How is that a contradiction? G-d had Satan tell David to take a census of Israel.
Well, because the reason you take a census is either:
- So you can levy a tax
or - Because you’re going to war and want to conscript people.
Neither of these are very popular.
I must be missing something here. “Again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and he incited David against them…” I see no mention of the word Satan or the devil in here!
Rev 22:18 has God saying, “I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book.”
Better not add the word “Satan”, or the plague will affect 70,001 
Wouldn’t this be a good way of proving that God doesn’t exist? I think someone should add something to the Bible and see if they are struck with plagues. I can’t be nominated since it was my idea.
Well, no, not in the verse you quoted. The verse in Chronicles mentions Satan. The verse you quoted doesn’t rule out that G-d used intermediaries, though. A similar case would be if I was a kid talking on the phone to my friend, and he invited me over to his house, so, seeing my sister come into the room, I say to her, “Go ask mom if I can go over to X’s house”, and so she leaves and comes back, saying “You can’t go over there. You have to mow the lawn first”, and I saying to my friend on the phone “My mom said I can’t go. I have to mow the lawn.” Technically, it was my sister who told me that, but she did so speaking with my mom’s authority. It’s possible something like that happened there. It’s not like Satan is an independent agent or something, or does stuff G-d doesn’t want him doing.
So when Satan tempts someone into doing evil, it’s because God allows Satan to do it? Why?
Boy, it’s refreshing when a thread of this sort eventually spawns honest inquiries.
tracer:
Because, according to Jewish tradition, counting a group of people directly causes the “Evil Eye” to have dominion over them. That’s why in Exodus 30:11-16, G-d instructs that whenever there is a need to count the Jews, it be done indirectly through collection of coins which act as an atonement for any sins that might cause the “Evil Eye” to focus on an individual. David (according to Jewish tradition) thought that the commandment in Exodus was a directive specifically to Moses and did not apply eternally. He learned otherwise too late.
jab1:
Because that’s his job.
To elaborate: Judaism doesn’t see Satan as a rebellious angel/adversary to G-d like Christianity does. Judaism sees Satan as an agent of G-d whose job is to provide temptation. Human beings have free will to succumb or resist, but testing of one’s moral character is something that G-d desires, and temptation is a necessary part of that.
What’s there to test? God made humans right? So its not like there should be any inconsistencies in moral character, and if there are, he should know what the consequences of this will be without bothing with temptation and forcing your own creation to meet his own demise. I just never understood this.
“If it made sense, it wouldn’t be a religion.”
–Peter David
Kaje:
Temptation is not “forcing G-d’s own creation to meet with his own demise.” That assumes that human beings are not capable of withstanding the temptation and will inevitably choose to succumb. That is not true. Human beings have free will and can (and often do) choose to resist temptation in order to obey G-d.
Reward is meaningless if it’s not earned. And reward cannot reasonably be said to be earned unless the opportunity with the choice to take it or drop it is presented.
Chaim Mattis Keller
What reward?
cmkeller wrote:
Wow, what a great scam!
ANCIENT GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL: “We’re not imposing a tax on you, we’re just taking coins from you so that we can count you indirectly, without subjecting you to the evil eye.”
ANCIENT PEOPLE: “Oh, thank you, government official! Here! Take our money!”
… I wish I’d thought of doing that!
cmk replied to tracer: *‘What I wanna know is, why is taking a plain old census of Israel viewed as such an “evil” thing in 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles?’
Because, according to Jewish tradition, counting a group of people directly causes the “Evil Eye” to have dominion over them. *
Hmmmmmm. I know little about this, but I had thought that the concept of the “Evil Eye” as a malevolent sort of supernatural influence was a medieval tradition, not as old as the original Hebrew scriptures. Can you give me a cite of some kind for dating the concept that far back?
jab1:
You’re kidding, right? You know what religions promise to their adherents. I’m not going to answer cynical remarks (which is the reason for my absence from most of this thread), just honest questions.
Kimstu:
Well, it kind of depends on what you mean by “malevolent supernatural influence.” My researches into the subject (I once had to give a class on it) indicate that it wasn’t like a demon if some sort, rather, it really meant some sort of event that caused G-d to call one to task for his or her sins.
I can trace mentions of the “Evil Eye” at least as far back as the 1st century CE; it appears in a Mishnah in a statement attributed to a student of Rabbi Johanan ben Zakkai at the time of the latter’s death, and that Rabbi lived through the destruction of the Holy Temple in 70 CE.
It’s difficult to trace it back farther, because it’s mentioned at least fifty times in the Mishnah, Talmud and Midrash…it’ll be difficult to find which of these statements gives the Biblical root. I suppose I can try to find it if you have a particular interest in the subject.
Chaim Mattis Keller