Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Samuel 24:16
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.
16. the angel ] Angels are God’s ministers in temporal judgment now, as well as in the final judgment hereafter. Cp. Exo 12:23; Psa 78:49 ; 2Ki 19:35; Act 12:23; Mat 13:41.
the Lord repented him of the evil ] Cp. Exo 32:14; Jer 26:13; Jer 26:19; Jon 3:10. On the one hand Scripture teaches us that “God is not a man that he should repent” (Num 23:19; 1Sa 15:29); on the other hand it does not shrink from saying that God repents ( a) when, as here, upon man’s penitence He withdraws or mitigates a punishment: ( b) when, upon man’s faithlessness or disobedience, He cancels a promise or revokes a blessing which He had given. God’s repentance does not mean that He who foreknows all things regrets His action, nor is it a sign of mutability. Scripture boldly states the two apparently contradictory truths, and leaves conscience to harmonize them. See notes on 1Sa 15:11; 1Sa 15:29.
the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite ] The threshingfloor: precisely the same word as in 2Sa 24:18 ; 2Sa 24:21 ; 2Sa 24:24. Threshingfloors were constructed on eminences, to catch the wind for winnowing the grain. Araunah’s threshingfloor was on Mount Moriah, the hill to the eastward of Jerusalem, and was the site upon which the Temple was afterwards built (2Ch 3:1). See Additional Note VI. p. 240. This Mount Moriah was identified by Jewish tradition (e.g. Josephus Ant. VII. 13. 4) with the mountain in the land of Moriah which was the scene of the sacrifice of Isaac (Gen 22:2 ff.), but the identification has been questioned. See Sinai and Pal. p. 251.
It has been supposed by some that the sacred rock of the Moslems, which is the highest point of the Temple hill, and is now covered by the Kubbet es Sakhrah or “Dome of the Rock,” marks the actual site of Araunah’s threshing-floor. See Sinai and Pal. p. 178 ff.
Araunah ] The name is variously spelt Aravnah ( 2Sa 24:16 Qr), Avarnah ( 2Sa 24:16 Kthbh), Aranyah ( 2Sa 24:18 Kthbh); in Chron. it is written Ornan; and in the Sept. in both books “ ( Orna). This variety of form is probably due to different attempts to represent a non-Hebraic name. There is no ground for the popular belief (based on a misunderstanding of 2Sa 24:23) that Araunah was the old king of Jebus before its conquest by David, and had been permitted by David to reside on his estate just outside Jerusalem. But his presence there is an evidence that the old inhabitants had been allowed to remain, and even to retain their property. Cp. 1Ki 9:20.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Verse 16. The angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem] By what means this destruction took place, we know not: it appears that an angel was employed in it, and that this minister of Divine justice actually appeared as an object. of sight; for it is said, 2Sa 24:17, When David saw the angel that smote the people, he said, c. and both Ornan and his four sons saw him and were affrighted, 1Ch 21:20.
The threshing-place of Araunah] These threshing-places, we have already seen, were made in the open air. In the parallel place, 1Ch 21:15; 1Ch 21:20, c., this person is called Ornan. The word that we render Araunah is written in this very chapter Auarnah, 2Sa 24:16, Araniah, 2Sa 24:18, Araunah or Araunah, 2Sa 24:20, and the following: but in every place in 1Ch 21:1-30 where it occurs it is written Ornan. It is likely he had both names, Araunah and Ornan: but the varieties of spelling in 2 Samuel must arise from the blunders of transcribers.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
The angel appeared in the shape of a man with a sword in his hand, 1Ch 21:16, to convince them more fully that this was no natural nor common plague, but inflicted immediately by the hand of God.
Upon Jerusalem; which he had begun to smite, and was proceeding to make a far greater slaughter.
The Lord repented him of the evil, i.e. he moderated, and in part recalled, his sentence of the plagues continuance for three whole days, and this he did upon Davids prayers and sacrifices, as appears from 2Sa 24:25, though these be mentioned afterward.
