God was displeased with this thing; therefore he struck Israel. David said to God, “I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing. But now put away, I beg you, the iniquity of your servant; for I have done very foolishly.”
Yahweh spoke to Gad, David’s seer, saying, “Go and speak to David, saying, ‘Yahweh says, “I offer you three things. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.” ’ ”
So Gad came to David, and said to him, “Yahweh says, ‘Take your choice: either three years of famine; or three months to be consumed before your foes, while the sword of your enemies overtakes you; or else three days the sword of Yahweh, even pestilence in the land, and Yahweh’s angel destroying throughout all the borders of Israel. Now therefore consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me.’ ”
David said to Gad, “I am in distress. Let me fall, I pray, into Yahweh’s hand; for his mercies are very great. Don’t let me fall into man’s hand.”
So Yahweh sent a pestilence on Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell. 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.”
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv9, 12, 15, 17 Or, Prophet.
Or, Prophet.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv7, 8, 10, 12, 15, 16, 17 1Ch 21:7 And God was displeased with this thing;…
1Ch 21:7 And God was displeased with this thing; therefore he smote Israel.
Ver. 7. And God was displeased.] Pride flieth in the face of God, when other sinners fly from him; and creature confidence robbeth him of his jewel: hence he so hateth them. {1Pe 5:5}
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 vv7, 16 God was displeased with this thing; because this was…
God was displeased with this thing; because this was done without any colour of necessity, and out of mere curiosity, and ostentation, and carnal confidence, as David’s own conscience told him, which therefore smote him, as it is related, 2Sa 24:10.
Therefore he smote Israel; which is particularly related in the following verses.
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 v7 David is here under the rod for numbering the…
David is here under the rod for numbering the people, that rod of correction which drives out the foolishness that is bound up in the heart, the foolishness of pride. Let us briefly observe,
I. How he was corrected. If God's dearest children do amiss, they must expect to smart for it. 1. He is given to understand that God is displeased; and that it is no small uneasiness to so good a man as David, Ch1 21:7. God takes notice of, and is displeased with, the sins of his people; and no sin is more displeasing to him than pride of heart: nor is anything more humbling, and grieving, and mortifying to a gracious soul, than to see itself under God's displeasure. 2. He is put to his choice whether he will be punished by war, famine, or pestilence; for punished he must be, and by one of these. Thus, for his further humiliation, he is put into a strait, a great strait, and has the terror of all the three judgments impressed upon his mind, no doubt to his great amazement, while he is considering which he shall choose. 3. He hears of 70,000 of his subjects who in a few hours were struck dead by the pestilence, Ch1 21:14. He was proud of the multitude of his people, but divine Justice took a course to make them fewer. Justly is that taken from us, weakened, or embittered to us, which we are proud of. David must have the people numbered: Bring me the number of them, says he, that I may know it. But now God numbers them after another manner, numbers to the sword, Isa 65:12. And David had another number of them brought, more to his confusion than was to his satisfaction, namely, the number of the slain - a black bill of mortality, which is a drawback to his muster-roll. 4. He sees the destroying angel, with his sword drawn against Jerusalem, Ch1 21:16. This could not but be very terrible to him, as it was a visible indication of the anger of Heaven, and threatened the utter destruction of that beloved city. Pestilences make the greatest devastations in the most populous places. The sight of an angel, though coming peaceably and on a friendly errand, has made even mighty men to tremble; how dreadful then must this sight be of an angel with a drawn sword in his hand, a flaming sword, like that of the cherubim, which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life! While we lie under the wrath of God the holy angels are armed against us, though we see them not as David did.
