Who Did It?

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

When David called for a census of Israel and Judah, “God was displeased with this thing” (1 Chronicles 21:7). And Israel was greatly punished because of this. A cross reference on a parallel passage revealed something weird:

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).

So who moved David to number Israel and Judah? Satan or God? Why is there such a stark contradiction?

The apparent contradiction can be resolved by recognizing that though Satan is the author of all evil, he cannot exercise his evil intentions apart from the permission of God. Moreover, God could use Satan to accomplish His own purposes of judgment or discipline. Like it or not, even though Satan is God’s biggest adversary, and as much as he wants to rebel against God, he still ends up as a “servant of God” in a way.

A few examples of how Satan was used a God’s agent for judgment. In His judgment, God purposed to punish Ahab unto death. And He carried out His judgment through an evil spirit:

Micaiah said ‘I saw the Lord sitting on His throne… And the Lord said, ‘Who will persuade Ahab to go up, that he may fall at Ramoth Gilead?’… Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord, and said, ‘I will persuade him… I will go out and be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ And the Lord said, ‘You shall persuade him, and also prevail. Go out and do so.’ (1 Kings 22:19-22)

In God's judgment against Ahab, He carried out His judgment through an evil spirit. True enough, Ahab was deceived by the false prophets and he was killed at Ramoth Gilead. Isn’t it strange? It’s as though God used an evil spirit to lie to Ahab, because God Himself is incapable of lying. How come God could be so “democratic” with the fallen angels, to the extent that they could have discussions together about how best to carry out His judgment? Check out this other example where God had a counsel meeting with His fallen subjects:

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came among them. And the Lord said to Satan, “From where do you come?” So Satan answered the Lord and said, “From walking to and fro on the earth, and from walking back and forth on it” (Job 1:6-7)

And from there, the subject of Job was brought up. We’re all familiar about how God allowed Satan to test Job through intense inflicting suffering on him. Isn’t it strange, how Satan could have access to stand before a holy God? And isn’t it also equally weird how God could have such cordial conversations with Satan, asking him where he has been?

Satan is still featured as God’s agent of punishment, even in the New Testament. In carrying out church discipline against a sexually immoral brother, Paul writes: “Deliver such a one to Satan for destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus” (1 Corinthians 5:5).

As mysterious as it sounds, in the end of the day, God still accomplishes His purposes in His sovereignty. On our part, we should be wary not to find ourselves in the path of God’s wrath. For God is so powerful, it is unimaginable what He is capable of doing.