And David went up at the saying of Gad, which he had spoken in the name of Jehovah.
The angel's sword is still drawn over Jerusalem. David has one thing to go on: a message from the prophet Gad — and he acts on it, treating that word as God's own.
The place Gad named mattered as much as David's obedience:
The place where mercy triumphed over judgment becomes the site of the altar. This shows where the temple would later be built — the place where God's mercy stopped the plague.
Gad arrives while David is still in distress over his sin, and what he brings is not another threat but a remedy:
David the penitent is crying out in his distress. Meanwhile Gad the seer is already on his way, like a true evangelist, to announce God's provision for his salvation. Elihu's words to Job would have fitted that message: "Deliver him... I have found" — what David failed to find — "a ransom."
No one in Israel could say how the angel's sword might be sheathed. The answer came as a word from God, and it pointed David away from Israel's known places of worship:
God had held judgment back, but had not yet finally turned it away, for the angel's sword was still unsheathed. Who could then be sure the dreadful visitation was over? Neither Gad, nor David, nor all the elders of Israel in council could have dared to say. God would not leave them in suspense for a single day. He alone could decide, and reveal on what terms that dreaded sword would be sheathed... The ark was on Mount Zion. The tabernacle was at Gibeon. The king was not to go to the ark, nor to the bronze altar. He was to build an altar on Ornan's threshing floor — ground still owned by a Jebusite, one of the ancient inhabitants of Jerusalem. At once David obeyed. God had said what must be done, and David would do it, so that the plague would stop.
David walks onto the threshing floor. Ornan and his sons run for cover:
He went up at once at the word of the prophet, while Ornan and his sons hid themselves from the angel. No human being can stand naked before the Lord, in his own resources. Yet sinners may come right up to His heavenly presence by the power of simply believing in His grace. Ornan and David illustrate this. The Lord had not revealed His grace to Ornan. Ornan knew nothing of the altar that was to stand on his threshing floor. So he hid himself — a bare creature in the sight of God, like Adam before him in the same case. But David knew the remedy that mercy, triumphing over judgment, had provided. So he dares to stand, though ashamed and humbled.
David's obedience did not end at the top of the hill. He paid for the ground before he built on it:
In 1 Chronicles 21 and 22 we find that God's judgment had first to fall on David's pride. Only after he had paid the full price did God show him the place for the Lord's house. Looking away from all natural things, and acting only according to God's thoughts, always costs something. It calls for sacrifice.
David's step ends with the angel's sword going back into its sheath. That moment brought settled peace:
The reconciliation was complete. David was justified by faith, so he had peace with God... David trusted in this grace. He built his altar on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, where mercy had triumphed. And at once, at the Lord's commandment, the angel of destruction puts his sword back into its sheath.
- Word — Gad speaks in the LORD's name, and David treats his message as God's own command: "So David went up at Gad's word."
- Ransom — Gad's word is not a further sentence. It announces God's provision, like Elihu's "I have found a ransom."
- Walk — David goes up at once. He stands on the floor where Ornan hides, because he knows the remedy mercy has provided.
- Cost — he pays the full price for the ground. Acting on God's thoughts instead of natural ones always costs something.
- Rest — the altar goes up and the sword goes back in its sheath. Where mercy triumphed over judgment, the LORD's house would later stand.
And Ornan turned back and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat.
Ornan is doing the plainest work there is: beating out wheat on his own floor. Above him an angel stands over Jerusalem with a drawn sword. The verse turns on what he sees: he looks up, catches sight of the angel, and his four sons hide themselves.
The chapter builds a chain of sight, and Ornan is the last link. One writer traces the order, and notes what ended his fear:
The Lord, we have said, had seen the angel; then David had seen him; now Ornan in turn sees him (v. 20). At this sight he and his sons hide themselves, terrified. But the sight of David reassures him (v. 21), for God had sent David to build an altar on Ornan's threshing floor. Indeed, what could be more reassuring than to see the Lord's Anointed, the one God commissioned to make expiation and put an end to judgment?