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II. How he bore the correction. 1. He made a very penitent confession of his sin, and prayed earnestly for the pardon of it, Ch1 21:8. Now he owned that he had sinned, had sinned greatly, had done foolishly, very foolishly; and he entreated that, however he might be corrected for it, the iniquity of it might be done away. 2. He accepted the punishment of his iniquity: "Let thy hand be on me, and on my father's house, Ch1 21:17. I submit to the rod, only let me be the sufferer, for I am the sinner; mine is the guilty head at which the sword should be pointed." 3. He cast himself upon the mercy of God (though he knew he was angry with him) and did not entertain any hard thoughts of him. However it be, Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercies are great, Ch1 21:13. Good men, even when God frowns upon them, think well of him. Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him. 4. He expressed a very tender concern for the people, and it went to his heart to see them plagued for his transgression: These sheep, what have they done?
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 vv7, 14, 16 Displeased - Because this was done without any colour…
Displeased - Because this was done without any colour of necessity, and out of mere curiosity, and ostentation.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv12, 13, 15 Verse 12. Three days - the pestilence in the…
Verse 12. Three days - the pestilence in the land] In 2Sa 24:13, seven years of famine are mentioned: see the note there.
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 vv7, 8, 12, 14, 15 1Ch 21:7. God was displeased with this thing —…
1Ch 21:7. God was displeased with this thing — Because it was done without any colour of necessity, and out of mere curiosity and ostentation, as David’s own conscience afterward told him, which therefore smote him, as is related 2Sa 24:10. Therefore he smote Israel — As is particularly related in the following verses. Undoubtedly God did this because Israel concurred with David in the act of numbering the people, and approved of it, as well as because of all their other sins.
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 vv12, 16 And the angel of the Lord destroying ... -…
And the angel of the Lord destroying ... - These words are not in Samuel, which puts the third alternative briefly. They prepare the way for the angelic appearance 1Ch 21:16, on which the author is about to lay so much stress.
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 vv7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 15
CHAPTER XXI.
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 vv9, 11, 13, 14, 15, 16 the Lord spake unto Gad, David's seer--Although David was…
the Lord spake unto Gad, David's seer--Although David was himself endowed with a prophetic gift, yet, in matters relating to himself or his kingdom, he was in the habit of consulting the Lord through the medium of the priests; and when he failed to do so, a prophet was sent on extraordinary occasions to admonish or chastise him. Gad, a private friend, was occasionally employed as the bearer of these prophetic messages.
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 vv7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 7. he smote Israel] with the plague. David’s confession…
7. he smote Israel] with the plague. David’s confession (1Ch_21:8) was probably wrung from him by the appearance of the pestilence.
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 vv7–17 (7) And God was displeased.—This verse also is not…
(7) And God was displeased.—This verse also is not read in Samuel, which has instead, “And David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people.” The peculiarities of expression in Samuel suggest textual corruption. The chronicler’s verse is a sort of general heading, or anticipative summary, to the following narrative. The margin rightly renders the first clause (see Genesis 21 for the same unusual construction).
(7-13) The Divine wrath, declared by Gad the seer.
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 vv7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17 Smote Israel. These two words serve simply to summarize…
Smote Israel. These two words serve simply to summarize in the first instance what the compiler is about to rehearse at greater length. The parallel place shows, "And David"s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people." Some better power occasioned that smiting. Reflection brought to David"s heart and conscience, (1Sa_24:5) as often to those of others, restored vitality. The exact circumstances or providences, however, which roused into action the conscience of David are not stated. The second clause of our verse cannot refer to any preliminary smiting, but to the oncoming visitation of pestilence. It is noticeable, if only as a coincidence, that the eleventh verse of the parallel passage (2Sa_24:11) opens with a similarly ambiguously placed clause, "For when David was up in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the Prophet Gad," although this is explainable simply as our insufficient Authorized Version rendering. However, failing any external cause, the beginning of ver. 10 in this same parallel place may intimate the adequate account of all in the spontaneous stirring of David"s conscience" the bitter thoughts of conscience born." In these two verses we suddenly come upon the name "God" instead of "the Lord," i.e. Jehovah.
Vers. 7-18, 29, 30.
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Effects of David"s sin.
