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Treasury of Scripture Knowledge: 2 Samuel 24

Chapter 24

And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.

A. M. 2987. B.C. 1017. An. Ex. Is. 474. again

21:1-14

he

This verse, when read without reference to any other part of the word of God, is very difficult to understand, and has been used by those who desire to undermine the justice of God, to shew that he sought occasion to punish--that he incited David to sin; and when he had so incited him, gave to him the dreadful alternative of choosing one of three scourges by which his people were to be cut off. On the face of the passage these thoughts naturally arise, because "the Lord" is the antecedent to the pronoun "he,"--He moved David. But to those who "search the Scriptures," this exceedingly difficult passage receives a wonderful elucidation, By referring to 1 Ch 21:1, the reader will there find that Satan was the mover, and that the Lord most righteously punished David for the display of pride he had manifested. Oh! that Christians, who sometimes have their minds harassed with doubts, would remember the promise, that what they know not now they shall know hereafter; and if no other instance of elucidation than this passage occurred to them to remove their doubts, let this be a means of stirring them up to dig deeper than ever into the inexhaustible mines of the Inspired Word.

James 1:13,14

moved

12:11 16:10 Genesis 45:5 50:20 Exodus 7:3 1 Samuel 26:19 1 Kings 22:20-23 Ezekiel 14:9 20:25 Acts 4:28 2 Thessalonians 2:11

Go, number

1 Chronicles 27:23,24

For the king said to Joab the captain of the host, which was with him, Go now through all the tribes of Israel, from Dan even to Beersheba, and number ye the people, that I may know the number of the people.

Joab

2:13 8:16 20:23 23:37

Go now, etc

or, Compass now all.

1 Chronicles 21:2

from Dan

3:10 17:11 Judges 20:1

and number

We know not in what the sinfulness of this action consisted. Some think it was a contempt of the promise that the Israelites should be innumerable, and that they ought not to have been numbered without an express command, as in the days of Moses. Others suppose with Josephus that it was a kind of sacrilege, in omitting to collect the half-shekel a-piece for the use of the sanctuary. It however would appear that pride and ambition, and a desire of conquest, induced David to this measure, and rendered it so displeasing to God.

that I may

Deuteronomy 8:13,14 2 Chronicles 32:25,26,31 Proverbs 29:23 Jeremiah 17:5 2 Corinthians 12:7

And Joab said unto the king, Now 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?

10:12 1 Chronicles 21:3,4 Psalms 115:14 Proverbs 14:28 Isaiah 60:5

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 people of Israel.

the king's

1 Chronicles 21:4 Ecclesiastes 8:4

went out

Exodus 1:17 Acts 5:29

And they passed over Jordan, and pitched in Aroer, on the right side of the city that lieth in the midst of the river of Gad, and toward Jazer:

Aroer

Deuteronomy 2:36 Joshua 13:9,16 1 Samuel 30:28 Isaiah 17:2

river

or, valley. Jazer.

Numbers 32:1,3,35 Isaiah 16:8,9

Then they came to Gilead, and to the land of Tahtimhodshi; and they came to Danjaan, and about to Zidon,

Gilead

Genesis 31:21,47,48 Numbers 32:1,39

land of Tahtim-hodshi

or, nether land newly inhabited. Dan-jaan.

Joshua 19:47 Judges 18:29

Zidon

Genesis 10:15 Joshua 11:8 19:28 Judges 18:28

And came to the strong hold of Tyre, and to all the cities of the Hivites, and of the Canaanites: and they went out to the south of Judah, even to Beersheba.

Tyre

Joshua 19:29

to Beer-sheba

2 Genesis 21:31-33

And Joab gave up the sum of the number 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.

eight hundred thousand

1 Chronicles 21:5,6 27:23,24

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: and now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.

David's heart

1 Samuel 24:5 John 8:9 1 John 3:20,21

I have sinned

12:13 1 Chronicles 21:8 2 Chronicles 32:26 Job 33:27,28 Psalms 32:5 Proverbs 28:13 Micah 7:8,9 1 John 1:9

take away

Job 7:21 Hosea 14:2 John 1:29

foolishly

12:13 Deuteronomy 32:6 1 Samuel 13:13 26:21 2 Chronicles 16:9 Mark 7:22 Titus 3:3

For when David was up in the morning, the word of the LORD came unto the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying,

Gad

1 Samuel 22:5 1 Chronicles 2:19 29:29

seer

1 Samuel 9:9

Go and say unto David, Thus saith the LORD, I offer thee three things; choose thee one of them, that I may do it unto thee.