The verse names the four sons as hiding, and commentators read Ornan as hiding with them. Two men are on that floor, and they act in opposite ways. One commentator sets the difference down to what each of them knew:
Notice this. No human being can stand before the Lord stripped bare, with nothing but his own resources. Yet sinners may come right up into His heavenly presence, in the power of simply believing in His grace. Ornan and David illustrate this. God had not revealed His grace to Ornan. He knew nothing of the altar that was going to be set up on his threshing floor. So, as a mere creature exposed in God's sight, like Adam in the same situation, he hid himself. But David knew the remedy that mercy, triumphing over judgment, had provided. So he dares to stand, though ashamed and humbled.
David buys the ground and builds while the sword is still drawn.
The sword is still drawn, but it holds no terror for him now. Because he believes, he is not ashamed or confused. He stands still to see God's salvation. His soul simply becomes a receiver of the grace that God Himself brings near to him.
The detail that Ornan was threshing wheat is not scenery. A threshing floor is where a farmer separates grain from husk. One commentator sees meaning in the plague stopping at such a place. He uses this man's other name:
There is wonderful instruction for us, however, in the fact that the plague stopped at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. The judgment of God only goes as far as the threshing floor. In other words, when God judges, it is with the object of bringing out the grain from the chaff. The process may be deeply painful, but the resulting blessing for genuine believers is unspeakably precious.
Ornan is a Jebusite — a Canaanite still living in the land, not an Israelite. The sword stopped over the property of an outsider, and that choice of address is deliberate:
This occurred by the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, for the Jebusite was in the land. The Canaanites still lived in the land… And, what is more, God marks His grace; for all is in grace here. It was there He stopped — the last place where one would have expected it — at the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. Why there? Because there God meant to mark sovereign grace.
Ornan offers his oxen, his threshing tools and his wheat for nothing. David refuses, and the refusal carries meaning:
Ornan, full of good will, but ignorant, would like to be able to contribute to this work. David does not allow him to do so; he alone will offer God a sacrifice that he will pay for out of what he has, and that will cost Ornan nothing. David does not want to give God what belongs to someone else, but what is his own, just as Christ gave His own life.
The floor where the sons hid did not stay a farmyard.
In this verse the threshing floor of Ornan comes into view for the first time. In itself it is a lowly spot, but the Lord has destined it to be the joy of the whole earth: the place of the glory, the resting place of God and of His Israel. At once it stands as a witness to that blessed, precious truth which is the sure ground of all our hope — that with our God "mercy triumphs over judgment" (James 2:13).
- Sight. The Lord saw the angel first, then David, then Ornan — and only the man who had no word from God about an altar ran and hid.
- Shelter. Ornan hid as Adam hid, with nothing but himself to stand on. David stayed on his feet under the same drawn sword, because he knew what God had provided.
- Sifting. The plague stops at a threshing floor: God's judgment goes far enough to separate grain from chaff, and no further.
- Sovereignty. Mercy halted on the ground of a Canaanite, the least likely address in Jerusalem, so that grace would be unmistakable.
- Substitution. David refused Ornan's wheat, oxen and tools. The sacrifice had to cost the king himself. That lowly threshing floor became the site of God's house.
And David came to Ornan, and Ornan looked and saw David, and went out of the threshing-floor, and bowed himself to David with [his] face to the ground.
An angel of judgment stood over Jerusalem, and David came to an ordinary threshing floor. Its owner, Ornan, left his wheat and bowed before the king — on the spot where God would stop the plague.
Ornan bows just after a moment of terror. One writer traces who saw the angel, and what changed when the king arrived.
The Lord, we have said, had seen the angel; then David saw him; now Ornan in turn sees him (v. 20). At this sight he and his sons hide in terror. But Ornan takes heart when he sees David (v. 21), sent by God to build an altar on Ornan's threshing floor. What could be more reassuring than to see the Lord's Anointed, the one God sent to make expiation and put an end to the judgment?
Ornan is a Jebusite — a Canaanite, not an Israelite. One writer asks why God stopped the judgment on his land, of all places.
