Text -- 2 Samuel 24:14-25 (NET)

24:14 David said to Gad, “I am very upset! I prefer that we be attacked by the Lord, for his mercy is great; I do not want to be attacked by men!” 24:15 So the Lord sent a plague through Israel from the morning until the completion of the appointed time. Seventy thousand men died from Dan to Beer Sheba. 24:16 When the angel extended his hand to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented from his judgment. He told the angel who was killing the people, “That’s enough! Stop now!” (Now the Lord’s angel was near the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.) 24:17 When he saw the angel who was destroying the people, David said to the Lord, “Look, it is I who have sinned and done this evil thing! As for these sheep– what have they done? Attack me and my family.”

David Acquires a Threshing Floor and Constructs an Altar There

24:18 So Gad went to David that day and told him, “Go up and build an altar for the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” 24:19 So David went up as Gad instructed him to do, according to the Lord’s instructions. 24:20 When Araunah looked out and saw the king and his servants approaching him, he went out and bowed to the king with his face to the ground. 24:21 Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” David replied, “To buy from you the threshing floor so I can build an altar for the Lord, so that the plague may be removed from the people.” 24:22 Araunah told David, “My lord the king may take whatever he wishes and offer it. Look! Here are oxen for burnt offerings, and threshing sledges and harnesses for wood. 24:23 I, the servant of my lord the king, give it all to the king!” Araunah also told the king, “May the Lord your God show you favor!” 24:24 But the king said to Araunah, “No, I insist on buying it from you! I will not offer to the Lord my God burnt sacrifices that cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty pieces of silver. 24:25 Then David built an altar for the Lord there and offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings. And the Lord accepted prayers for the land, and the plague was removed from Israel.

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per phrase)

JFB: 2Sa 24:14

His overwhelming sense of his sin led him to acquiesce in the punishment denounced, notwithstanding its apparent excess of severity. He proceeded on a good principle in choosing the pestilence. In pestilence he was equally exposed, as it was just and right he should be, to danger as his people, whereas, in war and famine, he possessed means of protection superior to them. Besides, he thereby showed his trust, founded on long experience, in the divine goodness.

JFB: 2Sa 24:15

Rather that morning when Gad came [2Sa 24:18], till the end of the three days.

JFB: 2Sa 24:15

Thus was the pride of the vainglorious monarch, confiding in the number of his population, deeply humbled.

JFB: 2Sa 24:16

God is often described in Scripture as repenting when He ceased to pursue a course He had begun.

JFB: 2Sa 24:17

Or, "had said,"

JFB: 2Sa 24:17

The guilt of numbering the people lay exclusively with David. But in the body politic as well as natural, when the head suffers, all the members suffer along with it; and, besides, although David's sin was the immediate cause, the great increase of national offenses at this time had (2Sa 24:1) kindled the anger of the Lord.

JFB: 2Sa 24:18

Or Ornan (1Ch 21:18), the Jebusite, one of the ancient inhabitants, who, having become a convert to the true religion, retained his house and possessions. He resided on Mount Moriah, the spot on which the temple was afterwards built (2Ch 3:1); but that mount was not then enclosed in the town.

JFB: 2Sa 24:21

It is evident that the plague was not stayed till after the altar was built, and the sacrifice offered, so that what is related (2Sa 24:16) was by anticipation. Previous to the offering of this sacrifice, he had seen the destroying angel as well as offered the intercessory prayer (2Sa 24:17). This was a sacrifice of expiation; and the reason why he was allowed to offer it on Mount Moriah was partly in gracious consideration to his fear of repairing to Gibeon (1Ch 21:29-30), and partly in anticipation of the removal of the tabernacle and the erection of the temple there (2Ch 3:1).

JFB: 2Sa 24:23

Indicating, as the sense is, that this man had been anciently a heathen king or chief, but was now a proselyte who still retained great property and influence in Jerusalem, and whose piety was evinced by the liberality of his offers. The words, "as a king," are taken by some to signify simply, "he gave with royal munificence."

JFB: 2Sa 24:24

The sum mentioned here, namely, fifty shekels of silver, equal £6 sterling, was paid for the floor, oxen and wood instruments only, whereas the large sum (1Ch 21:25) was paid afterwards for the whole hill, on which David made preparations for building the temple.

JFB: 2Sa 24:25

There seem to have been two sacrifices; the first expiatory, the second a thanksgiving for the cessation of the pestilence (see on 1Ch 21:26).

Clarke: 2Sa 24:14

I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the Lord - David acted nobly in this business. Had he chosen war, his own personal safety was in no danger, because there was already an ordinance preventing him from going to battle. Had he chosen famine, his own wealth would have secured his and his own family’ s support. But he showed the greatness of his mind in choosing the pestilence, to the ravages of which himself and household were exposed equally with the meanest of his subjects.

Clarke: 2Sa 24:15

From the morning - to the time appointed - That is, from the morning of the day after David had made his election till the third day, according to the condition which God had proposed, and he had accepted: but it seems that the plague was terminated before the conclusion of the third day, for Jerusalem might have been destroyed, but it was not. Throughout the land, independently of the city, seventy thousand persons were slain! This was a terrible mortality in the space of less than three days.

Clarke: 2Sa 24:16

The angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem - By what means this destruction took place, we know not: it appears that an angel was employed in it, and that this minister of Divine justice actually appeared as an object. of sight; for it is said, 2Sa 24:17, When David saw the angel that smote the people, he said, etc.; and both Ornan and his four sons saw him and were affrighted, 1Ch 21:20

Clarke: 2Sa 24:16

The threshing-place of Araunah - These threshing-places, we have already seen, were made in the open air. In the parallel place, 1Ch 21:15, 1Ch 21:20, etc., this person is called Ornan. The word that we render Araunah is written in this very chapter אורנה Auarnah , 2Sa 24:16, ארניה Araniah , 2Sa 24:18, ארונה Araunah or Araunah , 2Sa 24:20, and the following: but in every place in 1 Chronicles 21:1-30 where it occurs it is written ארנן Ornan . It is likely he had both names, Araunah and Ornan: but the varieties of spelling in 2 Samuel must arise from the blunders of transcribers.

Clarke: 2Sa 24:17

But these sheep, what have they done? - It seems that in the order of Providence there is no way of punishing kings in their regal capacity, but by afflictions on their land, in which the people must necessarily suffer. If the king, therefore, by his own personal offenses, in which the people can have no part, bring down God’ s judgments upon his people, (though they suffer innocently), grievous will be the account that he must give to God. The people generally suffer for the miscarriages of their governors: this has been observed in every age

Quicquid delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi

- "When doting monarchs urg

Unsound resolves, their subjects feel the scourge.

Hor. Ep. lib. i., ep. 2, ver. 14

Clarke: 2Sa 24:17

Against my father’ s house - That is, against his own family; even to cut it off from the face of the earth.

Clarke: 2Sa 24:18

Go up, rear an altar unto the Lord - This place is supposed to be Mount Moriah: on which, according to the rabbins, Cain and Abel offered their sacrifices; where Abraham attempted to sacrifice Isaac, and where the temple of Solomon was afterwards built.

Clarke: 2Sa 24:22

Here be oxen for burnt-sacrifice - He felt for the king; and showed his loyalty to him by this offer. He felt for the people; and was willing to make any sacrifice to get the plague stayed. He felt for his own personal safety; and therefore was willing to give up all to save his life. He felt for the honor of God; and therefore was glad that he had a sacrifice to offer, so that God might magnify both his justice and mercy.

Clarke: 2Sa 24:23

As a king, give unto the king - Literally, All these did King Araunah give unto the king. That there could not be a king of the Jebusites on Mount Moriah, is sufficiently evident; and that there was no other king than David in the land, is equally so: the word המלך hammelech , "the king,"given here to Araunah, is wanting in the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic; in three of Kennicott’ s and De Rossi’ s MSS., and in the parallel place in Chronicles: and, it is very probable, never made a part of the text. Perhaps it should be read, All these did Arnunah give unto the king

There is, however, a difficulty here. David had taken the fortress of the Jebusites many years before; yet it is evident that Araunah was proprietor of the soil at this time. It is not clear that he was a subject of David; but he paid him respect as a neighbor and a king. This is merely possible.

Clarke: 2Sa 24:24

Neither will I offer burnt-offerings - It is a maxim from heaven, "Honour the Lord with thy substance."He who has a religion that costs him nothing, has a religion that is worth nothing: nor will any man esteem the ordinances of God, if those ordinances cost him nothing. Had Araunah’ s noble offer been accepted, it would have been Araunah’ s sacrifice, not David’ s; nor would it have answered the end of turning away the displeasure of the Most High. It was David that sinned, not Araunah: therefore David must offer sacrifice, and at his own expense too.

Clarke: 2Sa 24:25

David - offered burnt-offerings - And that these sacrifices were pleasing to the Lord, is evident from a circumstance marked in the parallel place, 1Ch 21:26 : David called upon the Lord, and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt-offering

Clarke: 2Sa 24:25

The plague was stalled - Jerusalem did not share in the common calamity, seventy thousand being the whole that were slain throughout the land

This book is unfinished, and requires 1 Chronicles 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, and 29, to complete it. A few things relative to this history may be found in the beginning of the following book; but the information in 1 Chronicles is much more extensive and satisfactory

Defender: 2Sa 24:16

It is noteworthy that the death angel stayed his hand at the prosperous site owned by a former Jebusite "king" (2Sa 24:23 : the Jebusites were the former rulers of Jerusalem, before it was taken by David for his own capital). David therefore offered sacrifices here and later prepared to build the temple here (2Ch 3:1), a site which was also on Mount Moriah where Abraham had been asked to offer up Isaac (Gen 22:1, Gen 22:2)."

Defender: 2Sa 24:24

The price of Araunah's threshing floor, where David offered his sacrifices, was only fifty shekels of silver. However, David (possibly later) paid Araunah (also called Ornan) "six hundred shekels of gold" for his "place" (1Ch 21:25). This "place" evidently included all the grounds on which the magnificent temple of Solomon would eventually be built."

TSK: 2Sa 24:14

I am in : 1Sa 13:6; 2Ki 6:15; Joh 12:27; Phi 1:23

for his : Exo 34:6, Exo 34:7; 1Ch 21:13; Psa 51:1, Psa 86:5, Psa 86:15, Psa 103:8-14, Psa 119:156, Psa 145:9; Isa 55:7; Jon 4:2; Mic 7:18

great : or, many

let me not : 2Ki 13:3-7; 2Ch 28:5-9; Psa 106:41, Psa 106:42; Pro 12:10; Isa 47:6; Zec 1:15

TSK: 2Sa 24:15

the Lord : Num 16:46-49, Num 25:9; 1Sa 6:19; 1Ch 21:14, 1Ch 27:4; Mat 24:7; Rev 6:8

from Dan : 2Sa 24:2

seventy thousand men : Isa 37:36

TSK: 2Sa 24:16

the angel : Exo 12:23; 2Ki 19:35; 1Ch 21:15, 1Ch 21:16; 2Ch 32:21; Psa 35:6; Act 12:23

repented : Gen 6:6; 1Sa 15:11; Psa 78:38, Psa 90:13, Psa 135:14; Jer 18:7-10; Joe 2:13, Joe 2:14; Amo 7:3, Amo 7:6; Hab 3:2

It is enough : Exo 9:28; 1Ki 19:4; Isa 27:8, Isa 40:1, Isa 40:2, Isa 57:16; Joe 2:13, Joe 2:14; Mar 14:41; 2Co 2:6

Araunah : 2Sa 24:18; 1Ch 21:15; 2Ch 3:1, Ornan

the Jebusite : 2Sa 5:8; Gen 10:16; Jos 15:63; Jdg 1:21, Jdg 19:11; Zec 9:7

TSK: 2Sa 24:17

spake : 1Ch 21:16, 1Ch 21:17

I have sinned : 2Sa 24:10; Job 7:20, Job 42:6; Psa 51:2-5; Isa 6:5

these sheep : 1Ki 22:17; Psa 44:11, Psa 74:1; Eze 34:2-6, Eze 34:23, Eze 34:24; Zec 13:7

let thine : Gen 44:33; Joh 10:11, Joh 10:12; 1Pe 2:24, 1Pe 2:25

TSK: 2Sa 24:18

Gad : 2Sa 24:11; 1Ch 21:18-30, threshing floor, These, among the ancient Jews, were only round, level plats of ground in the open air, as they are to this day in the East, where the corn was trodden out by oxen.

Araunah : Heb. Araniah, 2Sa 24:16

TSK: 2Sa 24:19

as the Lord : Gen 6:22; 1Ch 21:19; 2Ch 20:20, 2Ch 36:16; Neh 9:26; Heb 11:8

TSK: 2Sa 24:20

bowed : 2Sa 9:8; Gen 18:2; Rth 2:10; 1Ch 21:20, 1Ch 21:21

TSK: 2Sa 24:21

Wherefore : 2Sa 24:3, 2Sa 24:18

To buy : Gen 23:8-16; 1Ch 21:22; Jer 32:6-14

the plague : 2Sa 21:3-14; Num 16:47-50, Num 25:8; Psa 106:30

TSK: 2Sa 24:22

Let my lord : Gen 23:11; 1Ch 21:22

be oxen : 1Sa 6:14; 1Ki 19:21

TSK: 2Sa 24:23

as a king : Psa 45:16; Isa 32:8

The Lord : Job 42:8, Job 42:9; Psa 20:3, Psa 20:4; Isa 60:7; Eze 20:40, Eze 20:41; Hos 8:13; Rom 15:30, Rom 15:31; 1Ti 2:1, 1Ti 2:2; 1Pe 2:5

TSK: 2Sa 24:24

Nay : Gen 23:13; 1Ch 21:24; Mal 1:12-14; Rom 12:17

So David : 1Ch 21:25, 1Ch 22:1

TSK: 2Sa 24:25

built there : Gen 8:20, Gen 22:9; 1Sa 7:9, 1Sa 7:17

So the Lord : 2Sa 24:14, 2Sa 21:14; 1Ch 21:26, 1Ch 21:27; Lam 3:32, Lam 3:33

Commentary -- Word/Phrase Notes (per Verse)

Barnes: 2Sa 24:15

The time appointed - Perhaps "the time of the assembly,"meaning the time of the evening sacrifice, at three o’ clock, when the people assembled for prayer, more commonly described as "the time of the evening oblation"Dan 9:21; 1Ki 18:29, 1Ki 18:36; Act 3:1; Luk 1:10.

