1 Chronicles · chapter 21 of 29
Updated on
1 Chronicles 21 narrates the census David orders, incited by Satan, despite Joab's warning. The Lord punishes Israel with a plague that kills seventy thousand men, until David, repentant, offers his own life for the people and the Lord commands the angel to stop at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. David buys the site and builds an altar; this will be the site of the temple.
This chapter tells one of the most serious episodes of David's reign and, at the same time, prepares the place of the temple. David sins, the people suffer and the king acknowledges his guilt, but God turns the place of judgment and mercy into the site where his house will be built. The story combines sin, repentance, grace and worship, which is why it is key in the book.
Satan stands against Israel and incites David to number the people. David orders Joab and the commanders to count Israel from Beersheba to Dan. Joab asks why he wants to do it and why bring guilt on Israel, but the king's order prevails. Joab counts all the people, but does not include Levi or Benjamin, because the king's command was abhorrent to him. The result is one million one hundred thousand men who draw the sword in Israel, and four hundred seventy thousand in Judah.
This displeases God, and he strikes Israel. David acknowledges that he has sinned greatly and begs the Lord to take away his guilt. The prophet Gad gives him three options: three years of famine, three months of fleeing before his enemies or three days of the sword of the Lord, that is, pestilence. David chooses to fall into the hand of the Lord, whose mercy is very great, and not into the hand of men. The Lord sends pestilence on Israel and seventy thousand die. When the angel is about to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relents of the disaster and tells the angel to stay his hand. The angel is standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
David sees the angel between earth and heaven with a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem, and he and the elders fall on their faces in sackcloth. David prays that he is the one who sinned and asks that the hand of the Lord be against him and his house, but not against the people. The angel of the Lord commands Gad to tell David to raise an altar on the threshing floor of Ornan. Ornan offers to give him everything, but David insists on paying the full amount, because he will not offer to the Lord what costs him nothing. He builds the altar there, offers burnt offerings and peace offerings, the Lord answers with fire from heaven and commands the angel to put his sword back.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Satan stood against Israel and incited David to number the people. The text attributes the temptation to Satan, but does not excuse the king. Counting the people may seem neutral, but it revealed a trust placed in the number of soldiers more than in the Lord.
David prefers to fall into the hands of the Lord, because his mercy is very great, and not into the hands of men. Even in the hour of punishment, David appeals to God's mercy. It is a confession of faith in the midst of his guilt.
David prays that he is the one who sinned and asks what these sheep have done, and asks that the hand of the Lord be against him and his family, but that the plague not fall on the people. It is the attitude of a shepherd who takes the guilt and wants to protect his flock.
David refuses to receive the threshing floor as a gift, because he will not offer to the Lord what costs him nothing. His answer teaches that worship has a cost, and that a genuine offering commits the one who makes it.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Satan stood against Israel. — 1 Chronicles 21:1
Answer: He asked why the king wanted to do it and why bring guilt on Israel. — 1 Chronicles 21:3
Answer: Three years of famine, three months of fleeing before his enemies or three days of the Lord's pestilence. — 1 Chronicles 21:11-12
Answer: Seventy thousand. — 1 Chronicles 21:14
Answer: By the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. — 1 Chronicles 21:15
Answer: Because he would not offer to the Lord something that cost him nothing. — 1 Chronicles 21:24
David's story teaches two important things. First, that pride can disguise itself as planning. Counting the people seemed sensible, but it revealed where his trust lay. In a small group, ask what numbers, resources or achievements you rely on for security, and whether you give God first place.
Second, it teaches how to respond when we have sinned. David confessed, took responsibility and asked for mercy. And when he wanted to offer a sacrifice, he wanted it to be costly. Today too, sincere worship involves giving something of ourselves: time, attention and obedience, not only words.
1 Chronicles 21 leaves the angel with his sword sheathed and David with an altar on the threshing floor of Ornan. In the next chapter, David declares that the house of the Lord will stand there and begins to gather materials for his son Solomon to build it.
The text does not give every detail, but it notes that Joab found it abhorrent and that God was displeased. Some understand that David trusted the strength of his army and not the Lord, and others that he acted against God's instruction on how to take a census. In any case, the king recognized it as sin.
2 Samuel 24:1 says the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel and incited David. Chronicles says it was Satan. Many understand it this way: God permitted Satan to tempt David, as in the case of Job. The two texts present the same story from different angles.
In 2 Samuel 24:24 David pays fifty shekels of silver for the threshing floor and the oxen, and here he pays six hundred shekels of gold for the site. Many explain that these are two purchases: the first for the floor and the oxen, and the second for the whole site where the temple would be built.