2 Samuel 24:18

David's Altar

18 Gad came to David that day and said to him, "Go up and set up an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite."[a]

2 Samuel 24:18 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 24:18

And Gad came that day to David
Ordered and directed by the angel of the Lord, ( 1 Chronicles 21:18 ) ;

and said unto him, go up, rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshing
floor of Araunah the Jebusite:
it was too far to go to Gibeon, where the tabernacle was, at such a time of extremity, when the sword of the angel was stretched out over Jerusalem, ( 1 Chronicles 21:29 1 Chronicles 21:30 ) ; and this was the most proper place, as it was the very spot over and nearest to which the angel was; and was on Mount Moriah, where the Jews say Abraham offered up Isaac; and where the temple was afterwards built, as Kimchi and Ben Gersom observe; and Eupolemus, an Heathen writer F7, says, that when David desired to build a temple for God, and that he would show him the place of the altar, an angel appeared to him, standing over the place where the altar at Jerusalem was to be built.


FOOTNOTES:

F7 Apud Euseb. Evangel. Praepar. l. 9. c. 30. p. 447.

2 Samuel 24:18 In-Context

16 Then the angel extended his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, but the Lord relented concerning the destruction and said to the angel who was destroying the people, "Enough, withdraw your hand now!" The angel of the Lord was then at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
17 When David saw the angel striking the people, he said to the Lord, "Look, I am the one who has sinned; I am the one who has done wrong. But these sheep, what have they done? Please, let Your hand be against me and my father's family."
18 Gad came to David that day and said to him, "Go up and set up an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite."
19 David went up in obedience to Gad's command, just as the Lord had commanded.
20 Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants coming toward him, so he went out and bowed to the king with his face to the ground.

Footnotes 1

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