12 Choose thee, either three years of famine, or three months to be destroyed before thine adversaries while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee, or three days the sword of Jehovah and the pestilence in the land, and the angel of Jehovah destroying through all the borders of Israel. And now consider what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.
And Elisha had spoken to the woman whose son he had restored to life, saying, Rise up and go, thou and thy household, and sojourn wheresoever thou canst sojourn; for Jehovah has called for a famine, and it shall also come upon the land for seven years.
And after this I saw four angels standing upon the four corners of the earth, holding fast the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow upon the earth, nor upon the sea, nor upon any tree. And I saw another angel ascending from [the] sunrising, having [the] seal of [the] living God; and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it had been given to hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, until we shall have sealed the bondmen of our God upon their foreheads.
But of a truth I say to you, There were many widows in Israel in the days of Elias, when the heaven was shut up for three years and six months, so that a great famine came upon all the land,
Thus shall it be in the completion of the age: the angels shall go forth and sever the wicked from the midst of the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.
Or [if] I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out my fury upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast, and Noah, Daniel, and Job should be in it, [as] I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, they should deliver neither son nor daughter: they should [but] deliver their own souls by their righteousness. For thus saith the Lord Jehovah: How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the evil beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast!
The slain with the sword are happier than the slain with hunger; for these pine away, stricken through for want of the fruits of the field.
Alas! sword of Jehovah, how long wilt thou not be quiet? Withdraw into thy scabbard, rest, and be still.
Spoilers are come upon all heights in the wilderness; for the sword of Jehovah devoureth from one end of the land even to the [other] end of the land: no flesh hath peace.
For by fire and by his sword will Jehovah enter into judgment with all flesh: and the slain of Jehovah shall be many.
And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it; and as he was destroying, Jehovah beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough; withdraw now thine hand. And the angel of Jehovah stood by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of Jehovah stand between the earth and the heavens, and his sword drawn in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. And David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell on their faces.
And it came to pass that night, that an angel of Jehovah went forth, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians a hundred and eighty-five thousand. And when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead bodies.
And Elijah the Tishbite, of the inhabitants of Gilead, said to Ahab, As Jehovah the God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except by my word.
And Gad came to David, and told him, and said to him, Shall seven years of famine come to thee in thy land? or wilt thou flee three months before thine adversaries while they pursue thee? or shall there be three days' pestilence in thy land? Now be aware and consider what word I shall bring again to him that sent me. And David said to Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall, I pray thee, into the hand of Jehovah; for his mercies are great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.
and he shall eat the fruit of thy cattle, and the fruit of thy ground, until thou be destroyed; for he shall not leave thee corn, new wine, or oil, offspring of thy kine, or increase of thy sheep, until he have destroyed thee. And he shall besiege thee in all thy gates, until thy high and strong walls wherein thou trustedst come down, throughout all thy land; and he shall besiege thee in all thy gates in all thy land, which Jehovah thy God hath given thee.
Jehovah will smite thee in the knees and in the legs with evil ulcers, whereof thou canst not be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head.
Jehovah will give thee up smitten before thine enemies; thou shalt go out against them one way, and by seven ways shalt thou flee before them; and thou shalt be driven hither and thither into all the kingdoms of the earth.
Jehovah will smite thee with consumption, and with fever, and with inflammation, and with burning ague, and with drought, and with blight, and with mildew, and they shall pursue thee until thou perish.
And as to those that remain of you -- I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies, that the sound of a driven leaf shall chase them, and they shall flee, as fleeing from a sword; and they shall fall when none pursueth; and they shall stumble one over another, as it were before a sword, when none pursueth; and ye shall have no power to stand before your enemies.
