1 Chronicles21
New King James Version
1Now Satan stood up against Israel, and moved David to number Israel.
2So David said to Joab and to the leaders of the people, “Go, number Israel from Beersheba to Dan, and bring the number of them to me that I may know it.”
3And Joab answered, “May the Lord make His people a hundred times more than they are. But, my lord the king, are they not all my lord’s servants? Why then does my lord require this thing? Why should he be a cause of guilt in Israel?”
4Nevertheless the king’s word prevailed against Joab. Therefore Joab departed and went throughout all Israel and came to Jerusalem.
5Then Joab gave the sum of the number of the people to David. All Israel had one million one hundred thousand men who drew the sword, and Judah had four hundred and seventy thousand men who drew the sword.
6But he did not count Levi and Benjamin among them, for the king’s word was abominable to Joab.
7And God was displeased with this thing; therefore He struck Israel.
8So David said to God, “I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing; but now, I pray, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have done very foolishly.”
9Then the Lord spoke to Gad, David’s seer, saying,
10“Go and tell David, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord: “I offer you three things; choose one of them for yourself, that I may do it to you.” ’ ”
11So Gad came to David and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Choose for yourself,
12either three years of famine, or three months to be defeated by your foes with the sword of your enemies overtaking you, or else for three days the sword of the Lord—the plague in the land, with the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.’ Now consider what answer I should take back to Him who sent me.”
13And David 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 the hand of man.”
14So the Lord sent a plague upon Israel, and seventy thousand men of Israel fell.
15And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. As he was destroying, the Lord looked and relented of the disaster, and said to the angel who was destroying, “It is enough; now restrain your hand.” And the angel of the Lord stood by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
16Then David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, having in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. So David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces.
17And David said to God, “Was it not I who commanded the people to be numbered? I am the one who has sinned and done evil indeed; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, O Lord my God, be against me and my father’s house, but not against Your people that they should be plagued.”
18Therefore, the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David that David should go and erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
19So David went up at the word of Gad, which he had spoken in the name of the Lord.
20Now Ornan turned and saw the angel; and his four sons who were with him hid themselves, but Ornan continued threshing wheat.
21So David came to Ornan, and Ornan looked and saw David. And he went out from the threshing floor, and bowed before David with his face to the ground.
22Then David said to Ornan, “Grant me the place of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar on it to the Lord. You shall grant it to me at the full price, that the plague may be withdrawn from the people.”
23But Ornan said to David, “Take it to yourself, and let my lord the king do what is good in his eyes. Look, I also give you the oxen for burnt offerings, the threshing implements for wood, and the wheat for the grain offering; I give it all.”
24Then King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will surely buy it for the full price, for I will not take what is yours for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings with that which costs me nothing.”
25So David gave Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight for the place.
26And David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called on the Lord; and He answered him from heaven by fire on the altar of burnt offering.
27So the 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 sacrificed there.
29For the tabernacle of the Lord and the altar of the burnt offering, which Moses had made in the wilderness, were at that time at the high place in Gibeon.
30But David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was afraid of 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.