1 Chronicles 21:15

1Ch 21:15 And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the LORD beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD stood by the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite.

Ver. 15. Unto Jerusalem to destroy it.] There was the ark; there were David and the elders humbling themselves: thither therefore the plague came last.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Ch_21:15

And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it.

The destroying angel

Lessons:

I. That idleness is the parent of sin. It was when David was living as king in ease at Jerusalem that he was tempted of Satan.

II. That one of the best remedies for woe is work. The angel of destruction stayed his steps at the threshing-floor of Ornan, even as the angel of salvation visited Gideon as he was threshing wheat.

III. That prayer, even at the eleventh hour, may be by Gods grace efficacious. When the sword was actually drawn in the hand of the destroyer it was kept from further execution when David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces.

IV. That our gifts to God, as to men, should be bestowed in a generous spirit.

V. That we should not offer to God what costs us nothing.

VI. That God sanctifies efforts, however weak they may be, if they be sincerely made; accepts gifts, however humble they may be, if bestowed from the heart.

VII. That the best proof that we can have that our offering is accepted by God is not that we experience a sense of inflated importance or self-satisfaction, but that we are filled with an abiding sense of peace.

VIII. That though we may worship God anywhere and everywhere, yet that in His duly consecrated sanctuary, it is fittest to do Him reverence. (R. Young, M. A.)

Man, through the devil, bringing tremendous evils on the world

That men suffer for the sins of others is a fact written in every page of history, obvious in every circle of life, and recognised as a principle in the government of God. The fathers eat sour grapes, and the childrens teeth are set on edge. That this principle is both just and beneficent, consider--

1. That no man is made to suffer more than he deserves on account of his own personal sins.

2. The men of Israel now for their own sins deserved this stroke of justice.

3. That the evil which descends to us from others is not to be compared to that which we produce ourselves.

4. The sufferings that come to us from others can give us no remorse, which is the very sting of the judgment--our own sins do this.

5. That the knowledge that we can injure society by our own conduct has a strong tendency to restrain vice and stimulate virtue. (Homilist.)

David and Israel

I. The progressive course of sin.

1. Temptation. Satan the black fountain of all transgression.

2. Transgression (1Ch_21:2). In face of warning (1Ch_21:3). Its desperate folly seen by others (1Ch_21:6). The deadening, hardening power of any lust.

3. Punishment (1Ch_21:10-12). As soon will the magnet escape the influence of the pole, the sea the influence of the moon, an atom the binding force of gravitation, as the sinner escape punishment. Be sure your sin, etc.

II. The progressive course of reconciliation with God.

1. The messenger, Gods afflictive stroke (1Ch_21:7). The prophet, Gad (1Ch_21:9). Every person or circumstance that reproves is Gods messenger.

2. Conviction. (1Ch_21:8). The true convict, always confesses, never excuses. Not only owns the sin, but acknowledges its greatness.

3. Penitence (1Ch_21:16).

4. Acceptance.

5. Grateful acknowledgment (1Ch_21:24).

III. Underlying truths.

1. Though man be tempted, sin is his own act.

2. Our sins affect others. How many widows and orphans!

3. Though sin be pardoned, it leaves terrible scars behind. In Davids memory. Gaps in the families and homes of the people. Avoidance of sin is infinitely better than pardon. Christ the only sin-healer. (R. Berry.)

The sin of one may involve the suffering of others

When the father of the house goes down in character he carries down with him, to a considerable extent, the character of his innocent children. The bad man is laying up a bad fortune for those whom he has brought into the world; long years afterwards they may be told how bad a man their father was, and because of his iniquity they may be made to suffer loss and pain. (J. Parker, D. D.)

Suffering through others

Our sin affects others as well as ourselves. A man whose garden was injured by a troublesome weed said it was due to a neighbours neglect. He had let his garden run wild, and when the seeds of this particular weed were ripe, the wind blew them over the fence. So one sin may make many innocent people suffer.

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

1Ch 21:15-16. God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it, &c. — This seems to import that there were more angels than one employed to effect this destruction in different parts of the country: and that the angels, sent to Jerusalem, had begun to slay some of its inhabitants. The Lord beheld, and repented him of the evil — Probably because he beheld their serious repentance. David and the elders clothed in sackcloth — That is, in mourning garments; fell on their faces — Humbling themselves before God for their sins, and deprecating his wrath against the people.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Read 2 Sam. 24:16.

When God draweth back his plagues, he seemeth to repent, read Gen. 6:6.

Or, Araunah.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

stood by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite--Ornan was probably his Hebrew or Jewish, Araunah his Jebusite or Canaanitish, name. Whether he was the old king of Jebus, as that title is given to him (Sa2 24:23), or not, he had been converted to the worship of the true God, and was possessed both of property and influence.

