1 Chronicles
1 Chronicles 21
1Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to take a census of Israel. 2David said to Joab and to the princes of the people, “Go, count Israel from Beersheba even to Dan; and bring me word, that I may know how many there are.”
3Joab 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 to Israel?”
4Nevertheless the king’s word prevailed against Joab. Therefore Joab departed, and went throughout all Israel, then came to Jerusalem. 5Joab gave up the sum of the census of the people to David. All those of Israel were one million one hundred thousand men who drew a sword; and in Judah were four hundred seventy thousand men who drew a sword. 6But he didn’t count Levi and Benjamin among them; for the king’s word was abominable to Joab.
7God was displeased with this thing; therefore he struck Israel. 8David 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.”
9Yahweh spoke to Gad, David’s seer, saying, 10“Go and speak to David, saying, ‘Yahweh says, “I offer you three things. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.” ’ ”
11So Gad came to David, and said to him, “Yahweh says, ‘Take your choice: 12either 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 the sword of Yahweh, even pestilence in the land, and Yahweh’s angel destroying throughout all the borders of Israel. Now therefore consider what answer I shall return to him who sent me.’ ”
13David said to Gad, “I am in distress. Let me fall, I pray, into Yahweh’s hand; for his mercies are very great. Don’t let me fall into man’s hand.”
14So Yahweh sent a pestilence on Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell. 15God 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 withdraw your hand.” Yahweh’s angel was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 16David lifted up his eyes, and saw Yahweh’s angel standing between earth and the sky, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem.
Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces. 17David said to God, “Isn’t it I who commanded the people to be counted? 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.”
18Then Yahweh’s angel commanded Gad to tell David that David should go up and raise an altar to Yahweh on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 19David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spoke in Yahweh’s name.
20Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat. 21As 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.
22Then David said to Ornan, “Give me the place of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar to Yahweh on it. You shall sell it to me for the full price, that the plague may be stopped from afflicting the people.”
23Ornan 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.”
24King 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 that costs me nothing.”
25So David gave to Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight for the place. 26David 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.
27Then Yahweh commanded the angel, and he put his sword back into its sheath. 28At that time, when David saw that Yahweh had answered him in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there. 29For Yahweh’s tabernacle, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering, were at that time in the high place at Gibeon. 30But David couldn’t go before it to inquire of God; for he was afraid because of the sword of Yahweh’s angel.
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5 commentators · 35 notes on this chapter
Matthew Henry3
Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.
Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.
Numbering the people, one would think, was no bad thing. Why should not the shepherd know the number of his flock? But God sees not as man sees. It is plain it was wrong in David to do it, and a great provocation to God, because he did it in the pride of his…
David is here under the rod for numbering the people, that rod of correction which drives out the foolishness that is bound up in the heart, the foolishness of pride. Let us briefly observe, I. How he was corrected. If God's dearest children do amiss, they…
We have here the controversy concluded, and, upon David's repentance, his peace made with God. Though thou wast angry with me, thy anger is turned away. 1. A stop was put to the progress of the execution, Ch1 21:15. When David repented of the sin God repented…
John Gill4
The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.
Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.
See Chapter Introduction
At that time when David saw that the Lord had answered him in the threshing floor Of Ornan the Jebusite,.... The same with Araunah, 2 Samuel 24:16, with some small variation of the letters, and are of the same signification; both signifying the "ornus", as…
For the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses made,.... Or ordered to be made by the command of God, and according to his direction: and the altar of burnt offerings, were at that season in the high place at Gibeon; which was four or five miles from Jerusalem…
Adam Clarke10
The linguist of this set. Expect Hebrew and Greek word study, oriental custom, and geography — and an Arminian reading of grace and free will where Gill or Henry would read election. Note one real divergence: Clarke denied the eternal sonship of Christ, a position most of the tradition rejects, so read him closely on the person of Christ.
Why this voice is here: Where you want to know what a word actually says, Clarke is the one who will tell you — with the caveat above on Christ’s sonship.
And Satan stood up against Israel - See the notes on the parallel place, Sa2 24:1 (note), etc.
All they of Israel were a thousand thousand - Judah was four hundred threescore and ten thousand - In the parallel place, Sa2 24:9 (note), the men of Israel are reckoned eight hundred thousand, and the men of Judah five hundred thousand.
Levi and Benjamin counted he not - The rabbins give the following reason for this: Joab, seeing that this would bring down destruction upon the people, purposed to save two tribes. Should David ask, Why have you not numbered the Levites? Joab purposed to say…
Keil & Delitzsch3
The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.
Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.
See Chapter Introduction See Chapter Introduction 1 Chronicles 21:28 ch1 21:28 ch1 21:28 ch1 21:28At that time when David saw that the Lord had answered him in the threshing floor Of Ornan the Jebusite,.... The same with Araunah, Sa2 24:16, with some small…
For the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses made,.... Or ordered to be made by the command of God, and according to his direction: and the altar of burnt offerings, were at that season in the high place at Gibeon; which was four or five miles from Jerusalem…
But David could not go before it to inquire of God,.... Which yet was the proper place to seek the Lord in: the reason follows: for he was afraid, because of the sword of the angel of the Lord; which had so terrified him, that he was so weak that he could not…
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown15
The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.
Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.
why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel?--or bring an occasion of punishment on Israel. In Hebrew, the word "sin" is often used synonymously with the punishment of sin. In the course of Providence, the people frequently suffer for the misconduct of their…
Joab gave the sum of the number of the children of Israel--It amounted to one million one hundred thousand men in Israel, capable of bearing arms, inclusive of the three hundred thousand military (Ch1 27:1-9), which, being already enlisted in the royal…
Levi and Benjamin counted he not--If this census was ordered with a view to the imposition of taxes, this alone would account for Levi, who were not warriors (Ch1 21:5), not being numbered (see on Num 1:47-54). The population of Benjamin had been taken (see…
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