1 Chronicleschapter 21

A.Satan moves David to number Israelvv. 1-6

1 Then Satan rose up against Israel and incited David to take a census of Israel. 2 So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, “Go and count the Israelites from Beersheba to Dan and bring me a report, so that I may know their number.” 3 But Joab replied, “May the LORD multiply His troops a hundred times over. My lord the king, are they not all servants of my lord? Why does my lord want to do this? Why should he bring guilt on Israel?” 4 Nevertheless, the king’s word prevailed against Joab. So Joab departed and traveled throughout Israel, and then he returned to Jerusalem. 5 And Joab reported to David the total number of the troops. In all Israel there were 1,100,000 men who drew the sword, including 470,000 in Judah. 6 But Joab did not include Levi and Benjamin in the count, because the king’s command was detestable to him.

B.Three punishments offered, and an angel over Jerusalemvv. 7-15

7 This command was also evil in the sight of God; so He struck Israel. 8 Then David said to God, “I have sinned greatly because I have done this thing. Now I beg You to take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.” 9 And the LORD instructed Gad, David’s seer, 10 “Go and tell David that this is what the LORD says: ‘I am offering you three options. Choose one of them, and I will carry it out against you.’” 11 So Gad went and said to David, “This is what the LORD says: ‘You must choose 12 between three years of famine, three months of being swept away before your enemies and overtaken by their swords, or three days of the sword of the LORD—days of plague upon the land, with the angel of the LORD ravaging every part of Israel.’ Now then, decide how I should reply to Him who sent me.” 13 David answered Gad, “I am deeply distressed. Please, let me fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are very great; but do not let me fall into the hands of men.” 14 So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell dead. 15 Then God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem, but as the angel was doing so, the LORD saw it and relented from the calamity, and He said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand now!” At that time the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

C.Ornan's threshing floor bought at the full pricevv. 16-30

16 When David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem, David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell facedown. 17 And David said to God, “Was it not I who gave the order to count the people? I am the one who has sinned and acted wickedly. But these sheep, what have they done? O LORD my God, please let Your hand fall upon me and my father’s house, but do not let this plague remain upon Your people.” 18 Then the angel of the LORD ordered Gad to tell David to go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 19 So David went up at the word that Gad had spoken in the name of the LORD. 20 Now Ornan was threshing wheat when he turned and saw the angel; and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. 21 David came to Ornan, and when Ornan looked out and saw David, he left the threshing floor and bowed facedown before David. 22 Then David said to Ornan, “Grant me the site of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar to the LORD. Sell it to me for the full price, so that the plague upon the people may be halted.” 23 Ornan said to David, “My lord the king may take whatever seems good. Look, I will give the oxen for the burnt offerings, the threshing sledges for the wood, and the wheat for the grain offering—I will give it all.” 24 “No,” replied King David, “I insist on paying the full price, for I will not take for the LORD what belongs to you, nor will I offer burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” 25 So David paid Ornan six hundred shekels of gold for the site. 26 And there he built an altar to the LORD and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. He called upon the LORD, who answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering. 27 Then the LORD spoke to the angel, who put his sword back into its sheath. 28 At that time, when David saw that the LORD had answered him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he offered sacrifices there. 29 For the tabernacle of the LORD that Moses had made in the wilderness and the altar of burnt offering were presently at the high place in Gibeon, 30 but David could not go before it to inquire of God, because he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the LORD.

Commentary on this chapter: read the Exposition

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Chapter summary

'And Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel': one of Scripture's clearest glimpses of the adversary at work behind a king's pride.

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'And Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel': one of Scripture's clearest glimpses of the adversary at work behind a king's pride. Joab protests and leaves Levi and Benjamin uncounted; God is displeased and offers three judgments; David chooses to fall into the hand of Jehovah, 'for very great are his mercies.' Seventy thousand die, and David sees the angel standing between earth and heaven with a drawn sword over Jerusalem. He buys the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite at the full price ('I will not take that which is thine for Jehovah, nor offer a burnt-offering without cost') and fire falls from heaven on the altar. That floor becomes the temple mount.

