2. S. 24 : 1** And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them, saying, Go, number Israel and Judah. And the king said to Joab the captain of the host, which was with him, Go now to and fro through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the sum of the people. And Joab said unto the king, Now the LORD thy God add unto the people, how many soever they be, an hundred fold, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it : but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing? Notwithstanding the king’s word prevailed against Joab, and against the captains of the host. And Joab and the captains of the host went out from the presence of the king, to number the peo-

1. Chron. 21 : 1** And Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel. 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. And Joab said, The LORD make his people an hundred times so many more as they be : 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? Nevertheless the king’s word prevailed against Joab. Wherefore Joab departed, and went throughout all Israel, and came to Jerusalem. And Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people unto David. And all they of Israel were a thousand thousand and an hundred thousand

5 ple of Israel. And they passed over Jordan, and pitched in Aroer, on the right side of the city that is in the middle of the valley of 6 Gad, and unto Jazer: then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtim-hodshi; and they came to Dan-jaan, and round about 7 to Zidon, and came to the stronghold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites: and they went out to the 8 south of Judah, at Beer-sheba. So when they had gone to and fro through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of 9 nine months and twenty days. And Joab gave up the sum of the numbering of the people unto the king: and there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword; and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men. 10 And David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: but now, O LORD, put away, I beseech thee, the iniquity of thy servant; 11 for I have done very foolishly. And when David rose up in the morning, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad, 12 David’s seer, saying, Go and speak unto David, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may 13 do it unto thee. So Gad came to David, and told him, and said unto him, Shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thy foes while they pursue thee? or shall there be three days’ pestilence in thy land? now advise thee, and consider what answer I shall 14 return to him that sent me. And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the 15 hand of man. So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel from the morning even to the time appointed: and there died of the people from Dan even to Beer-sheba seventy 16 thousand men. And when the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough; now stay thine hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshing- 17 floor of Araunah the Jebusite. And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done perversely: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father’s house.

men that drew sword: and Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand men 6 that drew sword. But Levi and Benjamin counted he not among them: for the king’s 7 word was abominable to Joab. And God was displeased with this thing; therefore he 8 smote Israel. 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 9 very foolishly. And the LORD spake unto 10 Gad, David’s seer, saying, Go and speak unto David, saying, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things; choose thee one of 11 them, that I may do it unto thee. So Gad came to David, and said unto him, Thus 12 saith the LORD, Take which thou wilt; either three years of famine; or three months to be consumed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the LORD, even pestilence in the land, and the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore consider what answer 13 I shall return to him that sent me. And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the LORD; for very great are his mercies: and let me not 14 fall into the hand of man. So the LORD sent a pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of 15 Israel seventy thousand men. And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was about to destroy, the LORD beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the destroying angel, It is enough; now stay thine hand. And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 16 And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the LORD stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, 17 fell upon their faces. 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 thine hand, I pray thee, O LORD my God, be against me, and against my father’s house; but not against thy people, that they should be plagued. 18 Then the angel of the LORD commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and rear an altar unto the LORD in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spake 19 in the name of the LORD. And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons

18. And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the LORD in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebu- 19 site. And David went up according to the 20 saying of Gad, as the LORD commanded. And Araunah looked forth, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king; with his face to the ground. 21 And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshing-floor of thee, to build an altar unto the LORD, that the plague may 22 be stayed from the people. And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold, the oxen for the burnt-offering, and the threshing instruments and the furniture 23 of the oxen for the wood: all this, O king, doth Araunah give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The LORD thy 24 God accept thee. And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will verily buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt-offerings unto the LORD my God which cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 25 And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. So the LORD was intreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.

that were with him hid themselves. Now 21 Ornan was threshing wheat. 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 22 ground. Then David said to Ornan, Give me the place of this threshing-floor, that I may build thereon an altar unto the LORD: 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- 24 offering; I give it all. 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 the LORD, nor offer a burnt-offer- 25 ing without cost. So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by 26 weight. And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, and called upon the LORD; and he answered him from heaven by fire 27 upon the altar of burnt-offering. And the LORD commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof. 28 At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed 29 there. For the tabernacle of the LORD, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt-offering, were at that time in the 30 high place at Gibeon. But David could not go before it to inquire of God: for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of the LORD.

