# 1 Chronicles 21 📖: David's Census and the Altar [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-1 Chronicles Overview]] | [[1 Chronicles 20]] | [[1 Chronicles 22]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ## The Lord Sends a Plague against Israel [[#Verse 01.]] An adversary opposed Israel, inciting David to count how many warriors Israel had.  [[#Verse 02.]] David told Joab and the leaders of the army, “Go, count the number of warriors from Beer Sheba to Dan. Then bring back a report to me so I may know how many we have.”  [[#Verse 03.]] Joab replied, “May the Lord make his army a hundred times larger! My master, O king, do not all of them serve my master? Why does my master want to do this? Why bring judgment on Israel?” [[#Verse 04.]] But the king’s edict stood, despite Joab’s objections. So Joab left and traveled throughout Israel before returning to Jerusalem.  [[#Verse 05.]] Joab reported to David the number of warriors. In all Israel there were 1,100,000 sword-wielding soldiers; Judah alone had 470,000 sword-wielding soldiers.  [[#Verse 06.]] Now Joab did not number Levi and Benjamin, for the king’s edict disgusted him.  [[#Verse 07.]] God was also offended by it, so he attacked Israel. [[#Verse 08.]] David said to God, “I have sinned greatly by doing this! Now, please remove the guilt of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”  [[#Verse 09.]] The Lord told Gad, David’s prophet,  [[#Verse 10.]] “Go, tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: “I am offering you three forms of judgment from which to choose. Pick one of them.”’”  [[#Verse 11.]] Gad went to David and told him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Pick one of these:  [[#Verse 12.]] three years of famine, or three months being chased by your enemies and struck down by their swords, or three days being struck down by the Lord, during which a plague will invade the land and the angel of the Lord will destroy throughout Israel’s territory.’ Now, decide what I should tell the one who sent me.”  [[#Verse 13.]] David said to Gad, “I am very upset! I prefer to be attacked by the Lord, for his mercy is very great; I do not want to be attacked by men!”  [[#Verse 14.]] So the Lord sent a plague through Israel, and 70,000 Israelite men died. [[#Verse 15.]] God sent an angel to ravage Jerusalem. As he was doing so, the Lord watched and relented from his judgment. He told the angel who was destroying, “That’s enough! Stop now!” Now the angel of the Lord was standing near the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.  [[#Verse 16.]] David looked up and saw the angel of the Lord standing between the earth and sky with his sword drawn and in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. David and the leaders, covered with sackcloth, threw themselves down with their faces to the ground.  [[#Verse 17.]] David said to God, “Was I not the one who decided to number the army? I am the one who sinned and committed this awful deed! As for these sheep—what have they done? O Lord my God, attack me and my family, but remove the plague from your people!” [[#Verse 18.]] So the angel of the Lord told Gad to instruct David to go up and build an altar for the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.  [[#Verse 19.]] So David went up as Gad instructed him to do in the name of the Lord.  [[#Verse 20.]] While Ornan was threshing wheat, he turned and saw the messenger, and he and his four sons hid themselves.  [[#Verse 21.]] When David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David; he came out from the threshing floor and bowed to David with his face to the ground.  [[#Verse 22.]] David said to Ornan, “Sell me the threshing floor so I can build on it an altar for the Lord—I’ll pay top price—so that the plague may be removed from the people.”  [[#Verse 23.]] Ornan told David, “You can have it! My master, the king, may do what he wants. Look, I am giving you the oxen for burnt sacrifices, the threshing sledges for wood, and the wheat for an offering. I give it all to you.”  [[#Verse 24.]] King David replied to Ornan, “No, I insist on buying it for top price. I will not offer to the Lord what belongs to you or offer a burnt sacrifice that cost me nothing.  [[#Verse 25.]] So David bought the place from Ornan for 600 pieces of gold.  [[#Verse 26.]] David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings. He called out to the Lord, and the Lord responded by sending fire from the sky and consuming the burnt sacrifice on the altar.  [[#Verse 27.]] The Lord ordered the messenger to put his sword back into its sheath. [[#Verse 28.]] At that time, when David saw that the Lord responded to him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there.  [[#Verse 29.]] Now the Lord’s tabernacle (which Moses had made in the wilderness) and the altar for burnt sacrifices were at that time at the worship center in Gibeon. [[#Verse 30.]] But David could not go before it to seek God’s will, for he was afraid of the sword of the angel of the Lord. ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. ###### Verse 22. ###### Verse 23. ###### Verse 24. ###### Verse 25. ###### Verse 26. ###### Verse 27. ###### Verse 28. ###### Verse 29. ###### Verse 30. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts / Historical and Cultural Insights 1. Chronicles says Satan incited David (21:1), while 2 Samuel 24:1 says the Lord's anger incited him. Together they show God ruling even over Satan's schemes. 2. Here "Satan" appears without the article, as a name. In Job and Zechariah it is "the satan," meaning "the adversary." 3. Joab warned David against the census (21:3) and did not count Levi and Benjamin (21:6). 4. The census totals (21:5) differ from 2 Samuel 24:9, possibly because the two accounts counted different groups. 5. Gad the seer offered David three options: three years of famine, three months of defeat, or three days of plague (21:11-12). 6. Seventy thousand men of Israel died in the plague (21:14). 7. Ornan the Jebusite (21:15) is called Araunah in 2 Samuel 24:16. 8. David paid 600 shekels of gold for the site (21:25), while 2 Samuel 24:24 records 50 shekels of silver. Many explain that the smaller price was for the threshing floor and oxen, and the larger for the whole area. 9. God answered David's offering with fire from heaven (21:26), as He did for Aaron (Leviticus 9:24) and Elijah (1 Kings 18:38). 10. Ornan's threshing floor became the site of the temple on Mount Moriah (22:1; 2 Chronicles 3:1). ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the costly sacrifice that turns away judgment. God accepted David's offering at Ornan's threshing floor, and the angel put his sword away (21:26-27). Jesus gave Himself as the atoning sacrifice for our sins (1 John 2:2). ## 🔎 Key Principles / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. Why was David's census wrong (21:1-3)? Where are we tempted to trust numbers and resources more than God? 2. David said, "I am the one who sinned" (21:17). What does true repentance and responsibility look like? 3. David refused to offer the Lord something that cost him nothing (21:24). What does costly worship look like for you? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verse 13: David chooses to fall into the hands of the Lord, because His mercy is very great. - 📖 verse 17: David takes responsibility for his sin and asks God to spare the people. - 📖 verse 24: David will not offer the Lord what costs him nothing. ## 🔗 Related Passages/Cross Reference - 🔗 [[2 Samuel 24|2 Samuel 24]] - The parallel account of David's census. - 🔗 [[Genesis 22#Verse 02.|Genesis 22:2]] - Abraham is sent to the land of Moriah. - 🔗 [[2 Chronicles 03#Verse 01.|2 Chronicles 3:1]] - Solomon builds the temple on Ornan's threshing floor. - 🔗 [[Job 01#Verse 12.|Job 1:12]] - Satan can act only within the limits God sets. - 🔗 [[1 John 02#Verse 02.|1 John 2:2]] - Jesus is the atoning sacrifice for our sins. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection 📝 SOAP: [[1 Chronicles 21 - SOAP|Give God Something Worthy of Him]] ## 📂 Internal Notes