Joab reported the number of the fighting men to the king: In Israel there were eight hundred thousand able-bodied men who could handle a sword, and in Judah five hundred thousand.

2 Samuel 24:9 (NIV)

Joab reported the number of the fighting men to David: In all Israel there were one million one hundred thousand men who could handle a sword, including four hundred and seventy thousand in Judah.

1 Chronicles 21:5 (NIV)

In 2 Samuel 24:9 and 1 Chronicles 21:5, we see how many men were counted when David sinned against the Lord by sending Joab out to count the men in Israel and Judah. However, the numbers of men differ between these two verses. Is this a contradiction? Did Joab have a problem with math? Why is there a difference?

We must first realize these are not exact figures in these two verses. Instead, they are rounded. In 1 Chronicles 27, we are given this insight.

This is the list of the Israelites—heads of families, commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, and their officers, who served the king in all that concerned the army divisions on duty month by month throughout the year. Each division consisted of 24,000 men.

1 Chronicles 27:1 (NIV)

That’s 288,000 men per year on reserve. 

So, let’s a look at our figures.

2 Samuel 24:9 

800,000 Israel

500,000 Judah

1 Chronicles 21:5

1,100,000 Israel

470,000 Judah

When we consider the 288,000 men in reserve and that we are working with rounded numbers, we can see that the writer of 2 Samuel did not include the men held in reserve when counting Israel.

800,000 + 288,000 = 1,088,000 which, when rounded is 1,100,000 which is what we see in 1 Chronicles 21:5.

There’s a difference of 30,000 men from Judah in 2 Samuel 24:9 and 1 Chronicles 21:5. When we consider the 24,000 men in reserve and rounding numbers, we can see that the writer of 2 Samuel did count the reserve when counting the men of Judah.

2 Samuel 24:9

470,000 + 24,000 = 494,000 which aligns with 1 Chronicles 21:5 when we consider rounding. 

Therefore, when we read 2 Samuel 24:9 and 1 Chronicles 21:5, consider rounding and the reserve we learn about in 1 Chronicles 27:1, we see no Bible contradiction.

Always remember that the Bible cannot contradict itself, and if it appears that there is a contradiction, the fault likes not in God’s word but in our comprehension of it.

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