What does 2 Samuel 24:6 mean?

David has ordered a census of the fighting men of Israel. Joab and the generals don't agree, but they must follow orders (2 Samuel 24:1–4).

Second Samuel 24:5–8 describes the route traveled by the census-takers. They began in Aroer in the tribe of Reuben, east of the Dead Sea, and traveled north to the outpost of Jazer in Gad (2 Samuel 24:5). Now, they head north to the region of Gilead and the city of Kadesh in the half-tribe of Manasseh. From there, they go to the town of Dan in far north Manasseh before turning northwest to Sidon on the coast of the Mediterranean.

Gilead is a rocky, mountainous region but very fertile. It's known for sheep and goats. It's also where the battle between Absalom and David took place (2 Samuel 17:24; 18:6–15). This Kadesh is in the land formerly held by the Hittites. It's not Kadesh-barnea in southern Judah where the Israelites stayed during the forty years of wandering (Numbers 13:3–21). Hittites were Indo-European people who lived amongst the Semitic and Canaanite people of the area. A different interpretation of "Kadesh of the Hittites" is "the land of Tahtim-hodshi."

Dan, "Dan-jaan" in the NASB, isn't the tribe that sits northwest of Judah. It's a city far to the north, near the east bank of the Jordan, in East Manasseh. It's southeast of Mt. Hermon and almost due east of Tyre. "From Dan to Beersheba" is a common way of describing the entirety of Israel as Dan is the most significant city in the northeast and Beersheba, on the border of the Negev, is the largest city in the southwest. David uses the phrase when he tells the generals where to take the census (2 Samuel 24:2).

From Dan, the counters head northwest to Sidon. Sidon was a port city on the Mediterranean and gave supplies both for Solomon's temple and for Zerubbabel's temple after the Babylonian exile (1 Chronicles 22:4; Ezra 3:7). Jezebel was from Sidon (1 Kings 16:31), and the woman whose son Elijah raised from the dead was from nearby Zarephath (1 Kings 17:8–24). Sidon wasn't often held by the Israelites. That David can rely on them for soldiers shows the extent of his power and influence. Asher was originally supposed to take this city but failed (Judges 1:31–32).

After Sidon, the census-takers will go south to Tyre, which Asher did control, and make their way south all the way to Beersheba. Finally, they will return to Jerusalem with the grand total numbers: 1,100,000 men in Israel and 500,000 in Judah. But Joab will not give David those specific numbers. He will only claim 800,000 men in Israel. As a subtle act of rebellion, he won't count the Levites or the men from Benjamin (2 Samuel 24:7–9; 1 Chronicles 21:5–6).

It's also possible that the Hebrew word for "thousands" is meant to be translated as "clans" or "divisions" here, which changes the total number of available soldiers but not their proportions.