The BibleGospel Companion
Event · The United Kingdom1017 BC

David numbers Israel; the plague and the threshing floor

Dated from the sources quoted below

True span4004 BC – AD 100
Beginnings · 4004 BC – 1996 BC · 12 eventsBeginnings4004 BC – 1996 BCThe Patriarchs · 1996 BC – 1635 BC · 34 eventsPatriarchs1996 BC – 1635 BCEgypt and the Exodus · 1635 BC – 1451 BC · 19 eventsExodus1635 BC – 1451 BCConquest and Settlement · 1451 BC – 1400 BC · 7 eventsConquest1451 BC – 1400 BCThe Judges · 1405 BC – 1095 BC · 13 eventsJudges1405 BC – 1095 BCThe United Kingdom · 1095 BC – 975 BC · 38 eventsUnited Kgdm1095 BC – 975 BCIsrael and Judah · 933 BC – 721 BC · 27 eventsIsrael & Judah933 BC – 721 BCJudah Alone · 721 BC – 586 BC · 22 eventsJudah alone721 BC – 586 BCThe Exile · 586 BC – 538 BC · 7 eventsExile586 BC – 538 BCReturn and Restoration · 538 BC – 400 BC · 13 eventsReturn538 BC – 400 BCBetween the Testaments · 400 BC – 4 BC · 8 eventsBetween400 BC – 4 BCThe Life of Jesus · 6 BC – AD 33 · 42 eventsJesus6 BC – AD 33The Apostles and the Early Church · AD 30 – AD 100 · 29 eventsThe ChurchAD 30 – AD 1001095 BC — Israel asks Samuel for a king1095 BC — Samuel anoints Saul king1093 BC — Saul takes the kingdom over Israel1085 BC — David is born in Bethlehem1063 BC — Samuel anoints David at Bethlehem1060 BC — David takes refuge with Achish of Gath1057 BC — David raids from Ziklag1055 BC — Saul and Jonathan die on Mount Gilboa1053 BC — David is made king over Judah at Hebron1048 BC — Abner goes over to David and is killed1048 BC — David takes the stronghold of Zion1046 BC — David builds the city of David1045 BC — The ark is brought up to Jerusalem1044 BC — God's promise to David of a lasting house1038 BC — The Ammonites shame David's envoys; war follows1035 BC — Joab besieges Rabbah of the Ammonites1034 BC — David and Bathsheba; Nathan's rebuke1034 BC — Solomon is born1032 BC — Amnon wrongs Tamar; Absalom kills him1027 BC — Absalom is brought back to Jerusalem1023 BC — Absalom's revolt; David flees over the Jordan1021 BC — Three years of famine for Saul's bloodguilt1017 BC — David numbers Israel; the plague and the threshing floor1017 BC — David gathers the materials for the temple1015 BC — Adonijah's bid fails; Solomon is made king1015 BC — David dies after forty years as king1014 BC — Solomon marries Pharaoh's daughter1013 BC — Hiram of Tyre sends timber for the temple1012 BC — The foundations of the temple are laid1005 BC — The temple is finished in Solomon's eleventh year1004 BC — Solomon dedicates the temple; the glory fills the house992 BC — Solomon finishes his own house975 BC — Solomon turns back to God and diesJonathan's raid; Saul's unlawful sacrifice — placed by its order in the narrativeSaul spares Agag and is rejected — placed by its order in the narrativeDavid kills Goliath in the valley of Elah — placed by its order in the narrativeSolomon asks for wisdom; the two mothers — placed by its order in the narrativeThe queen of Sheba visits Solomon — placed by its order in the narrative
the events of this period, each at its year — this one outlinedplaced only by its order in the narrativethe whole thread →

Told in

2 Samuel 24:1–25Again Yahweh’s anger burned against Israel, and he moved David against them, saying, “Go, count Israel and Judah.”1 Chronicles 21:1–30Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to take a census of Israel.
Opening words from the World English Bible (public domain); the passage list is in-house

Who and where

DavidJoabGadMoriah ›
Names and references: STEPBible, Tyndale House Cambridge · CC BY 4.0 · coordinates: OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding · CC BY 4.0

How we know the date

Ussher's Annals (1650) gives 1017 BC (its year of the world 2987 d).

Written in-house from the sources below · every year is a quotation

The sources, word for word

“2987. d. David, tentatione Satanz et ambitione sua incitatus, universi populi censu instituto, iram Dei in Israelitas accendit.”

Ussher, Annales Veteris Testamenti (1650), Latin text in The Whole Works of James Ussher, vols. VIII–XI (Dublin, 1864) · vol. VIII, AM 2987 d · gives 1017 BC

Sources