2 Samuel 24:19 - Printer Friendly

ESV: So David went up at Gad 's word, as the Lord commanded.

NIV: So David went up, as the Lord had commanded through Gad.

NASB: Then David went up in accordance with the word of Gad, just as the Lord had commanded.

CSB: David went up in obedience to Gad’s command, just as the Lord had commanded.

NLT: So David went up to do what the Lord had commanded him.

KJV: And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded.

NKJV: So David, according to the word of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded.

God sent an angel with a devastating plague in response to David's sinful census. The angel stopped on the mountain above Jerusalem. God sends the seer Gad to tell David to build an altar there (2 Samuel 24:1, 15–16, 18).

Shortly after David became king of all Israel, he decided to make Jerusalem his capital city. The Jebusites, a tribe of Canaanites, mocked David, claiming that not even he could breach their fortified city. David's men used the shaft that brought water into the city and conquered it easily (2 Samuel 5:6–10). The "City of David" doesn't encompass the entirety of what Jerusalem becomes. It's a small sliver of land south of what is now the temple Mount. In David's time, some Jebusites still lived in the area.

Araunah is one such Jebusite. He owns the hilltop and uses it as a threshing floor. Despite being of the people God told Joshua to destroy (Joshua 10:5; 11:3), Araunah apparently lives peacefully among the Israelites and recognizes David as king. He asks David what he wants, and David says he wants to buy the threshing floor (2 Samuel 24:21). After some cultural banter, David buys the threshing floor, a larger piece of land, Araunah's oxen and wheat, and the oxen's yoke and threshing sledge (1 Chronicles 21:23). As David sacrifices, God halts the plague, sparing Jerusalem.

The account of this event in 1 Chronicles gives more detail. It describes David seeing the angel "standing between earth and heaven, and in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem," which was only a few hundred yards away. It also identifies David's "servants" as elders of the city (1 Chronicles 21:16).

Second Samuel 24:18–25 (1 Chronicles 21:18–28) portrays David's effort to honor God's righteousness and sovereignty. To punish David and Israel for their sins, God has sent a destroying angel who stops right before it reaches Jerusalem (2 Samuel 24:1–17). David buys the threshing floor where the angel stands and offers sacrifices. God accepts the offering and stops the plague. That spot will later house the temple. This is the final story of David's reign. First Kings 1 begins the transition of the kingdom to Solomon.

Second Samuel 24 (1 Chronicles 21) is the final story in the epilogue to 1 and 2 Samuel. God is angry with Israel and incites David to take a census. When it's finished, David accepts blame, and God punishes Israel with a plague. The plague's progress stops at a threshing floor just short of Jerusalem. David buys the land and offers a sacrifice. The land will later house the temple. In the chiasm—the mirror arrangement—epilogue of 1 and 2 Samuel, this story is partnered with God's punishment of Saul's family for their sin against the Gibeonites (2 Samuel 21:1–14).

Second Samuel 24 (1 Chronicles 21) marks the end of the epilogue of 1 and 2 Samuel. Second Samuel 21—24 is a mirrored pattern showing how God's blessings on Israel are dependent on their obedience. Here, God is angry with Israel and incites David. The nation is disciplined by a deadly plague. In 2 Samuel 24, the story shows that God disciplines Israel's disobedience. In 1 Chronicles 21, the focus is on how David got the land for the temple.

Second Samuel continues the story of David, who will become king over Judah. The other tribes of Israel are resistant, eventually sparking a civil war. David wins and makes Jerusalem his capital. Early success is followed by moral failure and controversy in David's house. The book of 1 Kings will begin by detailing David's decline and death.