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._ AND WHEN THE ANGEL STRETCHED OUT HIS HAND UPON JERUSALEM TO DESTROY IT. The pestilence seems to have broken out at the opposite extremities of the country, and to have advanced with gigantic strides from all points, until it was ready to concentrate its violence upon Jerusalem. THE LORD REPENTED HIM OF THE EVIL. God is often described in Scripture as "repenting", when He ceases to pursue a course he had begun. SAID TO THE ANGEL THAT DESTROYED THE PEOPLE, IT IS ENOUGH; STAY NOW THINE HAND. This destroying angel was hovering over mount Moriah, and brandishing his deadly sword over the inhabitants in the metropolis below,...

16,17 Perhaps there was more wickedness, especially more pride, and that was the sin now chastised, in Jerusalem than elsewhere, therefore the hand of the destroyer is stretched out upon that city; but the Lord repented him of the evil, changed not his mind, but his way. In the very place where Abraham 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. And in David is the spirit of a true shepherd of the people, offering himself as a sacrifice to God, for the salvation of his subjects....

Verse 2 Samuel 24:16. _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, 2 Samuel 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, 1 Chronicles 21:20. _THE THRESHING-PLACE OF ARAUNAH_] These _threshing-places_, we have already seen, were made in the open air. In the parallel place, 1 Chroni

EXPOSITION 2 SAMUEL 24:1 AND AGAIN THE ANGER OF JEHOVAH WAS KINDLED AGAINST ISRAEL. It is probable that this chapter once stood in intimate connection with 2 Samuel 21:1; and that the famine therein described was followed by a pestilence, of which the blame largely rested upon David, though the sin punished by it was fully shared by the people. In saying that David was moved of Jehovah to number Israel and Judah, the writer acknowledges the great truth that all action, both good and evil, is of God. "Shall there be evil in a city, and Jehovah hath not done it?" (Amos 3:6). While we are taught to pray that we may not be led into temptation, yet trial and temptation are by G

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 1 Chronicles 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 me

ANGEL (_ See Scofield) - (Hebrews 1:4). _ REPENT (_ See Scofield) - (Zechariah 8:14). _...

4. DAVID'S FAILURE: THE ALTAR ON THE THRESHING FLOOR OF ARAUNAH CHAPTER 24 _ 1. The numbering of the people (2 Samuel 24:1)_ 2. The sin acknowledged and Gad's message (2 Samuel 24:10) 3. The pestilence (2 Samuel 24:15) 4. The altar on the threshing floor of Araunah (2 Samuel 24:18) The final chapter of the books of Samuel is of much interest and importance. “And again the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel, and He moved David against them to say, Go, number Israel and Judah.” In...

1 SAMUEL 24. THE CENSUS (J). (_Cf._ p. 292.) This event also may belong to the beginning of David's reign over all Israel. 2 SAMUEL 24:1. Here is another illustration of the imperfect recognition of the moral nature of Yahweh in the primitive documents. No one is conscious of sin, yet Yahweh, for some inscrutable, arbitrary reason, is angry with His people. Accordingly, He induces David to commit an obvious sin, so that He may have a justification for punishing Israel. It is useless to ask why a census was sinful; such ideas go too far back for us to trace their origin (Numbers 31:50 *). In the Priestly Code censuses are taken quite happily. The subsequent advance of religious thought in Israel is indicated by the fact that in...

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 2 Samuel 5:8....

The Plague 15. _even to the time appointed_ The meaning of these words, which are not found in Chron., is very doubtful. (1) The E. V. follows the Vulg. _usque ad tempus constitutum_. This would naturally mean until the end of the third day; but the duration of the plague seems to have been mercifully shortened (2 Samuel 24:16). Perhaps _a time appointed_(there is no definite article) might mean a time determined in the counsel of God, before the expiration of the period originally named. (2) Most commentators render UNTIL THE TIME OF ASSEMBLY, i.e. the hour for offering the evening sacrifice, about three o'clock in the afternoon. Cp. 1 Kings 18:29; 1 Kings 18:36;...