Deeper Commentary
1Ch 21:1 Satan stood up against Israel, and provoked David to number
Israel-
2 Sam. 24:1 says that this happened because Yahweh was angry with
Israel. This common phrase is typically used of God's anger with Israel for
idolatry, which was clearly a problem amongst them even at David's time.
He didn't want to punish them. The census gave them the opportunity to pay
a half shekel each for "atonement money" (Ex. 30:12-15), lest they be
struck with plague. It seems God worked through David's fear of an
invasion or forthcoming battle with a 'satan'' / adversary, so that he
took a census and the people had the chance to pay that atonement money in
loyalty to Yahweh. But they didn't- and so they were struck with plague.
David's feeling of guilt over the matter is understandable, but I will
argue later that it was more a case of false guilt.
The books of Samuel and Chronicles are parallel accounts of the same
incidents, as the four gospels are records of the same events but using
different language. 2 Sam. 24:1 records: “The Lord... moved David against
Israel” in order to make him take a census of Israel. The parallel account
in 1 Chron. 21:1 says that “Satan stood up against Israel, and moved
David” to take the census. In one passage God does the ‘moving’, in the
other Satan does it. The only conclusion is that God acted as a ‘Satan’ or
adversary to David. He did the same to Job by bringing trials into his
life, so that Job said about God: “With the strength of Your hand You
oppose me” (Job 30:21); ‘You are acting as a Satan against me’, was what
Job was basically saying. Or again, speaking of God: “I must appeal for
mercy to my accuser (Satan)” (Job 9:15 NRSV). The idea is sometimes used
to describe our greatest adversary, i.e. our own sin, and at times for
whole systems or empires which stand opposed to the people of God and
personify sinfulness and evil. But it seems obvious that it is a bizarre
approach to Bible reading to insist that whenever we meet these words
'Satan' and 'Devil', we are to understand them as references to a
personal, supernatural being.
1Ch 21:2 David said to Joab and to the princes of the people, Go, number
Israel from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring me word, so that I may know
the sum of them-
The list of David's mighty men just given in 2 Sam. 23 included men
literally from Dan to Beersheba. I suggested on :1 that the occasion of
this census may have been when David wanted to know how many soldiers he
could really count on after Absalom's rebellion. It's possible that
although out of chronological sequence, the catalogue of mighty men in 2
Sam. 23 was the result of this census. This would explain Joab's comment
in 1 Chron. 21:3 "Are they not all my Lord's servants?", as if to say
'Loyalty to you is not in question, taking a census won't prove loyalty to
you'.
1Ch 21:3 Joab said, May Yahweh make His people a hundred times as many as
they are; but, my lord the king, aren’t they all my lord’s servants? Why
does my lord require this thing? Why will he be a cause of guilt for
Israel?-
Joab is alluding to Dt. 1:11. For all his unspirituality, he did also
have a spiritual side. He was not unaware of the scriptures, and seemed to
want to do what was genuinely best for Israel. Men with deeply mixed
motives is quite a theme of the Bible's historical records; and that is
because they are true to life. For that is how people are.
The numbering of Israel was another weak moment for David (note 2 Sam. 24:3,4,10), leading to suffering for others. Yet this same David had written that “there is no king saved by the multitude of an host” (Ps. 33:16). Perhaps this was an expression of repentance after this incident; or, if written before it, an example of David being over confident of his faith. “Why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel?” (1 Chron. 21:3 AV) suggests Joab suspected the people would not pay the half shekel required when a census was taken, and so would be led into sin. Although it was their fault, the situation was provoked by God Himself provoking David to take the census, because His anger was kindled against Israel (:1). This would then be an example of God confirming a sinful people in the way they wished to go.
1Ch 21:4 Nevertheless the king’s word prevailed against Joab. Therefore
Joab departed, and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem-
2 Sam. 24:4 "and against the captains of the army". The army captains likewise agreed with Joab that the census was not a
good idea. This incident is at a time when David's word prevails against
Joab and the generals, and we get the impression that this would not have
happened after his sin with Bathsheba, after which Joab speaks and acts
towards David in a belligerent manner. So the incident may be not in
chronological order; indeed none of the cameos of Davidic history at the
end of 2 Samuel are in chronological order.
