DAVID’S SACRIFICE
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1 Chronicles 21:14-30
1 Chronicles 21:14-30
So the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.
And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the Lord beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thine hand. And the angel of the Lord stood by the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the Lord stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces. And David said unto God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, O Lord my God, be on me, and on my father’s house; but not on thy people, that they should be plagued. Then the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and set up an altar unto the Lord in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spake in the name of the Lord. And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat. And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshingfloor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground. Then David said to Ornan, Grant me the place of this threshingfloor, that I may build an altar therein unto the Lord: thou shalt grant it me for the full price: that the plague may be stayed from the people. And Ornan said unto David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes: lo, I give thee the oxen also for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meat offering; I give it all. And king David said to Ornan, Nay; but I will verily buy it for the full price: for I will not take that which is thine for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings without cost. So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight. And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the Lord; and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering. And the Lord commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof.
At that time when David saw that the Lord had answered him in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there. For the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of the burnt offering, were at that season in the high place at Gibeon. But David could not go before it to inquire of God: for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of the Lord.
David is known for being “a man after God’s own heart Even though he also committed grievous sins. David is a good representation of the human mankind. Most of us are good people, but we also commit grievous sins. The one sin of David that we will focus upon today is his sin of rejecting his reliance upon God for Israel’s security.
The story goes like this: David decided to take a census of Israel to determine the potential size of his army. The number was astronomical… over one million men drew the sword, and while this delighted and surprised David, it also angered the Lord. The prophet Gad delivered God’s judgement to David. David was given a choice of varying impacts on Israel, for his sins. The choices were three years of famine, three months of attacks by the nations enemies, or three days of a pestilent plague. David chose the third option, with horrific results for his people.
So the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel: and there fell of Israel seventy thousand men.
And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the Lord beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thine hand. And the angel of the Lord stood by the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the Lord stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces. And David said unto God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, O Lord my God, be on me, and on my father’s house; but not on thy people, that they should be plagued.
Either three years’ famine; or three months to be destroyed before thy foes, while that the sword of thine enemies overtaketh thee; or else three days the sword of the Lord, even the pestilence, in the land, and the angel of the Lord destroying throughout all the coasts of Israel. Now therefore advise thyself what word I shall bring again to him that sent me.
This pestilence took 70,000 men. The pestilence covered Israel in it’s entirety. It hit every village and every citizen would have felt the loss because of these deaths. Notice that it says every citizen, and not every family. Such sorrow from all the people would have been very impossible for the king to ignore.
One thing that we have learned if we have studied history is that any disaster brings change. God has used many natural disasters to bring about change from sinful behavior to godly behavior. Many times, people will attribute the disaster to God’s wrath, but the reality is that we don’t know this. How are we to know if an event is God’s punishment or one that God allowed to happen? But we do know that change will follow the disaster.
And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the Lord beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thine hand.
We see here that no one can do anything without God’s permission in some form. It’s important to point out that the angel was not destroying the building of Jerusalem, he was destroying the people. This destruction was meant to be a punishment for the evil that was within Jerusalem. When they had had enough, God repented, that is God changed the course of what was anticipated to happen next. Evil in this context doesn’t refer to a moral evil, but to the punishment that was due to come because of their present behavior.
And the angel of the Lord stood by the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.
A threshing floor was a flat, hard piece of ground, ideally one of stone. Every harvest, the dried bundles would be threshed there. The threshing process itself is to lay the grain out and beat it or have oxen trample on it to separate the ripened seeds from the stalks. Then the grains would be ground into flour to make bread with.
The fact that this threshing floor was owned by Ornan the Jebusite takes us back to what was probably another cause of God’s wrath. David was supposed to have driven out several different tribes from Isreal. Instead of being obedient, David allowed some tribes to stay. Most likely, they have some sort of favor with David and that resulted in disaster because God does not want us to put anyone or thing above Him.
And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the Lord stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.
Sackcloth is the garment of mourning. It is rough and loose fitting… think of burlap or a 20 pound onion/potato bag. David is giving God a visual sign of his humility. Wearing sackcloth is the polar opposite of the fine garments that a king would typically wear. This verse also says that David laid facedown before the Lord. Seeing both of these together is rare is scripture and this is an act of submission to God. They, David and the elders of Israel, surrendered to the judgment of God.
And David said unto God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, O Lord my God, be on me, and on my father’s house; but not on thy people, that they should be plagued.