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 15. And God sent an angel] Thus the Targum: "And the WORD of the LORD sent the angel of death against Jerusalem to destroy it; and he beheld the ashes of the binding of Isaac at the foot of the altar, and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, which he made in the Mount of Worship; and the house of the upper sanctuary, where are the souls of the righteous, and the image of Jacob fixed on the throne of glory; and he turned in his WORD from the evil which he designed to do unto them; and he said to the destroying angel, Cease; take Abishai their chief from among them, and cease from smiting the rest of the people. And the angel which was sent from the presence of the Lord stood at the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite."

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

(15) And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it.—The reading of Samuel is probably right, “And the angel stretched out his hand towards Jerusalem, to destroy it.” The verb is the same word in each, and the word “God” in our text is substituted for “Jehovah,” which, again, is a misreading of part of the Hebrew of Samuel (yâdô ha), the first word meaning his hand, and the second being the definite article belonging to “angel.”

To destroy.—A different voice of the same verb as in Samuel.

And as he was destroying, the Lord beheld. Not in Samuel. The words “soften the harshness of the transition from the command to the countermand” (Bertheau).

As he was destroying.—About (at the time of) the destroying; when the angel was on the point of beginning the work of death. It does not appear that Jerusalem was touched. (Comp. 2Sa_24:16.)

That destroyed.—Samuel adds, “Among the people.” The addition is needless, because the Hebrew implies “the destroying angel.” (Comp. Exo_12:23.

It is enough, stay now.—According to the Hebrew accentuation, Enough now (jam satis), stay (drop) thine hand.

Stood.—Was standing. Samuel, “had come to be.”

Ornan.—So the name is spelt throughout this chapter. Samuel has the less Hebrew-looking forms ha-’ôrnah (text; comp. the LXX. ǒpva) or ha-Arawnah, margin) here, and in 1Ch_21:18 Aranyah (text), elsewhere Arawnah. Such differences are natural in spelling foreign names. The LXX. have “Orna,” the Syriac and Arabic “Aran.”

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

15. unto Jerusalem] The plague arrived in Jerusalem after making ravages elsewhere.

as he was destroying] R.V. as he was about to destroy, agreeing with 2 Sam., when the angel stretched forth his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it.

It is enough] The sudden cessation of this pestilence has numerous parallels in the history of epidemics.

the threshingfloor of Ornan] The Chronicler makes this threshing-floor the site of the Temple. The author of Sam. is silent on the point. Cp. 1Ch_21:25; 1Ch_21:28, notes.

Ornan] This is the form of the name throughout this chapter, but in 2 Samuel 24 the K’rî gives everywhere Araunah, The C’thîb of Sam. however offers various forms, one of which (to be read Ornah, 1Ch_21:16) approximates to the form given in Chron. Variation in reproducing foreign names is common; see note on 1Ch_18:5 (Damascus), and on 2Ch_36:6 (Nebuchadnezzar).

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.

Took. Hebrew, "repented of evil," taking pity of unhappy victims. --- Ornan, or Areuna. (Challoner) --- He had been king of the Jebusites before David took Jerusalem. (Mariana; Tirinus)

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).

And God sent an angel. It is at this point first that any mention of an angel is found in the parallel place, but then not in the present form, but in a sentence which would seem to presuppose the knowledge of the agency of an angel on the occasion: "And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the Lord repented him of the evil". (2Sa_24:16) Stood by the threshing-floor of Ornan. The verb "stood" is employed here quite generically. It does not imply that the angel stood on the ground; for see next verse, in which it is said that he "stood between the earth and the heaven," the Hebrew verb being exactly the same. Ornan is the uniform form and spelling of the name in Chronicles. In Samuel, however, the name appears as hwnra, (2Sa_24:20) or Araunah. Yet in ver. 16, of the same chapter the Kethiv inverts the order of the resh and vau, prefixing the article, or what looks like it, and again in ver. 18 the Kethiv shows the form hynra Ornan, then, or Arauuah, was a descendant of the old Jebusite race to whom the fort of Zion once belonged. And the present narrative finds him living on the Hill of Moriah (Conder"s" Bible Handbook," 2nd edit., 236 6). The threshing-floor. The primitive threshing-floors of the Israelites still essentially obtain. They were level spots of stamped and well-trodden earth, about fifty feet in diameter, and selected in positions most exposed to the wind, in order to take the advantage of its help in the separating of the grain from the chaff. On these circular spots of hard earth the sheaves of grain, of whatever kind, were distributed in all sorts of disorder. Oxen and other cattle trod them. And sometimes these beasts were driven round and round five abreast. The stalk of the grain was, of course, much bruised and crushed, and the method is described still as of a very rough and wasteful kind. Instruments were also employed, as the "flail" (Rth_2:17; Isa_28:27, 28); the "sledge," to which possibly reference is made in. Jud_1:8:7, 16, under the name barkanim (Authorized Version, "briers These sledges were of two kinds:

(1) the morag (2Sa_24:22; 1Ch_21:23; Isa_41:15) made of fiat planks joined together, and furnished with rough studs on the under surface; and

(2) agalah, rendered Authorized Version, "cart-wheel", (Isa_28:27) made of wooden rollers, or rollers of iron or stone, and dragged by cattle over the sheaves. Egypt and Syria, as well as Palestine, still show these instruments (see Robinson"s "Bibl. Res.," 1:550; and Thomson"s "Land and the Book," pp. 538-541).