Araunah, called also Araniah in the Hebrew of 2Sa 24:18, and Ornan, 1Ch 21:22; such changes in the pronunciation of the names being usual in Scripture.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. the Lord repented him of theevilGod is often described in Scripture as repenting when Heceased to pursue a course He had begun.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it,…. Which, as it was perhaps the last place where the people were numbered, it was the last to which the plague came: this angel appeared in an human form, standing “between the earth and the heaven”; in the midst of the heaven, in the air, right over Jerusalem: “having a drawn sword in his hand stretched over the city”; as is said in 1Ch 21:16; which was done as a menace, and to inject terror into David and the inhabitants of the city, and to give them notice of what they must expect:
the Lord repented him of the evil; he was inflicting, and now threatened Jerusalem with; having compassion on the place where the ark, the symbol of his presence, was, where a temple was to be built to the honour of his name, and where he should be worshipped; and therefore stopped proceeding; as men, when they repent of anything done by them, cease from it, so did the Lord now; otherwise repentance, properly speaking, falls not on him, and so it is next explained:
and said to the angel that destroyed the people; not the angel of death, the devil, but a good angel, who had a commission from God for this business:
it is enough: stay now thine hand: there is a sufficient number slay no more:
and the angel of the Lord was by the threshing place of Araunah the Jebusite; that is, he was in the air, right over the spot, or near it, where was this man’s threshingfloor; and was seen by Araunah and his four sons, who upon it hid themselves, perhaps among the sheaves they were threshing, 1Ch 21:20; and this threshingfloor was on Mount Moriah, 2Ch 3:1; as threshingfloors commonly were on mountains for the sake of winnowing the corn when threshed; [See comments on Ru 3:2]; who, according to Ben Gersom, though he was by birth a Jebusite, was proselyted to the Jewish religion.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The Plague Stayed. 2Sa. 24:16-25
16 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 threshing place of Araunah the Jebusite.
17 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 fathers house.
18 And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
19 And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded.
20 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.
21 And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshing floor of thee, to build an altar unto the Lord, that the plague may be stayed from the people.
22 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.
23 All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The Lord thy God accept thee.
24 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 threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
25 And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings. So the Lord was intreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.
12.
Where was the threshing floor of Araunah? 2Sa. 24:16
The plague began on the morning of its announcement by the prophet Gad and continued through that day. Some commentators have presented the thought that the plague continued till the expiration of the three days, and the Vulgate translation supports this interpretation. But the plague was stopped earlier than originally intended because Gods mercy was poured out upon the people. The pestilence must have lasted to the appointed time for evening prayers, which would be the ninth hour of the day or the third hour of the afternoon. Although the pestilence did not last for the three days announced, the toll exceeded considerably the number destroyed by the most violent pestilences on record. Jerusalem itself was spared when God stayed the hand of the angel of the Lord, who must have been distinctly visible to the people. His visible appearance is described more minutely in the book of Chronicles, and David saw him standing by the threshing floor of Araunah between heaven and earth with a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem (1Ch. 21:15-16). The threshing floor of Araunah was situated outside the city of Jerusalem on Mt. Moriah, a hill to the northeast of mount Zion. It was here that the temple was built later in the days of Solomon.
13.
What was Davids offer to God? 2Sa. 24:17
David stands in the company of the great intercessors of the Bible. He took the same attitude as that taken by Moses when he offered to have his name blotted out of the book of life in order that the people of Israel might be spared (Exo. 32:32). This was the same compassion as that demonstrated by the apostle Paul, who said he could wish himself to be anathema in order that his people Israel could be saved (Rom. 9:3). David said that he was the one who had sinned against God and brought pestilence upon Israel. He prayed that the people of Israel might be spared because they were like sheep without a shepherd and were not responsible for what had happened. He asked that he himself and his fathers people might be punished for what he had done, but he asked for God to be merciful to the thousands of Israel.