The first effect of David"s act was that of incurring God"s severe displeasure. David"s eyes were opened to see his sin and its greatness. In earnest prayer he besought God to "do away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly." This, however, cannot be. Sin may be forgiven but its sad consequences must be felt. A man who has brought ruin upon himself and family by a sinful life may have all his sin forgiven, but he must suffer the consequences and his family also, it may be, for generations to come. Nothing is more palpable on every side of us than this law in God"s moral government the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me;" and "whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." In David"s sin we see also another law in God"s moral government a man"s punishment is always in the same line of his sin. David"s pride was in the great number of his people; the punishment lay in the destruction of seventy thousand of that number. There is an unvarying connection between the two, indicating the law of righteous retribution. As a judgment the Lord offered David his choice of three evils, and in David"s answer we see the true wisdom of a chastened and humbled child of God. "And David said unto God, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the Lord; for very great are his mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of man. So the Lord sent a pestilence, and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men." It is the truest wisdom of the soul in every such emergency to fall into the hand of God. Our loving Father does all things well; and while we must reap what we have sown in order to learn by deep experience what a bitter thing sin is, "a Father"s hand will never cause his child a needless tear." God hates sin, and he will have us learn what a fearful thing it is that we may hate it too. The hand of God in this outpour of judgment is vividly pictured in this portion of the chapter. "And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the Lord stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem;" but just as he had begun to destroy, we are told God said, "It is enough, stay now thine hand." How much greater might the destruction have been but for him who in the midst of judgment remembers mercy! Yes, in the midst of all our judgments, our trials, our sufferings, how much greater they might have been, may each one say! We can count our trials, but never our mercies. They are as the sands of the shore or the stars over our heads. The darkest cloud has ever a silver lining. And so it is here. There was another effect of David"s sin besides this terrible destruction of Israel, for in its results sin is always hydra-headed. Each one carries with it a fruitful crop. We find this effect in David"s own relation to God (ver. 30). "He was afraid." Exactly the same words are used by Adam in the garden, and the slothful servant in the New Testament. Sin produces distance from God. David was as truly behind a tree as Adam in the garden. Peace, communion, freedom, all that sweet interchange of fellowship between God and the soul, have all gone now! O Sin, how terrible art thou in thy consequences! One more thought is suggested by this portion of the chapter. The tabernacle of the Lord and the altar of burnt offering were at this time at Gibeon. Here was the prescribed place of sacrifice and here, according to orthodox ideas, David should have gone to offer his sacrifices. But God can give a man rest anywhere. He can apply his mercy to the soul and accept its sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving as well in Ornan"s barn as on Gibeon"s high places. David had seen the sheathed sword and the hallowed fire from heaven, not on Gibeon"s heights, but in Ornan"s barn. Whatever orthodoxy might think of the former, the latter was God"s chosen place for the temple. God"s experienced mercy, where justice had sheathed its sword and grace had answered prayer, made the ground hallowed. It is so still; and may every member of the Church of Christ never forget it. W.
Vers. 7, 8.
Judgment revealing iniquity.
In these verses it is noted that God"s judgment on sin revealed the sinfulness of his doings to the sinner. "God is known by the judgment that he executeth." Still, it is largely true that men do not see their sin in its proper light until they come under the sufferings which it involves. Illustrate by the licentious man and the drunkard. God"s plan is to affix consequences to sin, and make these always to he of an afflictive and distressing and humiliating character, so that by them the character and quality of sin might be shown up. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." Illustrations are at hand in Old Testament history, ordinary national histories, and modern life. "Though hand join in hand, the sinner shall not go unpunished." The consequences of sin come in a great variety of forms, but always with precise adaptation to the moral purpose which God holds in view in sending them. If the sin be only that of a man as an individual, the consequences may come wholly on the man"s body. If the sin be that of a man as a father, the consequences may be such as will affect the family. And if the sin be that of a man as a king, we may reasonably expect that the consequences will reach to affect the nation. And this is the case of David which is now before us for consideration. An act is right or wrong, according to God"s eternal laws, whoever does it; but acts gain some of their precise qualities through the relational or representative character of the persons who do them; and this often affords the true explanations of the particular judgments that attend them.
