Would you like to read James McNaught’s novel Sinking Sand”? click here: Sinking Sand
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
2 Samuel 24:18–25, “And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the LORD in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite. And David, according to the saying of Gad, went up as the LORD commanded. And Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming on toward him: and Araunah went out, and bowed himself before the king on his face upon the ground. And Araunah said, Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshingfloor of thee, to build an altar unto the LORD, that the plague may be stayed from the people. And Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what seemeth good unto him: behold, here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments and other instruments of the oxen for wood. All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king. And Araunah said unto the king, The LORD thy God accept thee. 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. And David built there an altar unto the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD was intreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.”
David sinned and then confessed his sin to the Lord. He trusted the Lord to deal with the sin and accepted the punishment from the Lord. However, David saw that his people were suffering from the plague and sought to alleviate their suffering. Gad, the prophet brought a message from the Lord to David and god him to build an altar and offer a sacrifice for his sin. Araunah, the Jebusite, lived in David’s city and was nearby. The Lord told David to offer this sacrifice on Araunah’s property. David went to this place and Araunah saw the king coming so he came to meet the king and offered the king the respect that was due to him. David asked Araunah if he could buy his threshingfloor. This was the place where Araunah placed his grain after harvest sot that he could break up the grain and into the edible portion and the inedible portion. After that stage the grain would be winnowed so that the chaff would blow away and only the grain would be left. Araunah offered the place to David as a gift. However, David was not willing to offer something to the Lord that he hadn’t paid for. It is unclear if Araunah was trying to get a higher price by offering it for free or if he was genuinely trying to offer the king his threshingfloor for free. Perhaps it is best to give this man the benefit of the doubt and assume that he genuinely wanted to give the king a gift. (On the other hand, when Abraham bought the land to bury Sarah it is likely that Ephron was trying to increase the price that Abraham paid for the land, see Gen 23:3-20) When David had purchased the land at a fair price, he offered the sacrifice for his sin and the Lord’s punishment was stopped and Israel had relief from the plague that was killing them.
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