21:1 An adversary opposed Israel, inciting David to count how many warriors Israel had.
The Hebrew word for “adversary” is שָׂטָ֖ן (satan), meaning accuser. This is one of the many proper names for Satan. Notice that Satan can influence even the strongest of believers. David was “a man after God’s own heart.” He was the model king who all other kings were compared. However, he still possessed a sin nature which God needed to judge and correct. Sanctification is God teaching His children obedience through the Word of God and through God’s discipline.
When David was a shepherd boy, he trusted in God to help him slay the giant Goliath. Now that David was a king, he had become affluent and arrogant. He began trusting in his wealth and his armies. Israel was beginning to become affluent as well. Affluence causes arrogance. God judged Israel’s arrogance by allowing Satan to tempt David.
God uses Satan as His rod of discipline to judge sinners (Mark 4:15), to refine saints (Job 1:8–2:10), to discipline those in the church (1 Cor. 5:1–5), and to further purify obedient believers (2 Cor. 12:7–10). Neither God nor Satan forced David to sin. God allowed Satan to tempt David, but David chose the sin with his own free will.
21:2 David told Joab and the leaders of the army, “Go, count the number of warriors from Beer Sheba to Dan. Then bring back a report to me so I may know how many we have.”
The census of Moses was called by God to encourage Israel before their wilderness march. The census of David was a result of David’s pride in building up the most powerful military in the world. Any power, career, wealth, or gift that a person receives comes directly from God, so no one should be arrogant of their social position in life. The difference between a believer or non-believer’s social position is the efficacious call of God.
21:3 Joab replied, “May the Lord make his army a hundred times larger! My master, O king, do not all of them serve my master? Why does my master want to do this? Why bring judgment on Israel?”
Before God judges a man for his sin, He often sends another believer as a last-chance warning.
21:4 But the king’s edict stood, despite Joab’s objections. So Joab left and traveled throughout Israel before returning to Jerusalem.
General Joab objected, but King David’s arrogance ignored the warnings. When God judges a person or a nation, He often judges by giving them more divine revelation. The additional divine revelation hardens the arrogant person and leads them to their destruction. Pharaoh was hardened with more divine revelation. Isaiah hardened Israel with more divine revelation. Jesus hardened the religious leaders of His day by giving them more divine revelation.
21:5 Joab reported to David the number of warriors. In all Israel there were 1,100,000 sword-wielding soldiers; Judah alone had 470,000 sword-wielding soldiers.
Judah and Israel would later split and enter into civil war. Apostate Israel would start with double the amount of soldiers as that of sister Judah.
21:6 Now Joab did not number Levi and Benjamin, for the king’s edict disgusted him.
General Joab was a dangerous and crafty man, but he did trust in the Lord. The census disgusted him, because it came about because of the King’s pride in himself. Joab knew that God’s grace was the power behind David’s military.
21:7 God was also offended by it, so he attacked Israel.
God did not list the sin of adultery and murder in Chronicles, but He did list the sin of David’s pride in calling for a census. This was a spiritual sin which upset God. God had taken David as a young boy and made him king, but David saw all of God’s grace as David’s own intellectual doing.
21:8 David said to God, “I have sinned greatly by doing this! Now, please remove the guilt of your servant, for I have acted very foolishly.”
David realized his sin and confessed it. Most pagan kings counted their military every year as part of their standard operating procedure.
21:9 The Lord told Gad, David’s prophet, 21:10 “Go, tell David, ‘This is what the Lord says: “I am offering you three forms of judgment from which to choose. Pick one of them.”
God allowed David to choose his own discipline. This is a good strategy for parents and teachers. Allow your child to choose their own discipline.
21:11 Gad went to David and told him, “This is what the Lord says: ‘Pick one of these:
Gad the prophet was sent to David. Prophets were the verbal conscience which controlled Israelite kings from abusing their power.
21:12 three years of famine, or three months being chased by your enemies and struck down by their swords, or three days being struck down by the Lord, during which a plague will invade the land and the Lord’s messenger will destroy throughout Israel’s territory.’ Now, decide what I should tell the one who sent me.”
David was to choose between famine, war, or disease.
21:13 David said to Gad, “I am very upset! I prefer to be attacked by the Lord, for his mercy is very great; I do not want to be attacked by men!”
David was a man who understood that God’s grace is much softer than the grace of totally-depraved men.
21:14 So the Lord sent a plague through Israel, and 70,000 Israelite men died.
In three days, the plague killed 70,000 men. This plague eliminated many of the soldiers who were listed in the census.