And I will bring a sword upon you that avengeth with the vengeance of the covenant, and ye shall be gathered together into your cities, and I will send the pestilence among you; and ye shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. When I break the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and shall deliver you the bread again by weight; and ye shall eat, and not be satisfied. And if for this ye hearken not to me, but walk contrary unto me, then I will walk contrary unto you also in fury; and I, even I, will chastise you seven-fold for your sins. And ye shall eat the flesh of your sons, and the flesh of your daughters shall ye eat.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on 1 Chronicles 21
Commentary on 1 Chronicles 21 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 21
1Ch 21:1-13. David Sins in Numbering the People.
1. Satan stood up against Israel—God, by withdrawing His grace at this time from David (see on 2Sa 24:1), permitted the tempter to prevail over him. As the result of this successful temptation was the entail of a heavy calamity as a punishment from God upon the people, it might be said that "Satan stood up against Israel."
number Israel—In the act of taking the census of a people, there is not only no evil, but much utility. But numbering Israel—that people who were to become as the stars for multitude, implying a distrust of the divine promise, was a sin; and though it had been done with impunity in the time of Moses, at that enumeration each of the people had contributed "half a shekel towards the building of the tabernacle," that there might be no plague among them when he numbered them (Ex 30:12). Hence the numbering of that people was in itself regarded as an undertaking by which the anger of God could be easily aroused; but when the arrangements were made by Moses for the taking of the census, God was not angry because the people were numbered for the express purpose of the tax for the sanctuary, and the money which was thus collected ("the atonement money," Ex 30:16) appeased Him. Everything depended, therefore, upon the design of the census [Bertheau]. The sin of David numbering the people consisted in its being either to gratify his pride to ascertain the number of warriors he could muster for some meditated plan of conquest; or, perhaps, more likely still, to institute a regular and permanent system of taxation, which he deemed necessary to provide an adequate establishment for the monarchy, but which was regarded as a tyrannical and oppressive exaction—an innovation on the liberty of the people—a departure from ancient usage unbecoming a king of Israel.
3. why will he be a cause of trespass to Israel?—or bring an occasion of punishment on Israel. In Hebrew, the word "sin" is often used synonymously with the punishment of sin. In the course of Providence, the people frequently suffer for the misconduct of their rulers.
5. Joab gave the sum of the number of the children of Israel—It amounted to one million one hundred thousand men in Israel, capable of bearing arms, inclusive of the three hundred thousand military (1Ch 27:1-9), which, being already enlisted in the royal service, were not reckoned (2Sa 24:9), and to four hundred seventy thousand men in Judah, omitting thirty thousand which formed an army of observation stationed on the Philistine frontier (2Sa 6:1). So large a population at this early period, considering the limited extent of the country and comparing it with the earlier census (Nu 26:1-65), is a striking proof of the fulfilment of the promise (Ge 15:5).
6. Levi and Benjamin counted he not—If this census was ordered with a view to the imposition of taxes, this alone would account for Levi, who were not warriors (1Ch 21:5), not being numbered (see on Nu 1:47-54). The population of Benjamin had been taken (see on 1Ch 7:6-11), and the register preserved in the archives of that tribe. This, however, was taken on another occasion, and by other agency than that of Joab. The non-numbering of these two tribes might have originated in the special and gracious providence of God, partly because Levi was devoted to His service, and Benjamin had become the least of all the tribes (Jud 21:1-25); and partly because God foresaw that they would remain faithful to the house of David in the division of the tribes, and therefore He would not have them diminished [Poole]. From the course followed in this survey (see on 2Sa 24:4-8), it would appear that Judah and Benjamin were the last tribes that were to be visited; and that, after the census in Judah had been finished, Joab, before entering on that of Benjamin, had to return to Jerusalem, where the king, now sensible of his great error, gave orders to stop all further proceedings in the business. Not only the remonstrance of Joab at the first, but his slow progress in the survey (2Sa 24:8) showed the strong repugnance and even horror of the old general at this unconstitutional measure.