Seventy thousand - It is the most destructive plague recorded as having fallen upon the Israelites. In the plague that followed the rebellion of Korah there died 14,700 Num 16:49; in the plague, on account of Baal-Peor, 24,000 Num 25:9; 1Co 10:8.

Barnes: 2Sa 24:17

Compare the passage in Chronicles. The account here is abridged; and 2Sa 24:18 has the appearance of being the original statement.

Barnes: 2Sa 24:20

And his servants - In Chronicles "his four sons,"namely, David’ s. It is very possible that David may have taken his sons with him, as well as his elders, and Gad’ s original narrative may have mentioned the circumstance, which the compiler of this chapter did not care to specify, and so used the general term "his servants."

Barnes: 2Sa 24:22

Here be oxen - Those, namely, which were at that very time threshing out the grain in Araunah’ s threshing-floor 1Ch 21:20; Deu 25:4.

Threshing-instruments - This was a kind of sledge with iron teeth Isa 41:15. It was drawn by two or four oxen over the grain on the floor.

Other instruments of the oxen - " i. e., the harness of the oxen,"of which the yoke, and perhaps some other parts, would be made of wood (marginal references; 1Sa 6:14).

Barnes: 2Sa 24:23

Either, "the whole O king does Araunah give unto the king;"or (2) "the whole did king Araunah give to the king."The former is preferable.

Barnes: 2Sa 24:24

Fifty shekels of silver - In Chronicles, "six hundred shekels of gold by weight."In explanation, it is supposed - that the fifty shekels here mentioned were gold shekels, each worth twelve silver shekels, so that the fifty gold shekels are equal to the 600 silver; that our text should be rendered, "David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for money,"namely, "fifty shekels;"and that the passage in Chronicles should be rendered, "David qave to Ornan gold shekels of the value"(or weight) "of 600 shekels."What is certain is that our text represents the fifty shekels as the price of the threshing-floor and the oxen.

\brdrb \brdrs \brdrw30 \brsp20

Poole: 2Sa 24:14

Into the hand of the Lord to wit, his immediate stroke, which is chiefly in the pestilence; for though the sword and famine be also God’ s hand, yet there is also the hand of man or other creatures in them. The reason of this choice was partly his experience in and confidence of God’ s great goodness; partly, because the other judgments, especially the sword, had been more dishonourable, not only to David, but also to God, and to his people, and to the true religion; and partly, because he having sinned himself, thought it just and reasonable to choose such a plague to which he was as obnoxious as his people; whereas he had better fences for himself against sword and famine than they had. For his mercies are great; and therefore will not exceed measure in his strokes, as men will do.

Poole: 2Sa 24:15

To the time appointed either,

1. From morning to evening, which is here called the time appointed; or, the time of the convention , or, public meeting , as this Hebrew word oft signifies, i. e. till the time of the evening prayer and sacrifice, when the people used more solemnly to meet together. See Psa 141:2 Act 3:1 . Thus God mitigated his sentence, and turned three days into one; it being a thing not unusual with God to qualify his threatenings, and to take off the evil threatened sometimes wholly, as in Nineveh’ s case, and sometimes in part. And this God might do here upon the speedy and serious repentance of David, and of his people. Or rather,

2. From the morning (or rather, from that morning ; for the article seems to be emphatical, and to denote that very morning in which Gad came to David, 2Sa 24:11 , and that the plague did immediately ensue after Gad’ s offer, and David’ s choice,)

even to the time appointed to wit, by God, i.e. for three days, as God had set the time, 2Sa 24:13 .

Object . If it continued three days, how is it said that God repented him of the evil, and stopped the angel in his course? 2Sa 24:16 .

Answ . This he did in the beginning of the third day, whereas otherwise it should have gone on to the end of the day. Or it may signify no more but this, At the end of the third day God gave over smiting; for then is God said (after the manner of men) to repent, when he ceaseth to proceed as before he had done. Seventy thousand men ; so the number of his people, which was the matter of his pride and glorying, was diminished.

Poole: 2Sa 24:16

The angel appeared in the shape of a man with a sword in his hand, 1Ch 21:16 , to convince them more fully that this was no natural nor common plague, but inflicted immediately by the hand of God.

Upon Jerusalem which he had begun to smite, and was proceeding to make a far greater slaughter.

The Lord repented him of the evil i.e. he moderated, and in part recalled, his sentence of the plague’ s continuance for three whole days, and this he did upon David’ s prayers and sacrifices, as appears from 2Sa 24:25 , though these be mentioned afterward.

Araunah called also Araniah in the Hebrew of 2Sa 24:18 , and Ornan , 1Ch 21:22 ; such changes in the pronunciation of the names being usual in Scripture.

Poole: 2Sa 24:17

Let thine hand be against me wherein David shows his justice, and piety, and fatherly care of his people, and that he was a type of Christ.

Against my father’ s house against my nearest relations, who probably either put David upon, or encouraged him in, this action, because they were no less vain-glorious than David; and the honour which they thought would come to David thereby, would also redound to them; or, at least, they did not use their utmost endeavours to dissuade David from it, as they should have done, and therefore were involved in David’ s guilt. Howsoever, it was but fit and reasonable that his family, which did partake of his honour and happiness, should also partake in his suffering, rather than those who were less related to him. Nor doth David absolutely desire that they may suffer, but only speaks comparatively, and by way of supposition, and with reference to God’ s good pleasure.

Poole: 2Sa 24:18

Gad came that day to David by command from God, 2Sa 24:19 1Ch 21:18 .

Go up to Mount Moriah.

In the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite which place God appointed for this work, partly, in gracious condescension to and compliance with David’ s fear of going to Gibeon, which is expressed 1Ch 21:29,30 ; partly, because this was the place where God by his angel appeared in a threatening posture, where therefore it was meet he should be appeased; and partly, because God would hereby signify the translation of the tabernacle from Gibeon hither, and the erection of the temple here, 2Ch 3:1 .

Poole: 2Sa 24:21

Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? wherefore doth the king do me this honour, and give himself the trouble of coming to me?

Poole: 2Sa 24:22

Here be oxen which were employed by him in his present work, which was threshing, 1Ch 21:20 . See Poole "Deu 25:4" .

Poole: 2Sa 24:23

As a king the particle as being understood, as it oft is in the Hebrew, i.e. with a royal bounty. Or, Arannab the king , as he might be called, either because he was king of the Jebusites before David took their city, or because he was the son and heir of that king.

These things did Araunah give ; he not only offered, but actually gave them, i.e. he actually resigned his right and property in them unto David; for so he did; and David by his refusal returned it to Araunah again.

The Lord thy God accept thee he was a Jebusite by nation, but a hearty proselyte; which made him so liberal in his offers to God’ s service, and the common good of God’ s people.

Poole: 2Sa 24:24

Of that which doth cost me nothing for this would be both dishonourable to God, as if I thought him not worthy of a costly sacrifice; and a disparagement to myself, as if I were unable and unwilling to offer a sacrifice of my own goods; and unsatisfactory to the command of God, which obligeth all offenders, and me in a particular manner, to offer sacrifice of their own estate.

For fifty shekels of silver

Object. In 1Ch 21:25 , he is said to give for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight .

Answ These two places may be fairly reconciled divers ways. First, Here he speaks of the price paid for the threshing-floor, and oxen, and instruments; and there for the whole place adjoining, on which the temple and its courts were built, which certainly was very much larger than this threshing-floor, and probably had Araunah’ s house, if not some others, now built upon it. Secondly, The shekels here may be of gold, and in 1Ch 21 of silver; and so the proportion of gold to silver being that of twelve to one, fifty shekels of gold make six hundred shekels of silver. And whereas it may be objected, that on the contrary these fifty shekels are said to be of silver, and the six hundred of gold, this they answer by another translation of the words. For they render this place thus, agreeably enough to the words and the order of the Hebrew text, he bought them for silver , (or, for money, as the Hebrew word chesoph oft signifies, and particularly in this very history in the parallel place, 1Ch 21:24 , where David desires to buy it for the full price , or for full money , where in the Hebrew it is for full silver ,) even for fifty shekels , to wit, of gold, as it is expressed 1Ch 21:25 ; which place they render thus, and that consonantly to the Hebrew, he gave shekels of gold of the value (for the Hebrew word mishkal signifies value as well as weight, as was before noted on 2Sa 12:30 ) of six hundred shekels, to wit, of silver. And this may seem added in the Book of the Chronicles, lest it should be thought that the fifty shekels here mentioned were but common and silver shekels. Thirdly, There is a considerable difference in the phrase in these two places: here he mentions for what David

bought it, or what he was obliged to give for it; and in Chronicles what he actually gave for it, to wit, of his royal bounty, over and besides the full price of it; which was decent and convenient for so great a king, and especially upon so great an occasion, and to him who had given him such a noble example.

Poole: 2Sa 24:25

David built there an altar unto the Lord which he might well do, having God’ s command for it, and the place being sanctified by God’ s special presence in and by the angel.

Offered burnt-offerings to make atonement for his sins.

And peace-offerings to praise God for his gracious manifestation of himself.

The Lord was entreated for the land as appears both by fire from heaven, which consumed the sacrifice, as was usual in such cases; and by the speedy cessation of the plague.

Haydock: 2Sa 24:14

Lord, and be exposed to the violence of pestilence, which attacks both rich and poor; whereas the rich can frequently escape the dangers of war, or of famine. (Calmet) ---

David knew that he had sinned, and he did not wish to screen himself from suffering the temporal punishment due to sin. (Haydock) ---

God punishes us equally by the hand of men, as by other means; but the king thus intimates, that he looks upon Him as an indulgent father, who is less severe than the ministers of justice. (Menochius)

Haydock: 2Sa 24:15

And. Septuagint insert, "And David chose death, (the pestilence, as they usually render it; Salien). And it was the time of the wheat-harvest. And the Lord gave death in Israel, from morning till dinner-time." (Haydock) ---

Appointed , for three days; though before the end of the last, God took pity on the people, ver 16. (Calmet) ---

Bochart thinks the pestilence ceased to rage at some hour of the first day. Syriac and Arabic, "till the sixth hour."

Haydock: 2Sa 24:16

Areuna. Hebrew styles him, Araniah, (ver. 18.; Calmet) i being substituted for u, and placed after n. He is called Ornan, 1 Paralipomenon xxi. 18, (Haydock) and has the title of Jebusite, as he was originally of that nation, and had been permitted to retain his effects, on his embracing the true religion. Moria was his property, and seems not to have been much inhabited. It was not yet enclosed within the city walls. Here David saw the angel, in the air, ready to strike the inhabitants, and heard the voice from heaven. (Calmet) ---

He had already witnessed the death of many in the city, 1 Paralipomenon xxi. 14. The angel waited for God's orders how many to destroy. (Haydock) ---

He did not sheath his sword till David had offered sacrifice to appease the Lord; (ver. 21) though others think that the sacrifice was to thank God for the deliverance. (Calmet)

Haydock: 2Sa 24:17

Are, like sheep. (Menochius) ---

They were not accountable for the fault of their shepherd, or king; nor were they punished for it, (Haydock) but for joining in the revolts of Absalom, Seba, &c., (Salien) as well as for other secret offences. (Haydock) ---

Some groundlessly condemn the people, for entertaining sentiments of pride, along with David. Both king and people suffer, when either draws down the vengeance of heaven.

Haydock: 2Sa 24:18

Altar. This was done by a positive order. People still had the liberty of sacrificing on the heights of Gabaon. (Calmet) ---

This place was honoured with the tabernacle; and David would have gone thither, if he had not been so much terrified, 1 Paralipomenon xxi. 30. (Haydock)

Haydock: 2Sa 24:22

Wain. So Josephus reads. Septuagint, "wheels." Hebrew, "rollers," to beat out the corn. (Calmet) ---

Protestants, "threshing instruments, and other instruments of the oxen for wood." Paralipomenon adds, that Areuna offered wheat, and saw the angel, as his four sons, and probably most of the inhabitants of Jerusalem did.

Haydock: 2Sa 24:23

As a king. Literally, king Areuna:" e may have been substituted for c, "like," though the latter word is often understood. (Haydock) ---

Some suppose that he was formerly king of the Jebusites, (Vatable) or one of their descendants, (Grotius) or possessed of great riches, &c. But why is the title never given to him elsewhere? (Bochart) ---

The Septuagint, Syriac, and many Latin copies, do not recognize it; nor was it found in the Chaldean, in the 12th age [12th century]. Yet without making any changes, we may translate, "O king, Areuna has given all these things to the king." The Jews often speak of themselves in the third person, out of respect. (Le Clerc.) (Calmet)

Haydock: 2Sa 24:24

Free-cost, or given gratis. This shews that subjects have property, otherwise they could only yield what was due to the king, as his own. (Worthington) ---

Silver. Septuagint, "for the silver of fifty sicles." (Haydock) ---

Bochart explains for the money of 50 sicles of gold, which makes 600 sicles of silver. Gold was formerly as twelve to one, compared with silver. (Plato in Hipparcho.) ---

But the best method of reconciling this passage with 1 Paralipomenon is to say, that David gave the 50 sicles for the oxen and floor, and afterwards purchased the whole piece of ground for 600 (Calmet) sicles of gold, (or 902 l. 5 s. sterling.; Haydock) being informed that the temple was to be erected there, (Calmet) where Isaac had formerly been brought to be sacrificed. (Menochius) ---

We might make a colon, or pause, at floor, as if its price were specified elsewhere, and the fifty sicles were given for the oxen. (Du Hamel; Menochius) ---

The sum amounts to only about 1 l. 14 s. (Haydock)

Haydock: 2Sa 24:25

Holocausts; a second time. The former victims had been consumed by fire from heaven, 1 Paralipomenon xxvi. 28. (Calmet)

Gill: 2Sa 24:14

And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait,.... Not knowing well which to choose, each of them being so grievous, and an answer being to be returned immediately; but by his next words, and by the event, it seems he chose the pestilence, though that is not expressly said:

let us fall now into the hand of the Lord; the Targum in 1Ch 21:13, is"into the hand of the Word of the Lord:"

(for his mercies are great), and let me not fall into the hand of men; indeed all the three judgments mentioned are by the hand of the Lord whenever they come; but in the pestilence the hand of the Lord is more visible, it coming immediately from his hand, as especially this was to do, and did; it did not arise from second causes, a noxious air, &c. but by means of an angel of God: David chose this, because he and his people would have nothing to do with men, as in famine they must have gone into other countries for food, and in war flee before their enemies, and lie at their mercy, and either of them more disgraceful than this; and which he might the rather choose on his own account, that his people might not be able to say he sought himself and his own interest; for had he chosen famine, as his people had been lately distressed that way already, they might, besides urging that, say, that he could lay up stores for himself and family; or had he chosen war, they might observe he had fortified places to flee to, one after another, and shelter himself; but for the arrows of the pestilence he was as likely a mark as the meanest of his subjects: but what seems to have moved him chiefly to make this choice is, that it would not only be the soonest over, but that it wholly depended on the pleasure of God what use he would make of it in that time; and chiefly because he knew God was gracious and merciful, and it was upon his great mercy he cast himself and his people.

