1 Chronicles 21:24

That is, as much as it is worth: for having enough of his own, and yet to have taken of another man’s goods to offer unto the Lord, it had been theft and not acceptable to God.

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

Verse 24. For the full price] That is, six hundred shekels full weight of pure gold.

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

(24) For the full price.—Samuel simply, “At a price” (different word). The next clause does not appear in Samuel, but may well be original.

Nor offer burnt offerings without cost.—So Samuel: “Nor will I offer to the Lord my God burnt offerings without cost.” It was of the essence of sacrifice to surrender something valued in order to win from God a greater good (Ewald).

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

Cheap sacrifice disdained.

It is a scene of historical and of sacred interest. Upon the threshing-floor of the old Jebusite chieftain, the son of Jesse, by his repentance and prayer, secured the cessation of the pestilence which was desolating the land. The Divine command enjoins that on this spot where the plague was stayed, an altar shall be reared to Jehovah in acknowledgment of sparing mercy. The site is the property of Ornan, who with his four sons is threshing wheat. When David approaches, the Jebusite bows before him with reverence. The representatives of "the old order" and "the new" meet together. The scene is truly Oriental. The king asks for the site; the chief offers it as a gift; the king refuses to accept it upon such terms; and an agreement is entered into that the site shall become David"s in exchange for six hundred shekels of gold. Thus is acquired the land upon which an altar is built, and which is to become hereafter the site of the splendid temple of Solomon. David"s conduct and language convey a general principle of universal validity, viz. that it does not become man to offer, and that God will not accept, a gift or sacrifice which costs the giver nothing.

I OUR GOD HAS A RIGHT AND CLAIM TO ALL THAT WE CALL OURS. We call it ours, but our possession is derived from and is subordinate to his creative bounty, his providential goodness. What have we that we did not receive from him? Our property, and our powers of body and of mind, we have from him and owe to him. That we cannot enrich him by our giving, this is certain. But we can please him and can advantage ourselves by giving to his people and to his cause.

II GIFTS AND SACRIFICES THAT COST US NOTHING ARE CONTEMNED AND REJECTED BY GOD. David felt this, and expressed it in noble and memorable language, when he said, "I will not take that which is thine for the Lord, nor offer burnt offerings without cost." Every sincerely religious mind must sympathize with the spirit here displayed. We are reminded that the widow"s mite was approved and accepted by our Lord Jesus. It is not the magnitude of the gift, but the proportion of the gift to the giver"s means, and, above all, the spirit of self-denial displayed in the act of giving, which meets with the approbation of the Searcher of hearts.

III THERE IS PLEASURE AND PROFIT IN SELF-SACRIFICE FOR THE CAUSE OF GOD, The King of Israel found this to be so in his own experience, and the experience of all who in this have followed his example coincides with David"s. Our Lord has said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive. T.

Right feeling concerning giving to God.

David apprehended that the value of a gift greatly depends on the self-denial for which it finds expression. Compare the very interesting scene of Abraham negotiating with the sons of Heth for the purchase of the field and cave of Machpelah. There, considerations of personal dignity prevented his taking the property; and he felt that he could not lay his beloved partner down, save in a place which was his by purchase. Here, in the case of David, the feeling is a different one, yet it is in full harmony with the sentiment of the elder patriarch; right religious feeling, the sense of what was due to God, prevented David from offering what was not really his by right of purchase. Personal dignity, and sensitiveness to what is befitting, both in social intercourse and in matters of religion, have their appropriate place; and their due cultivation is a part of Christian duty. Some account of the symbolical significance of the burnt offering may fitly explain why David chose this form of sacrifice as appropriate to this occasion. Its central and characteristic meaning may be thus expressed in the words of Ewald: "In this, man"s share in the consumption of the offering altogether vanished. The sacrificer consecrated to the Deity alone the enjoyment of the whole, and this not to punish himself, or because he was punished, on account of a special consciousness of guilt by deprivation of sensuous participation, but rather from free resolve and purest self-denial. " Kurtz says, "The burning by fire was the chief point in this class of offering, and marked it as an expression of perpetual obligation to complete, sanctified, self-surrender to Jehovah." The sacrifice was a solemn declaration that the offerer belonged wholly to God, and that he dedicated himself, soul and body, to him, and placed his life at his disposal. We treat David"s burnt offering as a typical religious service, and consider

I THAT THE VALUE OF ALL RELIGIOUS SERVICE LIES IN THE SPIRIT OF HIM WHO BENDERS IT. A burnt offering is in itself a valueless and unacceptable thing; and so is every act of formal worship. Therefore in the unspiritual days of later Judaism, the prophets, as Isaiah, went so far as to say that God hated" the mere formalities of religion, and found them a weariness" to him. All a man"s gifts and acts must, like his words, carry a feeling, and express a desire and purpose. A man must utter himself in his words, or his words will be worthless. And so a man must utter himself in his offerings, sacrifices, and services, or God will say he cannot away with them." This point may be searchingly applied to our spiritual fitness for present-day services. Still it is true that our feeling must be the life of our worship.

II THE BEST THING WE CAN EXPRESS TO GOD IS OUR SELFDEVOTEMENT. This is the main idea of the burnt offering. This is the proper feeling cherished by David, and expressed in his sacrifice. It may be shown as the ultimate and comprehensive demand of St. Paul, in Rom_12:1, "I beseech you that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice.

III Such SELF-DEVOTEMENT CAN BE BEST EXPRESSED BY SELF-DENIAL. This David felt, and it led him to refuse to offer to God some one else"s self-denial. He would have it to be his own sacrifice, the act of his own self-denial. Show that what is given to God should be a mans own, and all the better if it is a man"s own by conscious effort, and if to set it aside for God involves some severe self-mastery. Such self-denials carry into expression the soul-feeling which alone is acceptable to God.

This subject lends itself to careful applications connected with modem religious worship and duty. It would be the dawn of a glorious day for the Church if every man felt as David did that he must utter his soul to God in gifts and offerings, and that these must come out of his "own proper good," and carry a noble burden of self-denials. 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.