1 Chronicles21
New American Standard
1Then Satan stood up against Israel and incited David to count Israel.
2So David said to Joab and to the leaders of the people, “Go, count Israel from Beersheba to Dan, and bring me word so that I may know their number.”
3But Joab said, “May the Lord add to His people a hundred times as many as they are! My lord the king, are they not all my lord’s servants? Why does my lord seek this thing? Why should he be a cause of guilt to Israel?”
4Nevertheless, the king’s word prevailed against Joab. Therefore, Joab departed and went throughout Israel, and came to Jerusalem.
5Then Joab gave the number of the census of the people to David. Israel was 1,100,000 men in all who drew the sword; and Judah was 470,000 men who drew the sword.
6But he did not count Levi and Benjamin among them, because the king’s command was abhorrent to Joab.
7Now God was displeased with this thing, so He struck Israel.
8David said to God, “I have sinned greatly, by doing this thing. But now, please overlook Your servant’s guilt, for I have behaved very foolishly.”
9The Lord spoke to Gad, David’s seer, saying,
10“Go and speak to David, saying, ‘This is what the Lord says: “I extend to you three choices; choose for yourself one of them, which I will do to you.”’”
11So Gad came to David and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Take for yourself
12three years of famine, or three months to be swept away before your foes while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or else three days of the sword of the Lord: a plague in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout the territory of Israel.’ Now, therefore, consider what answer I shall bring back to Him who sent me.”
13David said to Gad, “I am in great distress; please let me fall into the hand of the Lord, for His mercies are very great. But do not let me fall into human hands.”
14So the Lord sent a plague on Israel; seventy thousand men of Israel fell.
15And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it; but as he was about to destroy it, the Lord saw and was sorry about the catastrophe, and said to the destroying angel, “It is enough; now relax your hand.” And the angel of the Lord was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
16Then David raised his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, with his drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, covered with sackcloth, fell on their faces.
17And David said to God, “Is it not I who commanded to count the people? Indeed, I am the one who has sinned and acted very wickedly, but these sheep, what have they done? Lord, my God, just let Your hand be against me and my father’s household, and not against Your people as a plague.”
18Then the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David, that David was to go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
19So David went up at the word of Gad, which he spoke in the name of the Lord.
20Now Ornan turned back and saw the angel, and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. And Ornan was threshing wheat.
21As David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out from the threshing floor and prostrated himself to David with his face to the ground.
22Then David said to Ornan, “Give me the site of this threshing floor, so that I may build on it an altar to the Lord; you shall give it to me for the full price, so that the plague may be brought to a halt from the people.”
23But Ornan said to David, “Take it for yourself, and may my lord the king do what is good in his sight. See, I am giving the oxen for burnt offerings, and the threshing sledges for wood and the wheat for the grain offering; I am giving it all.”
24Nevertheless, King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will certainly buy it for the full price; for I will not take what is yours for the Lord, nor offer a burnt offering which costs me nothing.”
25So David gave Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight for the site.
26Then David built an altar there to the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. And he called to the Lord, and He answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering.
27The Lord commanded the angel, and he returned his sword to its sheath.
28At that time, when David saw that the Lord had answered him on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he offered sacrifice there.
29For the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering were on the high place at Gibeon at that time.
30But David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was terrified by the sword of the angel of the Lord.
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for 1 Chronicles 21.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: David's numbering the people. (1-30).
vv1-30
No mention is made in this book of David's sin in the matter of Uriah, neither of the troubles that followed it: they had no needful connexion with the subjects here noted. But David's sin, in numbering the people, is related: in the atonement made for that sin, there was notice of the place on which the temple should be built. The command to David to build an altar, was a blessed token of reconciliation. God testified his acceptance of David's offerings on this altar. Thus Christ was made sin, and a curse for us; it pleased the Lord to bruise him, that through him, God might be to us, not a consuming Fire, but a reconciled God. It is good to continue attendance on those ordinances in which we have experienced the tokens of God's presence, and have found that he is with us of a truth. Here God graciously met me, therefore I will still expect to meet him.
Key Words
שָׂטָן: an opponent; especially (with the article prefixed) Satan, the arch-enemy of good
עָמַד: to stand, in various relations (literal and figurative, intransitive and transitive)
עַל: above, over, upon, or against (yet always in this last relation with a downward aspect) in a great variety of applications
יִשְׂרָאֵל: Jisrael, a symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity
סוּת: properly, to prick, i.e. (figuratively) stimulate; by implication, to seduce
דָּוִד: David, the youngest son of Jesse
מָנָה: properly, to weigh out; by implication, to allot or constitute officially; also to enumerate or enroll
אָמַר: to say (used with great latitude)
יוֹאָב: Joab, the name of three Israelites
שַׂר: a head person (of any rank or class)
Cross References
1 Chronicles 21The parallel account attributing the prompt to the Lord's anger, whereas Chronicles names Satan.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Parallel account of David's confession of sin and heart-smiting after the numbering.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The Mosaic law requiring atonement money when numbering people to avoid a plague.
Supported by JFB
Identifies Ornan's threshingfloor as the location where Solomon would build the temple.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Prophetic vision of Satan standing in accusation before the Lord, matching his posture here.
Supported by Matthew Poole
The divine law exempting the tribe of Levi from standard military census registration.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
The parallel text offering the three options, with slight variation in famine duration.
Supported by JFB
Parallel text where David insists he will not offer burnt offerings to God without cost.
Parallel instance of God answering prayer by consuming the sacrifice with fire from heaven.
Supported by Matthew Henry
Parallel text of David pleading for the sheep when seeing the angel of judgment.
Parallel sighting of the Angel of the Lord with a drawn sword in hand.
Confirms the tabernacle and brass altar remained at Gibeon during David's reign.
The massive numbers in the census demonstrate the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham.
Supported by JFB
Similar transaction where Abraham insists on paying full price to Ephron for burial land.
Details Solomon sacrificing at the high place in Gibeon before the temple was built.
David declares this altar site to be the future house of the Lord God.