1 Chronicles 27:24 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Joab began to number Namely, all from twenty years old and upward, as David commanded him. But he finished not For Levi and Benjamin he counted not, 1 Chronicles 21:6. Because there fell wrath for it against Israel While he was doing the work, which was one reason that made him desist. The Hebrew however is, And there fell, &c. Though David numbered them with caution and limitation, as was observed before, yet this did not hinder God's wrath from falling upon Israel for this sin. Neither was the number put in the chronicles of King David An account of the number, as far as he went, was given by Joab to the king; but the king, being sensible of his error, would not have it recorded in the public registers of the kingdom, as other things of daily occurrence were. Yet the memory of it is preserved in these books, to teach all posterity not to put their trust in the arm of flesh.