God"s repentance.

How often, in the Scriptures, are human emotions attributed to God! The charge of "anthropopathy" has, in consequence, sometimes been brought against what we hold to be Divine revelation. The truth is that objectors do not truly believe in the personality of God. The Bible does teach us to think of God as a Person a living, conscious Being, with moral attributes and purposes. It even speaks, as in the text, of God"s repentance.

I THIS IS NOT THE REPENTANCE OF ONE WHO HAS DONE WRONG. This is the usual application of the word, but it obviously has no place here. The penalty inflicted upon David was a just and deserved one. "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" As a Ruler of inflexible righteousness, the Lord demands our reverence and confidence in all the proceedings of his providence.

II IT IS THE REPENTANCE OF PITY. We find a satisfaction in attributing to the Lord the emotions of pity, of long-suffering, and of love. The spectacle of the suffering nation, and the humbled, afflicted, contrite king, was one which deeply affected the Divine and fatherly heart. Repentance arose upon the perception that the chastening had now answered its purpose in rousing the sense of sin, in bringing the sinner low before the feet of a justly offended Judge and Lord. When the Lord saw this result, his heart relented and his wrath assuaged.

III IT IS REPENTANCE ISSUING IN SALVATION. Then "he said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thy hand." Pity may be sincere, but ineffectual. Not so with the Divine King. He utters his fiat, and" in the midst of wrath remembers mercy.

PRACTICAL LESSONS.

1. Adore and gratefully praise the forbearance and forgiving mercy of God.

2. Consider the gracious terms.upon which clemency is offered.

3. Recognize in the gospel of Christ the supreme illustration of theprinciple exemplified in the incident recorded in the text. T.

Vers. 15, 16.

The sight of the destroying angel.

It is noted in these verses that the Divine judgment was executed by an angel, and that God and David both watched him carrying out his fearful commission. The sight produced different effects on the watchers, and these suggest useful thoughts and truths. The Bible idea of an angel seems to be that of an agent, other than man, employed to carry out the Divine purposes in the sphere of creation, and especially in this our world. If we accept this comprehensive conception of an angel, we shall understand how there may be angels of affliction, angels of death, and even angels of temptation, all engaged directly in the Divine service. There may be God"s angel of pestilence for the punishment of David, and God"s angel of temptation, or testing, for the purifying of Job. It may be shown that destruction by pestilence is on several occasions attributed to the ministry of an angel: e.g. destruction of the firstborn in Egypt and of Sennacherib"s army. This is still a familiar poetical figure. Sometimes unseen things have been graciously set within the sphere of the senses, in order to help men to feel the reality of the unseen. Angels are unseen beings; the Divine workings are largely secret and unseen; but it pleases God to set his people sometimes "within the veil;" or, we may say, "behind the scenes;" or down below among the machinery, so that they may gain for themselves, and give to others, fitting impressions of the reality of the Divine working. For a similar reason God, the infinite and spiritual Being, is spoken of under human figures, as though he were a man, doing a man"s deeds and feeling a man"s feelings. Some explanation of anthropomorphism and anthropopathism may here suitably be given. In the verses now for consideration, we find a double vision and a double repentance. God saw the angel and repented, so did David.

I A DOUBLE VISION GOD"S AND MAN"S. It is precisely noticed that as the angel was engaged in his work of destruction, "the Lord beheld." Here is set before us something more than God"s perfect knowledge of everything that happens. It impresses upon us his personal interest in his administration of human affairs; his immediate attention to the execution of the judgments he denounces; and his sensitiveness to the effects of his judgments on those who suffer them. So it convinces us of what we may call the paternity of God. We also gain the assurance that suffering, when it comes as penalty, can never get beyond God"s inspection and control. This conviction makes us willing, as David was, to "fall into the hands of God." Compare our Lord, in his extreme suffering, commending himself to the "hands of the Father." Further, it reveals to us the fact that God brings his pitying mercies into our very calamities. David also saw the angel, and by the sight was enabled distinctly to recognize the Divine agency in what otherwise he might have called a calamity.

II A DOUBLE REPENTANCE. Give explanations of the Old Testament and New Testament uses of the term. Distinguish metanoia from metameleia. Begin with general idea of repentance as change of mind; reconsideration with a view to a new course of conduct. Show in what senses the term can be applied to God, and not to man; to man, and not to God. Especially show that m God s changes of action, or relation, there is adaptation to new conditions, without any regret, conviction of mistake, or sense of wrong. In the case before us God repents, in the sense of recognizing a sufficient fulfilment of his purpose in the judgment, and so the possibility of relieving Israel of the plague. David repents in a wholly different sense. He is aroused to full conviction of his sin, and humbles himself before God in solemn confessions. David now sees the connection between suffering and sin; the relation of one man"s sin to many men"s sufferings; and above all, the exceeding sinfulness of his own sin. R.T.

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

angel

(See Scofield "Heb 1:4").

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.