I DAVID"S SIN. His act, considered apart from his state of mind and his purpose, cannot be called wrong. We at least are familiar with the idea of taking census, and understand it to be a necessary attendant on orderly government. Two things aid us in recognizing David"s sin.
1. The sentiment of Eastern peoples concerning a census; they regarded itas imperilling their liberty, and as a state device for inflicting on them a tyrannous taxation.
2. David was not an independent sovereign; he was Jehovah"s prince; andsuch a work as this should only have been undertaken at the direct command of the true King. In a previous sketch, on ver. 2, the precise character of David"s act has been shown. His purpose was vain-glory. He would boast of the great kingdom he had founded; so he utterly failed from the theocratic kingship with which he had been entrusted. And his sin was that of the king; it was part of his government; and, therefore, it affected the people whom he governed, and, the consequences fell on him through them, just as the judgments on parental sin come on parents through their children.
II ITS CONSEQUENCES IN THE DIVINE ADMINISTRATION. These were apparently special. Gad, God"s prophet, announced the impending judgments, bidding David select which of them should fall. Bat this speciality is only in appearance, and it is designed to be illustrative of the ordinary and orderly judgments which are surely wrought out in God"s providences. Sometimes God permits us to trace processes, but it is only that we may gain full conviction of the essential connections between sin and suffering. Much is made in our day of the working of law in nature. It would be altogether healthier and better for us to make much of the working of law in morals. No law is so absolute as this one: "The soul that sinneth, it shall die.
III THE REVEALING POWER OF SUCH CONSEQUENCES. That is, their power to disclose and impress the character of men"s sins, as viewed by God. In the narrative before us, the impressions made on the king (ver. 8), on the people, and, through these, upon us, may be illustrated.
The mission of all judgments and so-called calamities is here shown. The revelations which they make are
(1) a vindication of God;
(2) a gracious aid to a worthy apprehension of God; and
(3) the only way to secure our due restoration to a right mind and right relations. 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 vv11, 15 Thus saith the Lord, choose thee.
1Ch_21:11-15
Thus saith the Lord, choose thee.
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The awful judgments
I. Judgments entailed by one mans sin.
II. Judgments easily prepared for execution.
III. Judgments sent according to human preference.
IV. Judgments arrested by earnest prayer.
Davids choice
I. As the result of an awakened conscience.
II. As the revelation of a principle of Christian life. He left himself confidently with God.
III. As a picture of future doom to all. (J. Wolfendale.)
Davids choice of chastisements
Davids preference justified when we Consider--
1. The harsh judgments which men pronounce on each other.
2. The harsh treatment of the guilty who are in mens power.
3. The absence of sympathetic kindness in human warfare.
4. That when God punishes He does so in righteousness.
5. That in the treatment of the guilty God always shows mercy.
Lessons:
1. Submission to God,
2. Hopeful trust. (J. Wolfendale.)
God an emblem of the true minister
Let us look at God as representing every true minister of Jesus Christ.
I. Gods message was Divine. The gospel is a message from God. This is attested--
1. By the facts of history,
2. By its congruity with the spiritual constitution of men.
3. By the experience of thousands of every age who have felt it to be the power of God unto salvation.
II. Gods message was an appeal to choice. Advise thyself. Deliberate, choose for thyself. The gospel message is submitted to your choice.
1. You can accept it.
2. You can reject it.
III. Gods message was to be accounted for.
1. He was responsible for its delivery. So with every gospel minister, and woe be to him if he declares not the whole counsel of God.
2. David was responsible for its results. So are also the hearers of the gospel. (Homilist.)
Religious lessons of pestilence
I. Pestilences are striking witnesses to the majesty of Gods law.
II. Pestilences are striking illustrations of the moral connection between men. Epidemics run rapidly from one to another. No man can live alone to himself. Every one who comes near us is the better or the worse for our influence upon them.
