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1 Chronicles 21

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David Orders a Census 1–6

1
And Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel. ​
2
And David said to Joab and to the princes of the people, Go, number Israel from Beer-sheba even to Dan; and bring me word, that I may know the sum of them.
3
And Joab said, Jehovah make his people a hundred times as many as they are: but, my lord the king, are they not all my lord’s servants? why doth my lord require this thing? why will he be a cause of guilt unto Israel? ​
4
Nevertheless the king’s word prevailed against Joab. Wherefore Joab departed, and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem.
5
And Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and a hundred thousand men that drew sword: and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand men that drew sword. ​
6
But Levi and Benjamin counted he not among them; for the king’s word was abominable to Joab. ​

Judgment and David's Choice 7–17

7
And God was displeased with this thing; therefore he smote Israel. ​
8
And David said unto God, I have sinned greatly, in that I have done this thing: but now, put away, I beseech thee, the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly. ​
9
And Jehovah spake unto Gad, David’s seer, saying,
10
Go and speak unto David, saying, Thus saith Jehovah, I offer thee three things: choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.
11
So Gad came to David, and said unto him, Thus saith Jehovah, Take which thou wilt:
12
either three years of famine; or three months to be consumed before thy foes, while the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of Jehovah, even pestilence in the land, and the angel of Jehovah destroying throughout all the borders of Israel. Now therefore consider what answer I shall return to him that sent me. ​
13
And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall, I pray, into the hand of Jehovah; for very great are his mercies: and let me not fall into the hand of man. ​
14
So Jehovah sent a pestilence upon Israel; and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men. ​
15
And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was about to destroy, Jehovah beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the destroying angel, It is enough; now stay thy hand. And the angel of Jehovah was standing by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. ​
16
And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of Jehovah standing between earth and heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces. ​
17
And David said unto God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? even I it is that have sinned and done very wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? let thy hand, I pray thee, O Jehovah my God, be against me, and against my father’s house; but not against thy people, that they should be plagued. ​

The Altar on Ornan's Threshing Floor 18–27

18
Then the angel of Jehovah commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and rear an altar unto Jehovah in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. ​
19
And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spake in the name of Jehovah.
20
And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons that were with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat.
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.
22
Then David said to Ornan, Give me the place of this threshing-floor, that I may build thereon an altar unto Jehovah: for the full price shalt thou give it me, that the plague may be stayed from the people.
23
And Ornan said unto David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes: lo, I give thee the oxen for burnt-offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meal-offering; I give it all.
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 Jehovah, nor offer a burnt-offering without cost. ​
25
So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight. ​
26
And David built there an altar unto Jehovah, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, and called upon Jehovah; and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt-offering. ​
27
And Jehovah commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof.

The Significance of the New Altar 28–30

28
At that time, when David saw that Jehovah had answered him in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there. ​
29
For the tabernacle of Jehovah, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt-offering, were at that time in the high place at Gibeon. ​
30
But David could not go before it to inquire of God; for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of Jehovah. ​

Bible text: American Standard Version (1901) · Public domain

Study Notes for 1 Chronicles 21

Verse 1

Satan stood up against Israel — Satan means adversary. Job 1–2 and Zech 3:1 show him in the LORD's presence to accuse; here he 'provoked' (suth, to incite) David. The parallel gives the other side: 'the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David' (2 Sam 24:1).

Verse 3

an hundred times so many more — Joab's wish follows Moses' blessing, 'make you a thousand times so many more as ye are' (Deut 1:11): the increase is the LORD's to give. 'Trespass' is ashmah, guilt. David had been told the LORD would increase Israel 'like to the stars of the heavens' (1 Chr 27:23).

Verse 5

a thousand thousand and an hundred thousand men — Joab 'gave the sum of the number' (miphqad, a mustering) of 'men that drew sword' (shalaph, chereb): 1,100,000 in Israel and 470,000 in Judah. 1 Chr 27:24 adds that the number was never entered 'in the account of the chronicles of king David'.

Verse 6

Levi and Benjamin counted he not — Levi was not to be numbered among the tribes (Num 1:47–49). No reason is given for Benjamin. The text states Joab's own: 'the king's word was abominable' (ta'ab, to loathe) to him. 1 Chr 27:24 says he 'began to number, but he finished not'.