Gill: 2Sa 24:15

So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel,.... Upon the land of Israel, the people of the land, directly employing an angel to go through the coasts of it, and empowering him to inflict a pestilential disease:

from the morning even to the time appointed: from the morning the prophet Gad came to David with a message from the Lord; that very morning the plague began, and lasted to the time set for it, the three days, or at least unto the beginning of the third, when reaching Jerusalem, the Lord repented of it, and stayed his hand; though many think a much shorter time is intended; some think it lasted no more than half a day, if so much; some say but three hours ^f; the Septuagint version, until dinnertime; and the Syriac and Arabic versions, until the sixth hour of the day, which was noon; and so Kimchi says, some of their Rabbins interpret it of the half or middle of the day; the Targum is,"from the time the daily sacrifice was slain until it was burnt;''and it is the sense of several learned men that it was only from the morning until the time of the evening sacrifice, or evening prayer, about three o'clock in the afternoon, and so lasted about nine hours:

and there died of the people, from Dan even to Beersheba, seventy thousand men; so that there was a great diminution of the people in all places where they were numbered; and David's sin may be read in the punishment of it; his heart was lifted up by the numbers of his people, and now it must be humbled by the lessening of them.

Gill: 2Sa 24:16

And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it,.... Which, as it was perhaps the last place where the people were numbered, it was the last to which the plague came: this angel appeared in an human form, standing "between the earth and the heaven"; in the midst of the heaven, in the air, right over Jerusalem: "having a drawn sword in his hand stretched over the city"; as is said in 1Ch 21:16; which was done as a menace, and to inject terror into David and the inhabitants of the city, and to give them notice of what they must expect:

the Lord repented him of the evil; he was inflicting, and now threatened Jerusalem with; having compassion on the place where the ark, the symbol of his presence, was, where a temple was to be built to the honour of his name, and where he should be worshipped; and therefore stopped proceeding; as men, when they repent of anything done by them, cease from it, so did the Lord now; otherwise repentance, properly speaking, falls not on him, and so it is next explained:

and said to the angel that destroyed the people; not the angel of death, the devil, but a good angel, who had a commission from God for this business:

it is enough: stay now thine hand: there is a sufficient number slay no more:

and the angel of the Lord was by the threshing place of Araunah the Jebusite; that is, he was in the air, right over the spot, or near it, where was this man's threshingfloor; and was seen by Araunah and his four sons, who upon it hid themselves, perhaps among the sheaves they were threshing, 1Ch 21:20; and this threshingfloor was on Mount Moriah, 2Ch 3:1; as threshingfloors commonly were on mountains for the sake of winnowing the corn when threshed; See Gill on Rth 3:2; who, according to Ben Gersom, though he was by birth a Jebusite, was proselyted to the Jewish religion.

Gill: 2Sa 24:17

And David spake unto the Lord,.... In prayer; he and the elders of Israel being clothed in sackcloth, and fallen on their faces, he prayed, not unto the angel, but to Jehovah that sent him; see 1Ch 21:16,

when he saw the angel that smote the people; in the air over Jerusalem, with a drawn sword in his hand, which made him appear terrible:

and said, lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly; in numbering the people:

but these sheep, what have they done? he looked upon himself as the only transgressor, and his people as innocent, and as harmless as sheep; he thought of no sins but his own; these were uppermost in his mind, and lay heavy on his conscience; and it grieved him extremely the his people should suffer on his account: but they were not so innocent as he thought and suggests; and it was not only for his, but their sins, this evil came; he was suffered to do what he did, to bring upon them deserved punishment for their rebellion against him, and other sins; however, this shows the high opinion he had of them, the great affection he had for them, and his sympathy with them in this time of distress:

let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house; let me and mine die, and not they; a type of Christ, the good Shepherd, willing to lay down his life for the sheep, and suffer in their stead, that they might go free.

Gill: 2Sa 24:18

And Gad came that day to David,.... Ordered and directed by the angel of the Lord, 1Ch 21:18,

and said unto him, go up, rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite: it was too far to go to Gibeon, where the tabernacle was, at such a time of extremity, when the sword of the angel was stretched out over Jerusalem, 1Ch 21:29; and this was the most proper place, as it was the very spot over and nearest to which the angel was; and was on Mount Moriah, where the Jews say Abraham offered up Isaac; and where the temple was afterwards built, as Kimchi and Ben Gersom observe; and Eupolemus, an Heathen writer ^g, says, that when David desired to build a temple for God, and that he would show him the place of the altar, an angel appeared to him, standing over the place where the altar at Jerusalem was to be built.

Gill: 2Sa 24:19

And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded. From the place where he was in a lower part of the city to Mount Moriah, on which was the threshing floor, a place fit for winnowing corn when threshed.

Gill: 2Sa 24:20

And Araunah looked,.... Peeped up out of the place in which he had hid himself with his four sons, for fear of the angel, and which they saw, 1Ch 21:20,

and saw the king and his servants coming towards him; he perceived, by the course they steered, that they were coming to him:

and Araunah went out; of the threshingfloor, out of the place where he had hid himself, for he had been threshing wheat, 1Ch 21:20; nor was it thought below great personages in those times to be employed in such work; so Gideon was threshing, when the angel of the Lord appeared to him, Jdg 6:11; Boaz winnowed barley in his threshingfloor, Rth 3:2,

and bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground; in reverence of the king.

Gill: 2Sa 24:21

And Araunah said, wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant?.... Which both implies admiration in him, that so great a person should visit him in his threshingfloor; that a king should come to a subject his servant, who should rather have come to him, and would upon the least intimation; it was a piece of condescension he marvelled at; and it expresses a desire to know his pleasure with him, supposing it must be something very urgent and important, that the king should come himself upon it: and to this David made answer:

and David said, what he was come for:

to buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague may be stayed from the people; for though David had acknowledged his sin, and God had repented of the evil he inflicted for it, and given orders for stopping it; yet he would have an altar built, and sacrifices offered, to show that the only way to have peace, and pardon, and safety from ruin and destruction, deserved by sin, is through the expiatory sacrifice of Christ, of which fill sacrifices were typical, and were designed to lead the faith of the Lord's people to that.

Gill: 2Sa 24:22

And Araunah said unto David, let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him,.... Build an altar, offer sacrifices of whatsoever he found upon the premises fit for the same, and make use of whatever came to hand proper to perform such service with, as follows:

behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice: which were employed in treading the corn, hence the law in Deu 25:4,

and threshing instruments; not flails, such as are used by us, but wooden sledges, drays or carts drawn on wheels, which were filled with stones, and the bottom of them stuck with iron teeth, and were drawn by oxen to and fro over the sheaves of corn; see Isa 28:27,

and other instruments of the oxen for wood; as their yokes; these Araunah gave leave to take to burn the sacrifice with; and in 1Ch 21:23, it is added, "and the wheat for the meat offering", which was upon the threshingfloor; and there always went a meat offering with a burnt offering.

Gill: 2Sa 24:23

All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king,.... The note of similitude as is not in the text; from whence some have thought he was king of the Jebusites before Jerusalem was taken out of their hands, or however was of the royal race, perhaps the son and heir of the then king at that time; or he has this title given him, because of his great liberality, having the spirit of a prince in him, even of a king; so Ulysses addressed Antinous, saying, thou art like a king, and therefore should give more largely than others ^h:

and Araunah said unto the king, the Lord thy God accept thee; thine offering with a good will; with pleasure and delight, as the Targum; that so the plague might be removed, and which no doubt made him the more ready to part with the above things, and all that he had; so dreadful did the calamity appear to him, and especially after he saw the angel with his drawn sword just over him.

Gill: 2Sa 24:24

And the king said unto Araunah, nay, but I will surely buy it of thee at a price,.... And a full price too, 1Ch 21:24; that is, give him as much for it as it was worth:

neither will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing; which shows an ingenuous spirit, and contrary to the temper of many, who like to serve the Lord in the cheapest manner, or with little cost to themselves:

so David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver; which, reckoning a shekel at two shillings and sixpence, made but just six pounds five shillings of our money; though its value is but about two shillings and four pence farthing, which reduces the sum; in 1Ch 21:25, David is said to give six hundred shekels of gold by weight; two ways are proposed by the Jews ⁱ for the reconciling of the difficulty; the one is, that fifty shekels were collected out of every tribe, and twelve times fifty make six hundred shekels, and these were of the value or weight of gold; but this seems not likely, that it should be collected out of all the tribes, and since it appears plainly to be the king's purchase, and with his money: the other is, that there were two purchases, the first was of the threshingfloor, oxen, and instruments, which were bought for fifty shekels of silver, as here, and the other was a purchase of the place, as it is called in the book of Chronicles; that large space of ground on which afterwards the temple, and all the courts adjoining to it, were built, and which was now Araunah's farm, and on which were his dwelling house, and other buildings; and for all this David gave him six hundred shekels of gold, which made three hundred ounces ^k and reckoning gold as twelve times the value of silver, according to Brerewood ^l, it amounted to four hundred fifty pounds of our money; and learned men have not been able to give a better solution of this difficulty; and with this Montanus ^m agrees. Bochart and Noldius have taken another way, but not so clear and satisfactory; the Septuagint of 1Ch 21:25 has fifty shekels, as here.

Gill: 2Sa 24:25

And David built there an altar unto the Lord,.... After he had made the purchase:

and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings; the one to expiate the sin or sins committed, the other to give thanks for the intimation given, that the plague would be stayed upon this:

so the Lord was entreated for the land; was pacified and prevailed upon to remove the pestilence from it; which was signified by fire descending upon the altar of burnt offering, which showed the sacrifice was accepted, and by the angel being ordered to put his sword into its sheath, 1Ch 21:26; and the Targum is,"and the Lord received the prayer of the inhabitants of the land:"

and the plague was stayed from Israel; no more died of the pestilence, either at Jerusalem, or in any other part of the land Israel.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: 2Sa 24:14

¹ tn Heb “There is great distress to me. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for great is his mercy, but into the hand of man let me not fall.”

NET Notes: 2Sa 24:16

¹ tn Heb “messenger.”

² tn Heb “concerning the calamity.”

³ tn Heb “Now, drop your hand.”

NET Notes: 2Sa 24:17

¹ tn Heb “let your hand be against me and against the house of my father.”

NET Notes: 2Sa 24:20

¹ tn Heb “Araunah.” The name has been replaced in the translation by the pronoun (“he”) for stylistic reasons.

² tn Heb “nostrils.”

NET Notes: 2Sa 24:22

¹ tn Heb “what is good in his eyes.”

² sn Threshing sledges were heavy boards used in ancient times for loosening grain from husks. On the bottom sides of these boards sharp stones were embedded, and the boards were then dragged across the grain on a threshing floor by an ox or donkey.

³ tn Heb “the equipment of the oxen.”

NET Notes: 2Sa 24:23

¹ tc The Hebrew text is difficult here. The translation reads עֶבֶד אֲדֹנָי (’eved ’adoni, “the servant of my lord”) rather than the MT’s אֲרַוְנָה (’Aravnah). In normal court etiquette a subject would not use his own name in this way, but would more likely refer to himself in the third person. The MT probably first sustained loss of עֶבֶד (’eved, “servant”), leading to confusion of the word for “my lord” with the name of the Jebusite referred to here.

NET Notes: 2Sa 24:24

¹ tn Heb “fifty shekels of silver.” This would have been about 20 ounces (568 grams) of silver by weight.

Geneva Bible: 2Sa 24:15

So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from ^{( h )} Dan even to Beersheba seventy thousand men.

^{( h )} From the one side of the country to the other.

Geneva Bible: 2Sa 24:16

And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: ^{( i )} stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite.

^{( i )} The Lord spared this place, because he had chosen it to build his temple there.

Geneva Bible: 2Sa 24:17

And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they ^{( k )} done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house.

^{( k )} David did not see the just cause why God plagued the people, and therefore he offers himself for God's correction as the only cause of this evil.

Geneva Bible: 2Sa 24:21

And ^{( l )} Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the LORD, that the plague may be stayed from the people.

^{( l )} Called also Ornan (1Ch 21:20).

Geneva Bible: 2Sa 24:23

All these [things] did Araunah, ^{( m )} [as] a king, give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The LORD thy God accept thee.

^{( m )} That is, abundantly, for as some write, he was king of Jerusalem before David won the tower.

Geneva Bible: 2Sa 24:24

And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy [it] of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for ^{( n )} fifty shekels of silver.

^{( n )} Some write that every tribe gave 50 which makes 600, or that afterward he bought as much as came to 550 shekels.

Commentary -- Verse Range Notes

TSK Synopsis: 2Sa 24:1-25

1 David, tempted by Satan, forces Joab to number the people.

5 The captains, in nine months and twenty days, bring the muster of thirteen hundred thousand fighting men.

10 David repents, and having three plagues propounded by God, chooses the three days' pestilence.

15 After the death of three score and ten thousand, David by prayer prevents the destruction of Jerusalem.

18 David, by God's direction, purchases Araunah's threshing floor; where having sacrificed, the plague stays.

MHCC: 2Sa 24:10-15

It is well, when a man has sinned, if he has a heart within to smite him for it. If we confess our sins, we may pray in faith that God would forgive them, and take away, by pardoning mercy, that sin which we cast away by sincere repentance. What we make the matter of our pride, it is just in God to take from us, or make bitter to us, and make it our punishment. This must be such a punishment as the people have a large share in, for though it was David's sin that opened the sluice, the sins of the people all contributed to the flood. In this difficulty, David chose a judgment which came immediately from God, whose mercies he knew to be very great, rather than from men, who would have triumphed in the miseries of Israel, and have been thereby hardened in their idolatry. He chose the pestilence; he and his family would be as much exposed to it as the poorest Israelite; and he would continue for a shorter time under the Divine rebuke, however severe it was. The rapid destruction by the pestilence shows how easily God can bring down the proudest sinners, and how much we owe daily to the Divine patience.

