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Commentaries and Other Bible Study Helps - Prayer Tents - Prayer Tents
24:1-25 The Census and the Threshing Floor. The Lord's anger and David's sin lead to a plague, but also to purchase of a site in Jerusalem to offer burnt offerings to the Lord.
24:1 Here the text says, the Lord . . . incited David, while 1 Chron. 21:1 reads, "Satan . . . incited David." The Lord allowed Satan to incite David. God himself never does evil, but sometimes he uses evil moral agents (demons and sinful human beings) to accomplish his purposes. For more on how to reconcile the two accounts, see note on 1 Chron. 21:1; see also notes on Gen. 50:18-21; 1 Sam. 16:14; Mark 14:21; Acts 2:23; 4:28; 18:9-11; 27:30; 2 Tim. 2:10.
24:3 By numbering the people for military purposes (v. 9), David apparently showed lack of trust in the Lord to supply the necessary men when needed, and wrongful pride in the hundreds of thousands of forces at his command (see v. 10). Joab knew it was wrong. Exodus 30:12 has a reference to the need for a "ransom" after the counting. Cf. note on 1 Chron. 21:5-6.
24:5-8 The details of the census trip are not certain, but it seems that the men began at Aroer, a city on the Arnon River on the border with Moab, went north through Gilead and Bashan, and then went north-northwest to Dan. From there they went to the coast (the fortress of Tyre is probably not the city of Tyre, but an Israelite fortress), then south to Beersheba, and then back to Jerusalem.
24:9 The numbering yields 800,000 valiant men in Israel and 500,000 in Judah. For the discrepancy in these numbers and those cited in 1 Chron. 21:5-6, see note there.
24:10 David's heart struck him. His conscience convicted him that his census was sin (see v. 17; and note on v. 3). I have sinned. The text does not specify why it was sin, but such an action could have been motivated by pride, trust in self, and lack of trust in the Lord.
24:13 Although the Hebrew reads " of famine"(see ESV footnote), the text here follows the Septuagint and 1 Chron. 21:12, of famine, which makes good sense. If the Masoretic text is original, then "seven" is possibly used symbolically, since that time frame was a common theme in the ancient Near East (see Gen. 41:30; 2 Kings 8:1). Chronicles, then, would give the nonfigurative period. Famine, sword, and pestilence is a well-known trio of disasters (Jer. 14:12; 18:21; Ezek. 5:17; etc.). Probably the number of people who would die in each of these disasters would be approximately equal; pestilence kills faster (three days') than famine ("three years").
24:17 Behold, I have sinned. . . . But these sheep, what have they done? David pleads that the people may not suffer for his sin, but he is the representative of God's people, and thus they bear the consequences of his behavior, whether good or evil. Please let your hand be against me. David offers personally to bear the punishment for this sin, but God does not accept the offer. This is, however, a worthy gesture on David's part, and sets the pattern for his ultimate descendant, the Messiah, who will bear the punishment due his people.
24:18 Go up. From David's home there was a yet higher place, the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. The Jebusites were the previous inhabitants of Jerusalem (see 5:6), some of whom still lived there.
24:20 Araunah looked down. Threshing floors were usually on a high place so that the wind could blow the chaff away. This location would later become the site of the temple (see note on v. 25). It is on the top of the hill to the north of the city of David, about
24:23-24 David feels that because he is the one who sinned, and because it is for the sake of the nation, he should pay for the sacrifice. He pays fifty shekels of silver for the threshing floor and the oxen. First Chronicles 21:25 says that he paid "
24:25 God accepted David's burnt offerings, and through the peace offerings David enjoyed the presence of the Lord. Thus God responded to the plea for the land. But this site will become much more significant in the future, for as the parallel account (in 1 Chron. 22:1) states, this threshing floor is the site on which Solomon would build the temple to the Lord--making this a fitting end to the story of David.
