Census Bad?

All the Levites who were thirty years old or older were counted, and the total came to 38,000. [1 Chronicles 23.3]

Why, after all the ruckus of David having taken a census previously (counting people as read in yesterday's OYCB reading), was it okay here now for there to be a count made of the Levites?

Here is a passage from Exodus that may shed some light.

“Whenever you take a census of the people of Israel, each man who is counted must pay a ransom for himself to the LORD. Then no plague will strike the people as you count them. [Exodus 30.12]

It seems that David did not collect the prescribed ransom required when counting the people for the census. This is based on the two records of  2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21 being silent on the issue of the people paying the ransom at that time.

It is interesting that the plague that came upon Israel because of the census stopped at the threshing floor of Araunah. This site is where David decided to build the first permanent Temple of God (replacing the portable Tabernacle).

It is also interesting that the birth of Jesus Christ took place during a time of census. 

The plague associated with the census stopped at the sight of the future Temple because of God's mercy.

The plague upon mankind stopped at Christ at Whose death the veil separating God and man in the Temple was torn - because of God's mercy.

Maybe I am stretching here... or maybe God knew this all along!

Father, I am grateful for Jesus. Although there remains some confusion about the census David took, I do see how it revealed the Temple site that, in Christ, would be made obsolete.