1Ch 21:5 Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people to David. All
those of Israel were one million one hundred thousand men who drew sword;
and in Judah were four hundred and seventy thousand men who drew sword-
1Ch 21:6 But he didn’t count Levi and Benjamin among them for the king’s
word was abominable to Joab-
1Ch 21:7 God was displeased with this thing; therefore He struck Israel-
Israel were struck as promised in the law, because they refused to
pay the temple tax when they were numbered. We note therefore that God's
anger was with Israel rather than David, who took false guilt in this
matter.
1Ch 21:8 David said to God, I have sinned greatly, in that I have done
this thing. But now, put away, I beg You, the iniquity of Your servant;
for I have done very foolishly-
The response is similar to that to the sin with Bathsheba, again
before a prophet. Balaam also said the same words (Num. 22:34), and again
we find an Angel 'standing'. Although David did take false guilt, it seems
there was some element of real failure. The allusion is to the foolishness of Saul (1 Sam. 13:13). He feels
he is no better than Saul for his trust in human strength; see on :14.
1 Chron. 21:6,7 says that David's "word" of command of the census was
"abominable" to Joab, and also God was "displeased" with "this thing", the
same Hebrew translated "word". Unless this refers to His displeasure with
Joab for despising David's word. Yahweh had likewise been "displeased"
with David in the matter of Uriah (2 Sam. 11:27 s.w.). But although
David's lack of faith wasn't good, it seems to me on balance that he was
largely taking false guilt. Perhaps we are to read that God was displeased
with Israel's lack of response to the word of command about the census,
seeing Israel didn't pay the half shekel required at the time. Indeed
David's trust in human numbers would not have been pleasing to God, it was
a slip backwards. But we wonder whether he took false guilt in this
matter. For it was allowable to take a census of Israel, although there
was to be a half shekel tax paid at the time, which if not paid would
result in plague (Ex. 30:12-15). Joab perhaps guessed that those numbered
would not pay this and therefore the census would lead Israel into sin.
This is why God chose the punishment of plague; not upon David, but upon
Israel. Yet David perhaps realized all that, but knew that his lack of
faith in wanting a census, his lack of consideration for the weakness of
others, would lead them into sin and punishment. And therefore he felt
guilty. It could be argued that his sacrifice atoned for himself and for
the people, but they still suffered for not having paid the required
"atonement money". But then we must balance against this the comment that
"David had done that which was right in the eyes of Yahweh, and didn’t
turn aside from anything that He commanded him all the days of his life,
except only in the matter of Uriah the Hittite" (1 Kings 15:5). No mention
is made of the matter of the census. There is true guilt, the guilt we
should take for our actual sins; and false guilt, the guilt put on us by
others and the malfunctioning of the human conscience. In this matter of
David's guilt about the census, we may have an example of a man taking
false guilt. The fact Israel and not David were punished with plague would
rather confirm this. It may be impossible for us to sort out within us
what is true guilt or false guilt, at least not be any intellectual
process. But we can rest assured that all our guilt, of whatever kind, is
met in the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus, the ultimate guilt offering.
1Ch 21:9 Yahweh spoke to Gad, David’s prophet, saying-
Gad was to write his record of these things (1 Chron. 29:29), so
maybe his record has been incorporated here.
1Ch 21:10 Go and speak to David saying, ‘Thus says Yahweh, I offer you
three things. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you’-
When given a choice, Ahaz declined to choose, and was condemned for
it (Is. 7:11). David declines to choose, because he preferred to fall into
God's hands of grace than decide himself; and is not condemned. The same
actions can be committed with different motives, and therefore only God
can judge. But the invitation to "choose one of them" was for David's
education, to elicit his reflection as to whether it was appropriate that
he were punished, or the people; or he be punished along with the people.
God's choice of plague was in accordance with the teaching of Ex.
30:12-15, that if Israel didn't pay the atonement money at the time of a
census, they would be punished with plague.
1Ch 21:11 So Gad came to David and said to him, Thus says Yahweh, ‘Take
your choice-
Although David was innocent, I suggest he was given the choices in
order to develop his own self examination over the matter. Thus as king,
famine would not have hurt David personally. He was asked to consider
whether this was appropriate.
1Ch 21:12 either three years of famine; or three months to be consumed
before your foes, while the sword of your enemies overtakes you; or else
three days’ suffering the sword of Yahweh, even plague in the land, and
the angel of Yahweh destroying throughout all the borders of Israel’. Now
therefore consider what answer I shall return to Him who sent me-
Famine, war and plague are the three Divine judgments listed in Ez.
14:21 as coming upon Jerusalem at the time of the exile. David had already
experienced war and famine (because of the Gibeonites, 2 Sam. 21). Now he
was to experience plague. The lesson to the exiles was that these
judgments had indeed come because of sin, but the experience of them could
be cut short by intense prayer and repentance after the pattern of David.
