1 Chronicles 21:8

1Ch 21:8 And David said unto God, I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing: but now, I beseech thee, do away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly.

Ver. 8. {See Trapp on "2Sa 24:10"}

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 21:8. I have done very foolishly — I see plainly, and acknowledge, that I have been very foolish in thinking to found my security on the number of my people, instead of depending solely on thy almighty power and sovereign help.

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

(8) And David said.—This verse is verbatim the same with its parallel, save that it makes the characteristic substitution of “God” for “Jehovah,” and adds the explanatory phrase “this thing” in the first half, and in the second omits the Divine Name altogether.

Do away.—Cause to pass over, and so away. David’s conscience misgave him in the night, before his interview with Gad. (See 2Sa_24:10-11.)

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

8. do away the iniquity] Render perhaps, Remove the punishment; cp. Gen_4:13, R.V. with marg.

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.

Iniquity. David was guilty, though he retained both faith and hope. (Worthington)

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).

Contrition.

David was a man who both sinned grievously and repented bitterly. If we have nowhere more striking examples than in his life of human frailty, we have nowhere more than in his recorded experience an example of anguish and of penitence for sin. Witness the state of mind manifested in the fifty-first psalm. We have in this most touching verse

I CONFESSION OF SIN. This language may be regarded as a model of sincerely uttered confession.

1. It was offered to God. "David said unto God." So in Psalm 51., Against thee, thee only, have I sinned." Not against society, not against the state; but against the Searcher of hearts and the Judge of all.

2. It was a taking to himself of the guilt. "1 have sinned." Instead of layingthe blame upon another, the king accepted it for himself. It is a sad thing when men take excuses into the presence of God.

3. David had a just sense of the heinousness of his sin. He felt that he hadsinned greatly. It was not in his view a light thing of which he had been guilty. How can we, as Christians, regard sin as a light matter, when we remember that sin brought our holy Saviour, the Lord of glory, to the ignominious cross?

4. The folly of sin was very apparent to David"s mind when he poured outhis soul in contrite confessions before the Lord. "I have done very foolishly.

II ENTREATY FOR PARDON. It would be a sad case, indeed, if, when the sinner acknowledged his errors and faults, he did so with no hope or expectation of grace and forgiveness. But David knew that God was a God delighting in mercy and ready to forgive. Accordingly he added to his confession this entreaty: "I beseech thee, do away the iniquity of thy servant." What abundant encouragement have we to present a prayer like this! The revelation of God"s character, the provision of a Divine Redeemer, the promises of a welcome gospel, all alike induce us to come unto God in the attitude, not only of sinners, but of suppliants, beseeching of him a favourable reception, and the extension to us as sinners of his clemency and grace. T.

Vers. 8-13.

The human and the Divine in the hour of penitence.

We have illustrated here

I THE HUMAN APPROACH TO GOD in the hour of penitence. "David said unto God, I have sinned greatly, because I have done this thing: but now, I beseech thee, do away the iniquity of thy servant," etc. (ver. 8). Here is, what there ever should be,

(1) a deep sense of sin in the soul;

(2) a frank admission of guilt, in word;

(3) a prayer that it may be put away, or forgiven;

(4) an intention to put it away from our own heart and life.

II THE DIVINE OVERTURE TO MAN. God met the attitude of his penitent servant with forgiveness and a penalty. Thus he met David"s penitence before. "David said I have sinned against the Lord. And Nathan said unto David, The Lord hath put away thy sin; thou shalt not die. Howbeit the child shall surely die". (2Sa_12:13, 2Sa_12:14) On the present occasion God offered David his mercy (not, indeed, expressed, but clearly understood), accompanied by a penalty in respect of which he might exercise his own judgment. In the choice which Jehovah thus offered David there was something exceptional. In his dealing with mankind God does, indeed, give us the one alternative of going on in sin with utter ruin at the end of it, or repentance and forgiveness with some penalty to be paid for past offences; but this is the only option he gives us. If we come to him, like David, penitently and trustfully, owning transgression, and pleading for mercy through Jesus Christ, he will reinstate us in our forfeited position, he will pardon and accept us as his reconciled children, and he will require of us that we suffer the necessary and inevitable consequences of our past misdeeds. If we have wasted our youth in folly, he gives us a regenerated and holy manhood and age, but he condemns us to go forward with a sense that we have lost for ever a large portion of the opportunity of life. If we have injured our health, enfeebled our intellect, and impaired our moral and spiritual force by guilty indulgences, he grants us his mercy and a cleansed and purified future, but he sends us on our way with a lessened manhood and talents reduced that should have been multiplied and enlarged. If we have thrown away the esteem and affection of the wise and holy, he receives us, when penitent, into the embrace of his Divine affection, but he makes us pay the penalty of our folly by climbing slowly up the steeps of regained reputation and of renewed confidence and love. Forgiveness, not unattended with inevitable penalty, that is the overture of God to the repentant sinner. In the penalty we pay there is no choice allowed us. The moral laws of the universe are simply not inverted or annulled; they do their work upon and within us: only with his pardoning love comes his Divine grace to enable us to endure, and to give us the victory in the strife.

III THE HUMAN RECEPTION OF THE DIVINE OFFER. The spirit of David was one of holy submission; he said, "Let me fall now into the hand of the Lord; for very great are his mercies" (ver. 13). In the acceptance of the overture and in the choice which he made, David expressed a devout and obedient disposition. This is to be our spirit also. We are

(1) gratefully to accept the mercy of the Lord;

(2) cheerfully to bear whatever penalty the guilty past may carry on into the near future;

(3) gladly to believe that the further future will free us from all consequences of sin, and hold nothing in its hand but Divine grace and goodness. C.

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

and now, please put aside the iniquity of Your servant - Heb. עֲווֹן. This עֲווֹן is written with the plene spelling, with two “vavim,” i.e., please put aside the full iniquity that I committed. This word is written with the plene spelling in four places in Scripture, and this is one of them. The second is in Psalms (51:7): “Behold with iniquity (בְּעָווֹן) I was formed,” as it is explained in Leviticus Rabbah (14:5), in the section entitled: (Lev. 12:2): “If a woman conceives seed: Even if one be the most pious of the pious, it is impossible that he should have no streak of unintentional iniquity, because he intended only for his own pleasure.” The third is (Prov. 5:22): “His iniquities (עֲווֹנוֹתָיו) shall trap the wicked man,” meaning his many iniquities. The fourth is in II Kings (7:9): “... we will incur guilt (עָווֹן). Now let us go and come and relate this in the king’s palace.” They said, “If we do not go and tell this in the king’s palace, it will be a grave iniquity, because enemies will come upon them.”

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.