2 Samuel 24:14

14 Then David said to Gad, "I [am] greatly distressed. Please let us fall into the hand of Yahweh, because he [is] great in his compassion; but into the hand of man don't let me fall."

2 Samuel 24:14 Meaning and Commentary

2 Samuel 24:14

And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait
Not knowing well which to choose, each of them being so grievous, and an answer being to be returned immediately; but by his next words, and by the event, it seems he chose the pestilence, though that is not expressly said:

let us fall now into the hand of the Lord;
the Targum in ( 1 Chronicles 21:13 ) , is

``into the hand of the Word of the Lord:''

(for his mercies [are] great), and let me not fall into the hand of
men;
indeed all the three judgments mentioned are by the hand of the Lord whenever they come; but in the pestilence the hand of the Lord is more visible, it coming immediately from his hand, as especially this was to do, and did; it did not arise from second causes, a noxious air, &c. but by means of an angel of God: David chose this, because he and his people would have nothing to do with men, as in famine they must have gone into other countries for food, and in war flee before their enemies, and lie at their mercy, and either of them more disgraceful than this; and which he might the rather choose on his own account, that his people might not be able to say he sought himself and his own interest; for had he chosen famine, as his people had been lately distressed that way already, they might, besides urging that, say, that he could lay up stores for himself and family; or had he chosen war, they might observe he had fortified places to flee to, one after another, and shelter himself; but for the arrows of the pestilence he was as likely a mark as the meanest of his subjects: but what seems to have moved him chiefly to make this choice is, that it would not only be the soonest over, but that it wholly depended on the pleasure of God what use he would make of it in that time; and chiefly because he knew God was gracious and merciful, and it was upon his great mercy he cast himself and his people.

2 Samuel 24:14 In-Context

12 "Go and speak to David, 'Thus says Yahweh, three things I [am] laying on you; choose for yourself one of them and I will do it to you.'"

13 Then Gad came to David, and he told him and said to him, "Shall seven years of famine in the land come to you? Or three months of your fleeing from your enemies while he [is] pursuing you? Or should there be three days of pestilence in your land? Now consider and decide what I must return to the one who sent me a word."

14 Then David said to Gad, "I [am] greatly distressed. Please let us fall into the hand of Yahweh, because he [is] great in his compassion; but into the hand of man don't let me fall."

15 Then Yahweh sent a plague into Israel from the morning {until the agreed time}, and from the people from Dan to Beersheba, seventy thousand men died.

16 When the angel stretched out his hand to destroy Jerusalem, Yahweh regretted about the evil, and he said to the angel who brought destruction among the people, "Enough, now relax your hand." Now the angel of Yahweh [was] at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.