14.
What did Gad tell David to do? 2Sa. 24:18
Gad instructed David to go up to the mountain where he had seen the angel of the Lord and build an altar to God in the threshing floor of Araunah, the Jebusite. Araunah is called a Jebusite because he was not a member of the commonwealth of Israel, but a Canaanite man. His name is not a typical Hebrew name and substantiates the statement that he was a Jebusite.
15.
Why did Araunah offer to give David the threshing floor? 2Sa. 24:20
Aranuah saw David coming and went out to meet his king. He asked what brought him to his threshing floor, and David told him that he had come to buy the floor in order to build an altar to the Lord and remove the plague from the people. In typical Canaanite fashion, Araunah offered to give him the threshing floor, the machinery for wood for a fire, and the oxen for an offering. Ephron, the Hittite, had made this same kind of offer to Abraham when Abraham wanted to buy the cave of Machpelah as a burial place for Sarah. On that occasion, the Hittite named his price as he and Abraham continued to discuss the matter (Gen. 23:15). Araunah wanted to have part in the sacrifice which David intended to make, and he offered the needed provisions to the king.
16.
Why did David refuse the offer? 2Sa. 24:24
David did not want to offer something to God which had cost him nothing. Had David taken the material from Araunah, the sacrifice would not have been Davids but Araunahs. His spirit is an ideal for the spirit of a Christian. Christians should not give something to God which has meant nothing to them. If they enter into this kind of practice, the offering will mean nothing to God. God expects man to give of the best to Him.
17.
What later use was made of the area? 2Sa. 24:25
Additional notes were given in the book of Chronicles, where it was noted that when David built the altar and offered the burnt offerings and peace offerings as he called upon the name of the Lord, God answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering (1Ch. 21:26). There it was stated that the Lord also commanded the angel to put up his sword again into the sheath, and the pestilence ceased. David continued to offer sacrifice upon the altar built on the threshing floor of Araunah and designated the spot at the site of the temple which was afterwards to be built (2Ch. 22:1). The Chronicler also appended an account of the preparations which David made for building the temple (1Ch. 22:2 ff.).
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
16. The Lord repented him He saw the penitence and humiliation of David and his people, and in his sympathetic relation to them his divine emotionality changed. See the note on 1Sa 15:11.
The angel that destroyed It is clearly a doctrine of Holy Scripture that God uses angels as ministers and messengers of his will. Not only do they minister for the heirs of salvation, (Heb 1:14; Mat 18:10; Act 12:7-10,) but also, under God, execute the divine judgments upon the wicked. 2Ki 19:35; Act 12:23.
It is enough This certainly does not mean, as some assume, that the plague was stayed before the third day, but only that it fell not on Jerusalem.
Threshing-place See on Rth 3:2.
Araunah Called Ornan in Chronicles. Josephus says of him: “He was a wealthy man among the Jebusites, but was not slain by David in the siege of Jerusalem because of the good will he bore to the Hebrews, and a particular benignity and affection which he had to the king himself.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
YHWH’s Chastisement Is Limited As A Result Of His Mercy As He Shows Compassion On Jerusalem. This Is Followed By David’s Offering Of Atonement Offerings ( 2Sa 24:16-25 ).
The Book of Samuel now comes to an end with a description of YHWH’s mercy shown to Israel, and David’s resultant offering of atonement offerings and sacrifices on behalf of Israel. The chastisement of Israel described here will be the pattern of the next few hundred years as they lurch continually from one crisis to another, but the promise here is that always there will be available to them the possibility of YHWH’s compassion and mercy if they seek Him in repentance as David did, and offer atonement. It was in the end their failure to do this that finally led to the destruction, first of Samaria, and then of Jerusalem, and then to all that followed, until a King came Who would offer Himself as an atonement for His people.