Drawn from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory, Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary and John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament.

Context

History · Ezra — 1 Chronicles overview

A. 1–6 Satan moves David to number Israel
B. 7–15 Three punishments offered, and an angel over Jerusalem
C. 16–30 Ornan's threshing floor bought at the full price

Top cross-references8 chapters ▾

2 Samuel 2410 verses
- 2 Samuel 24:1Again the anger of the LORD burned against Israel, and He stirred up David against them, saying, “Go and take a census of Israel and Judah.”
- 2 Samuel 24:3But Joab replied to the king, “May the LORD your God multiply the troops a hundred times over, and may the eyes of my lord the king see it. But why does my lord the king want to do such a thing?”
- 2 Samuel 24:9And Joab reported to the king the total number of the troops. In Israel there were 800,000 men of valor who drew the sword, and in Judah there were 500,000.
- 2 Samuel 24:11When David got up in the morning, a revelation from the LORD had come to Gad the prophet, David’s seer:
- 2 Samuel 24:13So Gad went and said to David, “Do you choose to endure three years of famine in your land, three months of fleeing the pursuit of your enemies, or three days of plague upon your land? Now then, think it over and decide how I should reply to Him who sent me.”
- 2 Samuel 24:15So the LORD sent a plague upon Israel from that morning until the appointed time, and seventy thousand of the people from Dan to Beersheba died.
- Read 2 Samuel 24: 4 more there →
1 Chronicles 272 verses
- 1 Chronicles 27:23David did not count the men aged twenty or under, because the LORD had said that He would make Israel as numerous as the stars of the sky.
- 1 Chronicles 27:24Joab son of Zeruiah began to count the men but did not finish. For because of this census wrath came upon Israel, and the number was not entered in the Book of the Chronicles of King David.
- Read 1 Chronicles 27 →
2 Samuel 122 verses
- 2 Samuel 12:10Now, therefore, the sword will never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own.’
- 2 Samuel 12:13Then David said to Nathan, “I have sinned against the LORD.” “The LORD has taken away your sin,” Nathan replied. “You will not die.
- Read 2 Samuel 12 →
Numbers 162 verses
- Numbers 16:46Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, place fire from the altar in it, and add incense. Go quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, because wrath has come out from the LORD; the plague has begun.”
- Numbers 16:48He stood between the living and the dead, and the plague was halted.
- Read Numbers 16 →

4 more chapters this one speaks with

1 Kings 212 verses
- 1 Kings 21:2So Ahab said to Naboth, “Give me your vineyard to use as a vegetable garden, since it is next to my palace. I will give you a better vineyard in its place—or if you prefer, I will give you its value in silver.”
- 1 Kings 21:27When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth, and fasted. He lay down in sackcloth and walked around meekly.
- Read 1 Kings 21 →
Judges 62 verses
- Judges 6:11Then the angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites.
- Judges 6:21Then the angel of the LORD extended the tip of the staff that was in his hand and touched the meat and the unleavened bread. And fire flared from the rock and consumed the meat and the unleavened bread. Then the angel of the LORD vanished from his sight.
- Read Judges 6 →
Genesis 232 verses
- Genesis 23:4“I am a foreigner and an outsider among you. Give me a burial site among you so that I can bury my dead.”
- Genesis 23:13and said to Ephron in their presence, “If you will please listen to me, I will pay you the price of the field. Accept it from me, so that I may bury my dead there.”
- Read Genesis 23 →
2 Chronicles 12 verses
- 2 Chronicles 1:3And Solomon and the whole assembly went to the high place at Gibeon because it was the location of God’s Tent of Meeting, which Moses the servant of the LORD had made in the wilderness.
- 2 Chronicles 1:13So Solomon went to Jerusalem from the high place in Gibeon before the Tent of Meeting, and he reigned over Israel.
- Read 2 Chronicles 1 →

Cross-references from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge and OpenBible.info.