For Yahweh "relented" of the three days plague because of David's prayer
and sacrifice. We see here the open ended nature of His
purpose.
1Ch 21:13 David said to Gad, I am in distress-
The phrase is that used of Saul's
great distress on the night of his final condemnation (1 Sam. 28:15).
David felt he had been foolish as Saul had been (2 Sam. 24:10 = 1 Sam.
13:13). David had replaced Saul because of Saul's apostacy, but he was
being made to realize through this experience (even if it was all false
guilt), that he too was a sinner and saved by his acceptance of grace, and
not because he was intrinsically better than Saul.
Let me fall, I pray, into the hand of Yahweh; for His mercies are
very great. Let me not fall into the hand of man-
David appealed to God's mercy in the matter of Bathsheba (Ps. 51:1).
Perhaps he learned from that, and chose to throw himself upon that same
mercy. But the exact timing of this incident isn't clear. Perhaps it was
because of learning about God's grace through this incident that he later
learned to throw himself upon God's great mercy when he sinned with
Bathsheba and against Uriah.
David’s experience of God’s grace stayed with him when he
faced up to the results of his errors in the future. From experience,
he can ask to fall into the Lord’s hand rather than man’s, because “His mercies are great”- using the
same two Hebrew words he had used when Nathan came to him in Ps. 51:1: “Have
mercy upon me… according unto the multitude [Heb. ‘greatness’] of
thy tender mercies”. And so the experience of God’s gracious mercy
over one sin fortifies us to believe in His grace when, sadly, we fall
again; although, in passing, I think that here David himself didn’t
really do so much wrong. Yet he perceived himself to have sinned, so the
point is still established.
God is kinder than men. It's better to be punished by Him than by men.
This puts paid to the Catholic conception of God as a merciless torturer
of wicked men. Clearly the doctrine of eternal torments was invented by
men, not God.
1Ch 21:14 So Yahweh sent a plague on Israel; and seventy thousand men of
Israel fell-
2 Sam 24:15 adds: "So Yahweh sent a plague on Israel from the morning
even to the appointed time; and there died of the people from Dan even to
Beersheba seventy thousand men".
"The appointed time" could refer to the time of the evening
sacrifice, which David was to offer on Araunah's property and not at the
sanctuary. Or the idea may be that there was an "appointed time" of
suffering but it was not defined, because it was open ended- the terminus
depended upon the intensity of David's prayers and sacrifice. The three
day period of plague was changed because "Yahweh relented" (:15)-
because of David's prayer shortening the stipulated time period. This is
why there can be no prescriptive chronology of events in the last days,
nor date set for the Lord's return. The appointed time is variable,
depending upon factors such as human prayer, repentance and taking the
Gospel to all the world.
LXX "So David chose for himself the mortality: and they were the days of wheat-harvest; and the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel from morning till noon, and the plague began among the people".
1Ch 21:15 God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As he was about to
destroy, Yahweh saw, and He relented of the disaster, and said to the
destroying angel, It is enough; now stay your hand. The angel of Yahweh
was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite-
This could imply that Ornan's area was about to be destroyed. But
it seems we have here an example of the summary being made, and then we
read how that came about.
Perhaps David was in Jerusalem, maybe praying at the sanctuary, and
saw the Angel standing over the nearby hill of Jebus or Moriah. His prayer
and obedient, urgent sacrifice then stopped the Angel right there. The
Angel "stood" by the threshing floor (1 Chron. 21:15 AV), as if the Angel's
path of destruction was stopped right there by the sacrifice offered in
that place.
The encouragement for the later generation of Jews was that the evil planned upon Jerusalem could be relented from; if there was genuine repentance. God's hand here was "stayed", but the encouragement was that God would not "stay" His hand in His program of redemption; the same word is often translated "fail" in the assurance that God will not fail His people in ultimately restoring them.
This “destroying Angel” is surely “the destroyer” who operated in the wilderness. We see here one Angel having the ability to formulate a purpose and another blindly carrying it out until told not to- a scenario which we see repeated elsewhere (e. g. at the Passover and in Ez. 9). It was only David's prayer which lead to “the destroyer” ceasing. Notice how the Angel repented and then encouraged David to offer a sacrifice so the Angel would be "intreated for the land" (2 Sam. 24:19,25). Similarly, the Angel repented of punishing Israel and wanted to restore them, and to enable this to happen He encouraged the people through Ezra to be spiritual. Thus Angelic repentance has to be confirmed by human action.