The passage is also a fitting reminder that whatever the promises made to David they could not finally be fulfilled in him because he was too sinful. The hope of Israel therefore lay in the mercy of God, and the rise of a better king than David. To begin with Solomon must have looked as though he might be the fulfilment of their hopes, but as the original promise had already indicated he too would sin and require chastisement (2Sa 7:14-15). Thus the fulfilment of the promise of the everlasting kingdom still lay some way ahead. But what had been laid was the foundation through David which had brought him to this place, and the expectation of hope for the future, with the promise given here that when Israel did sin there would always be the possibility of atonement from a merciful YHWH.
Analysis.
a
b And David spoke to YHWH when he saw the angel who smote the people, and said, “Lo, I have sinned, and I have done perversely, but these sheep, what have they done? Let your hand, I pray you, be against me, and against my father’s house” (2Sa 24:17).
c And Gad came that day to David, and said to him, “Go up, rear an altar to YHWH in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite” (2Sa 24:18).
d And David went up according to the saying of Gad, as YHWH commanded. And Araunah looked forth, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him, and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground (2Sa 24:19-20).
e And Araunah said, Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” And David said, “To buy the threshing-floor from you, to build an altar to YHWH, that the plague may be stayed from the people” (2Sa 24:21).
d And Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Behold, the oxen for the burnt-offering, and the threshing instruments and the yokes of the oxen for the wood, all this, O king, does Araunah give to the king.” And Araunah said to the king, “YHWH your God accept you” (2Sa 24:22-23).
c And the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will truly buy it from you at a price. Nor will I offer burnt-offerings to YHWH my God which cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver (2Sa 24:24).
b And David built there an altar to YHWH, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings (2Sa 24:25 a).
a So YHWH was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel (2Sa 24:25 b).
Note that in ‘a’ YHWH stayed the hand of the angel from bringing the pestilence on Jerusalem and in the parallel the plague was stayed from Israel. In ‘b’ David admits to his sin and prays for the pestilence to be diverted from the people, and in the parallel David offers multiple offerings of dedication and atonement both for himself and the people. In ‘c’ David is told to raise an altar on the threshing-floor of Araunah, and in the parallel he buys the threshing-floor in order to offer burnt offerings upon it. In ‘d’ Araunah saw the king and his courtiers coming and went out and greeted him with his face to the ground, and in the parallel Araunah offers all that he has to the king so that he can carry out the offerings, and expresses his hope that the offerings will be successful. Centrally in ‘e’ David declares his purpose to buy the threshing-floor, and to build an altar to YHWH in order that the plague might be stayed from the people.
2Sa 24:16
‘ And when the angel stretched out his hand towards Jerusalem to destroy it, YHWH repented him of the evil, and said to the angel who destroyed the people, “It is enough, now stay your hand.” And the angel of YHWH was by the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.’
The widespread pestilence was now approaching Jerusalem with its relatively large population, being controlled by the Angel of YHWH. But it was then that YHWH in His mercy and compassion called a halt to the misery. He recognised that the people had suffered enough to have learned their lesson, and called on the destroying angel to ‘stay his hand’. Justice was to be tempered by mercy.
This picture of the Angel of YHWH directing the pestilence is a reminder to us that, whatever men may think, in the end all things are controlled from Heaven, and even disease is subject to His control. For Israel the consequence of this was that the pestilence did not spread beyond the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite. It did not take possession of Jerusalem.
The Angel of YHWH is a mysterious figure in the Old Testament. He both represents YHWH in visible form and yet is YHWH. See Gen 16:7-13; Gen 21:7-19; Gen 22:15-18; Jdg 2:1-5; Jdg 13:2-23). He intercommunicates with YHWH (Zec 1:12). He is a reminder that while being One, YHWH is a composite figure.