MHCC: 2Sa 24:16-17

Perhaps there was more wickedness, especially more pride, and that was the sin now chastised, in Jerusalem than elsewhere, therefore the hand of the destroyer is stretched out upon that city; but the Lord repented him of the evil, changed not his mind, but his way. In the very place where Abraham was stayed from slaying his son, this angel, by a like countermand, was stayed from destroying Jerusalem. It is for the sake of the great Sacrifice, that our forfeited lives are preserved from the destroying angel. And in David is the spirit of a true shepherd of the people, offering himself as a sacrifice to God, for the salvation of his subjects.

MHCC: 2Sa 24:18-25

God's encouraging us to offer to him spiritual sacrifices, is an evidence of his reconciling us to himself. David purchased the ground to build the altar. God hates robbery for burnt-offering. Those know not what religion is, who chiefly care to make it cheap and easy to themselves, and who are best pleased with that which costs them least pains or money. For what have we our substance, but to honour God with it; and how can it be better bestowed? See the building of the altar, and the offering proper sacrifices upon it. Burnt-offerings to the glory of God's justice; peace-offerings to the glory of his mercy. Christ is our Altar, our Sacrifice; in him alone we may expect to escape his wrath, and to find favour with God. Death is destroying all around, in so many forms, and so suddenly, that it is madness not to expect and prepare for the close of life.

Matthew Henry: 2Sa 24:10-17

We have here David repenting of the sin and yet punished for it, God repenting of the judgment and David thereby made more penitent.

I. Here is David's penitent reflection upon and confession of his sin in numbering the people. While the thing was in doing, during all those nine months, we do not find that David was sensible of his sin, for had he been so he would have countermanded the orders he had given; but, when the account was finished and laid before him, that very night his conscience was awakened, and he felt the pain of it just then when he promised himself the pleasure of it. When he was about to feast on the satisfaction of the number of his people, it was turned into the gall of asps within him; sense of the sin cast a damp upon the joy, 2Sa 24:10. 1. He was convinced of his sin: His heart smote him before the prophet came to him (I think it should not be read for, 2Sa 24:11, but and, when David was up, so it is in the original), his conscience showed him the evil of what he had done; now that appeared sin, and exceedingly sinful, which before he saw no harm in. He reflected upon it with great regret and his heart reproached him for it. Note, It is a good thing, when a man has sinned, to have a heart within him to smite him for it; it is a good sign of a principle of grace in the heart, and a good step towards repentance and reformation. 2. He confessed it to God and begged earnestly for the forgiveness of it. (1.) He owned that he had sinned, sinned greatly, though to others it might seem no sin at all, or a very little one. True penitents, whose consciences are tender and well informed, see that evil in sin which others do not see. (2.) He owned that he had done foolishly, very foolishly, because he had done it in the pride of his heart; and it was folly for him to be proud of the numbers of his people, when they were God's people, not his, and, as many as they were, God could soon make them fewer. (3.) He cried to God for pardon: I beseech thee, O Lord! take away the iniquity of thy servant. If we confess our sins, we may pray in faith that God will forgive them, and take away, by pardoning mercy, that iniquity which we cast away by sincere repentance.

II. The just and necessary correction which he suffered for this sin. David had been full of tossings to and fro all night under the sense of his sin, having no rest in his bones because of it, and he arose in the morning expecting to hear of God's displeasure against him for what he had done, or designing to speak with Gad his seer concerning it. Gad is called his seer because he had him always at hand to advise with in the things of God, and made use of him as his confessor and counsellor; but God prevented him, and directed the prophet Gad what to say to him (2Sa 24:11), and,

1. Three things are taken for granted, (1.) That David must be corrected for his fault. It is too great a crime, and reflects too much dishonour upon God, to go unpunished, even in David himself. Of the seven things that God hates, pride is the first, Pro 6:17. Note, Those who truly repent of their sins, and have them pardoned are yet often made to smart for them in this world. (2.) The punishment must answer to the sin. He was proud of the judgment he must be chastised with for this sin must be such as will make them fewer. Note, What we make the matter of our pride it is just with God to take from us, or embitter to us, and, some way or other, to make the matter of our punishment. (3.) It must be such a punishment as the people must have a large share in, for God's anger was kindled against Israel, 2Sa 24:1. Though it was David's sin that immediately opened the sluice, the sins of the people all contributed to the deluge.

2. As to the punishment that must be inflicted,

(1.) David is told to choose what rod he will be beaten with, 2Sa 24:12, 2Sa 24:13. His heavenly Father must correct him, but, to show that he does not do it willingly, he gives David leave to make choice whether it shall be by war, famine, or pestilence, three sore judgments, which greatly weaken and diminish a people. God, by putting him thus to his choice, designed, [1.] To humble him the more for his sin, which we would see to be exceedingly sinful when he came to consider each of these judgments as exceedingly dreadful. Or, [2.] To upbraid him with the proud conceit he had of his own sovereignty over Israel. He that is so great a prince begins to think he may have what he will. "Come then,"says God, "which wilt thou have of these three things?"Compare Jer 34:17, I proclaim a liberty for you, but it is such a liberty as this of David's to the sword, to the pestilence, and to the famine; and Jer 15:2, Such as are for death to death. Or [3.] To give him some encouragement under the correction, letting him know that God did not cast him out of communion with himself, but that still his secret was with him, and in afflicting him he considered his frame and what he could best bear. Or [4.] That he might the more patiently bear the rod when it was a rod of his own choosing. The prophet bids him advise with himself, and then tell him what answer he should return to him that sent him. Note, Ministers are sent of God to us, and they must give an account of the success of their embassy. It concerns us therefore to consider what answer they shall return from us, that they may give up their account of us with joy.

(2.) He objects only against the judgments of the sword, and, for the other two, he refers the matter to God, but intimates his choice of the pestilence rather (2Sa 24:14): I am in a great strait; and well he might be when fear, and the pit, and the snare, were before him, and if he escape one, he must inevitably fall into the other, Jer 48:43, Jer 48:44. Note, Sin brings men into straits; wise and good men often distress themselves by their own folly. [1.] He begs that he may not fall into the hand of man. "Whatever comes, let us not flee three months before our enemies; "this would sully all the glory of David's triumphs and give occasion to the enemies of God and Israel to behave themselves proudly. See Deu 32:26, Deu 32:27. "Their tender mercies are cruel; and in three months they will do that damage to the nation which many years will not repair."But, [2.] He casts himself upon God: Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord, for his mercies are great. Men are God's hand (so they are called, Psa 17:14, the sword of his sending), yet there are some judgments which come more immediately from his hand than others, as famine and pestilence, and David refers it to God which of these shall be the scourge, and God chooses the shortest, that he may the sooner testify his being reconciled. But some think that David, by these words, intimates his choice of the pestilence. The land had not yet recovered the famine under which it smarted three years upon the Gibeonites' account, and therefore, "Let us not be corrected with that rod, for that also will be the triumph of our neighbours,"hence we read of the reproach of famine (Eze 36:30); "but if Israel must be diminished, let it be by the pestilence, for that is falling into the hands of the Lord, "who usually inflicted that judgment by the hand of his own immediate servants, the angels, as in the death of the first-born of Egypt. That is a judgment to which David himself, and his own family, lie as open as the meanest subject, but not so either to famine or sword, and therefore David, tenderly conscious of his guilt, chooses that. Sword and famine will devour one as well as another, but, it may be thought, the destroying angel will draw his sword against those who are known to God to be most guilty. This will be of the shortest continuance, and he dreads the thought of lying long under the tokens of God's displeasure. It is a dreadful thing, the apostle says, to fall into the hands of the living God (Heb 10:31), a fearful thing indeed for sinners that have, by their impenitency, shut themselves out from all hope of his mercy. But David, a penitent, dares cast himself into God's hand, knowing he shall find that his mercies are great. Good men, even when they are under God's frowns, yet will entertain no other than good thoughts of him. Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.

(3.) A pestilence is accordingly sent (2Sa 24:15), which, for the extent of it, spread from Dan to Beersheba, from one end of the kingdom to the other, which showed it to come immediately from God's hand and not from any natural causes. David has his choice; he suffers by miracle, and not by ordinary means. For the continuance of it, it lasted from morning (this very morning on which it was put to David's choice) to the time appointed that is, to the third day (so Mr. Poole), or only to the evening of the first day, the time appointed for the evening sacrifice, so bishop Patrick and others, who reckon that the pestilence lasted but nine hours, and that, in compassion to David, God shortened the time he had first mentioned. The execution the pestilence did was very severe. There died 70,000 men, that were all well, and sick, and dead, in a few hours. What a great cry, may we suppose, was there now throughout all the land of Israel, as there was in Egypt when the first-born were slain! but that was at midnight, this in the daytime, Psa 91:6. See the power of the angels, when God gives them commission, either to save or to destroy. Joab is nine months in passing with his pen, the angel but nine hours in passing with his sword, through all the coasts and corners of the land of Israel. See how easily God can bring down the proudest sinners, and how much we owe daily to the divine patience. David's adultery is punished, for the present, only with the death of one infant, his pride with the death of all those thousands, so much does God hate pride. The number slain amounted to almost half a decimation, 70,000 being about one in twenty. Now, we may suppose, David's flesh trembled for fear of God and he was afraid of his judgments, Psa 119:120.

III. God's gracious relaxation of the judgment, when it began to be inflicted upon Jerusalem (2Sa 24:16): The angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem, as if he intended to do greater execution there than any where else, even to destroy it. The country had drunk of the bitter cup, but Jerusalem must drink the dregs. It should seem that was last numbered, and therefore was reserved to be last plagued; perhaps there was more wickedness, especially more pride (and that was the sin now chastised), in Jerusalem than elsewhere, therefore the hand of the destroyer is stretched out upon that; but then the Lord repented him of the evil, changed not his mind, but his way; and said to the destroying angel, It is enough; stay now thy hand, and let mercy rejoice against judgment. Jerusalem shall be spared for the ark's sake, for it is the place God hath chosen to put his name there. See here how ready God is to forgive and how little pleasure he takes in punishing; and let it encourage us to meet him by repentance in the way of his judgments. This was on Mount Moriah. Dr. Lightfoot observes that in the very place where Abraham, by a countermand from heaven, was stayed from slaying his son, this angel, by a like countermand, was stayed from destroying Jerusalem. It is for the sake of the great sacrifice that our forfeited lives are preserved from the destroying angel.

IV. David's renewed repentance for his sin upon this occasion, 2Sa 24:17. He saw the angel (God opening his eyes for that purpose), saw his sword stretched out to destroy, a flaming sword, saw him ready to sheath it upon the orders given him to stay proceedings; seeing all this, he spoke, not to the angel (he knew better than to address himself to the servant in the presence of the Master, or to give that honour to the creature which is the Creator's due), but to the Lord, and said, Lo, I have sinned. Note, True penitents, the more they perceive of God's sparing pardoning mercy the more humbled they are for sin and the more resolved against it. They shall be ashamed when I am pacified towards them, Eze 16:63. Observe, 1. How he criminates himself, as if he could never speak ill enough of his own fault: " I have sinned, and I have done wickedly; mine is the crime, and therefore on me be the cross. Let thy hand be against me, and my father's house. I am the sinner, let me be the sufferer;"so willing was he to accept the punishment of his iniquity, though he was worth 10,000 of them. 2. How he intercedes for the people, whose bitter lamentations made his heart to ache, and his ears to tingle: These sheep, what have they done? Done! Why they had done much amiss; it was their sin that provoked God to leave David to himself to do as he did; yet, as becomes a penitent, he is severe upon his own faults, while he extenuates theirs. Most people, when God's judgments are abroad, charge others with being the cause of them, and care not who falls by them, so they can escape. But David's penitent and public spirit was otherwise affected. Let this remind us of the grace of our Lord Jesus, who gave himself for our sins and was willing that God's hand should be against him, that we might escape. The shepherd was smitten that the sheep might be spared.

Matthew Henry: 2Sa 24:18-25

Here is, I. A command sent to David to erect an altar in the place where he saw the angel, 2Sa 24:18. This was to intimate to David, 1. That, upon his repeated submission and humiliation, God was now thoroughly reconciled to him; for, if the Lord had been pleased to kill him, he would not have accepted an offering, and therefore would not have ordered him to build an altar. God's encouraging us to offer to him spiritual sacrifices is a comfortable evidence of his reconciling us to himself. 2. That peace is made between God and sinners by sacrifice, and not otherwise, even by Christ the great propitiation, of whom all the legal sacrifices were types. It is for his sake that the destroying angel is told to stay his hand. 3. That when God's judgments are graciously stayed we ought to acknowledge it with thankfulness to his praise. This altar was to be for thank-offerings. See Isa 12:1.

II. The purchase which David made of the ground in order hereunto. It seems the owner was a Jebusite, Araunah by name, proselyted no doubt to the Jewish religion, though by birth a Gentile, and therefore allowed, not only to dwell among the Israelites, but to have a possession of his own in a city, Lev 25:29, Lev 25:30. The piece of ground was a threshing-floor, a mean place, yet thus dignified - a place of labour, therefore thus dignified. Now,

1. David went in person to the owner, to treat with him. See his justice, that he would not so much as use this place in the present exigence, though the proprietor was an alien, though he himself was a king, and though he had express orders from God to rear an altar there, till he had bought it and paid for it. God hates robbery for burnt-offering. See his humility, how far he was from taking state; though a king, he was now a penitent, and therefore, in token of his self-abasement, he neither sent for Araunah to come to him nor sent another to deal with him, but went himself (2Sa 24:19), and, though it looked like a diminution of himself, he lost no honour by it. Araunah, when he saw him, went and bowed himself to the ground before him 2Sa 24:20. Great men will never be the less respected for their humility, but the more.

