incites them to evil. Since such a figure does not appear elsewhere in Chronicles, it probably reflects the commonly held piety of the day, which hesitated to speak of God as the direct cause of evil. The part which Persian dualism had in influencing this development in Israel is widely disputed. (See T. H. Gaster, “Satan.” IDB 4:224–28.) (2) Numerous alterations seem actually to increase David’s guilt in calling for the census. His initial decision to conduct such a census is, e.g., disputed by