2Sa 24:17
‘ And David spoke to YHWH when he saw the angel who smote the people, and said, “Lo, I have sinned, and I have done perversely, but these sheep, what have they done? Let your hand, I pray you, be against me, and against my father’s house.” ’
David was one of the few who were permitted to see the heavenly being who was responsible for what was happening on earth (Arauna also saw him, and possibly his sons – 1Ch 21:20), and it brought home to him the depths of his sin. He had sinned sufficiently for this awesome judgment to have come upon Israel. He was being made to realise that he had been looking at things from a wholly earthly point of view, as though men decided their own destinies and controlled world affairs. That was why he had decided to ‘number Israel’ over which he saw himself as having total control. Now he was being made to recognise that there were unseen forces at work that made such an idea ridiculous. But he was not at this time aware that his sin had merely been a reflection of the sins of the whole of Israel and so he prayed that YHWH would not continue to punish the sheep for what the shepherd had done. Let YHWH rather bring the punishment on the one to whom it belonged, to him and his house. (In a way it indicates that he still had too much of a sense of his own importance). We do not know whether David’s prayer came before or after the Angel had been told to stay His hand, and in a way it does not matter, for God often anticipates our prayers.
2Sa 24:18
‘ And Gad came that day to David, and said to him, “Go up, rear an altar to YHWH in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.” ’
But what God did want David to appreciate was that His forgiveness could not be obtained without cost. Substitutionary and atoning sacrifices were necessary if David and Israel were to be spared further chastisement, for sin could not just be simply ignored. And so He commanded him to go and build ‘an altar to YHWH’ on the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite, where He had stayed the Angel’s hand. The threshing-floor would be a large, flat, exposed area where the grain could be gathered, and tossed into the air with a winnowing fork so that the prevailing wind could remove the chaff. It was a fitting picture of the need for the removal of all that was unsuitable.
Araunah was the Canaanite name of the owner of the threshing-floor. His Hebrew name was Ornan (1Ch 21:18). The fact that the threshing-floor was in Canaanite hands may well have been one reason for choosing it. By being purchased it would become one more official part of YHWH’s inheritance, pointing to the continual advance of God’s kingdom on earth. Perhaps there was also in this a pointer to the fact that YHWH’s anger was directed at Israel largely because of their accommodation with Canaanite ideas. Thus a Canaanite site for the offerings would be poetic justice.
2Sa 24:19
‘ And David went up according to the saying of Gad, as YHWH commanded.’
David, brought back into the way of obedience, did according to all that YHWH had commanded through Gad, and went up to the threshing-floor with his courtiers. 1 Chronicles indicates that they were clothed in mourning garb because of the pestilence (1Ch 21:16).
2Sa 24:20
‘ And Araunah looked forth, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him, and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground.’
We are left to imagine the thoughts of Araunah when he looked up and saw a large number of Israel’s most important officials, including the king himself, approaching his threshing-floor. It would certainly have been startling, and might even have aroused fear in his heart. He was a Jebusite, one of the old original inhabitants of Jerusalem, and he would not have been in favour with many Israelites. He would be one of the first to be blamed when calamities came on Israel. So he may well have gone out to meet the approaching grandees fairly apprehensively. And it would be somewhat fearfully that he fell on his face to the ground before David.
2Sa 24:21
‘ And Araunah said, Why has my lord the king come to his servant?” And David said, “To buy the threshing-floor from you, to build an altar to YHWH, that the plague may be stayed from the people.” ’
And crouched there on his face before the king he put the question that must have been stabbing at his heart. What was it that David wanted with him, who was but a humble servant of the king? What had he done? He must have been greatly relieved when he heard the answer. It was in order to buy his threshing-floor so that there they could build an altar to YHWH so that the plague might be stayed from the people.
2Sa 24:22-23 a
‘And Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him. Behold, the oxen for the burnt-offering, and the threshing instruments and the yokes of the oxen for the wood, all this, O king, does Araunah give to the king.”
