Why does David pay for Areuna’s threshing floor and oxen instead of accepting them freely?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

He says he will not offer the Lord his God holocausts that cost him nothing. He buys the floor and oxen for fifty sicles of silver, builds the altar and offers holocausts and peace offerings; the chapter then records the Lord’s mercy and the plague being stopped.

Chapter breakdown

The Lord’s anger is again kindled against Israel. The opening verse says David is stirred up among them to number Israel and Juda.

Challoner’s separate note says this stirring up was not God’s doing but Satan’s, as expressly declared in 1 Chronicles or Paralipomenon 21:1.

David orders Joab, general of his army, to go through all Israel’s tribes from Dan to Bersabee and number the people so he may know their number. Joab asks that the Lord multiply the people, making them as many more as now and then a hundredfold in the king’s sight. He questions what the king means by this kind of thing. David’s words prevail over Joab’s and the army captains’ words, and Joab and the captains go out from the king to count Israel’s people.

They cross the Jordan and come to Aroer, to the right side of the city in Gad’s vale. By Jazer they pass into Galaad and the lower land of Hodsi, then reach Dan’s woodlands and go around by Sidon. They pass near Tyre’s walls and all the land of the Hevite and Chanaanite, then come to Bersabee in southern Juda. After covering the whole land, they return to Jerusalem in nine months and twenty days. Joab reports eight hundred thousand valiant sword-drawing men in Israel and five hundred thousand fighting men in Juda.

After the people are numbered, David’s heart strikes him. He tells the Lord he has sinned greatly in what he has done and asks that his servant’s iniquity be taken away, because he has acted exceedingly foolishly.

Challoner’s separate note explains that David was touched with great remorse for the vanity and pride that led him to number the people.

David rises in the morning. The Lord’s word comes to Gad the prophet, David’s seer, directing him to offer David a choice of three things for the Lord to do to him. Gad presents seven years of famine in David’s land, three months of fleeing before pursuing adversaries, or three days of pestilence in the land. He tells David to consider what answer Gad should take back to the one who sent him. David says he is in a great strait, but it is better to fall into the Lord’s hands, because his mercies are many, than into men’s hands.

The Lord sends pestilence on Israel from morning until the appointed time. Seventy thousand men die among the people from Dan to Bersabee. When the Lord’s angel stretches his hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord has pity on the affliction and tells the angel killing the people that it is enough and to hold his hand. The angel is by the threshing floor of Areuna the Jebusite. Seeing the angel strike the people, David tells the Lord that he is the one who sinned and acted wickedly. He asks what these sheep have done and begs that the Lord’s hand turn against him and his father’s house.

Gad comes to David that day and tells him to go up and build an altar to the Lord at Areuna the Jebusite’s threshing floor. David goes as Gad says, according to the Lord’s command. Areuna sees the king and his servants coming, goes out and bows with his face to the earth before him. He asks why his lord has come. David says he has come to buy the threshing floor and build an altar so that the plague raging among the people may cease.

Areuna tells David to take and offer what seems good to him. He offers oxen for a holocaust and the wain and the oxen’s yokes for wood. The passage says Areuna gives all these things as a king to the king. He asks that the Lord David’s God receive his vow. David refuses a free gift, saying he will buy at a price and will not offer the Lord his God holocausts free of cost. He buys the floor and oxen for fifty sicles of silver. There he builds an altar and offers holocausts and peace offerings. The Lord becomes merciful to the land, and the plague is stopped from Israel.

The story inside

David’s command to number the people prevails over Joab’s question and the captains’ words. The full journey ends with the two reported counts; afterward David confesses great sin and folly. Challoner separately explains the stirring up and the remorse. Gad presents three stated alternatives and asks for an answer. David prefers the Lord’s hands because of his mercies, and pestilence follows. The Lord halts the angel at Jerusalem; David asks that the blow turn toward him and his father’s house. Gad directs an altar at Areuna’s floor. David buys the floor and oxen rather than offering cost-free holocausts, makes the offerings, and the chapter closes with mercy to the land and the plague stopped.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The count includes a complete route and two different reported groups. The journey takes nine months and twenty days; Joab reports eight hundred thousand sword-drawing men of Israel and five hundred thousand fighting men of Juda. Replacing locations or combining the figures with another edition would change this account.
2
The alternatives and the response should remain distinct. Gad gives seven years of famine, three months of flight and three days of pestilence. David speaks of falling into the Lord’s hands because his mercies are many. The narrative then records pestilence from morning until the appointed time; it does not require an added claim that three full days elapsed.
3
David explains why he pays. He refuses to offer cost-free holocausts and buys the floor and oxen for fifty sicles of silver. The altar, both kinds of offering and the stopped plague follow. That recorded reason and result are enough without importing a later temple history or a rule about all worship.