III. Pestilences may be the agency for executing Divine judgments. Nowadays men hesitate to believe that there can be any connection between a nations sin and a nations suffering. With eye fixed upon the natural and physical laws and conditions out of which disease comes, men fail to see Him who overrules all physical conditions, and controls all laws. What, then, is the attitude which Christians should take in relation to epidemic disease 7
(1) We ought to cherish a reverent awe of God, the spirit that is becoming in times of storm and tempest, awe of Him who is Lord of the great things.
(2) We should seek by prayer, and in the spirit of penitence, for the removal of the chastening hand.
(3) We should ask for grace that we may be brave, brotherly, and self-denying, should disease come actually into our spheres.
(4) We should, with calm seriousness, inquire whether we are prepared to face the risks of disease, prepared to die, prepared to meet our God. (R. Tuck, B. A.)
Alternative judgments
The whole story is mysterious. We feel at each step that much is kept back from us.
1. The fault of the king is mysterious. It is not enough to say that there was pride and vainglory in his heart. If this were all, it might have made the act sinful in the sight of God, but it would not account for the view taken of the act either by the minister or by the historian. There are many things in Scripture, as there are many things in life, which we must leave in the hands of God.
2. The mode of his punishment is full of mystery. A choice of punishments is offered him; but the punishments are all national. Rulers sin and peoples suffer has passed into a proverb. Scripture and Providence are at one in this matter. On a kings edict of passion or foolishness may hang a nations misery or a nations dishonour. A kings caprice or a kings miscalculation may hand over a nation to a bloody and ruinous war of which it may be the occupation of a century to bear or repair the consequences.
3. The peculiarity of Davids penalty is the choice offered him. The day of Divine alternatives is not ended. Every example of a sin brought face to face with its suffering presents an aspect of choice as well as of compulsion. The mere question of confession or denial, with the consequences of either, is such an alternative in the case of individual wrongdoing. The adoption of this expedient rather than that, in the way of avoidance or mitigation of consequences, is an alternative. The way of bearing punishment, the language of regret or of hardness, the tone of submission or of defiance, most of all the spirit of repentance or of impenitence, is an alternative for the individual transgressor. The question of stopping or continuing a hopeless struggle, of accepting a defeat, of submitting to abduction, of desiring conditions of peace, or on the contrary, of persisting in warfare for the chance of a turn of fortune--the question of renewing a struggle, years or generations afterwards, on the plea of a hereditary title or a popular invitation--is an alternative, real or responsible, on the stage of kings and nations.
4. How shall we read the words, Let me now fall into the hand of the Lord? Is it a choice made? or is it a choice referred back to the offerer? Is it, I choose pestilence? or is it, Let God choose? So the Lord sent the pestilence upon Israel indicates perhaps on the part of our translators a preference of the former. I choose that punishment which has no human inflicter. But, whatever the application, the principle stands steadfast. In everything let me be in Gods hands. Anything which God inflicts is preferable to any suffering which comes through man. But if this be the force of Davids words considered as a choice, there is at least an equal interest in them regarded as a refusal to choose. Yes, let us love to live these lives absolutely under Gods direction. War, famine, pestilence--if He sees any one necessary, leave Him to choose. Let us not fall into the hands of man--our own, or any others. We are ill judges--worst of all for ourselves. Our mercies to ourselves are not Gods mercies. We are self-sparers as well as self-excusers. If we had our choice, no nerve would ever throb, no hair would ever turn grey. We should grow up, we should go to the grave, we should wake from the dust of the earth spoilt children--with all the irregularities, and all the selfishness, and all the unhappiness, which cling to and cluster round that name. What are we to one another? How does selfishness warp our judgments--selfish love first, then selfish fear. (Dean Vaughan.)
The choice of troubles
Who is there that has not wished that God would give him the choice of the evils which he had to suffer; and who is there that would not have been seriously embarrassed if that wish had been fulfilled? But, it may be said, the text does not support that view. Does it not?
