God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As he was about to destroy, Yahweh saw, and he relented of the disaster, and said to the destroying angel, “It is enough. Now withdraw your hand.” Yahweh’s angel was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. David lifted up his eyes, and saw Yahweh’s angel standing between earth and the sky, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces.
David said to God, “Isn’t it I who commanded the people to be counted? It is even I who have sinned and done very wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand, O Yahweh my God, be against me, and against my father’s house; but not against your people, that they should be plagued.”
Then Yahweh’s angel commanded Gad to tell David that David should go up and raise an altar to Yahweh on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv15, 17 Read 2 Sam. 24:16.
Read 2 Sam. 24:16.
When God draweth back his plagues, he seemeth to repent, read Gen. 6:6.
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Or, Araunah.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv15–18 1Ch 21:15 And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem…
1Ch 21:15 And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the LORD beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.
Ver. 15. Unto Jerusalem to destroy it.] There was the ark; there were David and the elders humbling themselves: thither therefore the plague came last.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On v16 In sackcloth, i.e. in mourning garments, humbling themselves before…
In sackcloth, i.e. in mourning garments, humbling themselves before God for their sins, and deprecating his wrath against the people.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v18 We have here the controversy concluded, and, upon David's…
We have here the controversy concluded, and, upon David's repentance, his peace made with God. Though thou wast angry with me, thy anger is turned away. 1. A stop was put to the progress of the execution, Ch1 21:15. When David repented of the sin God repented of the judgment, and ordered the destroying angel to stay his hand and sheath his sword, Ch1 21:27. 2. Direction was given to David to rear an altar in the threshing-floor of Ornan, Ch1 21:18. The angel commanded the prophet Gad to bring David this direction. The same angel that had, in God's name, carried on the war, is here forward to set on foot the treaty of peace; for angels do not desire the woeful day. The angel could have given this order to David himself; but he chose to do it by his seer, that he might put an honour upon the prophetic office. Thus the revelation of Jesus Christ was notified by the angel to John, and by him to the churches. The commanding of David to build an altar was a blessed token of reconciliation; for, if God had been pleased to kill him, he would not have appointed, because he would not have accepted, a sacrifice at his hands. 3. David immediately made a bargain with Ornan for the threshing-floor; for he would not serve God at other people's charge. Ornan generously offered it to him gratis, not only in complaisance to the king, but because he had himself seen the angel (Ch1 21:20), which so terrified him that he and his four sons hid themselves, as unable to bear the brightness of his glory and afraid of his drawn sword. Under these apprehensions he was willing to do anything towards making the atonement. Those that are duly sensible of the terrors of the Lord will do all they can, in their places, to promote religion, and encourage all the methods of reconciliation for the turning away of God's wrath. 4. God testified his acceptance of David's offerings on this altar; He answered him from heaven by fire, Ch1 21:26. To signify that God's anger was turned away from him, the fire that might justly have fastened upon the sinner fastened upon the sacrifice and consumed that; and, upon this, the destroying sword was returned into its sheath. Thus Christ was made sin and a curse for us, and it pleased the Lord to bruise him, that through him God might be to us, not a consuming fire, but a reconciled Father. 5. He continued to offer his sacrifices upon this altar. The brazen altar which Moses made was at Gibeon (Ch1 21:29), and there all the sacrifices of Israel were offered; but David was so terrified at the sight of the sword of the angel that he could not go thither, Ch1 21:30. The business required haste, when the plague was begun. Aaron must go quickly, nay, he must run, to make atonement, Num 16:46, Num 16:47. And the case here was no less urgent; so that David had not time to go to Gibeon: nor durst he leave the angel with his sword drawn over Jerusalem, lest the fatal stroke should be given before he came back. And therefore God, in tenderness to him, bade him build an altar in that place, dispensing with his own law concerning one altar because of the present distress, and accepting the sacrifices offered on this new altar, which was not set up in opposition to that, but in concurrence with it. The symbols of unity were not so much insisted on as unity itself. Nay, when the present distress was over (as it should seem), David, as long as he lived, sacrificed there, though the altar at Gibeon was still kept up; for God had owned the sacrifices that were here offered and had testified his acceptance of them, Ch1 21:28. On those administrations in which we have experienced the tokens of God's presence, and have found that he is with us of a truth, it is good to continue our attendance. "Here God had graciously met me, and therefore I will still expect to meet with him."