1. Chron. 22:** 1 Then David said, This is the house of the LORD God, and this is the altar of burnt-offering for Israel.

There is no definite note of time to show when the events here recorded took place, but several indications point to the later years of David’s reign. The language of verse 1, “again the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel,” evidently refers to the famine recorded in ch. 21 and points to a date after that occurrence. It would have been impossible for the commander-in-chief to spend nearly ten months in taking the census, except at a time of permanent peace. David’s preparations for building the Temple, which occupied the last years of his reign, are narrated in Chronicles as the immediate sequel of his purchase of Araunah’s threshing-floor. The narrative in Chronicles agrees much less closely than usual with Samuel. A. F. K.

Comparing the two accounts of this sin and of the judgment sent because of it, we find the diversities somewhat numerous; the real discrepancies few; from which the inference seems warranted that these authors drew from different original sources and not from one and the same. There is not the least difficulty in assuming that the contemporary annals of Israel were written by more hands than one; e.g., “the acts of David the king, first and last, in the Book of Samuel the seer, and in the Book of Nathan the prophet, and in the Book of Gad the seer,” as we read 1 Chron. 29: 29. In the ultimate compilation of the books we have (e.g., 2 S. and 1 Chron.), the compiler of the former may have had one or two of these original documents; the compiler of the latter, the remaining one; or, if each had them all, he may have found slight differences; possibly some discrepancies—and would dispose of these according to his own judgment or upon traditionary data.

The sin of David in numbering the people in its result fixed the site of Solomon’s temple (2 Chron. 3 : 1). A narrative of these scenes appears in both 2 S. 24 and 1 Chron. 21. The same Hebrew word rendered “moved” in Samuel is rendered “provoked” in Chronicles. The agent is said in Samuel to be the Lord, but in Chronicles, Satan, the prince of evil spirits. As to the agent in this temptation, it was God only in the permissive sense; Satan in the personal and positive sense, permitted of God, and by his very nature, wanting nothing more than the barest permission to give scope to the Satanic malice of his heart, and involve both David and the Lord’s people in terrible calamities. It may, perhaps, be put to the account of “progress of doctrine” that in the later book (Chronicles) this agency is ascribed to Satan, while in the Book of Samuel, neither his name nor his agency appears. H. C.—The nation had sinned and incurred His anger, and God instigated David to an act which brought down a sharp punishment on the nation. The statement that God incited David to do what was afterward condemned and punished as a heinous sin cannot of course mean that He compelled David to sin, but that in order to test and prove his character He allowed the temptation to assault him. Thus, while we read that “God himself tempteth no man,” we are taught to pray “Bring us not into temptation.” The older record (Samuel) speaks only of God’s permissive action: the latter (Chronicles) tells us of the malicious instrumentality of Satan. The case is like that of Job. A. F. K.

The numbering of the people was one of the last and most reprehensible acts of David. From the expressions here used, we learn that God permitted Satan to tempt David to the commission of a crime, which would draw down punishment on himself and his people, as he afterward permitted the same evil and lying spirit to seduce the prophets of Ahab (1 K. 22 : 22), and the disciple of Christ (Luke 22 : 3). The ruling passion by which the tempter assailed David was the pride of life, which, though checked and mortified by the wholesome restraints of adversity, broke out again in the sunshine of prosperity. David’s offence seems chiefly to have consisted in his persisting to require a muster of all his subjects able to bear arms without the Divine command, without necessity, in a time of profound peace, to indulge an idle vanity and presumption, as if he put his trust more in the number of his subjects than in the Divine protection; and the offence of his people may have been similar, always elated as they were in prosperity, and provoking the anger of the Lord by their forgetfulness of him. Hales.—Moses numbered the people by God’s authority, to show that they were all his subjects: David seems to have numbered them to show that they were his own people, and to display his own sovereignty, which provoked God. Bp. Wilson.

Yet another and real cause is to be found in the verse which introduces the narrative, and which is almost invariably lost sight of in the common accounts of this transaction. It is that “the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel.” Now the anger of the Lord could only be awakened by unfaithfulness and evil-doing; and that, whatever its precise nature, was the real cause of the calamity that followed, and relieves the case of the apparent harshness, of which so much has been said, of making the people suffer for the offence of their king. On this account “the Lord moved David to number Israel.” Kit.

