1 Chronicles 21:13

let me fall now into the hand of the Lord . . . let me not fall into the hand of man--Experience had taught him that human passion and vengeance had no bounds, whereas our wise and gracious Father in heaven knows the kind, and regulates the extent, of chastisement which every one needs.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 13. David said - I am in a great strait] The Targum reasons thus: "And David said to Gad, If I choose famine, the Israelites may say, The granaries of David are full of corn; neither doth he care should the people of Israel die with hunger. And if I choose war, and fly before an enemy, the Israelites may say, David is a strong and warlike man, and he cares not though the people of Israel should fall by the sword. I am brought into a great strait; I will deliver myself now into the HAND of the WORD of the LORD, ביד מימרא דיי beyad meymera dayai, for his mercies are many; but into the hands of the children of men I will not deliver myself."

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(13) And David said.—Almost identical with Samuel. “Let me fall” looks like an improvement of Samuel, “Let us fall.” The word “very” (not in Sam.) is perhaps an accidental repetition from the Hebrew of I am in a great strait.

Let me not fall.—Samuel has a precative form of the same verb (’eppôlâh; here ’eppôl).

David confesses inability to choose. So much only is clear to him, that it is better to be dependent on the compassion of God than of man; and thus, by implication he decides against the second alternative, leaving the rest to God. Famine, sword, and pestilence were each regarded as Divine visitations, but the last especially so, because of the apparent suddenness of its outbreak and the mysterious nature of its operation.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13. into the hand of the Lord] David deprecates war, and prefers famine or pestilence.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Men. Susanna spoke on a different supposition, (Daniel xiii. 23., and Ecclesiasticus ii. 22.) of eternal punishment, in consequence of sin. David prefers to be punished by the hand of a tender father, rather than that of an enemy; (Tirinus; Estius) and he does not wish to screen himself from suffering in this world, but offers himself to share in the chastisement of his subjects. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

It is in such answers as these answers of equal piety and practical wisdom, that the difference is often visible between the man radically bad, and the man good at heart and the child of grace, even when fallen into the deepest depth of sin.

Falling into the hand of the Lord.

There is something very simple and touching in this expression. "The hand of the Lord" is, for the most part, mentioned in Scripture as the emblem of God"s protecting, upholding, preserving power. Here it indicates chastisement. How truly submissive and filial was the spirit which was manifested in this petition! Whether God"s hand was raised to deliver or to smite, his servant was content so that it was God"s.

I THE LORD SOMETIMES CHASTENS EVEN REPENTING OFFENDERS. Some unthinking persons may wonder why, if the sinner be penitent and the sin forgiven, there should be any necessity for punishment at all. But facts cannot be explained away. The great Lord and Judge of all does Sometimes, as in the instance before us, permit the sinner to endure temporal consequences of sin, although his anger is turned away from the repentant heart. God thus avenges his own Law, upholds his own authority, shows himself a righteous Sovereign and Ruler.

II THERE ARE REASONS FOR MEEKLY SUBMITTING TO DIVINE CHASTISEMENT. An alternative of punishment is not God"s usual offer to repenting sinners. There is much to commend in the choice which David made when Gad, at the Lord"s command, permitted the king to elect one form of penalty rather than another. David referred the matter wholly into "the band" of a wise and merciful God. There are many reasons why we should thus submit when the Lord chastens.

1. God is the All-merciful. For this reason his people may well be content to "fall into his hand." "Very great are his mercies." He is "merciful and gracious, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin." His character, his promises, and especially his "unspeakable gift," should encourage us to lay aside all rebellion, murmuring, and fear, and to submit with patience, and "endure chastening." It is, no doubt, in his power to punish with far greater severity than any human enemy is capable of doing. But whilst "the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel," the mercy of God is boundless as his nature.

2. God knows, not only the sin, but the repentance by which it it followed. He reads the heart, and hears the sighs, and marks the tears of every contrite penitent. He sees when a deep impression of the sinfulness of sin has been produced. He knew that though David was a great sinner, he was a sincere, submissive, and lowly penitent. He makes a distinction between the punishment which is a mark of his righteous displeasure with the sin, and that which is needed to bring the offender to a just sense of his ill desert.

3. God tempers his chastisements with Divine consolations and support. He does not desert his children, even in their deserved distresses. He is with them in the furnace. When they are ready to sink beneath their merited sorrows, lo! his everlasting arms are found to be underneath them.

4 . God designs, by all his chastening, to secure his peoples spiritual good. He afflicts, not for his pleasure, but for our profit. His purpose is that we may "bring forth the peaceable fruits of righteousness." Men may wreak malicious vengeance; God"s discipline is that of a holy and compassionate Father. T.

