CHAPTER XXIV _David is tempted by Satan to number Israel and Judah_, 1. _Joab remonstrates against it, but the king determines that it_ _shall be done; and Joab and the captains accomplish the work_, _and bring the sum total to the king: viz.:_ eight hundred thousand _warriors in Israel, and_ f... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Samuel 24:3. _JOAB SAID UNTO THE KING_] This very bad man saw that the measure now recommended by the king was a wrong one, and might be ruinous to the people, and therefore he remonstrates against it in a very sensible speech; but the king was infatuated, and would hear no reason.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Samuel 24:5. _AND PITCHED IN AROER_] This was beyond Jordan, on the river Arnon, in the tribe of Gad: hence it appears, says _Calmet_, that they began their census with the most _eastern_ parts of the country beyond Jordan.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Samuel 24:6. _TAHTIM-HODSHI_] Where this place was is not exactly known: some think that the words refer to a newly conquered country, as our margin, _the nether land newly inhabited_; and if so, this was probably the country _eastward_ of Gilead, which the Israelites, in the time of Saul, h... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Samuel 24:7. _THE STRONG HOLD OF TYRE_] This must have been the old city of Tyre, which was built on the main land: the new city was built on a rock in the sea.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Samuel 24:8. _NINE MONTHS AND TWENTY DAYS._] This was a considerable time; but they had much work to do, nor did they complete the work, as appears from 1 Chronicles 21:6; 1 Chronicles 27:24. _William the Conqueror_ made a survey of all England, particularizing "how many hides or carucates... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Samuel 24:9. _IN ISRAEL EIGHT HUNDRED THOUSAND - THE MEN OF JUDAH_ WERE _FIVE HUNDRED THOUSAND_] In the parallel place, 1 Chronicles 21:5, the sums are widely different: in Israel _one million one hundred_ _thousand_, in Judah _four hundred and seventy thousand_. Neither of these sums is to... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Samuel 24:10. _DAVID SAID - I HAVE SINNED GREATLY_] We know not exactly in what this sin consisted. I have already hinted, 2 Samuel 24:1, that probably David now began to covet an extension of empire, and purposed to unite some of the neighbouring states with his own; and having, through the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Samuel 24:11. _FOR WHEN DAVID WAS UP_] It is supposed that David's contrition arose from the reproof given by Gad, and that in the order of time the reproof came before the confession stated in the 10th verse. 2 Samuel 24:10 _DAVID'S SEER_] A holy man of God, under the Divine influence, who... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Samuel 24:13. _SHALL SEVEN YEARS OF FAMINE_] In 1 Chronicles 21:12, the number is _three_, not _seven_; and here the _Septuagint_ has _three_, the same as in Chronicles: this is no doubt the true reading, the letter ז _zain, SEVEN_, being mistaken for ג _gimel, THREE_. A mistake of this kind... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Samuel 24:14. _I AM IN A GREAT STRAIT: LET US FALL NOW INTO THE HAND_ _OF THE LORD_] David acted nobly in this business. Had he chosen _war_, his own _personal safety_ was in no danger, because there was already an ordinance preventing him from going to battle. Had he chosen _famine_, his ow... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Samuel 24:15. _FROM THE MORNING - TO THE TIME APPOINTED_] That is, from the morning of the day after David had made his election till the _third day_, according to the condition which God had proposed, and he had accepted: but it seems that the plague was terminated before the conclusion of... [ Continue Reading ]
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... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Samuel 24:17. _BUT THESE SHEEP, WHAT HAVE THEY DONE?_] It seems that in the order of Providence there is no way of punishing kings in their _regal_ capacity, but by afflictions on their land, in which the people must necessarily suffer. If the king, therefore, by his own personal offenses, i... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Samuel 24:18. _GO UP, REAR AN ALTAR UNTO THE LORD_] This place is supposed to be Mount Moriah: on which, according to the rabbins, Cain and Abel offered their sacrifices; where Abraham attempted to sacrifice Isaac, and where the temple of Solomon was afterwards built.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Samuel 24:22. HERE BE _OXEN FOR BURNT-SACRIFICE_] He felt for the _king_; and showed his loyalty to him by this offer. He felt for the _people_; and was willing to make any sacrifice to get the plague stayed. He felt for _his own personal safety_; and therefore was willing to give up all to... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Samuel 24:23. _AS A KING, GIVE UNTO THE KING._] Literally, _All these_ _did King Araunah give unto the king_. That there could not be a king of the Jebusites on Mount Moriah, is sufficiently evident; and that there was no other king than David in the land, is equally so: the word המלך _hamme... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Samuel 24:24. _NEITHER WILL I OFFER BURNT-OFFERINGS_] It is a maxim from heaven, "Honour the Lord with thy substance." He who has a religion that _costs him nothing_, has a religion that is _worth_ _nothing_: nor will any man esteem the ordinances of God, if those ordinances cost him nothing... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse 2 Samuel 24:25. _DAVID - OFFERED BURNT-OFFERINGS_] And that these sacrifices were pleasing to the Lord, is evident from a circumstance marked in the parallel place, 1 Chronicles 21:26: _David called upon the Lord, and he answered him from heaven by_ _fire upon the altar of burnt-offering_. _T... [ Continue Reading ]