Two Censuses... One Story of Redemption

At first glance, the census in 2 Samuel 24 and the census in Luke 2 seem unrelated. One happens in the Old Testament under King David, the other under the Roman emperor Caesar Augustus. Yet, the Lord had me reading in both of these passages this week which got me to wondering how they tied together… and what He was teaching me.

When Counting Becomes a Problem

In 2 Samuel 24, King David orders a census of Israel. While counting people isn’t always wrong in Scripture, this census reveals something deeper: a reliance on numbers instead of trust in God. David appears to be measuring strength, security, and control.

The result is devastating. A plague breaks out, and thousands die. The message is sobering: when human power replaces dependence on God, the cost is high.

When Counting Leads to Hope

In Luke 2, another census is ordered—this time by Caesar Augustus. Because of the census, Joseph and Mary travel to Bethlehem, where Jesus is born. No armies are counted. No strength is measured. Instead, God enters the world quietly, humbly, as a child laid in a manger. What humans intend for control, God uses for salvation.

A Powerful Reversal

The spiritual connection between these two censuses lies in their opposite outcomes.

In David’s census, counting leads to death.

In Luke’s census, counting leads to life.

David counts people to measure power. God, in Christ, becomes one of the counted to restore what was lost. The story that ends in judgment in 2 Samuel finds its answer in grace in Luke.

From Altar to Savior

The census in 2 Samuel ends at a place of sacrifice where judgment is halted by the threshing floor of Araunah. David buys the threshing floor and offers sacrifices there after he sees the angel of death killing the people. Interesting enough, this same threshing floor was the place where David instructed Solomon to build the first temple in 2 Chronicles chapter 3. 

Think about this with me for just a minute…

The temple… The dwelling place of the Ark of the Covenant… God‘s Presence… And the place where the Jewish nation came daily to offer sacrifices as an atonement for their sins… came from David confessing and offering sacrifices for his sin of ordering the census in 2 Samuel 24.

The census in Luke begins a story that leads to the ultimate sacrifice for all sin for all time…Jesus Himself. What once required repeated offerings at a temple is fulfilled in a single, perfect act of redemption. God himself no longer resides in a physical temple, made with human hands, but resides in bodily form in His Son, Emmanuel… God with us. The census that Caesar Augustus ordered brought Joseph and Mary to the place where God had destined from the beginning of time for his Son to be born… Bethlehem.

Guess what Bethlehem means? “House of bread“… Where the “Bread of Life“ was to be born!

One Story, Two Moments

Together, these passages remind me of a timeless truth: human systems often seek control, but God seeks restoration. Which begs the question… What am I putting my trust in? Am I placing my trust in my own strength… What am I counting on? 

This morning, as I’m sitting here writing my blog, I took a quick census of my previous day asking the Lord to reveal to me times in the day I depended on Him and times I depended on myself. Two columns in my mind with “Jesus” at the top of one column and “Me” at the top of the other column. There were a few things under “Jesus” but a lot more things under “Me”.

Then as I looked closer at my census, I saw that Jesus had written His name over “Me” and my column letting me know He was watching over all the things happening in my day…even the stuff I didn’t invite Him into, He was still watching over me.

When I take a census of what I am putting my trust in each day, my census should only have one column… with one name at the top… the “One” Christ Jesus.

Psalm 27:4. 

One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD and to meditate in His temple.