Chronicles of the Past Dynasties_Chapter 21

Satan rose up and attacked the Israelites, stirring up David to number them.

David commanded Joab and the leaders of the people, saying, Go and number the Israelites from Beersheba to Dan, and come back and tell me, so that I may know their numbers.

Joab said, May the Lord increase his people a hundred times more than they are now. My lord, my king, are not they all your servants? Why did my lord command to do this, and why did he cause Israel to sin?

But the king’s command was superior to Joab’s. So Joab went out and traveled throughout the land of Israel, returning to Jerusalem,

Tell David the total number of the people, and there are one million and one hundred thousand Israelites wielding swords. There were 470000 Jews holding swords.

But the Levites and Benjamin were not numbered among them, because Joab despised the king’s command.

God was displeased with this matter of counting the people, so he brought disaster on the Israelites.

David prayed to God, saying, I have done this thing with great sin. Now therefore, I pray you, take away the iniquity of your servant, for what I have done is very foolish.

The Lord commanded Gad, David’s seer, to say,

Go and tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says:’ I have three calamities, choose one for you, so that I may bring them upon you. ‘.

So Gad came to David and said to him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘You can choose as you please.'”,

Or three years of famine. Or be defeated in front of your enemy and chased by their sword for three months. Or there may be the sword of the Lord in your kingdom, which is a plague that lasts for three days, and the angel of the Lord will destroy all the borders of Israel. Now you need to think about it, so that I can reply to the person who sent me.

David said to Gad, I am in great difficulty. I wish to fall into the hands of the Lord, for he has abundant mercy. I don’t want to fall into people’s hands.

So the Lord brought a plague on the Israelites, and they died 70000.

God sent messengers to destroy Jerusalem. Just as it was about to be destroyed, the Lord saw it and regretted it. He commanded the angel who destroyed the city, saying, Enough, stop. At that time, the angel of the Lord stood at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between heaven and earth, with a drawn sword in his hand, extending above Jerusalem. David and the elders were both dressed in linen and lying face down on the ground.

David prayed to God, saying, Am I not the one who commanded to number the people? I have sinned and done evil, but what have these sheep done? May the hand of the Lord my God attack me and my father’s house, not your people, and bring a plague upon them.

The angel of the Lord commanded Gad to go and tell David to go up and build an altar for the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.

David went up according to what Gad had said in the name of the Lord.

At that time, Arnan was threshing wheat when he turned around and saw the angel. He and his four sons hid themselves.

When David arrived at Ornan, he saw David and went out from the threshing floor, bowing down to him with his face to the ground.

David said to Ornan, “Sell me this threshing floor and the land that is connected to it, and I will give you the full price, so that I may build an altar to the Lord on it, so that the plague among the people may come to an end.”.

Ornan said to David, “You may use this threshing floor, and may my lord the king do as you please.”. I will also offer you a burnt offering of oxen, burn the threshing utensils as firewood, and offer wheat as a grain offering. I’ll give you all of these.

King David said to Arnan, otherwise. I need to buy from you at the full price. I will not offer anything of yours to the Lord, nor will I offer anything for nothing as a burnt offering.

So David gave six hundred shekels of gold to Ornan for that piece of land.

David built an altar to the Lord there, offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called on the Lord. The Lord answered him and brought fire from heaven onto the altar of burnt offering.

The Lord commanded the messenger, and he put his sword in its sheath.

At that time, David saw that the Lord had agreed to him on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, and he offered sacrifices there.

The tabernacle of the Lord and the altar of burnt offerings, which Moses made in the wilderness, are all on high in Gibeon.

But David did not dare to go and ask God, because he feared the sword of the angel of the Lord.

David said, This is the temple of the Lord God, the altar for offering burnt offerings to the Israelites.