2 Samuel 24:23

, 2Sam 24:17. Gad directs him to build an altar to the Lord on the threshing-floor of Araunah, where the plague was stayed, 2Sam 24:18. He purchases this place for the purpose, and offers burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, 2Sam 24:19-25. Verse 1 He moved David against them - God could not be angry with David for numbering the people if he moved him to do it; but in the parallel place ( 1Chr 21:1 ) it is expressly said, Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number Israel. David, in all probability, slackening in his piety and confidence toward God, and meditating some extension of his dominions without the Divine counsel or command, was naturally curious to know whether the number of fighting men in his empire was sufficient for the work which he had projected. See more on 2Sam 24:10 (note). He therefore orders Joab and the captains to take an exact account of all the effective men in Israel and Judah. God is justly displeased with this conduct, and determines that the props of his vain ambition shall be taken away, either by famine, war, or pestilence. Verse 3 Joab said unto the king - This very bad man saw that the measure now recommended by the king was a wrong one, and might be ruinous to the people, and therefore he remonstrates against it in a very sensible speech; but the king was infatuated, and would hear no reason. Verse 5 And pitched in Aroer - This was beyond Jordan, on the river Arnon, in the tribe of Gad: hence it appears, says Calmet, that they began their census with the most eastern parts of the country beyond Jordan. Verse 6 Tahtim-hodshi - Where this place was is not exactly known: some think that the words refer to a newly conquered country, as our margin, the nether land newly inhabited; and if so, this was probably the country eastward of Gilead, which the Israelites, in the time of Saul, had conquered from the Hagarites, and dwelt in themselves. See 1Chr 5:10, where this transaction is recorded. To Dan-jaan - Or, to Dan of the woods. This is the place so frequently mentioned, situated at the foot of Mount Libanus, near to the source of the Jordan, the most northern city of all the possessions of the Israelites in what was called the promised land, as Beer-sheba was the most southern: hence the common form of speech, From Dan to Beer-sheba, i.e., from north to south. Verse 7 The strong hold of Tyre - This must have been the old city of Tyre, which was built on the main land: the new city was built on a rock in the sea. Verse 8 Nine months and twenty days - This was a considerable time; but they had much work to do, nor did they complete the work, as appears from 1Chr 21:6; 1Chr 27:24. William the Conqueror made a survey of all England, particularizing "how many hides or carucates the land is taxed at; whose it was in the time of his predecessor Edward; who the present owners and sub-tenants; what and how much arable land, meadow, pasture, and wood there is, how much in demesne, i.e., held and cultivated by the landowners; how much in tenantcy, and what number of ploughs it will keep; what mills and fisheries; how many sockmen, freemen, co-liberti, cotarii, bordarii, radmanni, radchenisters, villains, maid-servants, and bondmen, there are; how many hogs the woods would support; how many churches, priests, or parsons; what customary rents, prestations, and services, are to be paid and rendered out of the lands; what has been added to the manor; what has been withheld from it, and by whom; what land is waste, and what the whole was let for in the time of King Edward; and what the nett rent, and whether it was too dear rented, and whether it might be improved." This survey was begun in the year 1080, and was finished in the year 1086, six years having been employed in the work. This most important document is still preserved; it is in the Chapter House, Westminster, in two volumes, one in folio, on three hundred and eighty-two leaves of vellum. the other in quarto, on four hundred and fifty leaves; and is in as good preservation as it was seven hundred years ago. This work was much more difficult than that which was performed by Joab and his fellows. The work itself is known by the name Domesday Book. Verse 9 In Israel eight hundred thousand - the men of Judah were five hundred thousand - In the parallel place, 1Chr 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. The former seems the most likely; but more corruptions have taken place in the numbers of the historical books of the Old Testament, than in any other part of the sacred records. To attempt to reconcile them in every part is lost labor; 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. They might mistake, and they did mistake; but a careful collation of the different historical books serves to correct all essential errors of the scribes. See the Dissertations of Dr. Kennicott mentioned at the conclusion of the preceding chapter. Verse 10 David said - I have sinned greatly - We know not exactly in what this sin consisted. I have already hinted, 2Sam 24:1, that probably David now began to covet an extension of empire, and purposed to unite some of the neighboring states with his own; and having, through the suggestions of Satan or some other adversary, (for so the word implies), given way to this covetous disposition, he could not well look to God for help, and therefore wished to know whether the thousands of Israel and Judah might be deemed equal to the conquests which he meditated. When God is offended and refuses assistance, vain is the help of man. Verse 11 For when David was up - It is supposed that David's contrition arose from the reproof given by Gad, and that in the order of time the reproof came before the confession stated in the 10th verse. David's seer - A holy man of God, under the Divine influence, whom David had as a domestic chaplain. Verse 13 Shall seven years of famine - In 1Chr 21:12, the number is three, not seven; and here the Septuagint has three, the same as in Chronicles: this is no doubt the true reading, the letter ז zain, Seven, being mistaken for ג gimel, Three. A mistake of this kind might be easily made from the similarity of the letters. Verse 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. Verse 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. Verse 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, 2Sam 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, 1Chr 21:20. The threshing-place of Araunah - These threshing-places, we have already seen, were made in the open air. In the parallel place, 1Chr 21:15, 1Chr 21:20, etc., this person is called Ornan. The word that we render Araunah is written in this very chapter אורנה Auarnah, 2Sam 24:16, ארניה Araniah, 2Sam 24:18, ארונה Araunah or Araunah, 2Sam 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. Verse 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 urge Unsound resolves, their subjects feel the scourge." Hor. Ep. lib. i., ep. 2, ver. 14. Against my father's house - That is, against his own family; even to cut it off from the face of the earth. Verse 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. Verse 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. Verse 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. Verse 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. Verse 25 David - offered burnt-offerings - And that these sacrifices were pleasing to the Lord, is evident from a circumstance marked in the parallel place, 1Chr 21:26: David called upon the Lord, and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt-offering. 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.

The Plague Removed. ( b. c. 1017.) 18 And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite. 19 And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded. 20 And Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground. 21 And 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. 22 And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood. 23 All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The Lord thy God accept thee. 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 fifty shekels of silver. 25 And David built there an altar unto the Lord , and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord was intreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel. Here is, I. A command sent to David to erect an altar in the place where he saw the angel, v. 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. xii. 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. xxv. 29, 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 ( v. 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 v. 20 . Great men will never be the less respected for their humility, but the more. 2. Araunah, when he understood his business ( v. 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 ( v. 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 ( v. 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, v. 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 ( v. 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.