It was not the census itself which was displeasing to God, but the motive which inspired David to take it. Various conjectures have been suggested to account for David’s wish to number the people. Some suppose that he intended to develop the military power of the nation with a view to foreign conquest; others that he meditated the organization of an imperial despotism and the imposition of fresh taxes. But whether any definite design of increased armaments or heavier taxation lay behind it or not, it seems clear that what constituted the sin of the act was the vainglorious spirit which prompted it. In a moment of pride and ambition—pride at the prosperity of the kingdom, ambition to be like the kings of the nations round about—he desired to know to the full over how vast and populous a kingdom he ruled, forgetting that the strength of Israel consisted not in the number of its people, but in the protecting care of God. This view is strongly corroborated by Joab’s expostulation, “The Lord thy God add unto the people, how many soever they be, an hundredfold, and that the eyes of my lord the king may see it: but why doth my lord the king delight in this thing?” It was a momentary apostasy from Jehovah; an oblivion of that spirit of dependence which was the duty and the glory of the kings of Israel. The sin was not confined to David; it had infected the nation. It is expressly said that “the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Israel.” It may be that now, on the very threshold of their national existence, they were tempted by visions of worldly glory to forget that Israel was not to realize its vocation to the world in the guise of a conquering secular state, but as Jehovah’s witness among the nations. If so, if pride was alienating the heart of king and people from their allegiance to Jehovah, a prompt chastisement was the truest mercy. A. F. K.

3. Who can but wonder to see Joab the saint, and David the trespasser? No prophet could speak better than that man of blood; “The Lord thy God increase the people a hundredfold more than they be, and that the eyes of my lord the king may see it: but why doth my lord the king desire this thing? why will he be a cause of guilt to Israel?” Bp. H.—Joab seems to have had a certain amount of regard to the will of God and the theocratic constitution of the kingdom, for he was loyal to David from the very beginning, up to the contest between Solomon and Adonijah. It is evident that Joab felt strongly that in the step which he proposed to take David would be acting a part unworthy of himself and of the constitution of the kingdom, and by displeasing God would expose himself to evils far beyond any advantage he might hope to gain by ascertaining the number of the people. 4. For once—and this time, unhappily—David was too strong for the son of Zeruiah. The enumerators of the people were despatched to take the census. W. G. B.

The sums-total were probably never made up for preservation, except in a rough way; they were never put into the official chronicles. In the rough, round numbers of the two Books of Samuel and of Chronicles, there is a difference of many thousands in the enumeration. A rough enumeration—not counting Benjamin—made the warriors of Israel eight hundred thousand, and of Judah five hundred thousand, or one million three hundred thousand in all. Or, taking the other estimate, there were one million one hundred thousand warriors of Israel, and four hundred and seventy thousand warriors of Judah, or one million five hundred and seventy thousand in all. Knox.—This discrepancy may be due to textual corruption, but more probably arises from a difference in the original estimates, or in the oral tradition with respect to them. A. F. K.—This showed a population of from five to seven millions for the whole land. Considering all the wars, servitudes, and internal conflicts during the generations, tions, this was a great increase from the six hundred and one thousand warriors and three millions of people under Moses on the plains of Moab. Knox.

The numbers have been attacked as exaggerated, and far exceeding the possible capacity of the country. The numbers given imply a total population of five or six millions at least, and the area of the country is estimated at about eleven thousand square miles. This gives (making allowance for the excepted tribes) between five and six hundred to the square mile, a high but not impossible rate of population when the extreme fertility of the country in ancient times is taken into consideration. The ruins with which Palestine is covered in every direction prove that the population was exceptionally dense.

The Choice of Punishments.

10. David’s heart smote him.** Conscience accused him, and he became aware of his guilt. He recognized the sinfulness of the proud and vainglorious spirit of self-confidence and desire for worldly aggrandizement which had induced him to take the census. A. F. K.—“David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly in that which I have done; and now, I beseech Thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of Thy servant, for I have done very foolishly.” Once alive to his sin, his humiliation is very profound. His confession is frank, hearty, complete. He shows no proud desire to remain on good terms with himself, seeks nothing to break his fall or to make his humiliation less before Joab and before the people. He is never greater than when acknowledging his sin. W. G. B.