Hugely relieved Araunah informed the king that he could have whatever he liked. Not only the threshing-floor, but also the oxen for sacrifices, and the wood of his instruments for firewood. All this he would give to the king. However, in typical oriental fashion there may have been a hint here that, while he would not withhold it from David, all this would not be without cost to Araunah.
2Sa 24:23 b
‘And Araunah said to the king, “YHWH your God accept you.” ’
Araunah then expressed his pious wish that YHWH would accept David and his offering. It was possibly just an expression of polite hope, but pestilence affected all, both Israelite and Jebusite, and showed no favours. It would thus be for everyone’s benefit if it could be stayed. So his wish may have been heart felt.
2Sa 24:24
‘ And the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will truly buy it from you at a price. Nor will I offer burnt-offerings to YHWH my God which cost me nothing.” So David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.’
But the king was not out to take advantage of his loyal subjects, and assured him that he would give him the full price. Nor would he offer burnt offerings to YHWH which had cost him nothing. He wanted his offering to be true and from the heart. And the result was that David bought the threshing-floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
The Chronicler gives the price as six hundred shekels of gold, which at first sight seems incompatible with the price mentioned here, but the reason for that was probably that the Chronicler had in mind the full price later paid for the wider area with a view to the building of the Temple. Fifty shekels of silver would only have bought a very small piece of ground, which, while it would be sufficient for the building of an altar, could otherwise have been of very little use. The Chronicler had the grand scale of the coming Temple in mind (2Ch 3:1).
2Sa 24:25
‘ And David built there an altar to YHWH, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. So YHWH was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.’
And there on that threshing-floor David built an altar to YHWH, and offered burnt offerings (dedicatory/atoning offerings) and peace offerings (propitiatory/atoning offerings). And so YHWH was entreated for the land (compare 2Sa 21:14), and the plague was stayed from Israel. This last statement ‘YHWH was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel’ looks back to all that has gone before not just to the final offering. It was not simply the offering that stayed the hand of YHWH (which had already been stayed). David’s repentance undoubtedly played a hugely important part in it.
This ending to the book is of vital importance. It brought home the lesson to Israel of the need for dedication, atonement, propitiation and thanksgiving in their dealings with YHWH. These alone could provide the grounds for their acceptance by Him, and it was on this basis they could approach a merciful God. In context it also brought home the fact that YHWH would not require human blood (as might at first appear from 2Sa 21:1-14) but would be satisfied with a substitutionary and atoning offering brought to Him from a genuinely repentant heart. This was to be the basis of the kingdom until the King came Whose right it was to reign (Gen 49:10; Num 24:17; 1Sa 2:10; 2Sa 7:13 ; 2Sa 7:16; 2Sa 23:3-4).
We should note that while it is true that the threshing-floor of Araunah would later be connected with the building of the Temple (1Ch 22:1; 2Ch 3:1) there is no suggestion that that is in the mind of the writer here, otherwise he would have said so. He was more concerned with the theological lesson that was being taught.
We may close by pointing out that from the point of view of salvation history the Book of Samuel is a vital one. It began with Israel seen as a loose confederation of tribes, overseen by weak leaders, and very much suffering under a continually threatening and growing Philistine menace, although looking forward to a king who would one day arise to establish them as a people (1Sa 2:10), and goes on to outline the traumas that led up to a stable and strong Israel/Judah, an Israel/Judah surrounded by vassal states and under a strong king, who had been promised that his dynasty would last through the ages, until the king came who would establish the everlasting kingdom (2Sa 7:13; 2Sa 7:16).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
2Sa 24:16. The threshing place of Araunah the Jebusite This was on mount Moriah, where the temple of Solomon was afterwards built.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
(16) 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. (17) 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. (18) 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. (19) And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the LORD commanded. (20) 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. (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. (22) 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. (23) All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The LORD thy God accept thee. (24) 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. (25) 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.
