2 Samuel 24:22

22 Araunah said to David, "My lord the king may take whatever he wants^[a] and offer it. Here are the oxen for a burnt offering and the threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood.^[b]

2 Samuel 24:22 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 24:22

And Araunah said unto David, let my lord the king take and
offer up what [seemeth] good unto him
Build an altar, offer sacrifices of whatsoever he found upon the premises fit for the same, and make use of whatever came to hand proper to perform such service with, as follows:

behold, [here be] oxen for burnt sacrifice:
which were employed in treading the corn, hence the law in ( Deuteronomy 25:4 ) ;

and threshing instruments;
not flails, such as are used by us, but wooden sledges, drays or carts drawn on wheels, which were filled with stones, and the bottom of them stuck with iron teeth, and were drawn by oxen to and fro over the sheaves of corn; see ( Isaiah 28:27 ) ;

and [other] instruments of the oxen for wood;
as their yokes; these Araunah gave leave to take to burn the sacrifice with; and in ( 1 Chronicles 21:23 ) , it is added, "and the wheat for the meat offering", which was upon the threshingfloor; and there always went a meat offering with a burnt offering.

2 Samuel 24:22 In-Context

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.

21 Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" David replied, "To buy the threshing floor from you in order to build an altar to the Lord, so the plague on the people may be halted."

22 Araunah said to David, "My lord the king may take whatever he wants and offer it. Here are the oxen for a burnt offering and the threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood.

23 [My] king, Araunah gives everything here to the king." Then he said to the king, "May the Lord your God accept you."

24 The king answered Araunah, "No, I insist on buying it from you for a price, for I will not offer to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost [me] nothing." David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 ounces of silver.

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit take what is good in his eyes
• [b]. 1 Sm 6:14; 1 Kg 19:21