11. And David arose in the morning, and, etc.,** after the recognition and confession of his sin. The E. V. gives the impression that the conviction of his sin was the result of Gad’s visit, which is not the meaning of the passage. Gad was not sent until after his confession and prayer for pardon. A. F. K.

Chron., verse 12. It was a hard and woful choice of three years’ famine added to three forepast; or of three months’ flight from the sword of an enemy; or three days’ pestilence. The Almighty that hath fore-determined his judgment, refers it to David’s will as if it were utterly undetermined. God had resolved; yet David may choose. That infinite wisdom hath foreseen the very will of his creature, which, while it freely inclines itself to what it would rather, unwittingly wills that which was fore-appointed in heaven.

28., verse 14. Yet, behold, neither sins, nor threats, nor fears can bereave a true penitent of his faith; “Let us now fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercies are great.” There can be no evil of punishment wherein God hath not a hand; there could be no famine, no sword, without him; but some evils are more immediate from a Divine stroke; such was that plague into which David is unwillingly willing to fall. Bp. H.—There are some judgments which come more immediately from his hand than others, as famine and pestilence; and which of these shall be the scourge, he refers it to God, who chooses the shortest, that he might the sooner testify his being reconciled. H.

15. Left to choose between famine, defeat, and pestilence, David wisely and well cast himself upon the Lord, finding comfort only in the thought, which has so often brought relief to those who realize it, that, even when suffering for sin, it is well to fall into the hands of Jehovah. Nor was his unuttered hope disappointed. The pestilence, terrible as it was in its desolations, was shortened from three days to less than one day: “from the morning to the time of the assembly”—viz., for the evening sacrifice. A. E.

—To the time appointed. Not to the end of the three days; for (verse 16) “the Lord repented him of the evil;” it means, probably, the appointed time of evening prayer—that is, about the ninth hour of the day; according to which sense the plague lasted nine hours. Bp. Patrick.—Joab is nine months in passing with his pen, the angel but nine hours in passing with his sword, through all the coasts and corners of the land of Israel. See how easily God can bring down the proudest sinners, and how much we owe daily to the Divine patience. H.

Humble confessions and devout penance cannot always avert temporal judgments. God’s angel is abroad; and within that short compass of time sweeps away seventy thousand Israelites. David was proud of the number of his subjects; now they are abated that he may see cause of humiliation in the matter of his glory; in what we have offended, we commonly smart. These thousands of Israel were not so innocent, that they should only perish for David’s sin; their sins were the motives, both of this sin and punishment; besides the respect of David’s offence, they die for themselves. Bp. H.

16. The Lord repented him of the evil.** On the one hand Scripture teaches us that, “God is not a man that he should repent” (Nu. 23 : 19 ; 1 S. 15 : 29) ; on the other hand it does not shrink from saying that God repents when, as here, upon man’s penitence He withdraws or mitigates a punishment; when, upon man’s faithlessness or disobedience, He cancels a promise or revokes a blessing which He had given. God’s repentance does not mean that He who foreknows all things regre’s His action, nor is it a sign of mutability. Scripture boldly states the two apparently contradictory truths, and leaves conscience to harmonize them. A. F. K.

God reveals himself as repenting. He speaks as if in sore disappointment at the evil course of men: “And it repented the Lord that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart.” It was the grief of a loving father over the evil ways of his children, a pain that is sharp and a heart that is sore. Moses recognized this trait of the Divine character, and earnestly prayed that he would “repent of this evil against thy people.” “And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people” (Ex. 32 : 14). “It repented the Lord because of their groanings by reason of them that oppressed them and vexed them” (Ju. 2 : 18). “And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented him of the evil” (2 S. 24 : 16). In the book of the prophet Jonah this trait is brought out very strongly. “And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way, and God repented of the evil which he said he would do unto them” (3 : 10). The prophet explained the reason for this revocation of a positive and unqualified decree. “I know that thou art a gracious God, and full of compassion and slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy, and repentest thee of the evil” (4 : 2). The Divine repentance is a constant leaning to the side of mercy. He is intent upon setting aside the penalty of sin. He listens for the first sigh of penitence. While he is grieved and disappointed and sad at the waywardness and rebellion of his creatures, he rejoices at their return. He takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but implores them to return and live. He reasons with them, and shows them the madness and folly of their course. He makes it plain that if any one persists in wickedness it is not God’s fault that he does so, nor is the punishment which the sinner brings upon himself of God’s willing infliction. All this is intensely human—so much so that we cannot distinguish it from the character of a very tender-hearted and benevolent father. Any one who desires the Divine companionship and protection and help can have it with the amplest and most cordial welcome, simply for the asking. God is swift in mercy and love, and very patient in long-suffering. This is God’s merciful attitude to us, and we can verify it in our experience by accepting it and going to him. We shall find him just what he thus reveals himself to be. God is the most tender, loving, and lovely Being in the universe. He is the best friend. He is all that the longing heart can desire. We must not abuse and pervert this tender and forbearing attribute of the Divine character by making it a basis for hope that he will not thoroughly vindicate his law. On the contrary, we must remember that in doing despite to this spirit of grace, we are treasuring up against ourselves a retribution all the more terrible because we have insulted and trodden under foot the loving sensibilities of God. Interior.

