neither will I offer … of that which doth cost me nothing For that would contradict the essential idea of sacrifice. "It is an heartless piety of those base-minded Christians that care only to serve God good cheap." Bp. Hall. Cp. Malachi 1:13-14.

David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver The corresponding statement in 1 Chronicles 21:25 is that "David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight." If this refers to the same purchase, we can only suppose that the numbers in one or both of the passages are corrupt: but it is possible that the immediate purchase of the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver was a distinct transaction from the subsequent purchase of "the place," that is, the whole area upon which the Temple was erected, for six hundred shekels of gold.

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