1Ch 21:16 David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of Yahweh
standing between earth and sky, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched
out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell
on their faces-
This says that the Angel had a "drawn sword" in hand, the
same words used of the Angel before Balaam (Num. 22:23,31). His donkey
"turned aside", using the same word for "stretched out" here. The sin of
Balaam was connected with idolatry, and I suggested on :1 that this was
the reason for God's anger being kindled against Israel. The sin of Balaam
has connections with that of Israel, but not particularly with that of
David. Again we get the impression the judgments were for the sake of the
sins of the people, the anger of Yahweh was with them, rather than with
David for wanting to take a census.
1Ch 21:17 David said to God, Isn’t it I who commanded the people to be
numbered? It is even I who have sinned and done very wickedly; but these
sheep, what have they done? Please let Your hand, O Yahweh my God, be
against me, and against my father’s house; but not against Your people,
that they should be plagued-
This was effectively asking God to abrogate the promises about his
family of 1 Chron. 17. Thanks to David building an altar at his own expense and asking God to
kill him and his family, God stopped the plague upon Israel (2 Sam.
24:16,17- the stretched out hand of God in destruction was what David
asked to be upon him and his family). Israel were suffering the effect of
their own sin, in not paying the temple tax (Ex. 30:11-16); but in
the spirit of Christ, David was willing to die for them. And his dominant
desire was counted as if it had been done, and thanks to his
self-sacrificial spirit, the people were saved when they personally were
unworthy. The wrath of God can be turned away by the actions of those He
is angry with (Num. 25:4; Dt. 13:15-17; Ezra 10:14; Jonah 3:7,10; 2 Chron.
12:7; Jer. 4:4; 21:12). And yet that wrath can also be turned away by the
prayers of a third party (Ps. 106:23; Jer. 18:20; Job 42:7). This means
that in some cases, our prayers for others can be counted as if they have
repented. We can gain our brother for God’s Kingdom (Mt. 18:15), as Noah
saved his own house by his faithful preparation (Heb. 11:7). Through
our personal dying to the flesh, the life of Christ is manifest not
only in us, but is made available to others: “Always bearing about in the
body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be
made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto
death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest
in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you” (2 Cor.
4:10-12). The life that is even now made manifest in us is also
made available to work in others because death to the flesh has worked in
us personally.
1Ch 21:18 Then the angel of Yahweh commanded Gad to tell David that David
should go up, and make an altar to Yahweh in the threshing floor of Ornan
the Jebusite-
2 Chron. 3:1 implies David assumed that the spot where the Angel
appeared to him in 2 Sam. 24:17,18 was where he should build the temple.
It is another example of David's tendency to wildly over interpret, which
led him to a mistaken obsession about building the temple and assuming
Solomon to be his Messianic seed.
1Ch 21:19 David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spoke in the name
of Yahweh-
David went along with the elders of Israel (:16), clothed in
sackcloth. David is always presented as totally obedient to the prophets
in his life (Samuel, Nathan and Gad), unlike Saul who was consistently
disobedient to God's word through Samuel.
1Ch 21:20 Ornan turned back-
2 Sam. 24:20 "Araunah looked out", i.e. from the place in the threshing area where he was threshing wheat,
where he and his four sons had hidden from the presence of the Angel. The records in Chronicles and Samuel perfectly fit with
each other, although clearly focusing upon different elements of the
scene; just like the gospel records.
And saw the angel; and his four sons who were with him hid
themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat-
Chronicles has "saw the Angel". 2 Sam. 24:20 "saw the king". This may
reflect the confusion between malak ["Angel"] and melek
["king"], especially as ancient Hebrew didn't add the vowel points and the
consonants of the two words are the same, m-l-k. Or it could be
that Ornan saw David and also at the same time saw the Angel behind him
in some form.
1Ch 21:21 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-
Clearly Ornan respected David, even though it seems he was a Gentile
Jebusite, whose relatives may have been slain when David and Joab took
Jebus at the start of David's reign.