This happened at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, for the Jebusite was in the land. The Canaanites still lived in the land. It will be so until Jesus comes and reigns, and then the Canaanite will be in the land no longer. And what is more, God marks out His grace, for everything here is grace. That is where He stopped — the last place anyone would have expected — at the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. Why there? Because there God meant to mark sovereign grace.
David meets Ornan at a threshing floor, where a farmer beats the grain out of the chaff. One writer — who calls the man Araunah — finds meaning in that place.
There is wonderful teaching for us, though, in God stopping the plague at the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. The judgment of God only goes as far as the threshing floor. In other words, when God judges, His aim is to bring the grain out of the chaff. The process may be very painful, but the blessing it brings to real believers is more precious than words can say. The Jebusites had been true to their name, "treaders down" of the city God had declared to be His own centre, that is, Jerusalem. But the grace of God has changed Araunah's character. He is a prodigal of the Gentiles, spared while the judgment hung over his head. He is a picture of all Gentiles whom the grace of God saves.
Ornan and his sons had hidden. David walks straight onto the same ground. The difference is not courage but knowing what God had provided.
Notice two things here. No one can stand before the Lord stripped bare, with nothing but his own resources. Yet sinners may come right up to His heavenly presence, through the power of simply believing in His grace. Ornan and David show this. The Lord had not revealed His grace to Ornan. He knew nothing of the altar that would soon stand on his threshing floor. So, as a bare creature in the sight of God — like Adam before him in the same situation — he hid himself. But David knew the remedy that mercy, triumphing over judgment, had provided. So he dares to stand, though shamed and humbled.
Samuel tells the same meeting a little differently. One writer answers the question those differences raise:
As always, where Scripture seems at first sight to differ from itself, careful thought over the Word will uncover hidden truths and glories. Broadly speaking, the account in Samuel deals with the side of man's need, while Chronicles gives us the side of God's purpose.
In this verse the difference is in who Ornan sees coming toward him:
Samuel speaks of the King and his servants, but in Chronicles David alone fills Ornan's sight. Chronicles mentions only Ornan and his sons. That too points to purpose, above all when we link it with the thought behind 1 Chronicles 22:1.
- Sword. An angel of judgment stood over the city. David came as the one God sent to build the altar and put an end to the judgment.
- Floor. Judgment goes as far as the threshing floor and no further. God is sorting grain from chaff, not destroying everything.
- Jebusite. God stopped the plague on Canaanite ground — the last place anyone would expect. That marks the whole scene as grace.
- Faith. Ornan hid because he did not know the remedy. David stood on the same ground because he did. Knowing what God has provided is what lets a guilty person come near.
- Purpose. Samuel records man's need; Chronicles records God's purpose. Here David alone fills Ornan's sight.
And David said to Ornan, Grant me the place of the threshing-floor, that I may build an altar in it to Jehovah grant it to me for the full money, that the plague may be stayed from the people.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
And Ornan said to David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his sight see, I give the oxen for the burnt-offering, and the threshing-sledges for wood, and the wheat for the oblation; I give it all.
Ornan is threshing wheat when the king arrives, and the destroying angel still stands over the city. He offers David all he owns — ground, oxen, sledges, grain — so why does the king refuse it?
Ornan was a Jebusite — one of the original inhabitants of Jerusalem. He meant well, but he did not understand what was happening:
Ornan, full of good will, but ignorant, would like to be able to contribute to this work. David does not allow that. He alone will offer God a sacrifice. He pays for it out of what he has, and it costs Ornan nothing. David does not wish to give to God what belongs to another, but what is his own, just as Christ gave His own life.
David's answer turns on who the giver is. The guilty king must be the one who pays:
Here is an interesting scene between David and Ornan. Ornan was willing to give everything; but no — the gift had to be David's, not a Jebusite's… How striking — the man who had brought all the trouble! The guilty king is yet the picture of the Holy One of Israel, the picture of Him who gave up His life a ransom for many.
