betray Jesus. The Lord’s ‎reasoning behind the crucifixion, however, was that Jesus, the Lamb slain from the ‎foundation of the world should give his life as a ransom for many, so that once again ‎sinful man could relish in the relationship lost at the very beginning, in the garden of ‎Eden, and thereby enter into a relationship which is now eternal.‎

Satan’s motive in all these examples, including the census by David, was driven by malicious ‎intent, while the Lord in all these cases showed an entirely different motive. His was a ‎benevolent motive with a view to eventual victory, while simultaneously increasing the usefulness ‎of the person tested. In every case, Satan’s success was limited and transient, while in the end, ‎God’s purpose was well served, furthering His cause substantially.‎

You can find more articles dealing with the alleged contradictions in the Bible at the link below: https://copticapologetics.com/category/bible-difficulties/

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