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv16, 18 Sackcloth - In mourning garments, humbling themselves before God…
Sackcloth - In mourning garments, humbling themselves before God for their sins, and deprecating his wrath against the people.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v15 Verse 15. And God sent an angel] Thus the…
Verse 15. And God sent an angel] Thus the Targum: "And the WORD of the LORD sent the angel of death against Jerusalem to destroy it; and he beheld the ashes of the binding of Isaac at the foot of the altar, and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, which he made in the Mount of Worship; and the house of the upper sanctuary, where are the souls of the righteous, and the image of Jacob fixed on the throne of glory; and he turned in his WORD from the evil which he designed to do unto them; and he said to the destroying angel, Cease; take Abishai their chief from among them, and cease from smiting the rest of the people. And the angel which was sent from the presence of the Lord stood at the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv15, 18 1Ch 21:15-16. God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to…
1Ch 21:15-16. God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it, &c. — This seems to import that there were more angels than one employed to effect this destruction in different parts of the country: and that the angels, sent to Jerusalem, had begun to slay some of its inhabitants. The Lord beheld, and repented him of the evil — Probably because he beheld their serious repentance. David and the elders clothed in sackcloth — That is, in mourning garments; fell on their faces — Humbling themselves before God for their sins, and deprecating his wrath against the people.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv16, 18 Here a picture of awful grandeur takes the place…
Here a picture of awful grandeur takes the place of the bare statement of the earlier historian 2Sa 24:17. And here, as elsewhere, the author probably extracts from the ancient documents such circumstances as harmonize with his general plan. As the sanctity of the temple was among the points whereon he was most anxious to lay stress, he gives in full all the miraculous circumstances attending this first designation of what became the temple site (marginal reference “k”) as a place “holy to the Lord.”
David and the elders ... clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces - Facts additional to the narrative of Samuel; But facts natural in themselves, and in harmony with that narrative. Similarly, the narrative in 1Ch 21:20 is additional to the account in Samuel; but its parts hang together; and there is no sufficient ground for suspecting it.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv15, 18 Took. Hebrew, "repented of evil," taking pity of unhappy…
Took. Hebrew, "repented of evil," taking pity of unhappy victims. --- Ornan, or Areuna. (Challoner) --- He had been king of the Jebusites before David took Jerusalem. (Mariana; Tirinus)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv15, 16, 18 stood by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite--Ornan was…
stood by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite--Ornan was probably his Hebrew or Jewish, Araunah his Jebusite or Canaanitish, name. Whether he was the old king of Jebus, as that title is given to him (Sa2 24:23), or not, he had been converted to the worship of the true God, and was possessed both of property and influence.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv15–18 15. unto Jerusalem] The plague arrived in Jerusalem after…
15. unto Jerusalem] The plague arrived in Jerusalem after making ravages elsewhere.
as he was destroying] R.V. as he was about to destroy, agreeing with 2 Sam., when the angel stretched forth his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it.
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It is enough] The sudden cessation of this pestilence has numerous parallels in the history of epidemics.
the threshingfloor of Ornan] The Chronicler makes this threshing-floor the site of the Temple. The author of Sam. is silent on the point. Cp. 1Ch_21:25; 1Ch_21:28, notes.
Ornan] This is the form of the name throughout this chapter, but in 2 Samuel 24 the K’rî gives everywhere Araunah, The C’thîb of Sam. however offers various forms, one of which (to be read Ornah, 1Ch_21:16) approximates to the form given in Chron. Variation in reproducing foreign names is common; see note on 1Ch_18:5 (Damascus), and on 2Ch_36:6 (Nebuchadnezzar).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv15–18 (15) And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to…
(15) And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it.—The reading of Samuel is probably right, “And the angel stretched out his hand towards Jerusalem, to destroy it.” The verb is the same word in each, and the word “God” in our text is substituted for “Jehovah,” which, again, is a misreading of part of the Hebrew of Samuel (yâdô ha), the first word meaning his hand, and the second being the definite article belonging to “angel.”