Commentators differ on how to read David's refusal. One writer, who notes that this man carries two names, thinks he came off better than David here:
He had two names — Araunah, which means "Jah is firm," and Ornan, which means "strong."… In the knowledge of God he seems for the moment to have been greater than David… It is a pity that David spoiled that beauty and grace by insisting on paying for all he received.
Two accounts of this sale record two different sums. One writer finds no contradiction there:
Comparing the two passages, far from showing any contradiction, unfolds divine beauty. Righteousness valued the place at the first amount, whereas grace gave the second. David had set his affections on the house of God, and so gave over and above. This is very simple and very beautiful… In Samuel, only the threshing floor and the oxen for sacrifice at the time of the plague are mentioned. In Chronicles the place bought seems to include the whole temple hill.
Why was the judgment lifted? One writer points to the sacrifice — and behind it, to God Himself:
He acted in mercy then, and He acts in mercy still, because of what He is. The sacrifice can turn judgment away from those who deserve it… So that the sacrifice might be offered, God stopped the angel in his work of destruction, and let David know that he should sacrifice to Him. He required the sacrifice. He made that known, and David found everything ready to hand — through the willingness of Ornan indeed, but surely through the goodness of God.
What David does at this floor — pay for the ground and then present the offering on it — is read as a picture of Christ:
Ornan's threshing sledges are not used, as he had wanted, to burn up the sacrifice: God consumes it with fire from heaven. That is His character in judgment, but it is at the same time… the sign given by the Lord that He has fully accepted the sacrifice.
One writer sees the huge price of this ground as a shadow of a far greater price, and ends with a question aimed at the reader:
Ornan did give the ground. But may we not see, in the huge price paid for the ground the altar stood on, a shadow of the infinite price paid to satisfy justice and to set up an unchangeable basis for worship and blessing?… Six hundred shekels of gold may seem a heavy price. But burnt offerings are not to be offered for nothing. What a question we might ask in passing: "How much did it cost to get our altar into its right place before God?"
- Offered. Ornan gave all he had — ground, oxen, sledges, wheat — with real goodwill. He just did not know what God was doing on his floor.
- Refused. David would not give God what belonged to someone else. The sacrifice came out of his own hands, as Christ gave His own life.
- Paid. Righteousness priced the place; grace paid far above it, because David loved the house of God.
- Accepted. God, not Ornan's sledges, burned the sacrifice — fire from heaven showed He had taken it. Mercy reached Israel through His goodness.
- Costly. Burnt offerings are not offered for nothing. The price of that small patch of ground points to the infinite price that set worship on a lasting basis.
And king David said to Ornan, No; but I will in any case buy [them] for the full money; for I will not take that which is thine for Jehovah, to offer up a burnt-offering without cost.
David has sinned by counting the people, judgment has fallen, and the prophet Gad sends him to Ornan's threshing floor to build an altar. Ornan offers him the whole site free, but the king refuses — so why turn down a gift, and what does it cost to bring anything to God?
Ornan means well, but he is not the one who must offer. One writer traces how David pays for every part of it:
Ornan, full of goodwill but ignorant, would like to be able to contribute to this work. David does not allow it. He alone will offer God a sacrifice. He pays for it out of what he has, and it costs Ornan nothing. David does not wish to give to God what belongs to another, but what is his own. David buys everything with his own resources: the place, the threshing floor, the altar, and the burnt offerings. God does not burn the sacrifice with Ornan's threshing sledges, as Ornan had wanted. He consumes it with fire from heaven. That is His character in judgment. But it is at the same time the sign from the Lord that He has fully accepted the sacrifice.
The refusal points beyond David. Ornan the Jebusite would have given it all, but the guilty king pays for the ground himself:
We find an interesting scene between David and Ornan, who was willing that everything should be given; but no — it had to be David's gift, not a Jebusite's... How striking! The man who had brought all the trouble — the guilty king, but the type of the Holy One of Israel — the type of Him who gave up His life as a ransom for many.
