2 Samuel 24 Study Notes

24:14 Again, David revealed his heart. He knew mercies might come from the Lord, but not from the human hands of his enemies. Who knew whether God’s grace might avert disaster (see note at 12:22)?

24:15 Until the appointed time means that it was the third day, though one more act of destruction was planned.

24:16 When the angel whom God had sent to bring the plague extended his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, David’s thinking proved correct. The Lord relented and spared the city. The Jebusites, part of the original Canaanite population during the days of Joshua (Jos 24:11), held Jerusalem until David conquered them (2Sm 5:6-8). Araunah apparently had continued to live in the area following David’s conquest.

24:17 David asked the Lord, these sheep, what have they done? He pleaded with God to strike only him and his family, but sin often has consequences that affect others besides the person who has sinned.

24:18-19 This altar to the Lord would mark the point where the plague had stopped.

24:20 Araunah’s threshing floor sat above Jerusalem to the north, in the area where Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice and where Solomon would later build the temple (2Ch 3:1). Since threshing utilized the wind, threshing floors probably were often in high parts of cities.

24:21 It is somewhat surprising that David wishes to buy the threshing floor, as Araunah acknowledges.

24:22 Araunah made David a generous offer: My lord the king may take whatever he wants. Probably his offer was sincere; besides, especially as a foreigner, he was not in a position to bargain with Israel’s king. Or Araunah may have anticipated the king would respond with a price (Gn 23:7-16).

24:23 The first sentence of this verse is literally, “All he gives Araunah the king to the king.” The first “the king” is usually taken as a vocative, Your majesty or “O king.” But some have argued that Araunah was the last Jebusite king of Jerusalem (cp. KJV).

24:24 David, however, knew that all genuine sacrifice came at a price. To offer to the Lord burnt offerings that cost . . . nothing would have been to David a sign of the deepest ingratitude. In light of this, twenty ounces of silver was probably more than a fair price.

24:25 Burnt offerings typically signified the general dedication of the worshiper (Lv 1). Fellowship offerings involved a meal shared by priest and worshiper, and they could be offered to express thankfulness—in this case thankfulness that the plague on Israel, while severe, had not destroyed Jerusalem.