Verse 7

God was displeased — Literally the thing was evil in God's eyes (ra'a', to be evil). The same verb stands in 'the thing that David had done displeased the LORD' (2 Sam 11:27). The stroke on Israel here is the plague of vv.12–14.

Verse 8

do away the iniquity — Abar, to pass over or remove, is the verb of Nathan's word after David's earlier sin, 'The LORD also hath put away thy sin' (2 Sam 12:13). 'Foolishly' is sakal, as Samuel told Saul, 'Thou hast done foolishly' (1 Sam 13:13).

Verse 12

the sword of the LORD, even the pestilence — The three choices are among the covenant's own warnings: famine, the enemy's sword and pestilence (Lev 26:25–26). Ezekiel lists the same judgments as sent by the LORD on Jerusalem: 'the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence' (Ezek 14:21).

Verse 13

very great are his mercies — Racham, tender compassion, from the word for the womb. David names it as the LORD's own character: 'The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious' (Ex 34:6). He prefers 'the hand of the LORD' to 'the hand of man'. The same words stand in 2 Sam 24:14.

Verse 14

the LORD sent pestilence — Deber is the word of v.12. Seventy thousand fell, the figure of 2 Sam 24:15. Another plague had been stopped when Aaron stood with incense 'between the dead and the living' (Num 16:46–48).

Verse 15

he repented him of the evil — Nacham, to relent, as when 'the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people' (Ex 32:14). 'It is enough' is rab, 'stay now thine hand' is raphah, to let drop. The angel halts at the threshingfloor, which 2 Sam 24:16 calls Araunah's.

Verse 16

a drawn sword in his hand — 'Drawn' is shalaph, the verb of v.5, where Joab counted the 'men that drew sword'. Sackcloth (saq) is the dress of mourning, as in Ahab's repentance (1 Kgs 21:27). David and the elders 'fell upon their faces'.

Verse 17

these sheep — David had been called to 'feed my people Israel' (1 Chr 11:2). He takes the guilt on himself, 'on me, and on my father's house', and asks that the people not be plagued (maggephah). Christ says of the good shepherd that he 'giveth his life for the sheep' (John 10:11).

Verse 18

the threshingfloor of Ornan — Goren, a threshing floor. The angel's command is given through Gad. Solomon later built 'in mount Moriah… in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite' (2 Chr 3:1); Abraham had been sent to 'the land of Moriah' (Gen 22:2).

Verse 24

without cost — Chinnam, for nothing. Ornan had offered the ground, the oxen and the wood freely (v.23). David pays 'the full price' (silver in full), as Abraham insisted on paying for Machpelah: 'I will give thee money for the field' (Gen 23:13).

Verse 25

six hundred shekels of gold — The price is for 'the place' (maqom), paid in gold by weight. 2 Sam 24:24 names only 'the threshingfloor and the oxen' for 'fifty shekels of silver', and many take the gold here to be the price of the wider site where the temple would stand.

Verse 26

answered him from heaven by fire — The LORD's acceptance came as at the first offering at the tabernacle altar, 'a fire out from before the LORD' (Lev 9:24), and again at Solomon's dedication, 'the fire came down from heaven' (2 Chr 7:1). The offerings are the burnt (olah) and peace (shelem) offerings.

Verse 28

then he sacrificed there — 'Answered' is anah, the verb of v.26. Because the LORD had answered at this floor, David sacrificed here and took it as the place appointed: 'This is the house of the LORD God, and this is the altar of the burnt offering for Israel' (22:1).

Verse 29

the high place at Gibeon — The tabernacle 'which Moses made' stood at Gibeon, with Zadok and the priests before it (1 Chr 16:39), while the ark was in Jerusalem (1 Chr 15:1). Solomon went there to sacrifice 'for there was the tabernacle of the congregation of God' (2 Chr 1:3).

Verse 30

could not go before it to enquire of God — Darash is to seek or enquire. The angel's sword (v.16) kept David from going to Gibeon (v.29), and the answer by fire at Ornan's floor (v.26) met him where he stood.