Tolerable and intolerable troubles.

These are not only

I THE LESSER AND THE LARGER TRIALS OF OUR LIFE. Those, on the one hand, which cause temporary inconvenience, or slight annoyance, or little regret; and those, on the other hand, Which upset all our plans, or remove that which nothing can restore, or cut to the quick our lacerated and bleeding hearts, Not only these: as thus regarded, but also

II THOSE WHICH ARE UNATTENDED AND THOSE WHICH ARE ACCOMPANIED WITH REMORSE.

1. When our troubles come upon us as the consequence of our fidelity anddevotion, the source of them is a positive alleviation of our pain of mind.

2. When they arrive as the consequence of forces with which we havenothing to do, our mental pain is neither soothed nor aggravated by their source.

3. When we have to reproach ourselves as the authors of our own miseries,our souls smart with a keenness of suffering which makes us feel that "our punishment is greater than we can bear." But our troubles are divided into the tolerable and the intolerable (or the less tolerable) when, as suggested by the text, we view them as

III THOSE WHICH ARE OF DIVINE AND THOSE WHICH ARE OF HUMAN INFLICTION. David uttered a sentiment which is common to every pious heart when he said, "Let me fall now into the hand of the Lord; but let me not fall into the hand of men." When the evils which are oppressing us, when the sorrows which are saddening us, are embittered by the feeling that they are due to the heedlessness and heartlessness of men, especially when due to the inconsiderateness of those whose relation to ourselves calls for peculiar thoughtfulness and attention and still more, when they are inflicted on us by the positive malignity of our fellows, who find a cruel and horrible satisfaction in our losses and griefs, then our trouble is at its very heaviest, and seems to us quite intolerable. But when, as in unaccountable sickness, or in unavoidable loss, or in inevitable bereavement, we can feel that the hand of God is upon us, that we have "fallen into the hand of the Lord, and not into the hand of man," then we are not tempted to add the bitterness of resentment to the heaviness of disappointment or to the poignancy of grief. It is well for us to remember:

1. That even those troubles which seem to be wholly of human origin areyet to be borne as evils permitted of God. If David had chosen defeat in war, that would have had the Divine as well as the human in its origin and infliction. In our very worst distress, in the most cruel aggravations we can experience, we should "be in subjection to the Father of spirits, and live." He allows them to come; he would have us be patient and docile under them; he will bring us out from under them; he will overrule them for good in his own time and way.

1. That we have reason to be thankful when the trouble that comes to us issuch as we can readily ascribe to the Father"s hand. We must all pass through tribulation on our way to the heavenly kingdom: only by the waters of chastisement can we hope to be cleansed from some sins which beset us. It is well for us when the sorrow through which the Divine Father makes us t,o pass is of such a kind that we have no difficulty in referring it to his wisdom and love, and when, feeling that we have "fallen into the hands of God," we can

1. breathe freely the spirit of resignation,

2. learn readily the lessons of affliction. C.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Let me fall into the hand of Yahweh rather than into the hand of man

Here "hand" represents power to harm or punish Israel. AT: "Let me be punished by Yahweh, rather than be punished by people" (See: Metonymy)

Let me fall

The people of Israel are the ones who would die from the plague, but David is personalizing this judgment as if he himself was being killed.

hand of man

Here "man" is used in the generic sense of "people."

his merciful actions are very great

"Yahweh is very merciful"

on Israel

Here Israel is a metonym that represents the people of Israel. (See: Metonymy)

seventy thousand people died

"70,000 people died" (See: Numbers)

changed his mind about the harm

Here "mind" represents his decision. AT: "decided not to destroy Jerusalem" (See: Metonymy)

Enough!

This exclamation means "You have killed enough people!" (See: Exclamations)

draw back your hand

This is an idiom that means to stop doing something. AT: "do not kill attack the people of Jerusalem" (See: Idiom)

Ornan

This is the name of a man. (See: How to Translate Names)

translationWords

David

Yahweh

hand

mercy

Israel

die

angel

Jerusalem

thresh

Jebus

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

I am greatly oppressed You tell me, “Choose the mildest of them. It is hard for me, and I am greatly oppressed about it.” This can be compared to a [sick] person, to whom people said, “Behold you are going to die. Now in which grave do you wish to be buried? Beside your father or beside your mother?” Woe to the ears that hear such a thing!

let me fall now into the hand of the Lord with the pestilence, in which all are equal, both rich and poor.

for His mercies are great Perhaps He will have compassion, but our enemies will not have compassion on us.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.