Stay thy hand. God only revoked that which he had decreed on a certain condition; which was, that three days’ pestilence should come upon the country, unless David and his people repented. Bp. Patrick.—The angel was by the threshing-floor. This was on Mount Moriah. Dr. Lightfoot observes, that in the very place where Abraham, by a countermand from heaven, was stayed from slaying his son, this angel, by a like countermand, was stayed from destroying Jerusalem. It is for the sake of the great Sacrifice, that our forfeited lives are preserved from the destroying angel. H.—It was a fitting spot for mercy upon Israel, this place where of old faithful Abraham had been ready to offer his only son unto God; fitting also as still outside the city; but chiefly in order that the pardoning and sparing mercy now shown might indicate the site where, on the great altar of burnt-offering, abundant mercy in pardon and acceptance would in the future be dispensed to Israel. A. E.

17. These sheep, what have they done?** David takes all the blame upon himself, for his offence had been the immediate cause of the plague, and it is characteristic of true penitence to dwell exclusively on its own sin, without respect to the complicity of others. But it is clear from verse 1 that the sin was the sin of the people as well as of David. A. F. K.—No one but must admire the spirit of David when the angel appeared on Mount Moriah. Owning frankly his own great sin, and especially his sin as a shepherd, he bared his own bosom to the sword, and entreated God to let the punishment fall on him and on his father’s house. Why should the sheep suffer for the sin of the shepherd? W. G. B.

He intercedes for the people whose bitter lamentations made his heart to ache. These sheep, what have they done? Done! Why it was their sin that provoked God to leave David to himself to do as he did; yet, as became a penitent, he is severe upon his own faults, while he extenuates theirs. Most people, when God’s judgments are abroad, charge others with being the cause of them, and care not who falls by them so they can escape; but David’s penitent and public spirit was otherwise affected. Let this remind us of the grace of our Lord Jesus, who gave himself for our sins, and was willing that God’s hand should be against him, that we might escape. The shepherd was smitten that the sheep might be spared. H.

Let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father’s house. Oh, the admirable charity of David, that would confine the plague to himself and his house, and sues to interpose himself between his people and the Lord’s just vengeance! Bp. H.—What a noble and generous concern for the safety of his people does this pathetic expostulation manifest! Here is the real language and spirit of a genuine shepherd of his people, willing to devote himself and his family to God, for the preservation of his subjects. Chandler.

David Erects an Altar on Araunah’s Threshing-floor, by God’s Direction.

Verses 18-25.

18. O Father of all mercies, how little pleasure dost thou take in the death of sinners! It was thine own pity that stayed the destroyer. Ere David could see the angel thou hadst restrained him: “It is enough, now stay thy hand.” Now God calls for that sacrifice wherewith he will be appeased. An altar must be built in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite. Lo, in that very hill, where the angel held the sword of Abraham from killing his son, doth God now hold the sword of the angel from killing his people! Upon this very ground shall the temple after stand. Here shall be the holy altar, which shall send up the acceptable oblations of God’s people in succeeding generations.

22,23. Rich and bountiful Araunah is ready to meet David in so holy a motion; and munificently offers his Sion for the place, his oxen for the sacrifice, his carts and ploughs and other utensils of his husbandry for the wood. Bp. H.—When David and his followers came, they were prepared freely to give, not only the threshing-floor, but also all within it, if only Jehovah were pleased to accept the prayer of the king. Thus most significantly, in its typical aspect, were Jew and Gentile here brought together to co-operate in the dedication of the Temple-site. A. E.

