2 Samuel 24:24 Kommentar

INTRODUCTION TO SECOND SAMUEL 24 In this chapter an account is given of David's numbering of the people, Sa2 24:1; of the sense he had of his sin, and of his acknowledgment of it; and of the Lord's displeasure at it, who sent the prophet Gad to him, to propose three things to him, one of which he was to choose as a punishment for it, Sa2 24:10; when he chose the pestilence, which carried off a great number of the people, Sa2 24:14; and David was directed to build an altar to the Lord in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite, with whom he agreed for it, and built one on it, and offered upon it, and so the plague was stayed, Sa2 24:18.

And David built there an altar unto the Lord,.... After he had made the purchase: and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings; the one to expiate the sin or sins committed, the other to give thanks for the intimation given, that the plague would be stayed upon this: so the Lord was entreated for the land; was pacified and prevailed upon to remove the pestilence from it; which was signified by fire descending upon the altar of burnt offering, which showed the sacrifice was accepted, and by the angel being ordered to put his sword into its sheath, Ch1 21:26; and the Targum is,"and the Lord received the prayer of the inhabitants of the land:" and the plague was stayed from Israel; no more died of the pestilence, either at Jerusalem, or in any other part of the land Israel. Next: 3 Kings (1 Kings) Introduction

Therefore, the king himself offered blessed David the threshing floor and oxen for a burnt offering, but King David refused to accept them without first paying a price. This, too, was fulfilled at the coming of our Lord and Savior, for he refused to take the hearts of the Gentiles for himself without first giving his precious blood for them. What, then, did he give? “Fifty shekels of silver,” it says. In the number fifty the grace of the Holy Spirit is understood and the remission of sins is designated. Indeed, on the fiftieth day the Holy Spirit was sent to the apostles, and in the Old Testament the fiftieth year was dedicated to forgiveness and pardon. That David, to be sure, gave silver; our David, whose type the other prefigured, shed his precious blood. Thus, in order to buy the pagan king’s threshing floor David offered fifty shekels; in order to build an altar to himself on the threshing floor of the Gentiles Christ, the true David, gave the grace of the Holy Spirit and forgiveness of sins on the fiftieth day. Therefore, brothers, since he has deigned to make a temple for himself in us and out of us, let him not suffer any insult in his home. If he does suffer injury because of our sins, he quickly withdraws, and woe to the unhappy soul from which he departs. Doubtless, if one is deserted by the light he will be seized by darkness. For this reason let us with his aid endeavor so to live that we may merit to have the good Lord not only as our guest but as a perpetual inhabitant: with the help of our same Lord Jesus Christ, to whom is honor and glory together with the Father and the Holy Spirit world without end. Amen.

David is tempted by Satan to number Israel and Judah, Sa2 24:1. Joab remonstrates against it, but the king determines that it shall be done; and Joab and the captains accomplish the work, and bring the sum total to the king: viz.: eight hundred thousand warriors in Israel, and five hundred thousand in Judah, Sa2 24:2-9. David is convinced that he has done wrong; and the prophet Gad is sent to him, to give him his choice of three judgments, one of which God is determined to inflict upon the nation, Sa2 24:10-13. David humbles himself before God; and a pestilence is sent, which destroys seventy thousand men, Sa2 24:14, Sa2 24:15. The angel of the Lord being about to destroy Jerusalem, David makes intercession, and the plague is stayed, Sa2 24:16, Sa2 24:17. Gad directs him to build an altar to the Lord on the threshing-floor of Araunah, where the plague was stayed, Sa2 24:18. He purchases this place for the purpose, and offers burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, Sa2 24:19-25.

Neither will I offer burnt-offerings - It is a maxim from heaven, "Honour the Lord with thy substance." He who has a religion that costs him nothing, has a religion that is worth nothing: nor will any man esteem the ordinances of God, if those ordinances cost him nothing. Had Araunah's noble offer been accepted, it would have been Araunah's sacrifice, not David's; nor would it have answered the end of turning away the displeasure of the Most High. It was David that sinned, not Araunah: therefore David must offer sacrifice, and at his own expense too.