1. David was very much troubled when the time for decision came: he was in a great strait.
2. His choice was more devout in form than in substance; for, had he chosen defeat in war, he would still have been in the hand of God.
3. It is highly probable that, after the choice was made, David was doubtful of its wisdom. We may consider--
I. The element of choice in the evils of life.
Two things are open to us here.
1. One relates to the measure of trouble we experience. By healthy habits, by obedience to the laws of our spiritual and our physical nature, by keeping within the lines of wisdom and virtue, by commending ourselves to the approval of man and also of God, we may materially reduce the measure of evil which otherwise we should endure.
2. The other relates to the kind of trouble we are called to face. It is often left to our choice to decide whether we will meet the dangers, the difficulties, the temptations, the trials of our condition in life, or those of the opposite condition--whether those of ignorance or of learning, of loneliness or of society, of obscurity or of conspicuousness and responsibility. It may be timidity or cowardice that inclines us to the one, and high-minded courage that incites us to the other; or it may be modesty and wisdom that urge us to the one, and nothing better than an unhallowed ambition, or even an exaggerated sense of importance, that allures to the other. Ii; behoves us, as we stand in front of the future, with our path in life before us, very earnestly to seek the guidance of God, that we may choose that course, the perils of which we may face with hope, the evils of which we shall endure with calmness and fortitude.
II. The working of the Divine hand in them. The measure and the nature of our troubles is uncertain. That they will come is as certain as anything can be. No good fortune, no sagacity, no caution will exclude them from the experience of life.
1. Our preference in regard to their form. Like David, we prefer to feel ourselves in the hand of God rather than in the hand of men. We feel that our burden is heavier when it is due to human carelessness, and heavier still when due to human heartlessness and malignity. The severest aggravation of trouble is where the evil that has been wrought is the work of some near relative or some familiar friend, or some old colleague from whom we had a right to expect quite opposite treatment (see Psa_55:12-14). We feel that if we are to have suffering or sorrow we should much prefer the unaccountable sickness, or the unavoidable loss, or the inevitable bereavement which we can refer at once to the ordinary will of God.
2. The truth we recognise when we consider it. As we think on this subject we realise that all trouble is ultimately of God.
(1) Much of it is penal, the just consequence of ill-doing, the outcome of those laws which originate in Divine holiness.
(2) Much of it is disciplinary; it is the pruning, the refining process of Him who is seeking spiritual fruit; it is the ordering of the wise and faithful Father of spirits (Heb_12:1-12).
(3) All of it is permissive. If the sparrow does not fall without the Divine permission, how much less does the obedient son or daughter suffer grief or pass through troublesome times or go down to death without the sanction of the present and watchful Lord. So that, whatever comes and whencesoever it comes, we are free to think and say, Thy will be done, Lord; the trial never comes to us when we are not in the hand of the Lord.
3. The attitude we should assume toward it. Even when we have to reproach ourselves, or even when we are obliged to condemn our neighbours or our ancestors as the immediate authors of our trouble, we may and we should accept it as that which comes in the providence of God.
(1) We should bow submissively to His will who (to say the least) suffers us to be tried as we are.
(2) We should seek from Him the sustaining strength which will empower us to bear all things unrepiningly and even cheerfully.
(3) We should have an open mind to perceive, and an open heart to welcome the practical lessons which our heavenly Father is desiring to teach us. (William Clarkson, B. A.)
Let me fall now into the hand of the Lord.--
Falling into the hand of the Lord
The doctrine is, that as sinners, as sinners before God, and as sinners towards each other, our highest hope is not in the incomplete and perverted mercy of men, but in the infinite mercy which is founded upon the infinite righteousness of God. We may perhaps help ourselves to a clearer understanding of this doctrine by first considering that it is better to fall into the hands of the highest class of men than into the hands of the lowest.