To destroy.—A different voice of the same verb as in Samuel.
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And as he was destroying, the Lord beheld. Not in Samuel. The words “soften the harshness of the transition from the command to the countermand” (Bertheau).
As he was destroying.—About (at the time of) the destroying; when the angel was on the point of beginning the work of death. It does not appear that Jerusalem was touched. (Comp. 2Sa_24:16.)
That destroyed.—Samuel adds, “Among the people.” The addition is needless, because the Hebrew implies “the destroying angel.” (Comp. Exo_12:23.
It is enough, stay now.—According to the Hebrew accentuation, Enough now (jam satis), stay (drop) thine hand.
Stood.—Was standing. Samuel, “had come to be.”
Ornan.—So the name is spelt throughout this chapter. Samuel has the less Hebrew-looking forms ha-’ôrnah (text; comp. the LXX. ǒpva) or ha-Arawnah, margin) here, and in 1Ch_21:18 Aranyah (text), elsewhere Arawnah. Such differences are natural in spelling foreign names. The LXX. have “Orna,” the Syriac and Arabic “Aran.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv15–18 And God sent an angel. It is at this…
And God sent an angel. It is at this point first that any mention of an angel is found in the parallel place, but then not in the present form, but in a sentence which would seem to presuppose the knowledge of the agency of an angel on the occasion: "And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented him of the evil". (2Sa_24:16) Stood by the threshing-floor of Ornan. The verb "stood" is employed here quite generically. It does not imply that the angel stood on the ground; for see next verse, in which it is said that he "stood between the earth and the heaven," the Hebrew verb being exactly the same. Ornan is the uniform form and spelling of the name in Chronicles. In Samuel, however, the name appears as hwnra, (2Sa_24:20) or Araunah. Yet in ver. 16, of the same chapter the Kethiv inverts the order of the resh and vau, prefixing the article, or what looks like it, and again in ver. 18 the Kethiv shows the form hynra Ornan, then, or Arauuah, was a descendant of the old Jebusite race to whom the fort of Zion once belonged. And the present narrative finds him living on the Hill of Moriah (Conder"s" Bible Handbook," 2nd edit., 236 6). The threshing-floor. The primitive threshing-floors of the Israelites still essentially obtain. They were level spots of stamped and well-trodden earth, about fifty feet in diameter, and selected in positions most exposed to the wind, in order to take the advantage of its help in the separating of the grain from the chaff. On these circular spots of hard earth the sheaves of grain, of whatever kind, were distributed in all sorts of disorder. Oxen and other cattle trod them. And sometimes these beasts were driven round and round five abreast. The stalk of the grain was, of course, much bruised and crushed, and the method is described still as of a very rough and wasteful kind. Instruments were also employed, as the "flail" (Rth_2:17; Isa_28:27, 28); the "sledge," to which possibly reference is made in. Jud_1:8:7, 16, under the name barkanim (Authorized Version, "briers These sledges were of two kinds:
(1) the morag (2Sa_24:22; 1Ch_21:23; Isa_41:15) made of fiat planks joined together, and furnished with rough studs on the under surface; and
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(2) agalah, rendered Authorized Version, "cart-wheel", (Isa_28:27) made of wooden rollers, or rollers of iron or stone, and dragged by cattle over the sheaves. Egypt and Syria, as well as Palestine, still show these instruments (see Robinson"s "Bibl. Res.," 1:550; and Thomson"s "Land and the Book," pp. 538-541).
God"s repentance.
How often, in the Scriptures, are human emotions attributed to God! The charge of "anthropopathy" has, in consequence, sometimes been brought against what we hold to be Divine revelation. The truth is that objectors do not truly believe in the personality of God. The Bible does teach us to think of God as a Person a living, conscious Being, with moral attributes and purposes. It even speaks, as in the text, of God"s repentance.