The two accounts of this purchase name different prices. Commentators read this not as a contradiction but as two purchases with two meanings:
In 2 Samuel 24:24 we read that David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. In 1 Chronicles 21:25 we read that he gave Ornan six hundred shekels of gold by weight for the place. The comparison of the two passages, far from presenting any discrepancy, unfolds divine beauty. Righteousness valued the place at the first amount; grace "gave" the second. David had "set his affections to the house of God," and therefore "gave over and above." This is very simple and very beautiful.
Each metal carries its own meaning — one for the altar, one for the temple site:
The threshing floor and the oxen were bought for their full legal value, meeting the requirements of the law. Silver, the emblem of redemption, was paid for the threshing floor connected with the altar and the sacrifice. Gold, the emblem of glory, was given for the field connected with the temple and the glory.
What was true at David's altar holds for all worship:
Worship, to be acceptable to God, must have the character of a sacrifice. Worship must cost us something. In some measure we are poorer, in one way or another, because we worship God. We give something to Him — not something of ourselves, but something of Him who lives in us, of Him who is always acceptable to God.
Where that principle is real, it shows in the pocket before it shows in the mouth:
David had already shown this principle of personal sacrifice: "I will not offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God that cost me nothing." Someone once said that he never felt free to recommend a gift from the church funds unless he had first helped in private himself. It is easy to be generous with suggestions from the church purse and stingy with your own possessions... Love gives; love sacrifices.
Cost by itself does not make an offering acceptable. One writer points to Cain, whose worship cost real toil and was still false worship:
He offered what he had worked for by the sweat of his brow. He worked the ground, and he "brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground." He did not bring what cost him nothing. In fact, his worship cost more toil than Abel's. He came in the way of nature, offering the fruit of his work and labour... This is always the character of false worship.
- Owned. David refuses to give God what belongs to Ornan; the offering must be his own or it is not his offering at all.
- Paid. Silver met the legal price of the floor and the oxen. Gold bought the wider site — righteousness paying, grace giving over and above.
- Pictured. The guilty king who buys the ground with his own resources points to the One who gave up His life as a ransom for many.
- Practised. Worship has the character of sacrifice, so it leaves the worshipper poorer — love gives before it tells others to give.
- Warned. Cain's worship cost him real toil and was still false worship, so cost alone never makes an offering acceptable.
And David gave to Ornan for the place in shekels of gold the weight of six hundred [shekels].
David had just sinned by counting Israel, and the plague that followed stopped at Ornan's threshing floor, where God told him to build an altar. Verse 25 records the sum David paid, and it raises two questions: why so large a price, and why it differs from the figure in 2 Samuel 24.
Here the sum is six hundred shekels of gold. In 2 Samuel 24:24 David pays fifty shekels of silver to the same man, there called Araunah. One writer answers the charge that the two accounts clash: each account names something different that David bought.
Critics tell us there is a serious contradiction between the account in 2 Samuel 24:24 and the one in 1 Chronicles 21:25, about David buying the threshing floor from Araunah... The fact is, however, that both are correct. Samuel tells us that he bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. 1 Chronicles 21:22, 25 tells us that he bought "the place" for six hundred shekels of gold by weight. Clearly "the place" may have stretched over a large area beyond "the threshing floor."
Another writer reads the two sums together and finds beauty in them, not a problem.
Comparing the two passages, far from showing any discrepancy, unfolds divine beauty. Righteousness valued the place at the former amount, while grace "gave" the latter. David had "set his affections to the house of God," and therefore "gave over and above." This is very simple and very beautiful.
The two metals are not interchangeable. Each fits what it bought.
The threshing floor and oxen were bought for fifty shekels of silver — the ransom money of a hundred souls (see Ex. 30:13). That was their full legal value, meeting the requirements of law. This was the place for the altar, according to 2 Sam. 24:25. But 1 Chron. 21:25 further tells us that David gave gold by weight for the whole place or field. This was the site of the Temple. Silver, the emblem of redemption, was paid for the threshing floor, connected with the altar and the sacrifice. Gold, the emblem of glory, was given for the field, connected with the Temple and the glory.