I offer

1 Chronicles 21:10,11

that I may

12:9,10,14 Leviticus 26:41,43 Job 5:17,18 Proverbs 3:12 Hebrews 12:6-10 Revelation 3:19

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 thine enemies, while they pursue thee? or that there be three days' pestilence in thy land? now advise, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me.

seven

21:1 Leviticus 26:20 1 Kings 17:1-7 1 Chronicles 21:12 Ezekiel 14:13,21 Luke 4:25

flee

Leviticus 26:17,36,37 Deuteronomy 28:25,52

three days

Leviticus 26:16,25 Deuteronomy 28:22,27,35 Psalms 91:6 Ezekiel 14:19-21

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 hand of man.

I am in

1 Samuel 13:6 2 Kings 6:15 John 12:27 Philippians 1:23

for his

Exodus 34:6,7 1 Chronicles 21:13 Psalms 51:1 86:5,15 103:8-14 119:156 145:9 Isaiah 55:7 Jonah 4:2 Micah 7:18

great

or, many. let me not.

2 Kings 13:3-7 2 Chronicles 28:5-9 Psalms 106:41,42 Proverbs 12:10 Isaiah 47:6 Zechariah 1:15

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 Beersheba seventy thousand men.

the Lord

Numbers 16:46-49 25:9 1 Samuel 6:19 1 Chronicles 21:14 27:4 Matthew 24:7 Revelation 6:8

from Dan

seventy thousand men

Isaiah 37:36

And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite.

the angel

Exodus 12:23 2 Kings 19:35 1 Chronicles 21:15,16 2 Chronicles 32:21 Psalms 35:6 Acts 12:23

repented

Genesis 6:6 1 Samuel 15:11 Psalms 78:38 90:13 135:14 Jeremiah 18:7-10 Joel 2:13,14 Amos 7:3,6 Habakkuk 3:2

It is enough

Exodus 9:28 1 Kings 19:4 Isaiah 27:8 40:1,2 57:16 Joel 2:13,14 Mark 14:41 2 Corinthians 2:6

Araunah

18 1 Chronicles 21:15 2 Chronicles 3:1

Ornan

the Jebusite.

5:8 Genesis 10:16 Joshua 15:63 Judges 1:21 19:11 Zechariah 9:7

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 wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father's house.

spake

1 Chronicles 21:16,17

Lo, I have sinned

10 Job 7:20 42:6 Psalms 51:2-5 Isaiah 6:5

these sheep

1 Kings 22:17 Psalms 44:11 74:1 Ezekiel 34:2-6,23,24 Zechariah 13:7

let thine

Genesis 44:33 John 10:11,12 1 Peter 2:24,25

And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the LORD in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite.

Gad

11 1 Chronicles 21:18-30

threshing floor

These, among the ancient Jews, were only round, level plats of ground in the open air, as they are to this day in the East, where the corn was trodden out by oxen.

Araunah

Heb. Araniah.

And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the LORD commanded.

as the Lord

Genesis 6:22 1 Chronicles 21:19 2 Chronicles 20:20 36:16 Nehemiah 9:26 Hebrews 11:8

And Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground.

bowed

9:8 Genesis 18:2 Ruth 2:10 1 Chronicles 21:20,21

And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the LORD, that the plague may be stayed from the people.

Wherefore

3,18

To buy

Genesis 23:8-16 1 Chronicles 21:22 Jeremiah 32:6-14

the plague

21:3-14 Numbers 16:47-50 25:8 Psalms 106:30

And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood.

Let my lord

Genesis 23:11 1 Chronicles 21:22

be oxen

1 Samuel 6:14 1 Kings 19:21

All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The LORD thy God accept thee.

as a king

Psalms 45:16 Isaiah 32:8

The Lord

Job 42:8,9 Psalms 20:3,4 Isaiah 60:7 Ezekiel 20:40,41 Hosea 8:13 Romans 15:30,31 1 Timothy 2:1,2 1 Peter 2:5

And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the LORD my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

Nay

Genesis 23:13 1 Chronicles 21:24 Malachi 1:12-14 Romans 12:17

So David

1 Chronicles 21:25 22:1

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.

built there

Genesis 8:20 22:9 1 Samuel 7:9,17

So the Lord

14 21:14 1 Chronicles 21:26,27 Lamentations 3:32,33