21:15 God sent an angel to ravage Jerusalem. As he was doing so, the Lord watched and relented from his judgment. He told the angel who was destroying, “That’s enough! Stop now!” Now the Lord’s angel was standing near the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
The angel was operating underneath the jurisdiction of the Lord. When the angel drew his sword near the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, the Lord commanded him to stop. Ornan the Jebusite was a Gentile proselyte. The threshing floor was where the wheat was separated from the chaff during harvest season.
21:16 David looked up and saw the Lord’s messenger standing between the earth and sky with his sword drawn and in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. David and the leaders, covered with sackcloth, threw themselves down with their faces to the ground.
God allowed David to see what was happening in the spiritual world. Modern charismatics like to use this verse to claim that they can see into the spiritual world as well. However, this was an act of history, not a Bible doctrine that can be applied today. God’s only revelation to the local church is the written Word of God.
21:17 David said to God, “Was I not the one who decided to number the army? I am the one who sinned and committed this awful deed! As for these sheep—what have they done? O Lord my God, attack me and my family, but remove the plague from your people!”
Absolute power corrupts absolutely. No secular king would have made this request. David was a man after God’s own heart. He wanted to know the mind of God.
It is important to note that the Christian's duty to learn the mind of Christ and apply what they learn. If one desires the mind of Christ, then one must ask for biblical wisdom. Biblical wisdom comes only from the written Word of God. Gifted-pastor teachers are divinely placed inside of the modern local churches in order to mature the saints with face-to-face teaching.
21:18 So the Lord’s messenger told Gad to instruct David to go up and build an altar for the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite.
The prophet Gad instructed David to build an altar on this same threshing floor. This threshing floor was located on Mount Moriah.
21:19 So David went up as Gad instructed him to do in the name of the Lord.
David followed the instructions of the prophet.
21:20 While Ornan was threshing wheat, he turned and saw the messenger, and he and his four sons hid themselves.
The Hebrew word for “messenger” is הַמַּלְאָ֔ךְ (ha-melek) with the Hebrew article, meaning “the angel.” Ornan’s four sons hid at the sight of this angel.
21:21 When David came to Ornan, Ornan looked and saw David; he came out from the threshing floor and bowed to David with his face to the ground.
Ornan was most likely surprised and terrified that an angel and a king visited him at his own threshing floor.
21:22 David said to Ornan, “Sell me the threshing floor so I can build on it an altar for the Lord—I’ll pay top price—so that the plague may be removed from the people.”
Most pagan kings would have taken the threshing floor without asking. David offered to buy it at top price.
21:23 Ornan told David, “You can have it! My master, the king, may do what he wants. Look, I am giving you the oxen for burnt sacrifices, the threshing sledges for wood, and the wheat for an offering. I give it all to you.”
Ornan showed so much respect for God’s anointed king, that he offered to give him everything at no charge.
21:24 King David replied to Ornan, “No, I insist on buying it for top price. I will not offer to the Lord what belongs to you or offer a burnt sacrifice that cost me nothing.
David refused the offer. He did not want to make an offering to the Lord which cost him nothing. The three days of plague humbled David and brought him back into intimate fellowship with God.
21:25 So David bought the place from Ornan for 600 pieces of gold.
David paid top price for the threshing floor.
21:26 David built there an altar to the Lord and offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings. He called out to the Lord, and the Lord responded by sending fire from the sky and consuming the burnt sacrifice on the altar.
The burnt offering pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ. The peace offering pointed to David’s restored relationship with Christ. The Lord showed His approval of the sacrifice by consuming the offering with fire from heaven.
21:27 The Lord ordered the messenger to put his sword back into its sheath.
Jehovah ordered the angel to place his sword back into his sheath. God allowed David, Ornan, and the four sons to see into the spiritual world at this time. Again, this was an incident of history. This is not a doctrine for modern charismatics to see into the spiritual world.
21:28 At that time, when David saw that the Lord responded to him at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there.
David offered his sacrifice at this threshing floor.
21:29 Now the Lord’s tabernacle (which Moses had made in the wilderness) and the altar for burnt sacrifices were at that time at the worship center in Gibeon.
At this time, the ark of the covenant was located inside of a tent in Jerusalem. The tabernacle was located in the worship center at Gibeon. The tabernacle was still being used in worship.
21:30 But David could not go before it to seek God’s will, for he was afraid of the sword of the Lord’s messenger.
David was afraid to go to the tabernacle, because he possessed a new respect for the sword of this supernatural angel. Solomon would later build the temple at this same exact place. This site may be the current location of the Dome of the Mosque.