Nay; . . . I will . . . buy it of thee at a price--The sum mentioned here, namely, fifty shekels of silver, equal £6 sterling, was paid for the floor, oxen and wood instruments only, whereas the large sum (Ch1 21:25) was paid afterwards for the whole hill, on which David made preparations for building the temple.

Numbering of the People, and Pestilence - 2 Samuel 24 For the purpose of ascertaining the number of the people, and their fitness for war, David ordered Joab, his commander-in-chief, to take a census of Israel and Judah. Joab dissuaded him from such a step; but inasmuch as the king paid no attention to his dissuasion, he carried out the command with the help of the military captains (Sa2 24:1-9). David very speedily saw, however, that he had sinned; whereupon the prophet Gad went to him by the command of Jehovah to announce the coming punishment, and give him the choice of three different judgments which he placed before him (Sa2 24:10-13). As David chose rather to fall into the hand of the Lord than into the hand of men, God sent a pestilence, which carried off seventy thousand men in one day throughout the whole land, and had reached Jerusalem, when the Lord stopped the destroying angel in consequence of the penitential prayer of David (Sa2 24:14-17), and sent Gad to the king to direct him to build an altar to the Lord on the spot where the destroying angel had appeared to him (Sa2 24:18). Accordingly David bought the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite, built an altar upon it, and sacrificed burnt-offerings and thank-offerings, after which the plague was stayed (Sa2 24:19-25). This occurrence, which is introduced in the parallel history in 1 Chron 21 between David's wars and his arrangements for a more complete organization of the affairs of the nation, belongs undoubtedly to the closing years of David's reign. The mere taking of a census, as a measure that would facilitate the general organization of the kingdom, could not in itself be a sinful act, by which David brought guilt upon himself, or upon the nation, before God. Nevertheless it is not only represented in Sa2 24:1 as a manifestation of the wrath of God against Israel, but in Sa2 24:3 Joab seeks to dissuade the king from it as being a wrong thing; and in Sa2 24:10 David himself admits that it was a grievous sin against God, and as a sin it is punished by the Lord (Sa2 24:12.). In what, then, did David's sin consist? Certainly not in the fact that, when taking the census, "he neglected to demand the atonement money, which was to be raised, according to Exo 30:12., from all who were numbered, because the numbering of the people was regarded in itself as an undertaking by which the anger of God might easily be excited," as Josephus and Bertheau maintain; for the Mosaic instructions concerning the atonement money had reference to the incorporation of the people into the army of Jehovah (see at Exo 30:13-14), and therefore did not come into consideration at all in connection with the census appointed by David as a purely political measure. Nor can we imagine that David's sin consisted merely in the fact that he "entered upon the whole affair from pride and vain boasting," or that "he commanded the census from vanity, inasmuch as he wanted to have it distinctly set before his own eyes how strong and mighty he was" (Buddeus, Hengstenberg, and others); for although pride and vanity had something to do with it, as the words of Joab especially seem to indicate, David was far too great a man to allow us to attribute to him a childish delight in the mere number of souls in his kingdom. The census had certainly a higher purpose than this. It is very evident from Ch1 27:23-24, where it is mentioned again that it was connected with the military organization of the people, and probably was to be the completion of it. David wanted to know the number of his subjects, not that he might be able to boast of their multitude, nor that he might be able to impose all kinds of taxes upon every town and village according to their houses and inhabitants, as Ewald maintains; but that he might be fully acquainted with its defensive power, though we can neither attribute to him the definite purpose "of transforming the theocratic sacred state into a conquering world-state" (Kurtz), nor assume that through this numbering the whole nation was to be enrolled for military service, and that thirst for conquest was the motive for the undertaking. The true kernel of David's sin was to be found, no doubt, in self-exaltation, inasmuch as he sought for the strength and glory of his kingdom in the number of the people and their readiness for war. This sin was punished. "Because David was about to boast proudly and to glory in the number of his people, God determined to punish him by reducing their number either by famine, war, or pestilence" (Seb. Schmidt). At the same time, the people themselves had sinned grievously against God and their king, through the two rebellions headed by Absalom and Sheba.