I do not think it necessary to interrupt the reading of those verses with any observation on the conduct and generosity either of David or Araunah; because what I chiefly wish to have impressed on the Reader’s mind, is the shadowy representation it seemeth to possess, of the gospel dispensation by the LORD JESUS. I beg the Reader to observe, however, that I do not presume to say that my views of this passage are right. I leave him to a wiser and better direction concerning them. I confess that I love to search for JESUS, as for hidden treasure, in all the parts of his most holy word. And convinced, as I fully am, that to him the whole of revelation points, I would pass over all lesser objects, so that I may but find him. And when I consider how particularly the prophet Gad commanded David to rear an altar in this spot, mount Moriah, which Abraham had before found so memorable, when I observe further, that this was the same spot on which Solomon built his famous temple, which also was an evident type of CHRIST; and when I consider that CHRIST himself is both the altar, the sacrifice, and the sacrificer, for us; and that GOD our FATHER, for his sake, and for his sake alone, is entreated for the land, and the plague and everlasting destruction for sin is now stayed from Israel; I rejoice to behold JESUS through those distant mediums so graciously held forth to the church, and cannot but find my heart going forth in songs of holy joy, that the same is he of whom Moses, and the prophets, and patriarchs, did write, JESUS of Nazareth; Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Act 4:12 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2Sa 24:16 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.
Ver. 16. And when the angel stretched out his hand, ] viz., To execute his commission. Even the good angels are ready executioners of God’s judgments, as here, and at Sodom. There cannot be a better or more noble act than to do justice upon malefactors: it is an office beseeming an angel.
The Lord repented him of the evil.
The threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
repented. Figure of speech Anthropopatheia. App-6. evil. Hebrew. ra`a`. App-44.
Araunah the Jebusite. Perhaps spared in the taking of Jebus. See note on 2Sa 5:8.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
angel (See Scofield “Heb 1:4”).
repent (See Scofield “Zec 8:14”).
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
the angel: Exo 12:23, 2Ki 19:35, 1Ch 21:15, 1Ch 21:16, 2Ch 32:21, Psa 35:6, Act 12:23
repented: Gen 6:6, 1Sa 15:11, Psa 78:38, Psa 90:13, Psa 135:14, Jer 18:7-10, Joe 2:13, Joe 2:14, Amo 7:3, Amo 7:6, Hab 3:2
It is enough: Exo 9:28, 1Ki 19:4, Isa 27:8, Isa 40:1, Isa 40:2, Isa 57:16, Joe 2:13, Joe 2:14, Mar 14:41, 2Co 2:6
Araunah: 2Sa 24:18, 1Ch 21:15, 2Ch 3:1, Ornan
the Jebusite: 2Sa 5:8, Gen 10:16, Jos 15:63, Jdg 1:21, Jdg 19:11, Zec 9:7
Reciprocal: Exo 32:14 – General Num 16:48 – General Jos 11:3 – the Jebusite 1Ch 1:14 – Jebusite 1Ch 21:27 – the Lord Job 33:22 – his life Psa 106:45 – repented Pro 29:8 – wise Isa 37:36 – the angel Jer 26:19 – and the Lord Jer 42:10 – for I Hos 11:8 – Mine 1Co 10:10 – destroyer
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Sa 24:16. The angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem Which he had begun to smite, and in which he was proceeding to make a far greater slaughter. This angel appeared in the shape of a man, with a sword drawn in his hand, to convince the people more fully that this was no natural plague, but one inflicted by the immediate hand of God. The Lord repented him of the evil That is, he in part recalled his sentence of the plagues continuance for three whole days; and this he did upon Davids prayers and sacrifices, as appears from 2Sa 24:25, though these be mentioned afterward. This was on mount Moriah; in the very same place where Abraham, by a countermand from heaven, was stayed from slaying his son, this angel, by a like countermand, was stayed from destroying Jerusalem. It is for the sake of the great sacrifice, that our forfeited lives are preserved from the destroying angel.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
24:16 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: {i} stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite.
(i) The Lord spared this place, because he had chosen it to build his temple there.