Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Harold R. Holmyard III" <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear James,

> This is starting to go a little off topic but 
> it's not all quite so cut and dried.
>
> At the same period Abraham was married to his 
> half-sister who later became the mother
> of Isaac through whom Yah promised that all the 
> nations would be blessed. The law which
> came hundreds of years later condemned such yet 
> we see no indication that Abraham was held
> in disfavour by Yah for marrying his sister.
>
> Maye it was OK to marry your sister but not to 
> have children with your daughters in that
> period. I don't know. But the point is the 
> tanakh doesn't always tell us that something is
> bad in exactly the same verse.

HH: You may have a point. But we don't see taking 
a census criticized anywhere, do we? So it must 
have been the circumstances. The International 
Standard Bible Encyclopedia says: "Clearly it was 
for David's glory rather than for the Lord's, and 
this no doubt was part of its sinful character." 
The author goes on to say that there may be more 
involved than is now apparent to the modern 
reader. I know that in a census there was 
supposed to be a head tax paid, so if David took 
a census without collecting the head tax, that 
could provoke the Lord's wrath. He even threatens 
a plague:

Ex. 30:11 ¶ Then the LORD said to Moses,
Ex. 30:12  "When you take a census of the 
Israelites to count them, each one must pay the 
LORD a ransom for his life at the time he is 
counted. Then no plague will come on them when 
you number them.
Ex. 30:13 Each one who crosses over to those 
already counted is to give a half shekel, 
according to the sanctuary shekel, which weighs 
twenty gerahs. This half shekel is an offering to 
the LORD.
Ex. 30:14 All who cross over, those twenty years 
old or more, are to give an offering to the LORD.
Ex. 30:15 The rich are not to give more than a 
half shekel and the poor are not to give less 
when you make the offering to the LORD to atone 
for your lives.
Ex. 30:16 Receive the atonement money from the 
Israelites and use it for the service of the Tent 
of Meeting. It will be a memorial for the 
Israelites before the LORD, making atonement for 
your lives."

                                Yours,
                                Harold Holmyard