"No," replied the king, "I insist on paying a price, for I will not offer to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. “No,” replied the king,David, as king, demonstrates his authority and responsibility. His response is decisive, reflecting his understanding of leadership and accountability before God. This moment follows a divine judgment on Israel due to David's earlier census, which was against God's will. The king's reply signifies a turning point towards obedience and repentance. “I insist on paying a price,
David's insistence on paying for the threshing floor highlights the principle of sacrificial giving. In the ancient Near Eastern context, offerings to deities were common, but David's determination to pay underscores the importance of personal sacrifice in worship. This principle is echoed in the New Testament, where true worship involves personal cost and commitment (Romans 12:1). for I will not offer to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.”
David's statement reveals his deep reverence for God. Burnt offerings were a significant part of Israelite worship, symbolizing atonement and dedication. By refusing to offer something that cost him nothing, David acknowledges that genuine worship requires personal sacrifice. This foreshadows the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus Christ, who gave Himself fully for humanity's redemption (Ephesians 5:2). So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
The purchase of the threshing floor, which later becomes the site of Solomon's Temple, is significant both historically and theologically. The location is Mount Moriah, where Abraham was tested with Isaac (Genesis 22), linking it to themes of faith and obedience. The transaction for fifty shekels of silver indicates a fair and deliberate exchange, emphasizing the value David placed on making things right with God. This act of purchasing the site for worship prefigures the establishment of a permanent place for God's presence among His people, ultimately fulfilled in Christ, who is the true temple (John 2:19-21). Persons / Places / Events 1. DavidThe King of Israel, known for his heart after God, who insists on paying for the threshing floor to offer a sacrifice to God. 2. AraunahA Jebusite who owned the threshing floor that David desired to purchase for building an altar to the Lord. 3. Threshing FloorThe location where David intended to build an altar to offer sacrifices to God, which later became the site of Solomon's Temple. 4. Burnt OfferingsSacrifices made to God, symbolizing atonement and dedication, which David insists must cost him something. 5. Fifty Shekels of SilverThe price David paid for the threshing floor and oxen, signifying his commitment to offering a meaningful sacrifice. Teaching Points The Cost of True WorshipWorship that honors God often requires personal sacrifice and commitment. David's refusal to offer something that cost him nothing challenges us to consider what we are willing to give up for God. Heart of SacrificeThe heart behind the offering is crucial. David's insistence on paying for the threshing floor reflects a heart fully devoted to God, reminding us that God values our intentions and sincerity. Ownership and StewardshipDavid's purchase signifies taking ownership of his worship and stewardship of resources. We are called to be responsible stewards of what God has entrusted to us. Legacy of FaithThe site of David's altar became the location of the Temple, showing how acts of faith and obedience can have lasting impacts. Our faithful actions today can influence future generations. God's Provision and GraceWhile David paid for the threshing floor, it was God's grace that provided the means. Recognizing God's provision in our lives encourages gratitude and reliance on Him. Bible Study Questions 1. What does David's insistence on paying for the threshing floor teach us about the nature of true worship and sacrifice? 2. How can we apply the principle of offering God something that costs us in our daily lives? 3. In what ways does the account of David and Araunah's threshing floor connect with the concept of stewardship in the New Testament? 4. How does the location of the threshing floor as the future site of the Temple illustrate the long-term impact of our faithful actions? 5. Reflect on a time when you experienced God's provision in your life. How did it influence your faith and actions? Connections to Other Scriptures Genesis 22Abraham's willingness to sacrifice Isaac demonstrates the principle of costly obedience and faith. 1 Chronicles 21This parallel account provides additional details about the event, emphasizing the importance of David's decision. Romans 12:1Paul urges believers to offer themselves as living sacrifices, highlighting the theme of sacrificial living. Mark 12:41-44The widow's offering illustrates the value of sacrificial giving, regardless of the amount. People Araunah, Canaanites, Dan, David, Gad, Gadites, Hittites, Hivite, Hivites, Joab, ZidonPlaces Aroer, Beersheba, Dan, Gilead, Jazer, Jerusalem, Jordan River, Kadesh, Negeb, Sidon, TyreTopics Araunah, Arau'nah, Ascend, Bought, Burned, Burnt, Burnt-offerings, Buy, Buyeth, Case, Cause, Certainly, Cost, David, Fifty, Floor, Got, Grain-floor, However, Insist, Nay, Nothing, Nought, Offer, Offerings, Oxen, Paid, Paying, Price, Sacrifice, Shekels, Silver, Surely, Threshing, Threshingfloor, Threshing-floor, VerilyDictionary of Bible Themes 2 Samuel 24:24 4363 silver
5242 buying and selling
5477 property, land
5913 negotiation
8752 false worship 2 Samuel 24:10-25 7435 sacrifice, in OT 2 Samuel 24:11-25 4843 plague 2 Samuel 24:16-25 4524 threshing-floor 2 Samuel 24:22-24 5865 gestures Library The Exile --Continued.
