6 But Joab did not include Levi and Benjamin in the numbering, because the king's command was repulsive to him.
6 But Levi and Benjamin counted he not among them: for the king's word was abominable to Joab.
6 But he did not include Levi and Benjamin in the numbering, for the king's command was abhorrent to Joab.
6 Joab, disgusted by the command - it, in fact, turned his stomach! - protested by leaving Levi and Benjamin out of the census-taking.
6 But he did not count Levi and Benjamin among them, for the king's word was abominable to Joab.
6 But Joab did not include the tribes of Levi and Benjamin in the census because he was so distressed at what the king had made him do.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 1 Chronicles 21:6
Chapter Contents
David's numbering the people.
No mention is made in this book of David's sin in the matter of Uriah, neither of the troubles that followed it: they had no needful connexion with the subjects here noted. But David's sin, in numbering the people, is related: in the atonement made for that sin, there was notice of the place on which the temple should be built. The command to David to build an altar, was a blessed token of reconciliation. God testified his acceptance of David's offerings on this altar. Thus Christ was made sin, and a curse for us; it pleased the Lord to bruise him, that through him, God might be to us, not a consuming Fire, but a reconciled God. It is good to continue attendance on those ordinances in which we have experienced the tokens of God's presence, and have found that he is with us of a truth. Here God graciously met me, therefore I will still expect to meet him.