2. Araunah, when he understood his business (2Sa 24:21), generously offered him, not only the ground to build his altar on, but oxen for sacrifices, and other things that might be of use to him in the service (2Sa 24:22), and all this gratis, and a good prayer into the bargain: The Lord thy God accept thee! This he did, (1.) Because he had a generous spirit with a great estate. He gave as a king (2Sa 24:23); though an ordinary subject, he had the spirit of a prince. In the Hebrew it is, He gave, even the king to the king, whence it is supposed that Araunah had been king of the Jebusites in that place, or was descended from their royal family, though now a tributary to David. (2.) Because he highly esteemed David, though his conqueror, upon the score of his personal merits, and never thought he could do too much to oblige him. (3.) Because he had an affection for Israel, and earnestly desired that the plague might be stayed; and the honour of its being stayed at his threshing-floor, he would account a valuable consideration for all he now tendered to David. 3. David resolved to pay the full value of it, and did so, 2Sa 24:24. Here were two generous souls well met. Araunah is very willing to give; but David is determined to buy, and for a good reason: he will not offer that to God which costs him nothing. He would not take advantage of the pious Jebusite's generosity. He thanked him, no doubt, for his kind offer, but paid him fifty shekels of silver for the floor and the oxen for the present service, and afterwards 600 shekels of gold for the ground adjoining, to build the temple on. Note, Those know not what religion is whose chief care it is to make it cheap and easy to themselves, and who are best pleased with that which costs them least pains or money. What have we our substance for but to honour God with it? and how can it be better bestowed?

III. The building of the altar, and the offering of the proper sacrifices upon it (2Sa 24:25), burnt-offerings to the glory of God's justice in the execution that had been done, and peace-offerings to the glory of his mercy in the seasonable staying of the process. Hereupon God showed (it is supposed by fire from heaven consuming the sacrifices) that he was entreated for the land, and that it was in mercy that the plague was removed and in token of God's being reconciled both to prince and people. Christ is our altar, our sacrifice; in him alone we may expect to find favour with God, to escape his wrath, and the sword, the flaming sword, of the cherubim who keep the way of the tree of life.

Keil-Delitzsch: 2Sa 24:10-18

David's heart, i.e., his conscience, smote him, after he had numbered the people, or had given orders for the census to be taken. Having now come to a knowledge of his sin, he prayed to the Lord for forgiveness, because he had acted foolishly. The sin consisted chiefly in the self-exaltation which had led to this step (see the introductory remarks).

2Sa 24:11-13

When he rose up in the morning, after he had calmly reflected upon the matter during the night upon his bed, and had been brought to see the folly of his determination, the prophet Gad came to him by the command of God, pointed out to him his fault, and foretold the punishment that would come from God. "Shall seven years of famine come upon thy land, or three months of flight before thine oppressors that they may pursue thee, or shall there be three days of pestilence in thy land? Now mark and see what answer I shall bring to Him that sendeth me."These three verses form one period, in which גד ויּבא (2Sa 24:13) answers as the consequent to וגו דּוד ויּקם in 2Sa 24:11, and the words from יהוה וּדבר ( 2Sa 24:11 ) to ואעשׂה־לּך) (2Sa 24:12) form a circumstantial clause inserted between. וגו יהוה וּדבר י : "and the word of the Lord had taken place (gone forth) to Gad, David's seer, saying, Go ... thus saith Jehovah, I lay upon thee three (things or evils); choose thee one of them that I may do it to thee."Instead of על נטל , to lay upon, we find נטה in the Chronicles, "to turn upon thee."The three things are mentioned first of all in connection with the execution of Gad's commission to the king. Instead of seven years of famine, we find three years in the Chronicles; the Septuagint has also the number three in the passage before us, and apparently it is more in harmony with the connection, viz., three evils to choose from, and each lasting through three divisions of time. But this agreement favours the seven rather than the three, which is open to the suspicion of being intentionally made to conform to the rest. נסך is an infinitive: "thy fleeing,"for that thou fliest before thine enemies. In the Chronicles the last two evils are described more fully, but the thought is not altered in consequence.

2Sa 24:14

David replied, "I am in great trouble. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for His mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of men."Thus David chose the third judgment, since pestilence comes directly from God. On the other hand, in flight from the enemy, he would have fallen into the hands of men. It is not easy to see, however, how far this could apply to famine; probably inasmuch as it tends more or less to create dependence upon those who are still in possession of the means of life.

2Sa 24:15

God then gave (sent) a pestilence into (upon) Israel, "from the morning till the time of the assembly;"and there died of the people in the whole land (from Dan to Beersheba) seventy thousand men. " From the morning: "on which Gad had foretold the punishment. The meaning of מועד ועד־עת is doubtful. The rendering "to the time appointed," i.e., "till the expiration of the three days,"in support of which the Vulgate ( ad tempus constitutum ) is wrongly appealed to, is precluded not only by the circumstance that, according to 2Sa 24:16, the plague was stayed earlier because God repented Him of the evil, so that it did not last so long as was at first appointed, but also by the grammatical difficulty that מועד עת has no article, and can only be rendered "for an (not for the ) appointed time."We meet with two different explanations in the ancient versions: one in the Septuagint, ἕως ὥρας ἀρίστου , "till the hour of breakfast,"i.e., till the sixth hour of the day, which is the rendering also adopted by the Syriac and Arabic as well as by Kimchi and several of the Rabbins; the other in the Chaldee (Jonathan), "from the time at which the sacrifice is commonly slain until it is consumed."Accordingly Bochart explains מועד את as signifying "the time at which the people came together for evening prayers, about the ninth hour of the day, i.e., the third hour in the afternoon"(vid., Act 3:1). The same view also lies at the foundation of the Vulgate rendering, according to the express statement of Jerome ( traditt. Hebr. in 2 libr. Regum ): "He calls that the time appointed , in which the evening sacrifice was offered."It is true that this meaning of מועד cannot be established by precisely analogous passages, but it may be very easily deduced from the frequent employment of the word to denote the meetings and festivals connected with the worship of God, when it generally stands without an article, as for example in the perfectly analogous מועד יום (Hos 9:5; Lam 2:7, Lam 2:22); whereas it is always written with the article when it is sued in the general sense of a fixed time, and some definite period is referred to.

(Note: The objections brought against this have no force in them, viz., that, according to this view, the section must have been written a long time after the captivity (Clericus and Thenius), and that "the perfectly general expression ' the time of meeting ' could not stand for the time of the afternoon or evening meeting"(Thenius): for the former rests upon the assumption that the daily sacrifice was introduced after the captivity, - an assumption quite at variance with the historical facts; and the latter is overthrown by the simple remark, that the indefinite expression derived its more precise meaning from the legal appointment of the morning and evening sacrifice as times of meeting for the worship of God, inasmuch as the evening meeting was the only one that could be placed in contrast with the morning.)

We must therefore decide in favour of the latter. But if the pestilence did not last a whole day, the number of persons carried off by it (70,000 men) exceeded very considerably the number destroyed by the most violent pestilential epidemics on record, although they have not unfrequently swept off hundreds of thousands in a very brief space of time. But the pestilence burst upon the people in this instance with supernatural strength and violence, that it might be seen at once to be a direct judgment from God.

2Sa 24:16

The general statement as to the divine judgment and its terrible effects is followed by a more minute description of the judgment itself, and the arrest of the plague. "When the destroying angel (' the angel ' is defined immediately afterwards as ' the angel that destroyed the people ') stretched out his hand towards Jerusalem to destroy it, Jehovah repented of the evil (for this expression, see Exo 32:14; Jer 26:13, Jer 26:19, etc.; and for the repentance of God, the remarks on Gen 6:6), and He commanded the angel, Enough! stay now thine hand."This implies that the progress of the pestilence was stayed before Jerusalem, and therefore that Jerusalem itself was spared. "And the angel of Jehovah was at the threshing-floor of Aravnah the Jebusite." These words affirm most distinctly that the destroying angel was visible. According to 2Sa 24:17, David saw him there. The visible appearance of the angel was to exclude every thought of a natural land plague. The appearance of the angel is described more minutely in the Chronicles: David saw him standing by the threshing-floor of Aravnah between heaven and earth with a drawn sword in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. The drawn sword was a symbolical representation of the purpose of his coming (see at Num 22:23 and Jos 5:13). The threshing-floor of Aravnah was situated, like all other threshing-floors, outside the city, and upon an eminence, or, according to the more precise statement which follows, to the north-east of Zion, upon Mount Moriah (see at 2Sa 24:25). According to the Chethib of 2Sa 24:16, the name of the owner of the floor was האורנה , of 2Sa 24:18 ארניה , and of 2Sa 24:20 (twice) ארונה . This last form also occurs in 2Sa 24:22, 2Sa 24:23, and 2Sa 24:24, and has been substituted by the Masoretes as the Keri in 2Sa 24:16 and 2Sa 24:18. In the Chronicles, on the other hand, the name is always written ארנן ( Ornan ), and hence in the Septuagint we find Ὄρνα in both texts. "The form ארונה ( Aravnah ) has not a Hebrew stamp, whereas Orna and Ornan are true Hebrew formations. But for this very reason Aravnah appears to be derived from an ancient tradition"(Bertheau).

2Sa 24:17

When David saw the angel, he prayed to the Lord (he and the elders being clothed in mourning costume: Chron.): "Behold, I have sinned, and I have acted perversely; but these, the flock, what have they done? Let Thy hand come upon me and my house."The meaning is: I the shepherd of Thy people have sinned and transgressed, but the nation is innocent; i.e., not indeed free from every kind of blame, but only from the sin which God was punishing by the pestilence. It belongs to the very nature of truly penitential prayer, that the person praying takes all the blame upon himself, acknowledges before God that he alone is deserving of punishment, and does not dwell upon the complicity of others for the sake of palliating his own sin in the sight of God. We must not infer, therefore, from this confession on the part of David, that the people, whilst innocent themselves, had had to atone only for an act of transgression on the part of their king.

2Sa 24:18

David's prayer was heard. The prophet Gad came and said to him by command of Jehovah, "Go up, and erect an altar to the Lord upon the floor of Aravnah the Jebusite."This is all that is communicated here of the word of Jehovah which Gad was to convey to the king; the rest is given afterwards, as is frequently the case, in the course of the subsequent account of the fulfilment of the divine command (2Sa 24:21). David was to build the altar and offer burnt-offerings and supplicatory-offerings upon it, to appease the wrath of Jehovah. The plague would then be averted from Israel.

Keil-Delitzsch: 2Sa 24:19-25

David went up to Aravnah according to the command of God.

2Sa 24:20-21

When Aravnah saw the king coming up to him with his servants ( ויּשׁקף , "he looked out," viz., from the enclosure of the threshing-floor), he came out, bowed low even to the earth, and asked the king what was the occasion of his coming; whereupon David replied, "To buy the floor from thee, to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague may be turned away from the people."

2Sa 24:22-23

Aravnah replied, "Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold (i.e., there thou hast) the ox for the burnt-offering, and the threshing-machine, and the harness of the ox for wood"(i.e., for fuel). הבּקר , the pair of oxen yoked together in front of the threshing-machine. הבּקר כּלי , the wooden yokes . " All this giveth Aravnah, O king, to the king ." המּלך is a vocative, and is simply omitted by the lxx, Vulgate, Syriac, and Arabic, because the translators regarded it as a nominative, which is quite unsuitable, as Aravnah was not a king. When Thenius, on the other hand, objects to this, for the purpose of throwing suspicion upon the passage, that the sentence is thus stamped as part of Aravnah's address to the king, and that in that case the words that follow, "and Aravnah said,"would be altogether superfluous; the former remark is correct enough, for the words "all this giveth Aravnah ... to the king"must form part of what Aravnah said, inasmuch as the remark, "all this gave Aravnah to the king,"if taken as the historian's own words, would be in most glaring contradiction to what follows, where the king is said to have bought the floor and the oxen from Aravnah. And the words that follow ("and Aravnah said") are not superfluous on that account, but simply indicate that Aravnah did not proceed to say the rest in the same breath, but added it after a short pause, as a word which did not directly bear upon the question put by the king. ויּאמר (and he said) is often repeated, where the same person continues speaking (see for example 2Sa 15:4, 2Sa 15:25, 2Sa 15:27). "Jehovah thy God accept thee graciously,"i.e., fulfil the request thou presentest to Him with sacrifice and prayer.

2Sa 24:24

The king did not accept the offer, however, but said, "No; but I will buy it of thee at a price, and will not offer burnt-offerings to the Lord my God without paying for them."Thus David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. Instead of this, the Chronicles give "shekels of gold, in weight six hundred."This difference cannot be reconciled by assuming that David paid his fifty shekels in gold coin, which would have been worth as much as six hundred shekels of silver, since gold was worth twelve times as much as silver. For there is nothing about gold shekels in our text; and the words of the Chronicles cannot be interpreted as meaning that the shekels of gold were worth six hundred shekels of silver. No other course is left, therefore, than to assume that the number must be corrupt in one of the texts. Apparently the statement in the Chronicles is the more correct of the two: for if we consider that Abraham paid four hundred shekels of silver for the site of a family burial-place, at a time when the land was very thinly populated, and therefore land must certainly have been much cheaper than it was in David's time, the small sum of fifty shekels of silver (about £6) appears much too low a price; and David would certainly pay at least fifty shekels of gold. But we are not warranted in any case in speaking of the statement in the Chronicles, as Thenius does, as "intentionally exaggerated."This style of criticism, which carries two kinds of weights and measure in its bag, explaining the high numbers in the books of Samuel and Kings as corruptions of the text, and those in the Chronicles as intentional exaggerations on the part of the chronicler, is sufficiently dealt with by the remark of Bertheau, that "this (i.e., the charge of exaggeration) could only be sustained if it were perfectly certain that the chronicler had our present text of the books of Samuel before him at the time."

2Sa 24:25

After acquiring the threshing-floor by purchase, David built an altar to the Lord there, and offered burnt-offerings and supplicatory-offerings ( shelamim : as in Jdg 20:26; Jdg 21:4; 1Sa 13:9) upon it to the Lord. "So Jehovah was entreated, and the plague was turned away from Israel."

