2 Samuel 24: Summary and Commentary

Verse 1

24:1 The reason God’s anger . . . burned against Israel is unknown (but see Deut 4:25; 6:14-15; 29:22-28; 31:16-18). • Caused . . . to harm reflects a Hebrew verb (suth) used elsewhere in the sense of enticing or inciting someone to do wrong (1 Sam 26:19, “stirred you up against me”). Census-taking was usually unpopular with citizens, who resented it as an intrusion into their private affairs. They regarded it as a prelude to taxation or forced military service (see study note on 2 Sam 24:9). If David was motivated by pride or was preparing for an illegitimate war (as 24:9 might suggest), this might explain why it was a sin for him (24:10).

Verse 2

24:2 Dan and Beersheba were the traditional northern and southern boundaries of Israel. This phrase meant the entire land of Israel.

Verse 3

24:3 why . . . do you want to do this? Joab either realized that such a move would be unpopular among the people, or he believed that it was wrong before God.

Verse 9

24:9 The phrase capable warriors shows that the census focused largely on those fit for military service. The total for Judah here might be rounded up from the total in 1 Chr 21:5; the different number for Israel in 1 Chr 21:5 (1,100,000) might come from combining a regular standing army of 300,000 (elsewhere unrecorded) with the 800,000 discovered through the census.

Verse 10

24:10 I have sinned: See study note on 24:1. David believed his sin was the cause of the plague and that the removal of his sin would make things right (see also 24:17). It is clear, however, that Israel rather than David was the true object of God’s wrath (24:1).

Verse 11

24:11 Gad . . . David’s seer appears only here and in 1 Sam 22:5. Seer is an early name for a prophet (1 Sam 9:9, 19). Unlike pagan magicians or sorcerers, biblical seers had divinely inspired visions (see also 2 Kgs 17:13; Isa 29:10; 30:9-10; Amos 7:12; Mic 3:7) and functioned as God’s messengers.

Verse 13

24:13 David had already experienced the first two options—fleeing from Saul and Absalom, and famine because Saul had murdered the Gibeonites (21:1). While three days of severe plague sounded less traumatic, 70,000 people perished (24:15).

Verse 16

24:16 the Lord relented: God might stop his judgment when a third party intercedes for the intended target (Exod 32:12-14), when the sinful person repents (Jer 18:8), or simply because he decides to do so. • the death angel: Cp. Exod 12:23. • A threshing floor was an unwalled space where harvested grain was threshed and winnowed to separate the kernels from the chaff. Gideon encountered God at a threshing floor (Judg 6:37). Araunah’s threshing floor later became the site of the Temple (1 Chr 21:18–22:1; 2 Chr 3:1). • Araunah the Jebusite: Even though David had taken Jerusalem from the Jebusites (2 Sam 5:6-9), he had not eliminated them or driven them away.

Verse 17

24:17 I am the one who has sinned: David’s earlier confession of sin was limited to his circumstances (“forgive my guilt,” 24:10); now he prayed for those he considered innocent (but see 24:1) and offered to die in their place. • as sheep: David was the shepherd of Israel (see study note on 7:8).

Verse 21

24:21 so that he will stop the plague: David did not know that God had already announced the end of the plague to the angel (24:16).

Verse 25

24:25 David performed priestly functions when he built an altar, offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and prayed for his people; in response, the Lord answered his prayer (cp. 21:14).

Verse 5

they passed over Jordan—This census was taken first in the eastern parts of the Hebrew kingdom; and it would seem that Joab was accompanied by a military force, either to aid in this troublesome work, or to overawe the people who might display reluctance or opposition.

the river of Gad—"Wady" would be a better term. It extends over a course estimated at about sixty miles, which, though in summer almost constantly dry, exhibits very evident traces of being swept over by an impetuous torrent in winter (see Deu 2:36).

Verse 6

the land of Tahtim-hodshi—that is, the land lately acquired; namely, that of the Hagarites conquered by Saul (Ch1 5:10). The progress was northward. Thence they crossed the country, and, proceeding along the western coast to the southern extremities of the country, they at length arrived in Jerusalem, having completed the enumeration of the whole kingdom in the space of nine months and twenty days.

