1 Chronicles 21

Berean Standard Bible (BSB) · English

1 Then Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel. 2 So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, “Go and count the Israelites from Beersheba to Dan and bring me a report, so that I may know their number.” 3 But Joab replied, “May the LORD multiply His troops a hundred times over. My lord the king, are they not all servants of my lord? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?” 4 Nevertheless, the king’s word prevailed against Joab. So Joab departed and traveled throughout Israel, and then he returned to Jerusalem. 5 And Joab reported to David the total number of the troops. In all Israel there were 1,100,000 men who drew the sword, including 470,000 in Judah. 6 But Joab did not include Levi and Benjamin in the count, because the king’s command was detestable to him. 7 This command was also evil in the sight of God; so He struck Israel. 8 Then David said to God, “I have sinned greatly because I have done this thing. Now I beg You to take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.” 9 And the LORD instructed Gad, David’s seer, 10 “Go and tell David that this is what the LORD says: ‘I am offering you three options. Choose one of them, and I will carry it out against you.’” 11 So Gad went and said to David, “This is what the LORD says: ‘You must choose 12 between three years of famine, three months of being swept away before your enemies and overtaken by their swords, or three days of the sword of the LORD—days of plague upon the land, with the angel of the LORD ravaging every part of Israel.’ Now then, decide how I should reply to Him who sent me.” 13 David answered Gad, “I am deeply distressed. Please, let me fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are very great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men.” 14 So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell dead. 15 Then God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem, but as the angel was doing so, the LORD saw it and relented from the calamity, and He said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!” At that time the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 16 When David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem, David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown. 17 And David said to God, “Was it not I who gave the order to count the people? I am the one who has sinned and acted wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? O LORD my God, please let Your hand fall upon me and my father’s house, but do not let this plague remain upon Your people.” 18 Then the angel of the LORD ordered Gad to tell David to go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 19 So David went up at the word that Gad had spoken in the name of the LORD. 20 Now Ornan was threshing wheat when he turned and saw the angel; and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. 21 David came to Ornan, and when Ornan looked out and saw David, he left the threshing floor and bowed facedown before David. 22 Then David said to Ornan, “Grant me the site of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar to the LORD. Sell it to me for the full price, so that the plague upon the people may be halted.” 23 Ornan said to David, “My lord the king may take whatever seems good. Look, I will give the oxen for the burnt offerings, the threshing sledges for the wood, and the wheat for the grain offering—I will give it all.” 24 “No,” replied King David, “I insist on paying the full price, for I will not take for the LORD what belongs to you, nor will I offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” 25 So David paid Ornan six hundred shekels of gold for the site. 26 And there he built an altar to the LORD and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. He called upon the LORD, who answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering. 27 Then the LORD spoke to the angel, who put his sword back into its sheath. 28 At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he offered sacrifices there. 29 For the tabernacle of the LORD that Moses had made in the wilderness and the altar of burnt offering were presently at the high place in Gibeon, 30 but David could not go before it to inquire of God, because he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the LORD.

Commentary — not Bible text

1 Chronicles 21:1-4

Introduction

David is tempted by Satan to take the numbers of the people of Israel and Judah, 1Chr 21:1, 1Chr 21:2. Joab remonstrates, but the king is determined, and Joab pleads in vain, 1Chr 21:3, 1Chr 21:4. He returns, and delivers in the number to the king, but reckons not Levi and Benjamin, 1Chr 21:5. The Lord is displeased, and sends Gad to offer David his choice of three great national calamities; famine, war, or pestilence, 1Chr 21:6-12. David submits himself to God, and a pestilence is sent, which destroys seventy thousand, 1Chr 21:13, 1Chr 21:14. At David's intercession the destroying angel is restrained at the threshing-floor of Ornan, 1Chr 21:15-17. He buys the piece of ground, builds an altar to the Lord and offers sacrifices, and the plague is stayed, 1Chr 21:18-30.

Verse 1

And Satan stood up against Israel - See the notes on the parallel place, 2Sam 24:1 (note), etc.

1 Chronicles 21:5

Verse 5

All they of Israel were a thousand thousand - Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand - In the parallel place, 2Sam 24:9 (note), the men of Israel are reckoned eight hundred thousand, and the men of Judah five hundred thousand.

1 Chronicles 21:6-11

Verse 6

Levi and Benjamin counted he not - The rabbins give the following reason for this: Joab, seeing that this would bring down destruction upon the people, purposed to save two tribes. Should David ask, Why have you not numbered the Levites? Joab purposed to say, Because the Levites are not reckoned among the children of Israel. Should he ask, Why have you not numbered Benjamin? he would answer, Benjamin has been already sufficiently punished, on account of the treatment of the woman at Gibeah: if, therefore, this tribe were to be again punished, who would remain?

1 Chronicles 21:12

Verse 12

Three days - the pestilence in the land - In 2Sam 24:13 (note), seven years of famine are mentioned.

1 Chronicles 21:13-14

Verse 13

David said - I am in a great strait - The Targum reasons thus: "And David said to Gad, If I choose famine, the Israelites may say, The granaries of David are full of corn; neither doth he care should the people of Israel die with hunger. And if I choose war, and fly before an enemy, the Israelites may say, David is a strong and warlike man, and he cares not though the people of Israel should fall by the sword. I am brought into a great strait; I will deliver myself now into the Hand of the Word of the Lord, ביד מימרא דיי beyad meymera dayai, for his mercies are many; but into the hands of the children of men I will not deliver myself."

1 Chronicles 21:15-19

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.

1 Chronicles 21:20-23

Verse 20

Ornan turned back, and saw the angel - The Septuagint say, And Orna turned, και ειδε τον βασιλεα, and saw the King. The Syriac and Arabic say, David saw the angel; and do not mention Ornan in this place. Houbigant translates the same reading המלך hammalech, the king, for המלעך hammalach, the angel, and vindicates his version from the parallel place, 2Sam 24:20, where it is said, he saw David: but there is no word of his seeing the angel. But the seeing David is mentioned in 1Chr 21:21; though Houbigant supposes that the 20th verse refers to his seeing the king while he was at a distance; the 21st, to his seeing him when he came into the threshing-floor. In the first instance he and his sons were afraid when they saw the king coming, and this caused them to hide themselves; but when he came into the threshing-floor, they were obliged to appear before him. One of Kennicott's MSS. has המלך the king, instead of המלאך the angel. Some learned men contend for the former reading.

1 Chronicles 21:24-25

Verse 24

For the full price - That is, six hundred shekels full weight of pure gold.

1 Chronicles 21:26-29

Verse 26

He answered him - by fire - In answer to David's prayers, God, to show that he had accepted him, and was now pacified towards him and the people, sent fire from heaven and consumed the offerings.

1 Chronicles 21:30

Verse 30

Because of the sword of the angel - This is given as a reason why David built an altar in the threshing-floor of Ornan: he was afraid to go to Gibeon, because of the sword of the destroying angel, or he was afraid of delaying the offerings so long as his going thither would require, lest the destroying angel should in the mean while exterminate the people; therefore he hastily built an altar in that place, and on it made the requisite offerings, and by the fire from heaven God showed that he had accepted his act and his devotion. Such interventions as these must necessarily maintain in the minds of the people a full persuasion of the truth and Divine origin of their religion.

For a more circumstantial account of these transactions, see the notes on 2Sam 24:1, Ac., in which several difficulties of the text are removed.

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