David sins by numbering Israel and God judges by sending a plague.

• Satan cannot control a believer because of the indwelling Holy Spirit (1 John 4:4). Explaining how Satan “stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel” could be done in many ways. For example, maybe Satan motivated a neighboring pagan country to threaten Israel and David didn’t respond in faith.
• Regardless of how Satan did this, how should David have responded? What lesson(s) can you learn from this?
• The “angel of the Lord” (vv. 15ff) was the pre-incarnate Christ. This gives quite a foretaste of His judgment of Israel and the world in the book of Revelation!