Here, we see David taking full responsibility for the unholy census that he had taken. He was advised against doing it by his counsel and David rejected his counsel. Can you think of when the Bible recorded a holy or sanctioned census? The birthplace of Christ?
David was quick to admit his sin to God and repent of it. To repent means to change your mind from a sinful course of action to a God. We can compare David’s repentance to Adam to attempted to shift the blame to his wife Eve, and when Samuel rebuked Saul for disobedience, he made excuses for his behavior. When Nathan confronted David with this infidelity with Bathsheba, we see again that David took sole responsibility.
And David said unto Nathan, I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord also hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die.
This is what sets David apart from anyone else in the Bible. He made plenty of mistakes and sinned often, but he always took ownership of his sin and offence to God and atoned for it.
Then the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David, that David should go up, and set up an altar unto the Lord in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.
God was not just going to accept David’s words of repentance and submissive body postures for the severity of David’s sin. The consequence has to fit the crime. God communicated his expectations through the prophet Gad. God would give David choices, but ultimately David’s people would pay the price for the poor decision that David made. I think that you will agree with me that we would much rather bear the punishment ourselves before allowing our family, our spouse and children to bear it. It goes back to the self sacrificing attitude.
And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he spake in the name of the Lord.
David understood that Gad was not offering his own opinions but he was relaying a message directly from God. “Went p at the Saying” indicated complete obedience. God had chosen a specific site to meet with David and David was obedient and immediately went to the mount Moriah. This is a holy place where Solomon began to build the house of the Lord, and also where the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite that we spoke about earlier in this lesson.
And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat. And as David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshingfloor, and bowed himself to David with his face to the ground.
Imagine the shock that Ornan had when he looked up from his work, most likely to tell his sons to get back to work!, only to find an angel and his king approaching him.
Then David said to Ornan, Grant me the place of this threshingfloor, that I may build an altar therein unto the Lord: thou shalt grant it me for the full price: that the plague may be stayed from the people.
David wasted no time in making it know why he was there. He could have commanded that Ornan hand over the land to him, but instead David offered Ornan the full price of the land to him. Considering what was at risk, the lives of his subjects, David wanted to act with absolute integrity.
And Ornan said unto David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes: lo, I give thee the oxen also for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meat offering; I give it all.
Now, the bible reveals the character of Ornan himself. He was a Jebusite, but he familiarized himself with the customs of Israel’s sacrificial system. He knew how oxen and wheat could be used in different types of offerings. He knew that burnt offerings required wood for the fire and Ornan offered his threshing instruments for that purpose. He had quite an operation going, and because of his generosity, he would not only have to relocate, but repurchase all that he had.
And king David said to Ornan, Nay; but I will verily buy it for the full price: for I will not take that which is thine for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings without cost. So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight.
King David is very noble here with Ornan and offers no less than full price for everything. 600 shekels of gold would equal about $400,000 in today’s dollars. In a parallel verse in 2 Sam. 24:24
And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing. So David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
Here we see that David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 shekels of silver which would be about $500 in today’s dollars. David explained to Ornan that he will not offer God a sacrifice that has cost him nothing. David cannot take any chances that his offering would not be acceptable to God. As parents, we understand sacrifice. Sacrifice is giving up something of short-term value in anticipation of long term benefits. When we sacrifice to God, it should cost us something, which means that we should be doing without something that we would like to have. It doesn’t always have to be monetary, it can be our time, a broken spirit, or a broken and a contrite heart as David writes in Psalm 51:17.
And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the Lord; and he answered him from heaven by fire upon the altar of burnt offering. And the Lord commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof.
We see here that God accepts the offering from David. What a spectacular site to see God’s response of fire upon the altar of burnt offering. God then gives the command to his angel that he can sheath his sword. This is exactly the outcome that David hoped for.
At that time when David saw that the Lord had answered him in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there. For the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of the burnt offering, were at that season in the high place at Gibeon.
We see here that other important and noteworthy events happened either here or nearby.
But David could not go before it to inquire of God: for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of the Lord.
Seeing that he has boundaries, and that God is not to be played with, David appears to have learned important lessons and has become much more cautious.
There are many times when the decision of one person affects anywhere from one individual person to millions of people if a war is following the a single action. David’s prideful sin resulted in the deaths of 70,000 men. God allowed the census to take place, which took about 10 months, but once it was completed, God acted. God is patient, and He expects that also of us.