24. Two frank hearts are well met: David would buy; Araunah would give. The Jebusite would not sell; David will not take. Since it was for God and to David, Araunah is loath to bargain: since it was for God, David wisheth to pay dear; “I will not offer burnt-offerings to the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing.” Heroical spirits do well become eminent persons. He that knew it was better to give than to receive, would not receive but give. There can be no devotion in a niggardly heart; as unto dainty palates so to the godly soul, that tastes sweetest that costs most; nothing is dear enough for the Creator of all things. It is a heartless piety of those base-minded Christians that care only to serve God good cheap. Bp. H.

So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. In Chronicles we read, “David gave for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight.” This seeming discrepancy as to the price has been accounted for in different ways. The simplest and most probable explanation is that these two passages refer to different transactions. The statement in Samuel gives the price paid for the threshing-floor and the oxen simply. That in Chronicles is “for the place,” not the threshing-floor alone, but the entire surface of the hill, or all the ground owned by Araunah. Samuel is concerned merely with the spot on which the altar stood and sacrifices were offered. The writer of Chronicles is thinking of the entire tract procured for the site of the temple. For this fifty silver shekels would evidently be inadequate. W. H. G.

Chron., verse 26. And as if publicly and from heaven to ratify what had been done, fire unkindled by man fell upon the altar and consumed the sacrifices. But from that moment the destroying sword of the angel was sheathed at the command of God. A. E.—God answered David from heaven by fire. To signify that God’s anger was turned away from him, the fire that might justly have fastened upon the sinner, fastened upon the sacrifice, and consumed that; and, upon this, the destroying sword was returned into its sheath. Thus Christ was made sin, and a curse, for us, and it pleased the Lord to bruise him, that through him God might be to us, not a consuming Fire, but a reconciled Father.

29,30. He continued to offer his sacrifices upon this altar. The brazen altar which Moses made was at Gibeon, and there all the sacrifices of Israel were offered; but David was so terrified at the sight of the sword of the angel that he could not go thither. The business required haste when the plague was begun. Aaron must go quickly, nay, he must run, to make atonement (Nu. 16 : 46, 47). And the case here was no less urgent; so that David had not time to go to Gibeon; nor durst he leave the angel with his sword drawn over Jerusalem, lest the fatal stroke should be given before he came back. And therefore God, in tenderness to him, bade him build an altar in that place, dispensing with his own law concerning one altar because of the present distress, and accepting the sacrifices offered on this new altar, which was not set up in opposition to that but in concurrence with it. The symbols of unity were not so much insisted on as unity itself. Nay, when the present distress was over, David as long as he lived sacrificed there, though the altar at Gibeon was still kept up; for God had owned the sacrifices that were here offered, and had testified his acceptance of them (verse 28). On those administrations in which we have experienced the tokens of God’s presence, and have found that he is with us of a truth, it is good to continue our attendance. “Here God has graciously met me, and therefore I will still expect to meet with him.”

I Chron. 22 : 1. The place for the building of the temple, Then David said, by inspiration of God, and as a declaration of his mind, This is the house of the Lord God. If a temple must be built for God, it is fit that it be left to him to choose the ground, for all the earth is his; and this is the ground he makes choice of: it had pertained to a Jebusite, and perhaps there was not a spot of ground besides, in or about Jerusalem, that did so; a happy presage of the setting up of the Gospel temple among the Gentiles. The ground was a threshing-floor; for the Church of the living God is his floor, his threshing, and the corn of his floor (Is. 21 : 10). Christ’s fan is in his hand, thoroughly to purge his floor. This is to be the house, because this is the altar; the temple was built for the sake of the altar; there were altars long before there were temples. H.