I THIS IS NOT THE REPENTANCE OF ONE WHO HAS DONE WRONG. This is the usual application of the word, but it obviously has no place here. The penalty inflicted upon David was a just and deserved one. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" As a Ruler of inflexible righteousness, the Lord demands our reverence and confidence in all the proceedings of his providence.
II IT IS THE REPENTANCE OF PITY. We find a satisfaction in attributing to the Lord the emotions of pity, of long-suffering, and of love. The spectacle of the suffering nation, and the humbled, afflicted, contrite king, was one which deeply affected the Divine and fatherly heart. Repentance arose upon the perception that the chastening had now answered its purpose in rousing the sense of sin, in bringing the sinner low before the feet of a justly offended Judge and Lord. When the Lord saw this result, his heart relented and his wrath assuaged.
III IT IS REPENTANCE ISSUING IN SALVATION. Then "he said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thy hand." Pity may be sincere, but ineffectual. Not so with the Divine King. He utters his fiat, and" in the midst of wrath remembers mercy.
PRACTICAL LESSONS.
1. Adore and gratefully praise the forbearance and forgiving mercy of God.
2. Consider the gracious terms.upon which clemency is offered.
3. Recognize in the gospel of Christ the supreme illustration of theprinciple exemplified in the incident recorded in the text. T.
Vers. 15, 16.
The sight of the destroying angel.
It is noted in these verses that the Divine judgment was executed by an angel, and that God and David both watched him carrying out his fearful commission. The sight produced different effects on the watchers, and these suggest useful thoughts and truths. The Bible idea of an angel seems to be that of an agent, other than man, employed to carry out the Divine purposes in the sphere of creation, and especially in this our world. If we accept this comprehensive conception of an angel, we shall understand how there may be angels of affliction, angels of death, and even angels of temptation, all engaged directly in the Divine service. There may be God"s angel of pestilence for the punishment of David, and God"s angel of temptation, or testing, for the purifying of Job. It may be shown that destruction by pestilence is on several occasions attributed to the ministry of an angel: e.g. destruction of the firstborn in Egypt and of Sennacherib"s army. This is still a familiar poetical figure. Sometimes unseen things have been graciously set within the sphere of the senses, in order to help men to feel the reality of the unseen. Angels are unseen beings; the Divine workings are largely secret and unseen; but it pleases God to set his people sometimes "within the veil;" or, we may say, "behind the scenes;" or down below among the machinery, so that they may gain for themselves, and give to others, fitting impressions of the reality of the Divine working. For a similar reason God, the infinite and spiritual Being, is spoken of under human figures, as though he were a man, doing a man"s deeds and feeling a man"s feelings. Some explanation of anthropomorphism and anthropopathism may here suitably be given. In the verses now for consideration, we find a double vision and a double repentance. God saw the angel and repented, so did David.
I A DOUBLE VISION GOD"S AND MAN"S. It is precisely noticed that as the angel was engaged in his work of destruction, "the Lord beheld." Here is set before us something more than God"s perfect knowledge of everything that happens. It impresses upon us his personal interest in his administration of human affairs; his immediate attention to the execution of the judgments he denounces; and his sensitiveness to the effects of his judgments on those who suffer them. So it convinces us of what we may call the paternity of God. We also gain the assurance that suffering, when it comes as penalty, can never get beyond God"s inspection and control. This conviction makes us willing, as David was, to "fall into the hands of God." Compare our Lord, in his extreme suffering, commending himself to the "hands of the Father." Further, it reveals to us the fact that God brings his pitying mercies into our very calamities. David also saw the angel, and by the sight was enabled distinctly to recognize the Divine agency in what otherwise he might have called a calamity.
II A DOUBLE REPENTANCE. Give explanations of the Old Testament and New Testament uses of the term. Distinguish metanoia from metameleia. Begin with general idea of repentance as change of mind; reconsideration with a view to a new course of conduct. Show in what senses the term can be applied to God, and not to man; to man, and not to God. Especially show that m God s changes of action, or relation, there is adaptation to new conditions, without any regret, conviction of mistake, or sense of wrong. In the case before us God repents, in the sense of recognizing a sufficient fulfilment of his purpose in the judgment, and so the possibility of relieving Israel of the plague. David repents in a wholly different sense. He is aroused to full conviction of his sin, and humbles himself before God in solemn confessions. David now sees the connection between suffering and sin; the relation of one man"s sin to many men"s sufferings; and above all, the exceeding sinfulness of his own sin. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v15 And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy…
1Ch_21:15
And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it.