9. the Lord spake unto Gad, David's seer—Although David was himself endowed with a prophetic gift, yet, in matters relating to himself or his kingdom, he was in the habit of consulting the Lord through the medium of the priests; and when he failed to do so, a prophet was sent on extraordinary occasions to admonish or chastise him. Gad, a private friend, was occasionally employed as the bearer of these prophetic messages.
11, 12. Choose thee, &c.—To the three evils these correspond in beautiful agreement: three years, three months, three days [Bertheau]. (See on 2Sa 24:13).
13. let me fall now into the hand of the Lord … let me not fall into the hand of man—Experience had taught him that human passion and vengeance had no bounds, whereas our wise and gracious Father in heaven knows the kind, and regulates the extent, of chastisement which every one needs.
14, 15. So the Lord … sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it—The infliction only of the pestilence is here noticed, without any account of its duration or its ravages, while a minute description is given of the visible appearance and menacing attitude of the destroying angel.
15. stood by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite—Ornan was probably his Hebrew or Jewish, Araunah his Jebusite or Canaanitish, name. Whether he was the old king of Jebus, as that title is given to him (2Sa 24:23), or not, he had been converted to the worship of the true God, and was possessed both of property and influence.
16. David and the elders … clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces—They appeared in the garb and assumed the attitude of humble penitents, confessing their sins, and deprecating the wrath of God.
1Ch 21:18-30. He Builds an Altar.
18. the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say—The order about the erection of an altar, as well as the indication of its site, is described (2Sa 24:18) as brought directly by Gad. Here we are informed of the quarter whence the prophet got his commission. It is only in the later stages of Israel's history that we find angels employed in communicating the divine will to the prophets.
20, 21. Ornan was threshing wheat—If the census was entered upon in autumn, the beginning of the civil year, the nine and a half months it occupied would end at wheat harvest. The common way of threshing corn is by spreading it out on a high level area, and driving backwards and forwards upon it two oxen harnessed to a clumsy sledge with three rollers and some sharp spikes. The driver sits on his knees on the box, while another person is employed in drawing back the straw and separating it from the grain underneath. By this operation the chaff is very much chopped, and the grain threshed out.
23. I give thee … the threshing instruments for wood—that is, to burn the sacrifice of the oxen. Very little real import—the haste and the value of the present offered—can be understood in this country. The offering was made for instant use. Ornan, hereby hoping to terminate the pestilence without a moment's delay, "gave all," oxen, the large threshing machine, and the wheat.
25. David gave … for the place six hundred shekels of gold—At first he bought only the cattle and the threshing instruments, for which he paid fifty shekels of silver (2Sa 24:24); afterwards he purchased the whole property, Mount Moriah, on which the future temple stood. High in the center of the mountain platform rises a remarkable rock, now covered by the dome of "the Sakrah." It is irregular in its form, and measures about sixty feet in one direction and fifty feet in the other. It is the natural surface of Mount Moriah and is thought by many to be the rock of the threshing-floor of Araunah, selected by David, and continued by Solomon and Zerubbabel as "the unhewn stone" on which to build the altar [BARTLETT, Walks about Jerusalem; Stanley].
26. David built there an altar—He went in procession with his leading men from the royal palace, down Mount Zion, and through the intervening city. Although he had plenty of space on his own property, he was commanded, under peremptory direction, to go a considerable distance from his home, up Mount Moriah, to erect an altar on premises which he had to buy. It was on or close to the spot where Abraham had offered up Isaac.
answered him by fire from heaven—(See Le 9:24; 1Ki 18:21-23; 2Ki 1:12; 2Ch 7:1).
28. when David saw that the Lord had answered him …, he sacrificed there—or, "he continued to sacrifice there." Perceiving his sacrifice was acceptable, he proceeded to make additional offerings there, and seek favor by prayer and expiatory rites; for the dread of the menacing angel destroying Jerusalem while he was absent in the center of worship at Gibeon, especially reverence for the Divine Being, led him to continue his adorations in that place which God (2Ch 3:1) had hallowed by the tokens of His presence and gracious acceptance.