We have one psalm which the title connects with the beginning of David's stay at Adullam,--the thirty-fourth. The supposition that it dates from that period throws great force into many parts of it, and gives a unity to what is else apparently fragmentary and disconnected. Unlike those already considered, which were pure soliloquies, this is full of exhortation and counsel, as would naturally be the case if it were written when friends and followers began to gather to his standard. It reads like …
Alexander Maclaren—The Life of DavidThe Universal Chorus
And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto Him that stteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. M en have generally agreed to dignify their presumptuous and arrogant ^* disquisitions on the works and ways of God, with the name of wisdom ; though the principles upon which they proceed, and the conclusions which they draw from …
John Newton—Messiah Vol. 2 Letter xix (A. D. 1127) to Suger, Abbot of S. Denis
To Suger, Abbot of S. Denis He praises Suger, who had unexpectedly renounced the pride and luxury of the world to give himself to the modest habits of the religious life. He blames severely the clerk who devotes himself rather to the service of princes than that of God. 1. A piece of good news has reached our district; it cannot fail to do great good to whomsoever it shall have come. For who that fear God, hearing what great things He has done for your soul, do not rejoice and wonder at the great …
Saint Bernard of Clairvaux—Some Letters of Saint Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux Meditations for one that is Like to Die.
If thy sickness be like to increase unto death, then meditate on three things:--First, How graciously God dealeth with thee. Secondly, From what evils death will free thee. Thirdly, What good death will bring unto thee. The first sort of Meditations are, to consider God's favourable dealing with thee. 1. Meditate that God uses this chastisement of thy body but as a medicine to cure thy soul, by drawing thee, who art sick in sin, to come by repentance unto Christ, thy physician, to have thy soul healed …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety Consolations against Impatience in Sickness.
If in thy sickness by extremity of pain thou be driven to impatience, meditate-- 1. That thy sins have deserved the pains of hell; therefore thou mayest with greater patience endure these fatherly corrections. 2. That these are the scourges of thy heavenly Father, and the rod is in his hand. If thou didst suffer with reverence, being a child, the corrections of thy earthly parents, how much rather shouldst thou now subject thyself, being the child of God, to the chastisement of thy heavenly Father, …
Lewis Bayly—The Practice of Piety The Order of Thought which Surrounded the Development of Jesus.
As the cooled earth no longer permits us to understand the phenomena of primitive creation, because the fire which penetrated it is extinct, so deliberate explanations have always appeared somewhat insufficient when applying our timid methods of induction to the revolutions of the creative epochs which have decided the fate of humanity. Jesus lived at one of those times when the game of public life is freely played, and when the stake of human activity is increased a hundredfold. Every great part, …
Ernest Renan—The Life of Jesus Of Love to God
I proceed to the second general branch of the text. The persons interested in this privilege. They are lovers of God. "All things work together for good, to them that love God." Despisers and haters of God have no lot or part in this privilege. It is children's bread, it belongs only to them that love God. Because love is the very heart and spirit of religion, I shall the more fully treat upon this; and for the further discussion of it, let us notice these five things concerning love to God. 1. The …
Thomas Watson—A Divine Cordial The Hardening in the Sacred Scripture.
"He hath hardened their heart."-- John xii. 40. The Scripture teaches positively that the hardening and "darkening of their foolish heart" is a divine, intentional act. This is plainly evident from God's charge to Moses concerning the king of Egypt: "Thou shalt speak all that I command thee; and I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply My signs and wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh shall not harken unto you, and I will lay My hand upon Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know that I am the …
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit The Prophet Amos.
GENERAL PRELIMINARY REMARKS. It will not be necessary to extend our preliminary remarks on the prophet Amos, since on the main point--viz., the circumstances under which he appeared as a prophet--the introduction to the prophecies of Hosea may be regarded as having been written for those of Amos also. For, according to the inscription, they belong to the same period at which Hosea's prophetic ministry began, viz., the latter part of the reign of Jeroboam II., and after Uzziah had ascended the …
Ernst Wilhelm Hengstenberg—Christology of the Old Testament Samuel
Alike from the literary and the historical point of view, the book[1] of Samuel stands midway between the book of Judges and the book of Kings. As we have already seen, the Deuteronomic book of Judges in all probability ran into Samuel and ended in ch. xii.; while the story of David, begun in Samuel, embraces the first two chapters of the first book of Kings. The book of Samuel is not very happily named, as much of it is devoted to Saul and the greater part to David; yet it is not altogether inappropriate, …
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament Links 2 Samuel 24:24 NIV2 Samuel 24:24 NLT2 Samuel 24:24 ESV2 Samuel 24:24 NASB2 Samuel 24:24 KJV
2 Samuel 24:24 Commentaries
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