This remark brings to a close not only the account of this particular occurrence, but also the book itself; whereas in the Chronicles it is still further stated that Jehovah answered David with fire from heaven, which fell upon the burnt-offering; and that after his prayer had been answered thus, David not only continued to offer sacrifice upon the floor of Aravnah, but also fixed upon it as the site for the temple which was afterwards to be built (1Ch 21:27; 1Ch 22:1); and to this there is appended, in 2Sa 22:2., an account of the preparations which David made for the building of the temple. It is not affirmed in the Chronicles, however, that David fixed upon this place as the site for the future temple in consequence of a revelation from God, but simply that he did this, because he saw that the Lord had answered him there, and because he could not go to Gibeon, where the tabernacle was standing, to seek the Lord there, on account of the sword of the angel, i.e., on account of the pestilence. The command of God build an altar upon the threshing-floor of Aravnah, and offer expiatory sacrifices upon it, when connected with His answering his prayer by turning away the plague, could not fail to be taken as a distinct intimation to David, that the site of this altar was the place where the Lord would henceforth make known His gracious presence to His people; and this hint was quite sufficient to determine the site for the temple which his son Solomon was to build.

Constable: 2Sa 21:1--24:25

VII. SUMMARY ILLUSTRATIONS chs. 21--24

The last major section of the Book of Samuel (2 Sam. 21-24) consists of six separate pericopes that together constitute a conclusion to the whole book (cf. Judg. 17-21). Each pericope emphasizes the theological message of the book.²⁹¹

". . . the final four chapters, far from being a clumsy appendix, offer a highly reflective, theological interpretation of David's whole career adumbrating the messianic hope."²⁹²

The structure of this section too is chiastic.

"A. The Lord's Wrath Against Israel (21:1-14)

B. David's Heroes (21:15-22)

C. David's Song of Praise (22:1-51)

C'. David's Last Words (23:1-7)

B'. David's Mighty Men (23:8-39)

A'. The Lord's Wrath Against Israel (24:1-25)"²⁹³

Constable: 2Sa 24:1-25

F. Pestilence from David's Sin ch. 24

This last section of the book records another occasion on which God withdrew his blessing from Israel this time because of David's sin (cf. 21:1-14). When David stopped trusting in Yahweh for protection and placed his confidence in his military personnel, God sent a serious disease that killed 70,000 men (v. 15).

". . . chapter 24 provides a fitting conclusion to the story of David by calling attention, once more and finally, not only to his ambition and pride, but also to his humility and remorse."³¹⁶

"Every spiritual leader would do well to read this story once a year!"³¹⁷

Constable: 2Sa 24:10-14

2. David's confession of his guilt 24:10-14

Apparently the census was complete before David acknowledged that he had sinned. Finally guilt for his pride penetrated his heart, and he confessed his sin and asked God for forgiveness (v. 10). This response shows David at his best, as "the man after God's own heart." God graciously gave the king some choice about how He would punish the nation (v. 13). I believe that this is the only instance in Scripture where God gave someone the option of choosing his own punishment. Because David was the head of the nation his actions affected all Israel as well as himself personally. David's choice was whether he wanted a long, mild punishment or a short, intense one. He chose to leave the punishment in God's hands because he had learned that God is merciful (v. 14).

"War would place the nation at the mercy of its enemies: famine would make it dependent on corn-merchants, who might greatly aggravate the misery of scarcity: only in the pestilence--some form of plague sudden and mysterious in its attack, and baffling the medical knowledge of the time--would the punishment come directly from God, and depend immediately upon His Will."³²⁴

The rabbis assumed that David's reasoning was as follows.

"If I choose famine the people will say that I chose something which will affect them and not me, for I shall be well supplied with food; if I choose war, they will say that the king is well protected; let me choose pestilence, before which all are equal."³²⁵

Constable: 2Sa 24:15-17

3. David's punishment 24:15-17

An angelic messenger from God again brought death to many people throughout all Israel (cf. Exod. 12:23). The Angel of the Lord may have been the preincarnate Christ, but he could have simply been an angelic messenger whom God sent.³²⁶ Evidently God gave David the ability to see the angel who was killing the people as the angel entered Jerusalem prepared to kill more innocent victims of David's sin there (v. 17; cf. 2 Kings 6:17). David asked God to have mercy on the people since he was the sinner responsible for the punishment. He failed to appreciate the extent of the effects of his act when he ordered the census. Note David's shepherd heart in his reference to his people as "sheep" (v. 17).

"His is even willing to suffer (die?) for the sake of the sheep (v. 17)!"³²⁷

"Wanting more land and more people to rule, David finds himself with 70,000 fewer subjects."³²⁸

"Sin is really a selfish act. It's all about bringing ourselves pleasure caring little about the toll it will take on someone else."³²⁹

Constable: 2Sa 24:18-25

4. David's repentance 24:18-25

David proceeded to offer sacrifices in response to Gad's instructions (v. 18). David needed to commit himself again to God (the burnt offering) and to renew his fellowship with God (the peace offering, v. 25). God instructed him to present these sacrifices at the place where He had shown mercy (v. 16). David willingly obeyed (v. 19).

Araunah (Ornan, 1 Chron. 21) was a native Jebusite so probably his land had never been sanctified (set apart) to Yahweh as other Israelite land had (cf. v. 23; note "Yahweh your God"). David purchased the threshing floor for one and one-quarter pounds of silver. He insisted on purchasing the threshing floor because a sacrifice that costs nothing is no sacrifice at all (cf. Mark 12:43-44). The incident recalls Abraham's purchase of the cave of Machpelah from Ephron the Hittite (Gen. 23:3-15), and it anticipates King Omri's purchase of a hill on which he built another capital, Samaria (1 Kings 16:23-24). The situations involving Abraham and David were both desperate. This spot was to become the site of Solomon's temple.

"At the same site where Abraham once held a knife over his son (Gen. 22:1-19), David sees the angel of the Lord with sword ready to plunge into Jerusalem. In both cases death is averted by sacrifice. The temple is established there as the place where Israel was perpetually reminded that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sin (Heb. 9:22). Death for Isaac and for David's Jerusalem was averted because the sword of divine justice would ultimately find its mark in the Son of God (John 19:33)."³³⁰

"Small wonder, then, that the NT should begin with a record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the son of David, the son of Abraham. . .'"³³¹

The writer probably recorded this incident not only because it accounts for the origin of the site of Solomon's temple, but because it illustrates a basic theological truth taught throughout the book. Whenever someone whom God has chosen for special blessing sins he or she becomes the target of God's discipline, and he or she also becomes a channel of judgment to others. Only repentance will turn the situation around. When David agreed to obey God's will revealed through Gad, he began at once to become a source of blessing again.

"No one need aspire to leadership in the work of God who is not prepared to pay a price greater than his contemporaries and colleagues are willing to pay. True leadership always exacts a heavy toll on the whole man, and the more effective the leadership is, the higher the price to be paid."³³²

Much blessing came to Israel through the land David bought from Araunah the Jebusite. The fact that it was a threshing floor is interesting, too, since people threshed the blessing of fertility.

As mentioned previously, the writer composed this last major section of Samuel (chs. 21-24) in a chiastic structure. Here is a similar diagram of it.

A Famine from Saul's sin 21:1-4 (narrative)

B Military heroes and victories 21:15-22 (list)

C David's psalm praise of God ch. 22 (poem)

C' David's tribute in praise of God 23:1-7 (poem)

B' Military heroes and victories 23:8-39 (list)

A' Pestilence from David's sin ch. 24 (narrative)

Hebrew writers often used this chiastic literary structure to unify several different parts around one central concept. Here the center is quite clearly Yahweh. Praise of God reflects a right relationship to Him. This relationship results in blessing (strength, victories, etc.). When one is unfaithful to God, the result is judgment, famine, and pestilence.

Within each of these six final sections there is also a conflict. Saul and his sons conflict with David and Mephibosheth (21:1-14). The Philistine giants conflict with David's warriors (21:15-22). Evil and arrogant enemies of God conflict with righteous covenant-keepers (ch. 22). The blessed conflict with the worthless (23:1-7). Israel's enemies conflict with David's men (23:8-39). Finally David conflicts with Joab and Araunah (ch. 24).

All of Saul's sons perished except Mephibosheth because Mephibosheth, Jonathan's son, was in covenant relationship to David, a covenant-keeping son of Yahweh. The Philistine giants perished because God was with David. David's psalm recalls Hannah's psalm (1 Sam. 2:1-10). In both of these prayers the contrast between the arrogant and the humble before God stands out. David received the Davidic Covenant because of God's sovereign choice and David's typical obedience. God raised up and empowered many mighty men because David walked before God submissively. The nation suffered when David got away from God but prospered when he got right with God.

Guzik: 2Sa 24:1-25

2 Samuel 24 - David and the Census

David commands a census to be taken.

1. (1-2) David is moved to take a census.

Again the anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel, and He moved David against them to say, "Go, number Israel and Judah." So the king said to Joab the commander of the army who was with him, "Now go throughout all the tribes of Israel, from Dan to Beersheba, and count the people, that I may know the number of the people."

a. The anger of the LORD was aroused against Israel, and He moved David: The translators of the New King James Version believe that "He" in this sentence applies to God, because they capitalize it. Yet 1 Chronicles 21:1 tells us, Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel. The best explanation is that Satan moved David and is the "he" of 2 Samuel 24:1. Yet the LORD expressly allowed it as a chastisement against David.

i. "Now the 'he' there, we assume would be the Lord. But as we find out in 1 Chronicles, chapter one, it was Satan that moved David's heart, to the numbering of the people. So God opened the door, and allowed Satan to move in and tempt David." (Smith)

Go, number Israel and Judah: This was dangerous because of a principle stated in Exodus 30:12: When you take the census of the children of Israel for their number, then every man shall give a ransom for himself to the LORD, when you number them, that there may be no plague among them when you number them.

i. The principle of Exodus 30:12 speaks to God's ownership of His people. In the thinking of these ancient cultures, a man only had the right to count or number what belonged to him. Israel didn't belong to David; Israel belonged to God. It was up to the LORD to command a counting, and if David counted he should only do it at God's command and receiving ransom money to "atone" for the counting.

2. (3-4) Joab objects to the census.

And Joab said to the king, "Now may the LORD your God add to the people a hundred times more than there are, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king desire this thing?" Nevertheless the king's word prevailed against Joab and against the captains of the army. Therefore Joab and the captains of the army went out from the presence of the king to count the people of Israel.

a. Why does my lord the king desire this thing? Joab wasn't afraid to speak to David when he thought the king was wrong. With the best interest of both David and Israel in mind, Joab tactfully asked David to reconsider this foolish desire to count the nation.

i. Joab also hints at the motive behind the counting - pride in David. The this thing that David desired was the increase of the nation, and he perhaps wanted to measure the size of his army to know if he had enough force to conquer a neighboring nation. "He did it out of curiosity and creature-confidence." (Trapp)

So late in his reign, David was tempted to take some of the glory in himself. He looked at how Israel had grown and prospered during his reign - it was remarkable indeed. The count was a way to take credit to himself. "The spirit of vainglory in numbers had taken possession of the people and the king, and there was a tendency to trust in numbers and forget God." (Morgan)

Nevertheless the king's word prevailed against Joab and against the captains of the army: It wasn't only Joab who tried to tell David not to do this - the captains of the army also warned David not to count the soldiers in Israel. But David did so anyway.

(5-9) The census is taken.

And they crossed over the Jordan and camped in Aroer, on the right side of the town which is in the midst of the ravine of Gad, and toward Jazer. Then they came to Gilead and to the land of Tahtim Hodshi; they came to Dan Jaan and around to Sidon; and they came to the stronghold of Tyre and to all the cities of the Hivites and the Canaanites. Then they went out to South Judah as far as Beersheba. So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days. Then Joab gave the sum of the number of the people to the king. And there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.

a. When they had gone through all the land: It took almost 10 months to complete the census. David should have called off this foolish census during the ten months, but he didn't.

Joab gave the sum of the number of the people to the king: he results showed that there were 1,300,000 fighting men among the twelve tribes, reflecting an estimated total population of about 6 million in Israel.

i. "In the parallel place, 1 Chronicles 21:5, the sums are widely different: in Israel one million one hundred thousand, in Judah four hundred and seventy thousand. Neither of these sums is too great, but they cannot be both correct; and which is the true number is difficult to say." (Clarke)

"To attempt to reconcile them in every part is lost labour; better at once acknowledge what cannot be successfully denied, that although the original writers of the Old Testament wrote under the influence of the Divine Spirit, yet we are not told that the same influence descended on all copiers of their words, so as absolutely to prevent them from making mistakes." (Clarke)

David's guilt and God's punishment.

1. (10) David knows that he has done wrong in numbering the people.

And David's heart condemned him after he had numbered the people. So David said to the LORD, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done; but now, I pray, O LORD, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly."

a. David's heart condemned him: The man after God's heart was not sinless, but had a heart sensitive to sin when it was committed. David kept a short account with God.

Take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly: David now saw the pride and vainglory that prompted him to do such a foolish thing.

2. (11-13) David is allowed to choose his judgment.

Now when David arose in the morning, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, "Go and tell David, 'Thus says the LORD: "I offer you three things; choose one of them for yourself, that I may do it to you."' " So Gad came to David and told him; and he said to him, "Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land? Or shall you flee three months before your enemies, while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' plague in your land? Now consider and see what answer I should take back to Him who sent me."

a. I offer you three things: God used David's sin and the resulting chastisement to reveal David's heart and wisdom. His choice of the following three options would test David:

· Seven years of famine: This would surely be the death of some in Israel, but the wealthy and resourceful would survive. Israel would have to depend on neighboring nations for food

· Flee three months before your enemies: This would be the death of some in Israel, but mostly only of soldiers. Israel would have to contend with enemies among neighboring nations

· Three days' plague in your land: This would be the death of some in Israel, but anyone could be struck by this plague - rich or poor, influential or anonymous, royalty or common

Now consider and see what answer I should take back to Him who sent me: God wanted David to use the prophet as a mediator, and to answer to the prophet instead of directly to God.

(14) David chooses the three days of plague.

