1 Chronicles 21
David Orders a Census 1–6
Judgment and David's Choice 7–17
The Altar on Ornan's Threshing Floor 18–27
The Significance of the New Altar 28–30
Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · 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.