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The destroying angel
Lessons:
I. That idleness is the parent of sin. It was when David was living as king in ease at Jerusalem that he was tempted of Satan.
II. That one of the best remedies for woe is work. The angel of destruction stayed his steps at the threshing-floor of Ornan, even as the angel of salvation visited Gideon as he was threshing wheat.
III. That prayer, even at the eleventh hour, may be by Gods grace efficacious. When the sword was actually drawn in the hand of the destroyer it was kept from further execution when David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.
IV. That our gifts to God, as to men, should be bestowed in a generous spirit.
V. That we should not offer to God what costs us nothing.
VI. That God sanctifies efforts, however weak they may be, if they be sincerely made; accepts gifts, however humble they may be, if bestowed from the heart.
VII. That the best proof that we can have that our offering is accepted by God is not that we experience a sense of inflated importance or self-satisfaction, but that we are filled with an abiding sense of peace.
VIII. That though we may worship God anywhere and everywhere, yet that in His duly consecrated sanctuary, it is fittest to do Him reverence. (R. Young, M. A.)
Man, through the devil, bringing tremendous evils on the world
That men suffer for the sins of others is a fact written in every page of history, obvious in every circle of life, and recognised as a principle in the government of God. The fathers eat sour grapes, and the childrens teeth are set on edge. That this principle is both just and beneficent, consider--
1. That no man is made to suffer more than he deserves on account of his own personal sins.
2. The men of Israel now for their own sins deserved this stroke of justice.
3. That the evil which descends to us from others is not to be compared to that which we produce ourselves.
4. The sufferings that come to us from others can give us no remorse, which is the very sting of the judgment--our own sins do this.
5. That the knowledge that we can injure society by our own conduct has a strong tendency to restrain vice and stimulate virtue. (Homilist.)
David and Israel
I. The progressive course of sin.
1. Temptation. Satan the black fountain of all transgression.
2. Transgression (1Ch_21:2). In face of warning (1Ch_21:3). Its desperate folly seen by others (1Ch_21:6). The deadening, hardening power of any lust.
3. Punishment (1Ch_21:10-12). As soon will the magnet escape the influence of the pole, the sea the influence of the moon, an atom the binding force of gravitation, as the sinner escape punishment. Be sure your sin, etc.
II. The progressive course of reconciliation with God.
1. The messenger, Gods afflictive stroke (1Ch_21:7). The prophet, Gad (1Ch_21:9). Every person or circumstance that reproves is Gods messenger.
2. Conviction. (1Ch_21:8). The true convict, always confesses, never excuses. Not only owns the sin, but acknowledges its greatness.
3. Penitence (1Ch_21:16).
4. Acceptance.
5. Grateful acknowledgment (1Ch_21:24).
III. Underlying truths.
1. Though man be tempted, sin is his own act.
2. Our sins affect others. How many widows and orphans!
3. Though sin be pardoned, it leaves terrible scars behind. In Davids memory. Gaps in the families and homes of the people. Avoidance of sin is infinitely better than pardon. Christ the only sin-healer. (R. Berry.)
The sin of one may involve the suffering of others
When the father of the house goes down in character he carries down with him, to a considerable extent, the character of his innocent children. The bad man is laying up a bad fortune for those whom he has brought into the world; long years afterwards they may be told how bad a man their father was, and because of his iniquity they may be made to suffer loss and pain. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Suffering through others
Our sin affects others as well as ourselves. A man whose garden was injured by a troublesome weed said it was due to a neighbours neglect. He had let his garden run wild, and when the seeds of this particular weed were ripe, the wind blew them over the fence. So one sin may make many innocent people suffer.