And David said to Gad, "I am in great distress. Please let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man."

a. Please let me fall into the hand of the LORD: This meant that David chose the three days of plague. In the other two options the king and his family could be insulated against the danger, but David knew that he had to expose himself to the chastisement of God.

i. "Had he chosen war, his own personal safety was in no danger, because there was already an ordinance preventing him from going to battle. Had he chosen famine, his own wealth would have secured his and his own family's support. But he showed the greatness of his mind in choosing the pestilence, to the ravages of which himself and his household were exposed equally with the meanest of his subjects." (Clarke)

Do not let me fall into the hand of man: This meant that David chose the three days of plague. In the other two options, Israel would either be at the mercy of neighbors (as in the famine) or attacked by enemies. David knew that God is far more merciful and gracious than man is.

4. (15-17) The plague of destruction hits Israel severely.

So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel from the morning till the appointed time. From Dan to Beersheba seventy thousand men of the people died. And when the angel stretched out His hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD relented from the destruction, and said to the angel who was destroying the people, "It is enough; now restrain your hand." And the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. Then David spoke to the LORD when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, "Surely I have sinned, and I have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, be against me and against my father's house."

a. Seventy thousand men of the people died: This was a great calamity upon Israel - a devastating plague striking this many in such a short period of time.

The LORD relented from the destruction: This justified David's wisdom in leaving himself in God's hands. He could not trust man to relent from destruction.

Let Your hand, I pray, be against me and against my father's house: Like a true shepherd, David asked that the punishment be upon him and his own household. Having another purpose to accomplish, God did not accept David's offer.

David builds an altar.

1. (18-21) David instructed to erect an altar on the threshing floor of Araunah.

And Gad came that day to David and said to him, "Go up, erect an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite." So David, according to the word of Gad, went up as the LORD commanded. Now Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming toward him. So Araunah went out and bowed before the king with his face to the ground. Then Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" And David said, "To buy the threshing floor from you, to build an altar to the LORD, that the plague may be withdrawn from the people."

a. Erect an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite: This is where David met the Angel of the LORD, and where God relented from the plague before it came upon Jerusalem. Now God wanted David to meet Him there in worship.

i. "Threshing floors were usually on a height, in order to catch every breeze; some area to the north of David's city is indicated" (Baldwin)

The threshing floor of Araunah had both rich history and a rich future. 2 Chronicles 3:1 tells us that the threshing floor of Araunah was on Mount Moriah; the same hill where Abraham offered Isaac (Genesis 22:2), and the same set of hills where Jesus died on the cross (Genesis 22:14).

b. To buy the threshing floor from you, to build an altar to the LORD: David wanted to transform this place where chaff was separated from wheat into a place of sacrifice and worship. It would remain a place of sacrifice and worship, because this land purchased by David became the site of Solomon's temple (1 Chronicles 21:28-22:5).

(22-24) Refusing the gift of Araunah, David buys the threshing floor.

Now Araunah said to David, "Let my lord the king take and offer up whatever seems good to him. Look, here are oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing implements and the yokes of the oxen for wood. All these, O king, Araunah has given to the king." And Araunah said to the king, "May the LORD your God accept you." Then the king said to Araunah, "No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God with that which costs me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

a. Let my lord the king take and offer up whatever seems good to him: Araunah had a good, generous heart and wanted to give David anything he wanted.

i. "Had Araunah's noble offer been accepted, it would have been Araunah's sacrifice, not David's; nor would it have answered the end of turning away the displeasure of the Most High." (Clarke)

I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God with that which costs me nothing: David knew that it would not be a gift nor a sacrifice unto the LORD if it did not cost him something. He didn't look for the cheapest way possible to please God.

i. "He who has a religion that costs him nothing, has a religion that is worth nothing: nor will any man esteem the ordinances of God, if those ordinances cost him nothing." (Clarke)

"Where there is true, strong love to Jesus, it will cost us something. Love is the costliest of all undertakings . . . But what shall we mind if we gain Christ? You cannot give up for Him without regaining everything you have renounced, but purified and transfigured." (Meyer)

3. (25) David's altar and sacrifice.

And David built there an altar to the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD heeded the prayers for the land, and the plague was withdrawn from Israel.

And offered burnt offerings and peace offerings: This shows that David understood that the death of the 70,000 in Israel in the plague did not atone for his and Israel's sin. Atonement could only be made through the blood of an approved substitute.

i. Burnt offerings were to atone for sin; peace offerings were to enjoy fellowship with God. This shows us from beginning to end, David's life was marked by fellowship with God.

"We finally see the man after God's own heart turning the occasion of his sin and its punishment into an occasion of worship." (Morgan)

So the LORD heeded the prayers for the land: 1 Chronicles 21:26 tells us that God showed His acceptance of David's sacrifice by consuming it with fire from heaven. God honored David's desire to be right and to fellowship with God by answering with Divine blessing from heaven. So it always is when God's children draw near to their God and Father for cleansing and fellowship.

© 2002 David Guzik - No distribution beyond personal use without permission

Commentary -- Other

Critics Ask: 2Sa 24:14

2 SAMUEL 24:14 —Is it fearful to fall into the hands of God?

PROBLEM: David here implies that it is not fearful to fall into the hands of the living God. In fact, he chooses it over all other options. At the same time, the writer of Hebrews declares that “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” ( Heb. 10:31 ).

SOLUTION: The two passages are speaking of two different conditions. In David’s case, it was a matter of choosing his own punishment for his self-acknowledged sin. The Hebrews passage speaks of those who, far from being repentant, had sinned “willfully” after having “received the knowledge of the truth” (v. 26 ). In brief, whether it is fearful or not will depend on the condition of the person who falls into God’s hands.   

IT IS FEARFUL FOR: IT IS NOT FEARFUL FOR:   

The sinner The righteous   

The unrepentant The repentant   

The unfaithful The faithful   

Critics Ask: 2Sa 24:24

2 SAMUEL 24:24 —Why does this passage say that David paid Araunah 50 shekels of silver when elsewhere it says he paid 600 shekels of gold?

PROBLEM: When David offered to buy the oxen and the threshing floor for a sacrifice and altar to the Lord, 2 Samuel states that he paid for them with 50 pieces of silver. However, according to 1 Chronicles 21:25 , David gave Araunah 600 shekels of gold. Which is the correct record?

SOLUTION: Both accounts are correct. The passage in 2 Samuel 24 records David’s purchase of the oxen and the threshing floor. The passage in 1 Chronicles 21 states that David paid 600 shekels of gold “for the place” (v. 25 ). The Hebrew phrase that is translated “the place” includes more than just the oxen and the threshing floor. Araunah must have possessed a large portion of land on Mount Moriah which would    prove valuable to David in the future.   

Introduction / Outline

JFB: 2 Samuel (Book Introduction)

THE FIRST AND SECOND BOOKS OF SAMUEL. The two were, by the ancient Jews, conjoined so as to make one book, and in that form could be called the Book of Samuel with more propriety than now, the second being wholly occupied with the relation of transactions that did not take place till after the death of that eminent judge. Accordingly, in the Septuagint and the Vulgate, it is called the First and Second Books of Kings. The early portion of the First Book, down to the end of the twenty-fourth chapter, was probably written by Samuel; while the rest of it and the whole of the Second, are commonly ascribed to Nathan and Gad, founding the opinion on 1Ch 29:29. Commentators, however, are divided about this, some supposing that the statements in 1Sa 2:26; 1Sa 3:1, indicate the hand of the judge himself, or a contemporary; while some think, from 1Sa 6:18; 1Sa 12:5; 1Sa 27:6, that its composition must be referred to a later age. It is probable, however, that these supposed marks of an after-period were interpolations of Ezra. This uncertainty, however, as to the authorship does not affect the inspired authority of the book, which is indisputable, being quoted in the New Testament (1Sa 13:14 in Act 13:22, and 2Sa 7:14 in Heb 1:5), as well as in many of the Psalms.

JFB: 2 Samuel (Outline)

• AN AMALEKITE BRINGS TIDINGS OF SAUL'S DEATH. (2Sa. 1:1-16)
• DAVID LAMENTS SAUL AND JONATHAN. (2Sa 1:17-27)
• DAVID, BY GOD'S DIRECTION, GOES UP TO HEBRON, AND IS MADE KING OVER JUDAH. (2Sa 2:1-7)
• SIX SONS BORN TO DAVID. (2Sa 3:1-5)
• ABNER REVOLTS TO DAVID. (2Sa 3:6-12)
• JOAB KILLS ABNER. (2Sa 3:22-30)
• BAANAH AND RECHAB SLAY ISH-BOSHETH, AND BRING HIS HEAD TO HEBRON. (2Sa 4:1-2)
• DAVID CAUSES THEM TO BE PUT TO DEATH. (2Sa 4:10-12)
• THE TRIBES ANOINT DAVID KING OVER ISRAEL. (2Sa 5:1-5)
• HE TAKES ZION FROM THE JEBUSITES. (2Sa 5:6-12)
• ELEVEN SONS BORN TO HIM. (2Sa 5:13-16)
• HE SMITES THE PHILISTINES. (2Sa 5:17-25)
• DAVID FETCHES THE ARK FROM KIRJATH-JEARIM ON A NEW CART. (2Sa 6:1-5)
• UZZAH SMITTEN. (2Sa 6:6-11)
• DAVID AFTERWARDS BRINGS THE ARK TO ZION. (2Sa 6:12-19)
• MICHAL'S BARRENNESS. (2Sa 6:20-23)
• NATHAN APPROVES THE PURPOSE OF DAVID TO BUILD GOD A HOUSE. (2Sa 7:1-3)
• DAVID'S PRAYER AND THANKSGIVING. (2Sa 7:18-29)
• DAVID SUBDUES THE PHILISTINES, AND MAKES THE MOABITES TRIBUTARY. (2Sa 8:1-2)
• HE SMITES HADADEZER AND THE SYRIANS. (2Sa 8:3-14)
• HIS REIGN. (2Sa 8:15-18)
• DAVID SENDS FOR MEPHIBOSHETH. (2Sa 9:1-12)
• DAVID'S MESSENGERS, SENT TO COMFORT HANUN, ARE DISGRACEFULLY TREATED. (2Sa 10:1-5)
• THE AMMONITES OVERCOME. (2Sa 10:6-14)
• THE SYRIANS DEFEATED. (2Sa 10:15-19)
• JOAB BESIEGES RABBAH. (2Sa 11:1)
• DAVID COMMITS ADULTERY WITH BATH-SHEBA. (2Sa 11:2-12)
• URIAH SLAIN. (2Sa 11:14-27)
• NATHAN'S PARABLE. (2Sa 12:1-6)
• HE APPLIES IT TO DAVID, WHO CONFESSES HIS SIN, AND IS PARDONED. (2Sa 12:7-23)
• SOLOMON IS BORN. (2Sa 12:24-25)
• RABBAH IS TAKEN. (2Sa 12:26-31)
• AMNON LOVES TAMAR. (2Sa 13:1-5)
• HE DEFILES HER. (2Sa. 13:6-27)
• AMNON IS SLAIN. (2Sa 13:28-36)
• ABSALOM FLEES TO TALMAI. (2Sa 13:37-39)
• JOAB BRINGS ABSALOM TO JERUSALEM. (2Sa 14:22-33)
• ABSALOM STEALS THE HEARTS OF ISRAEL. (2Sa 15:1-9)
• HE FORMS A CONSPIRACY. (2Sa 15:10-12)
• DAVID FLEES FROM JERUSALEM. (2Sa. 15:13-37)
• ZIBA, BY FALSE SUGGESTIONS, CLAIMS HIS MASTER'S INHERITANCE. (2Sa 16:1-4)
• SHIMEI CURSES DAVID. (2Sa 16:5-19)
• AHITHOPHEL'S COUNSEL. (2Sa 16:20-23)
• SECRET INTELLIGENCE SENT TO DAVID. (2Sa 17:15-22)
• AHITHOPHEL HANGS HIMSELF. (2Sa 17:23-29)
• DAVID REVIEWING THE ARMIES. (2Sa 18:1-4)
• GIVES THEM CHARGE OF ABSALOM. (2Sa 18:5-13)
• HE IS SLAIN BY JOAB. (2Sa. 18:14-32)
• JOAB CAUSES THE KING TO CEASE MOURNING. (2Sa 19:1-8)
• THE ISRAELITES BRING THE KING BACK. (2Sa. 19:9-43)
• SHEBA MAKES A PARTY IN ISRAEL. (2Sa 20:1-9)
• AMASA IS SLAIN. (2Sa 20:10-13)
• JOAB PURSUES SHEBA UNTO ABEL. (2Sa 20:14-15)
• A WISE WOMAN SAVES THE CITY BY SHEBA'S HEAD. (2Sa 20:16-22)
• DAVID'S GREAT OFFICERS. (2Sa 20:23-26)
• THE THREE YEARS' FAMINE FOR THE GIBEONITES CEASE BY HANGING SEVEN OF SAUL'S SONS. (2Sa 21:1-9)
• RIZPAH'S KINDNESS UNTO THE DEAD. (2Sa 21:10-11)
• DAVID BURIES THE BONES OF SAUL AND JONATHAN IN THEIR FATHER'S SEPULCHER. (2Sa 21:12-22)
• DAVID PROFESSES HIS FAITH IN GOD'S PROMISES. (2Sa 23:1-7)
• A CATALOGUE OF HIS MIGHTY MEN. (2Sa. 23:8-39)
• DAVID NUMBERS THE PEOPLE. (2Sa 24:1-9)
• HE, HAVING THREE PLAGUES PROPOUNDED BY GAD, REPENTS, AND CHOOSES THREE DAYS' PESTILENCE. (2Sa 24:10-14)
• HIS INTERCESSION TO GOD; THE PLAGUE CEASES. (2Sa 24:15-25)

TSK: 2 Samuel 24 (Chapter Introduction)

Overview

2Sa 24:1, David, tempted by Satan, forces Joab to number the people; 2Sa 24:5, The captains, in nine months and twenty days, bring the muster of thirteen hundred thousand fighting men; 2Sa 24:10, David repents, and having three plagues propounded by God, chooses the three days’ pestilence; 2Sa 24:15, After the death of three score and ten thousand, David by prayer prevents the destruction of Jerusalem; 2Sa 24:18, David, by God’s direction, purchases Araunah’s threshing floor; where having sacrificed, the plague stays.