Test your recall

What does Gad tell David to build, what does Areuna offer, and why does David pay before making the offerings?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 34432–34438
2 Kings Chapter 24 David numbereth the people: God sendeth a pestilence, which is stopt by David’s prayer and sacrifice. 24:1. And the anger of the Lord was again kindled against Israel, and stirred up David among them, saying: Go, number Israel and Juda.
Lines 34440–34441
Stirred up, etc.... This stirring up was not the doing of God, but of Satan; as it is expressly declared, 1 Chron. or Paralip. 21.1.
Lines 34443–34454
24:2. And the king said to Joab the general of his army: Go through all the tribes of Israel from Dan to Bersabee, and number ye the people that I may know the number of them. 24:3. And Joab said to the king: The Lord thy God increase thy people, and make them as many more as they are now, and again multiply them a hundredfold in the sight of my lord the king: but what meaneth my lord the king by this kind of thing? 24:4. But the king’s words prevailed over the words of Joab, and of the captains of the army: and Joab, and the captains of the soldiers went out from the presence of the king, to number the people of Israel.
Lines 34456–34472
24:5. And when they had passed the Jordan, they came to Aroer to the right side of the city, which is in the vale of Gad. 24:6. And by Jazer they passed into Galaad, and to the lower land of Hodsi, and they came into the woodlands of Dan. And going about by Sidon, 24:7. They passed near the walls of Tyre, and all the land of the Hevite, and the Chanaanite, and they came to the south of Juda into Bersabee: 24:8. And having gone through the whole land, after nine months and twenty days, they came to Jerusalem. 24:9. And Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people to the king, and there were found of Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men that drew the sword: and of Juda five hundred thousand fighting men.
Lines 34474–34477
24:10. But David’s heart struck him, after the people were numbered: and David said to the Lord: I have sinned very much in what I have done: but I pray thee, O Lord, to take away the iniquity of thy servant, because I have done exceeding foolishly.
Lines 34479–34481
David’s heart struck him, after the people were numbered.... That is he was touched with a great remorse for the vanity and pride which had put him upon numbering the people.
Lines 34483–34499
24:11. And David arose in the morning, and the word of the Lord came to Gad the prophet and the seer of David, saying: 24:12. Go, and say to David: Thus saith the Lord: I give thee thy choice of three things, choose one of them which thou wilt, that I may do it to thee. 24:13. And when Gad was come to David, he told him, saying: Either seven years of famine shall come to thee in thy land: or thou shalt flee three months before thy adversaries, and they shall pursue thee: or for three days there shall be a pestilence in thy land. Now therefore deliberate, and see what answer I shall return to him that sent me. 24:14. And David said to Gad: I am in a great strait: but it is better that I should fall into the hands of the Lord (for his mercies are many) than into the hands of men.
Lines 34501–34513
24:15. And the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel, from the morning unto the time appointed, and there died of the people from Dan to Bersabee seventy thousand men. 24:16. And when the angel of the Lord had stretched out his hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord had pity on the affliction, and said to the angel that slew the people: It is enough: now hold thy hand. And the angel of the Lord was by the thrashingfloor of Areuna the Jebusite. 24:17. And David said to the Lord, when he saw the angel striking the people: It is I; I am he that have sinned, I have done wickedly: these that are the sheep, what have they done? let thy hand, I beseech thee, be turned against me, and against my father’s house.
Lines 34515–34528
24:18. And Gad came to David that day, and said: Go up, and build an altar to the Lord in the thrashingfloor of Areuna the Jebusite. 24:19. And David went up according to the word of Gad which the Lord had commanded him. 24:20. And Areuna looked, and saw the king and his servants coming towards him: 24:21. And going out he worshipped the king, bowing with his face to the earth, and said: Wherefore is my lord the king come to his servant? And David said to him: To buy the thrashingfloor of thee, and build an altar to the Lord, that the plague, which rageth among the people, may cease.
Lines 34530–34544
24:22. And Areuna said to David: Let my lord the king take, and offer, as it seemeth good to him: thou hast here oxen for a holocaust, and the wain, and the yokes of the oxen for wood. 24:23. All these things Areuna as a king gave to the king: and Areuna said to the king: The Lord thy God receive thy vow. 24:24. And the king answered him, and said: Nay, but I will buy it of thee, at a price, and I will not offer to the Lord my God holocausts free cost. So David bought the floor, and the oxen, for fifty sicles of silver: 24:25. And David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered holocausts and peace offerings: and the Lord became merciful to the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.