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv15, 16, 18 (See Scofield "Heb 1:4").
angel
(See Scofield "Heb 1:4").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v18 The Sacrifice on Ornan’s Threshing-Floor. —
The Sacrifice on Ornan’s Threshing-Floor. —
v. 18. Then the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David that David should go up and set up an altar unto the Lord in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, this being located on the summit of what was afterward known as Mount Zion, the place where the Temple was built.
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v. 19. And David went up at the saying of Gad which he spake in the name of the Lord.
v. 20. And Oman turned back, he turned around while busy with his work, and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now, Ornan was threshing wheat, on an open threshing-floor, as is the custom in the Orient.
v. 21. And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshing-floor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground, showing his sovereign all proper respect according to the Fourth Commandment.
v. 22. And David said to Ornan, Grant me the place of this threshing-floor, he needed the entire area for what he had in mind, that I may build an altar therein unto the Lord. Thou shalt grant it me for the full price that the plague may be stayed from the people.
v. 23. And Ornan said unto David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes, this offer agreeing with the Oriental custom of doing business; lo, I give thee the oxen also for burnt offerings, and the threshing-instruments, the rough sledge with its rollers, for wood, and the wheat for the meat-offering; I give it all. Ornan was anxious to have the plague stayed as soon as possible, and so his offer was made for instant use.
v. 24. And King David said to Ornan, Nay; but I will verily buy it for the full price; for I will not take that which is thine for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings without cost. It was David’s transgression, and he wanted to bear the full expense of the sacrifice.
v. 25. So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight (almost $6,000), paying fifty shekels of silver for the cattle and the threshing-sledge alone, 2Sa 24:24.
v. 26. And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, both in atonement for his sin and to restore the proper fellowship with the Lord, and called upon the Lord; and He answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering. Cf Lev 9:24; 1Ki 18:21-23; 2Ki 1:12.
v. 27. And the Lord commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof, thus staying the plague.
v. 28. At that time, when David saw that the Lord had answered him in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there, brought offerings of thanksgiving and dedicated this spot to the Lord, the Temple being erected there afterward.
v. 29. For the Tabernacle of the Lord which Moses made in the wilderness and the altar of the burnt offering were at that season in the high place at Gibeon, 1Ch 16:39, and one of the high priests officiated there until after the dedication of Solomon’s Temple.
v. 30. But David could not go before it to enquire of God; for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of the Lord; the appearance of the angel and the great toll of the slain had left an impression of awful holiness of the place where the Lord usually revealed Himself. Note: The believers of the New Testament have a better sacrifice of atonement than that of David; for the blood of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, cleanses us from all sins, takes away the guilt of our transgressions, and stays the plague of eternal damnation.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv16, 18 standing between earth and heaven
standing between earth and heaven
This is symbolic language to indicate that the angel was sent from Yahweh in heaven to judge the people on the earth. (See: Symbolic Language)
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having a drawn sword in his hand raised over Jerusalem
The angel holding a sword in his hand is a symbolic action that shows he is ready to attack Jerusalem. This is symbolic, because the judgment was sickness. AT: "holding a sword in his hand as if ready to attack Jerusalem" (See: Symbolic Action)
clothed in sackcloth, lay facedown on the ground
These were symbols of repentance. (See: Symbolic Action)
Is it not I that commanded that the army be numbered?
David uses this question to emphasize that his is the one who sinned by counting the people. AT: "I am the one who commanded that the army be numbered." (See: Rhetorical Question)
But these sheep
David speaks of the people of Israel as if they were sheep, who are known for trusting and following their leader. (See: Metaphor)
what have they done?
David uses this question to asks God not to punish the people. This rhetorical question can be translated as a statement. AT: "they certainly have done nothing that deserves punishment." (See: Rhetorical Question)
Let your hand strike me and my family
Here "hand" represents Yahweh's power to punish. AT: "Punish me and my family" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
earth
heaven
Jerusalem
elder
sackcloth
God
command
evil
ewe
hand
family
plague
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v16 21:16-17 These verses provide a more detailed description of…
21:16-17 These verses provide a more detailed description of the angel and of David’s response than the parallel text (2 Sam 24:17). The sight of the angel carrying out his mission inspired David to plead on behalf of the people.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.