1Ch 21:22 Then David said to Ornan, Give me the place of this threshing
floor, that I may build thereon an altar to Yahweh. You shall sell it to
me for the full price-
The urgent thing required was sacrifice to God represented by the Angel
hovering over the hill where both men were standing, about to slay the
people of Jerusalem. We wonder why David firstly asks to buy the threshing
floor, as this was a long process which Araunah may have needed to think
carefully about as it was his home. Maybe this is a hint that Araunah was
not a worshipper of Yahweh and therefore the land must be bought before an
offering to another God could be made upon it. There is more evidence for
that on :23. Or it may be that David wanted to offer the most genuine
sacrifice, which was thought to be offered upon one's own property. He
offered to buy the threshing floor "for the full price" (1 Chron. 21:22),
the same phrase used of Abraham's purchase of property from the Canaanites
in Gen. 23:9. This confirms the impression that Araunah was a Canaanite
and not an Israelite.
That the plague may be stopped from afflicting the people-
This is the very phrase of Num. 16:48,50 and Num. 25:8; Ps. 106:30,
where the people of Israel suffered from plague because of their idolatry,
and Aaron stopped it, standing between the living and the dead. David was
in an identical position to Aaron, again acting as the High Priest. And
again we have evidence that the essential sin being punished was not
David's taking of a census, but Israel's sin (see on :1).
1Ch 21:23 Ornan said to David, Take it for yourself, and let my lord the
king do that which is good in his eyes. Behold, I give the oxen for burnt
offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the
meal offering. I give it all-
LXX "and the wheels and furniture of the oxen for wood". "The
threshing instruments" may have referred to quite a major and expensive
piece of equipment. But Ornan totally senses the urgency of the situation
and is willing to offer even this as wood.
1Ch 21:24 King David said to Ornan, No; but I will most certainly buy it
for the full price. For I will not take that which is yours for Yahweh,
nor offer a burnt offering without cost-
I have suggested that the historical records were in places edited
and made relevant for the exiles; and given their mean attitude to
offerings in Mal. 1:10,13,14, David's example and principle would have
been pertinent. And this is an abiding principle; sacrifice is to be
costly, we are to be left "minus", rather than being without cost to us.
1Ch 21:25 So David gave to Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight for
the place-
1 Chron. 21:25 speaks of 600 shekels for "the place", whilst 2 Sam.
24:24 mentions 50 shekels for the threshing floor and oxen. The entire
area was later bought, in order to build the temple on that site (1 Chron.
22:1; 2 Chron. 3:1).
1Ch 21:26 David built an altar to Yahweh there, and offered burnt
offerings and peace offerings, and called on Yahweh; and He answered him
from the sky by fire on the altar of burnt offering-
Elijah in 1 Kings 18:24 takes the language of God 'answering by fire'
from this account of David's intercession for the plagued, sinful people
(same Hebrew words). Elijah saw himself as David, interceding to gain the
forgiveness of impenitent third parties as a result of his sacrifice. And
indeed there was an element of that. And in the final synthesis and
unknowable equation of salvation, there is still a great role played by
third parties in our salvation. This is just the language of God
justifying Himself over Baal at the time of Elijah. I have suggested
throughout that the plague was essentially punishment for Israel's
idolatry; see on :1.
1Ch 21:27 Yahweh commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into
its sheath-
We have here a visual representation of God's sensitivity to human
prayer and repentance.
1Ch 21:28 At that time, when David saw that Yahweh had answered him in the
threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there-
Burnt offerings always precede peace offerings (2 Sam. 24:25),
because sacrifice is the principle upon which we can have peace with God.
But David remained traumatized by the incident, fearing the sword he had
seen (1 Chron. 21:30). This was a similar reaction by him to how he feared
association with the ark for some period after the slaying of Uzzah (1
Chron. 13:12,13). The similarity in reaction is another indication that
the record is true and the character portrayals absolutely consistent, as
could only be true of a Divinely inspired record.
1Ch 21:29 For the tabernacle of Yahweh, which Moses made in the
wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering, were at that time in the high
place at Gibeon-
The wrong and unsatisfactory nature of having two sanctuaries is
commented upon on 1 Chron. 16:40.
1Ch 21:30 But David couldn’t go before it to inquire of God; for he was
afraid because of the sword of the angel of Yahweh-
"Afraid" is the word used of how the evil spirit from Yahweh troubled
Saul. We could therefore read this as a slip backwards for David; his
wrongful fear of God was confirmed by God. For this is the way He works with
His Spirit. I suggested on :28 that this means that David remained
traumatized by the incident, fearing the sword he had seen.
There was no revelation from God that the temple must be built there. David assumes that because he saw that the Lord had answered him there, and because he could not go to Gibeon, where the tabernacle was standing, to seek the Lord there, on account of the sword of the angel, i.e., on account of the plague.
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