Poole: 2 Samuel 24 (Chapter Introduction)

SAMUEL CHAPTER 24

David, tempted by Satan, forceth Joab to number the people; who are thirteen hundred thousand fighting men, 2Sa 24:1-9 . David acknowledgeth his sin in it: having three judgments propounded by God, he is in great distress, and chooseth the pestilence; of which seventy thousand men die, 2Sa 24:10-15 . David by his humiliation preventeth the destruction of Jerusalem, 2Sa 24:16,17 . He by Gad’ s direction and order from God purchaseth Araunah’ s threshing-floor to build an altar there; on which having sacrificed, the plague stayeth, 2Sa 24:18-25 .

MHCC: 2 Samuel (Book Introduction)

This book is the history of the reign of king David. It relates his victories, the growth of the prosperity of Israel, and his reformation of the state of religion. With these events are recorded the grievous sins he committed, and the family as well as public troubles with which he was punished. We here meet with many things worthy of imitation, and many that are written for our warning. The history of king David is given in Scripture with much faithfulness, and from it he appears, to those who fairly balance his many virtues and excellent qualities against his faults, to have been a great and good man.

MHCC: 2 Samuel 24 (Chapter Introduction)

(2Sa 24:1-9) David numbers the people.

(2Sa 24:10-15) He chooses the pestilence.

(2Sa 24:16, 2Sa 24:17) The staying the pestilence.

(2Sa 24:18-25) David's sacrifice, The plague removed.

Matthew Henry: 2 Samuel (Book Introduction)

An Exposition, with Practical Observations, of The Second Book of Samuel

This book is the history of the reign of king David. We had in the foregoing book an account of his designation to the government, and his struggles with Saul, which ended at length in the death of his persecutor. This book begins with his accession to the throne, and is entirely taken up with the affairs of the government during the forty years he reigned, and therefore is entitled by the Septuagint. The Third Book of the Kings. It gives us an account of David's triumphs and his troubles. I. His triumphs over the house of Saul (ch. 1-4), over the Jebusites and Philistines (ch. 5), at the bringing up of the ark (ch. 6 and 7), over the neighbouring nations that opposed him (ch. 8-10); and so far the history is agreeable to what we might expect from David's character and the choice made of him. But his cloud has a dark side. II. We have his troubles, the causes of them, his sin in the matter of Uriah (ch. 11 and 12), the troubles themselves from the sin of Amnon (ch. 13), the rebellion of Absalom (ch. 14-19) and of Sheba (ch. 20), and the plague in Israel for his numbering the people (ch. 24), besides the famine of the Gibeonites (ch. 21). His son we have (ch. 22), and his words and worthies (ch. 23). Many things in his history are very instructive; but for the hero who is the subject of it, though in many instances he appears here very great, and very good, and very much the favourite of heaven, yet it must be confessed that his honour shines brighter in his Psalms than in his Annals.

Matthew Henry: 2 Samuel 24 (Chapter Introduction)

The last words of David, which we read in the chapter before, were admirably good, but in this chapter we read of some of his last works, which were none of the best; yet he repented, and did his first works again, and so he finished well. We have here, I. His sin, which was numbering the people in the pride of his heart (2Sa 24:1-9). II. His conviction of the sin, and repentance for it (2Sa 24:10). III. The judgment inflicted upon him for it (2Sa 24:11-15). IV. The staying of the judgment (2Sa 24:16, 2Sa 24:17). V. The erecting of an altar in token of God's reconciliation to him and his people (2Sa 24:18-25).

Constable: 2 Samuel (Book Introduction)

Introduction

Second Samuel continues the history begun in 1 Samuel. Please see my comments regarding 2 Samuel's title, date, authorship, and scope in the introductory section of the 1 Samuel notes.

Message¹

First Samuel records David's preparation. Second Samuel records his service namely his reign. In our study of 1 Samuel I mentioned three aspects of his preparation: as shepherd, as courtier, and as "outlaw." In 2 Samuel we see those aspects of his preparation put to work. He became the shepherd of his people, the center of his court, and the strong ruler of his nation. He fulfilled the office of king successfully under God's leadership.

The message of 2 Samuel is that man's attitude toward God creates an opportunity for God, and God's attitude toward man creates an opportunity for man.

First, man's attitude toward God creates an opportunity for God.

We find this principle stated in 22:26-28. Compare Hannah's prayer of praise in 1 Sam. 2:1-10. God is to each person what that person is to God.

We find the principle illustrated in David's attitudes toward God. David had four convictions about God. We see these in his thanksgiving psalm in chapter 22, which is also Psalm 18. David evidently wrote it early in his life.

1. He believed God was Israel's supreme Ruler. He never doubted this or presumed to elevate himself to God's place as Head of the nation. This is clear in 22:2-16. Contrast David's view with Saul's. Some local church leaders follow Saul's example rather than David's.

2. He believed God was consistently and completely righteous (right) in His dealings. David confessed his sin when charged with it rather than trying to deny it. In 22:17-27 this comes through clearly. Contrast Saul.

3. He believed God was always merciful. He was willing to let God determine His punishment because he believed God would be merciful (cf. 22:28-46). Contrast Saul.

4. He believed God's will was always best. His greatest desire was for God's will in his own life and in Israel (cf. 22:47-51). Contrast Saul.

David's convictions created opportunities for God.

1. Because David really believed in God's sovereignty God could and did set David over the throne of Israel and direct him to govern God's people (cf. 22:2-3). Even today loyal employees are the ones that employers promote to positions of greater responsibility.

2. Because David acknowledged God's righteousness God was able to bless David for his righteousness (cf. 22:21-28).

3. Because David appreciated God's mercy God was able to be merciful with him (cf. 22:35-36).

4. Because David viewed God's will as superior God was able to bring His will for David and Israel to pass (cf. 22:51).

With these attitudes David became God's instrument through whom God accomplished His larger plans and purposes. Even though David sinned greatly, his deepest convictions lay in these truths. God based His dealings with David on David's deepest convictions. He was the man after God's own heart. God did not base His dealings with David primarily on David's momentary failings. This is a great encouragement. Your deep underlying attitude toward God provides a foundation on which God can build and use you in some way. Your presence here at DTS is encouraging to me. The direction you are heading is more important than how far you have advanced in Christian growth.

The other side of this coin is that God's attitude toward a person creates an opportunity for that person. John wrote, "We love Him because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19).

We find this principle stated in 23:1-5. David evidently wrote this chapter later in his life.

We find the principle illustrated in God's attitudes toward David. What were these?

1. God purposed for David to be king (cf. 23:1). This knowledge affected David's attitude toward God. He just needed to consent to God's purpose for him. God has purposed to bless you. This is the revelation of the whole Bible.

2. God's power would be adequate for David's needs (cf. 23:2). The power for all of David's life, including the inspiration for his words, came from God. David could simply cooperate with it. We too have the Spirit. We too need just to cooperate with God.

3. God's pattern for David's kingship was God's own rule (cf. 23:3-4). David could conform to God's example as Sovereign to fulfill his destiny. We have Jesus Christ's example as well as God's pattern.

4. God's persistence would result in the fulfillment of all His promises to David (cf. 23:5). This gave David confidence in God in the present. God has promised never to leave us (Matt. 28:20). He has proved Himself faithful.

In 1 Samuel we learned that God's ultimate victory does not depend on people's attitudes toward Him. His people can be loyal or rebellious, and this will not affect His ultimate victory.

In 2 Samuel we learn that our ultimate victory in life depends on our attitude toward God. Conformity to the will of God creates fitness for service. Conformity to the will of God depends wholly on our attitude toward God. It does not depend on our ability, or on our ability to persuade God to do something. It depends on our abandonment to Him, and on our willingness to let God persuade us to do something. It depends on our commitment to Him and our faithfulness to Him.

God does not measure us as other people do. We measure each other by external actions. God measures us by internal attitudes. What is your attitude toward God? Do you really want to please God, or do you obey God simply because of your background and environment? Would you live a filthy life if you could get away with it? What is your real attitude toward God? Do you really want to do right? David was a man after God's own heart because he really wanted what God wanted. What do you really want?

Be careful, because God will give you what you really want. Do you want to run your own life? God will let you do it, but He may let you run your life into a brick wall.

Constable: 2 Samuel (Outline)

Outline

(Continued from notes on 1 Samuel)

V. David's triumphs chs. 1-8

A. The beginning of David's kingdom 1:1-3:5

1. David's discovery of Saul and Jonathan's deaths ch. 1

2. David's move to Hebron 2:1-4a

3. David's overtures to Jabesh-gilead 2:4b-7

4. Ish-bosheth's coronation over Israel 2:8-11

5. The conflict between Abner and Joab 2:12-32

6. The strengthening of David's position 3:1-5

B. The unification of the kingdom 3:6-5:16

1. David's acceptance of Abner 3:6-39

2. David's punishment of Ish-bosheth's murderers ch. 4

3. David's acceptance by all Israel 5:1-12

4. David's additional children 5:13-16

C. The establishment of the kingdom 5:17-8:18

1. David's victories over the Philistines 5:17-25

2. David's moving of the ark to Jerusalem ch. 6

3. The giving of the Davidic Covenant ch. 7

4. The security of David's kingdom ch. 8

VI. David's troubles chs. 9-20

A. David's faithfulness ch. 9

B. God's faithfulness despite David's unfaithfulness chs. 10-12

1. The Ammonite rebellion ch. 10

2. David's unfaithfulness to God chs. 11-12

C. David's rejection and return chs. 13-20

1. Events leading up to Absalom's rebellion chs. 13-14

2. Absalom's attempt to usurp David's throne chs. 15-20

VII. Summary illustrations chs. 21-24

A. Famine from Saul's sin 21:1-14

1. Saul's broken treaty with the Gibeonites 21:1-6

2. David's justice and mercy 21:7-9

3. David's honoring of Saul and Jonathan 21:10-14

B. Four giant killers 21:15-22

C. David's praise of Yahweh ch. 22

D. David's last testament 23:1-7

E. Thirty-seven mighty men 23:8-39

1. Selected adventures of outstanding warriors 23:8-23

2. A list of notable warriors among The Thirty 23:24-39

F. Pestilence from David's sin ch. 24

1. David's sin of numbering the people 24:1-9

2. David's confession of his guilt 24:10-14

3. David's punishment 24:15-17

4. David's repentance 24:18-25

Constable: 2 Samuel

2 Samuel

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_____. "The Interpretation of 2 Samuel xii 5-6." Vetus Testamentum 16 (1966):242-44.

_____. "NEBALAH--a term for serious disorderly and unruly conduct." Vetus Testamentum 25:2 (April 1975):237-41.

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_____. "The Promises to David in Early Judaism." Bibliotheca Sacra 150:599 (July-September 1993:285-302.

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Copyright 2003 by Thomas L. Constable

Haydock: 2 Samuel (Book Introduction)

THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL;

otherwise called,

THE SECOND BOOK OF KINGS.

INTRODUCTION.

This Book contains the transactions of David till the end of the pestilence, occasioned by his numbering the people, chap. xxiv. The last six chapters of the preceding book were probably written by Gad, who delivered God's orders to David, after he was deprived of the company of Samuel. Gad, Nathan, and other prophets, continued the sacred history, 1 Paralipomenon xxix. 29. After the unfortunate death of Saul, his general, Abner, instead of submitting quietly to the dominion of David, (Haydock) set the son of the deceased monarch upon the throne, at Mahanaim; and two years elapsed before the rival kings came to open war, chap. ii. 10. (Salien) --- David was 30 years old when he was anointed at Hebron, (chap. v. 4,) where he reigned seven years and a half over Juda. On the death of Isoboseth, he was anointed a third time, as king of all Israel, and reigned in that character 37 years. (Haydock) --- The partisans of Isoboseth might be excused in their adherence to him, as he was the son of the late king, and the election of David was not sufficiently notified to them. (Salien) --- We here behold the many virtues of David, and his repentance for some faults into which he had fallen. His predictions, and the names and exploits of many of his valiant men, are likewise recorded. (Worthington)

Gill: 2 Samuel (Book Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO 2 SAMUEL

This book, in many copies of the Hebrew Bible, is carried on without any new title put unto it; the reason of it is, because, by some, this, with the preceding, has been reckoned but one book: hence the Jews say ^a, Samuel wrote his book, not his books; in others it is called Samuel Second; and by the Vulgate Latin the Second Book of Samuel, which we call the Second of Kings; though why his name should be put to it at all I see not, since it neither concerns him, nor could it be written by him, being an history of events after his death. The Greek version calls it the Second of Kings; and the Syriac version, the Second Book of the Kings of Israel; whereas there is but one king of Israel it makes mention of, and of whose actions only it is an history; and therefore with greater propriety it is called, as the Arabic version, the Book of David the Prophet, of whose reign, from the beginning to the end of it, it gives an account: wherefore Isidore ^b thinks it was written by David; and if so, it has this mark of simplicity and integrity, that the writer does not spare himself, nor conceal his own faults, and particularly that very capital one, the affair of Bathsheba, and also his numbering of the people; but it is most probable that it was written by Nathan and Gad ^c, see 1Ch 29:29; but whoever was the penman of it, there is no doubt to be made of its being written by inspiration, or that it is canonical; which has never been questioned, since there stands in it a famous prophecy concerning the building of the temple by a son of David, which had an exact accomplishment, 2Sa 7:12; as well as of the family of David, for a great while to come, which also was fulfilled, 2Sa 7:19; and an eminent passage concerning the Messiah, the son of David, and of his divine sonship, 2Sa 7:14; quoted by the Apostle Paul in proof of it, Heb 1:5. It contains an history of about forty years, for so long David reigned, seven years and six months in Hebron, over Judah, and thirty three years in Jerusalem, over all Israel and Judah; and this book relates his last words.

Gill: 2 Samuel 24 (Chapter Introduction)

INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 24

In this chapter an account is given of David's numbering of the people, 2Sa 24:1; of the sense he had of his sin, and of his acknowledgment of it; and of the Lord's displeasure at it, who sent the prophet Gad to him, to propose three things to him, one of which he was to choose as a punishment for it, 2Sa 24:10; when he chose the pestilence, which carried off a great number of the people, 2Sa 24:14; and David was directed to build an altar to the Lord in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite, with whom he agreed for it, and built one on it, and offered upon it, and so the plague was stayed, 2Sa 24:18.