1. Take a legal case. In the first instance it may be brought before the local magistracy; but very possibly the result may be considered unsatisfactory by one party or the other, hence the case may be moved to the court above; there again dissatisfaction may be the result, and an appeal may be carried to the highest court in the land. The result even then may not be satisfactory; still by so much as the case has been carried to the highest tribunal and pronounced upon by the highest wisdom, there is strong ground to rest upon. Not only so, but there is a point beyond this; for by so much as a man wishes that there were yet another superior court to which an appeal might be made does he show how deeply graven upon the heart is the law that it is better to fall into the hands of the highest than into the hands of the lowest; that it is better to fall into the hands of God than into the hands of men.
2. What is true in the law is equally true in all criticism.
3. Take the case of the young speaker. It will be for the advantage of such a man to be judged by the greatest orators which the country can supply. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Why is it better that the sinner should fall into the hand of God rather than into the hands of men
Good use might be made of the many pleasing considerations which arise in connection with Gods wisdom, Gods righteousness, and Gods perfect knowledge of facts; but we shall include all these in a higher answer, viz., because in His whole treatment of human sin God is constantly seeking not the destruction, but the salvation of the sinner. (J. Parker, D. D.)
David falling into the hand of God
We shall look at Davids exclamation here in three aspects.
I. As indicating what is a. Natural tendency in all souls. There is a strong propensity in all men to fall into the hand of others, giving up their judgment, freedom, individuality to others. This shows itself in the exercise of unbounded trust. Man is essentially dependent. Hence his existence is one of trust in others. This trust is the very base and bond of social life. Trusting others within certain limits is right and necessary, but when the principle carries us to the entire subjection of ourselves to our fellow-men, we have gone wrongly and ruinously.
II. As revealing the true spirit of life. Davids tendency to trust took the right direction.
1. His preference was right.
(1) God is our Owner.
(2) God is all-powerful in His character. There is everything in His character to command our unbounded trust, our entire surrender.
2. This preference is expedient. It is far better to fall into the hand of God than man.
(1) Unbounded trust in man must destroy your freedom. Such trust in God secures it.
(2) Unbounded trust in man pollutes and degrades the character. Such trust in God purifies and elevates it. He whom we most trust exerts the most influence on our characters.
(3) Unbounded trust in man must issue in the utmost disappointment and misery. Such trust in God leads to the highest blessedness.
III. As foreshadowing the inevitable doom of all. In one of two ways every man must fall into the hand of God.
1. Voluntarily, by the influence of His grace.
2. Compulsorily, by the force of justice. (Homilist.)
The hand of God and the hands of men
I. Davids strait.
II. The grounds of his choice.
III. Divine punishment and human punishment. Human punishment is necessarily to a great extent for self-protection, and therefore selfish. When the laws of society punish the crime of murder or of theft, it is primarily with the object of preventing the committal of more murders and more thefts. Gods laws have penalties attached to them, but when God punishes He seeks not the destruction of the sinner, but his healing and reformation. While mans punishments are in principle revengeful, or at best for the defence of society, Gods punishments are remedial and reformatory; and therefore it is better to fall into the hand of God than into the hands of men. Application:
1. God in human redemption.
2. Human legislation directed to the repression of wrong incomplete, because it can only reach the outward action. Gods laws deal with motives, and are therefore complete and perfect (1Sa_16:7; Heb_4:12). (Literary Churchman.)
Mans inhumanity
There is more mercy in the fang of a rattlesnake and in the tooth of a wolf than in the heart of men and women for a poor soul who has gone astray; and if she try to swim ashore and finally come up to the rock and get the tips of her fingers on the rock and try to climb up, then you will come out and with your hard heels smash the tips of her fingers until she falls off. (H. W. Beecher.)
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 vv12, 15, 16 (See Scofield "Heb 1:4").
Marg
(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.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv9, 11, 13, 16
translationWords
Yahweh
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Gad
prophet
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 vv7, 9, 16 21:7 The study note on 2 Sam 24:1 discusses…
21:7 The study note on 2 Sam 24:1 discusses possible reasons why God was very displeased with the census.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.