This altar first distinctly marked the hill as the sacred spot which Jehovah had long promised to choose for his abode. The ark had indeed been placed for some time in the city of David, but the stated sacrifices had still been offered on the original brazen altar before the tabernacle of Gibeon; and even after the removal of the ark, God had spoken to David of His choice of a place to build His house as yet to be made. That choice was now revealed by the descent of fire from heaven on David’s sacrifice, as upon the altar of burnt-offering in the wilderness; and David recognized the sign, and said, “This is the house of Jehovah God, and this is the altar of the burnt-offering for Israel.” The place received the name of Moriah (vision) from the appearance of God to David, as the destroying angel, and then by the sign of fire. P. S.—Thus the threshing-floor was appointed to be the site of the temple which Solomon was to build; and the spot where David had hastily reared his altar was to be the place where, for hundreds of years, day after day, morning and evening, the blood of the burnt-offering was to flow, and the fumes of incense to ascend before God. W. G. B.

Instructive and Helpful Suggestions.

As long as the devil is alive there is danger; and though a strong Christian may be too hard for, and may overcome him in one thing, he may be too hard for, yea, and may overcome the Christian two for one afterward. Thus he served David, and thus he served Peter, and thus he in our day has served many more. The strongest are weak, the wisest are fools, when suffered to be sifted as wheat in Satan’s sieve; yea, and have often been so proved, to the wounding of their great hearts and the dishonor of religion. Bunyan.

There is a sense, and a very true sense, in which David’s sin applies to us. People are very fond of numbering the good things they have or suppose themselves to have. This is the peril to which our Lord refers when He says, “Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, for where your treasure is, there will your heart be also;” that is, you will be always brooding in your heart upon them, and they will fill your mind to the exclusion of all spiritual thoughts. The Bible takes us out of ourselves, and directs us to God as the great object of our love, and in Him to our neighbor. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Mosley.

What a wonderful thing is sanctified affliction! While its root lies in the very corruption of our nature, its fruit consists of the best blessings of Heaven. The root of David’s affliction was carnal pride; but under God’s sanctifying grace, it was followed by the erection of a temple associated with heavenly blessing, not to one nation only, but to all. When affliction, duly sanctified, is thus capable of bringing such blessings, it makes the fact all the more lamentable that affliction is so often unsanctified. It is vain to imagine that everything of the nature of affliction is sure to turn to good. It can turn to good on one condition only—when your heart is humbled under the rod, and in the same humble, chastened spirit as David you say, and feel as well as say, “I have sinned.” W. G. B.

God has so arranged and ordered all things, that His apparent change of purpose shall follow every true prayer, and His nature of love and tenderness be revealed to every humble and waiting soul. When our afflictions have wrought out in us the ends which His wisdom and mercy have sought, and have brought us in a right frame before His truth and majesty, we shall be able to discern modifications in His treatment, which are as if our God had changed His mind toward us, but which are really but changes in methods proceeding from the same mind and purpose of mercy and truth. We need all along our road in life the visitations of God’s rod. God could not be a faithful and loving Father and withhold the rod. It comes in sickness, pecuniary losses, family bereavement, false accusations, and in many other ways. None of these come by chance. God is behind each, and that, too, in love. Blessed is the man who discerns this. Crosby.

David would not serve the Lord with that which cost him nothing. The thought needs only to be put in words to commend itself to every conscience. God’s service is neither a form nor a sham; it is a great reality. If we desire to show our honor for Him, it must be in a way suited to the occasion. Yet how often is God served with that which costs men nothing! Men that will lavish hundreds and thousands to gratify their own fancy—what miserable driblets they often give to the cause of God! The smallest of coins is good enough for His treasury. And as for other forms of serving God, what a tendency there is in our time to make everything easy and pleasant,—to forget the very meaning of self-denial! It is high time that that word of David were brought forth and put before every conscience, and made to rebuke ever so many professed worshippers of God, whose rule of worship is to serve God with what does cost them nothing. The very heathen reprove them. Little though there has been to stimulate their love, their sacrifices are often most costly—far from sacrifices that have cost them nothing. Oh, let us who call ourselves Christians beware lest we be found the meanest, paltryest of worshippers! Let souls that have been blessed as Christians devise liberal things. W. G. B.

The true motive to beneficence is “offering unto the Lord.” Our offerings must be gifts to the Lord. Everything in life depends on the motive from which it springs. Man is what his motives are; he is no better and no worse. The highest and purest motive is that of doing all unto the Lord. The true measure of beneficence is giving that which we feel to cost us something. Giving must always be tending toward sacrifice and self-denial. Having love as the impulse to our benevolence, its measure will be determined by the nature of the case which appeals for our help and also by the means which God has placed at our disposal. E. Mellor.