Verse 9

Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king—The amount here stated, compared with Ch1 21:5, gives a difference of three hundred thousand. The discrepancy is only apparent, and admits of an easy reconciliation; thus (see Ch1 27:1-15), there were twelve divisions of generals, who commanded monthly, and whose duty was to keep guard on the royal person, each having a body of troops consisting of twenty-four thousand men, which, together, formed an army of two hundred eighty-eight thousand; and as a separate detachment of twelve thousand was attendant on the twelve princes of the twelve tribes mentioned in the same chapter, so both are equal to three hundred thousand. These were not reckoned in this book, because they were in the actual service of the king as a regular militia. But Ch1 21:5 joins them to the rest, saying, "all those of Israel were one million, one hundred thousand"; whereas the author of Samuel, who reckons only the eight hundred thousand, does not say, "all those of Israel," but barely "and Israel were," &c. It must also be observed that, exclusive of the troops before mentioned, there was an army of observation on the frontiers of the Philistines' country, composed of thirty thousand men, as appears from Sa2 6:1; which, it seems, were included in the number of five hundred thousand of the people of Judah by the author of Samuel. But the author of Chronicles, who mentions only four hundred seventy thousand, gives the number of that tribe exclusive of those thirty thousand men, because they were not all of the tribe of Judah, and therefore he does not say, "all those of Judah," as he had said, "all those of Israel," but only, "and those of Judah." Thus both accounts may be reconciled [DAVIDSON].

Verse 10

HE, HAVING THREE PLAGUES PROPOUNDED BY GAD, REPENTS, AND CHOOSES THREE DAYS' PESTILENCE. (Sa2 24:10-14)

David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the Lord, I have sinned—The act of numbering the people was not in itself sinful; for Moses did it by the express authority of God. But David acted not only independently of such order or sanction, but from motives unworthy of the delegated king of Israel; from pride and vainglory; from self-confidence and distrust of God; and, above all, from ambitious designs of conquest, in furtherance of which he was determined to force the people into military service, and to ascertain whether he could muster an army sufficient for the magnitude of the enterprises he contemplated. It was a breach of the constitution, an infringement of the liberties of the people, and opposed to that divine policy which required that Israel should continue a separate people. His eyes were not opened to the heinousness of his sin till God had spoken unto him by His commissioned prophet.

Verse 13

Shall seven years of famine come unto thee—that is, in addition to the three that had been already, with the current year included (see on Ch1 21:11).

Verse 14

David said, . . . Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord—His overwhelming sense of his sin led him to acquiesce in the punishment denounced, notwithstanding its apparent excess of severity. He proceeded on a good principle in choosing the pestilence. In pestilence he was equally exposed, as it was just and right he should be, to danger as his people, whereas, in war and famine, he possessed means of protection superior to them. Besides, he thereby showed his trust, founded on long experience, in the divine goodness.

Verse 15

HIS INTERCESSION TO GOD; THE PLAGUE CEASES. (Sa2 24:15-25)

from the morning—rather that morning when Gad came [Sa2 24:18], till the end of the three days.

there died of the people . . . seventy thousand men—Thus was the pride of the vainglorious monarch, confiding in the number of his population, deeply humbled.

Verse 16

the Lord repented him of the evil—God is often described in Scripture as repenting when He ceased to pursue a course He had begun.

Verse 17

David . . . said—or, "had said,"

I have sinned . . . but these sheep, what have they done?—The guilt of numbering the people lay exclusively with David. But in the body politic as well as natural, when the head suffers, all the members suffer along with it; and, besides, although David's sin was the immediate cause, the great increase of national offenses at this time had (Sa2 24:1) kindled the anger of the Lord.

Verse 18

Araunah—or Ornan (Ch1 21:18), the Jebusite, one of the ancient inhabitants, who, having become a convert to the true religion, retained his house and possessions. He resided on Mount Moriah, the spot on which the temple was afterwards built (Ch2 3:1); but that mount was not then enclosed in the town.

Verse 21

to build an altar unto the Lord, that the plague may be stayed—It is evident that the plague was not stayed till after the altar was built, and the sacrifice offered, so that what is related (Sa2 24:16) was by anticipation. Previous to the offering of this sacrifice, he had seen the destroying angel as well as offered the intercessory prayer (Sa2 24:17). This was a sacrifice of expiation; and the reason why he was allowed to offer it on Mount Moriah was partly in gracious consideration to his fear of repairing to Gibeon (Ch1 21:29-30), and partly in anticipation of the removal of the tabernacle and the erection of the temple there (Ch2 3:1).

Verse 23

All these things did Araunah, as a king, give—Indicating, as the sense is, that this man had been anciently a heathen king or chief, but was now a proselyte who still retained great property and influence in Jerusalem, and whose piety was evinced by the liberality of his offers. The words, "as a king," are taken by some to signify simply, "he gave with royal munificence."

Verse 24

Nay; . . . I will . . . buy it of thee at a price—The sum mentioned here, namely, fifty shekels of silver, equal £6 sterling, was paid for the floor, oxen and wood instruments only, whereas the large sum (Ch1 21:25) was paid afterwards for the whole hill, on which David made preparations for building the temple.

Verse 25

David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings—There seem to have been two sacrifices; the first expiatory, the second a thanksgiving for the cessation of the pestilence (see on Ch1 21:26).

Next: (1 Kings) Introduction