Ornan wanted a share in the cost. David would not let him, and his reason reaches beyond good manners.
David buys the place of the threshing floor, not just the threshing floor alone as in 2 Samuel 24:21, 24. This explains the difference in price. Ornan means well, but he does not understand. He would like to help with this work. David does not allow it. He alone will offer God a sacrifice. He pays for it out of what he has, and it costs Ornan nothing. David does not wish to give to God that which belongs to another, but that which is his own, just as Christ gave His own life.
Another writer notes who this buyer is: the very man whose sin had brought on the disaster.
How striking! The man who had brought all the trouble was the guilty king. Yet he is a picture of the Holy One of Israel — a picture of Him who gave up His life as a ransom for many.
One writer points to the order in which David learned where God's house would stand.
But only after a humbling experience did David come to know Mount Zion as the place which God had chosen. In 1 Chron. 21 and 22 we find that God's judgment had first to fall on his pride. Only after he had paid the full price did God show him the place for the Lord's house. It always costs something. It calls for sacrifice to look away from all natural things and to act only according to God's thoughts.
One writer sees in the size of the price a shadow of something far greater.
The ground had to be bought at full price. I have no doubt that the great sum mentioned in Chronicles is a beautiful picture of that grace which could give all. Ornan did offer the ground as a gift. But think of the immense price paid for the ground the altar stood on. May we not see in it a shadow of the infinite price paid to satisfy justice, and to lay an unchangeable basis for worship and blessing?... Six hundred shekels of gold may seem a heavy price. But burnt offerings should not be offered at no cost.
- Price. Fifty shekels of silver bought the threshing floor and the oxen. Six hundred shekels of gold bought "the place," a far larger area. Two purchases, not two versions of one.
- Paid, then given. Righteousness settled the legal value. Grace added far more, because David's heart was set on God's house.
- Metals. Silver, the emblem of redemption, paid for the ground of the altar and sacrifice. Gold, the emblem of glory, was the gift for the temple site.
- Cost. David would not offer what cost him nothing. He would not give God what belonged to another — a picture of Christ, who gave His own life as a ransom for many.
- Place. Only after David paid the full price did God show him where His house would stand. The cost came first; the dwelling followed.
And David built there an altar to Jehovah, and offered up burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, and called upon Jehovah; and he answered him from the heavens by fire upon the altar of burnt-offering.
David had just bought this threshing floor, the open ground where Ornan beat out his grain. The destroying angel had stood on that very spot — so why does fire from heaven now fall there?
Fire falls, and the ground of terror turns into a place of joy. One writer sets that against the men who had hidden there minutes before.
Approving fire from heaven consumes the offerings, and all judicial terrors are at an end. The terrible symbolic sword has disappeared, put up into its sheath, and all is joy and happy worship on the threshing floor of Ornan. What a change from verse 20, where those who were on that very floor hid themselves in fear before the messenger of death!
David "called on the LORD" while the angel's sword was still drawn. Ornan, who owned the floor, had hidden; David stayed and worked. The difference was not nerve but knowledge of what God had provided.
Ornan had no revelation of the Lord's grace; he knew nothing of the altar that was to be set up in his threshing floor, and so — standing simply as a creature before God, like Adam before him — he hid himself. But David knew the remedy that mercy, rejoicing against judgment, had provided, and so he dares to stand, though ashamed and humbled. He carries out his appointed service without distraction. He buys the threshing floor, prepares the altar, offers his offering, and calls on the Lord. The sword, still unsheathed, has no terrors for him now. And the Lord gives him his answer before he calls, and hears him while he is still speaking (Isaiah 65:24).
Ornan had offered his threshing sledges as firewood. David did not use them. The fire came from above instead, and one writer reads it in two directions at once.
Ornan's threshing sledges are not used, as he had wished, to consume the sacrifice: God consumes it with fire from heaven. That is His character in judgment, but at the same time it is, as with Elijah, the sign given by the Lord that He has fully accepted the sacrifice.
David paid for what he offered here. He bought first and offered second, and one writer traces that pattern forward to Christ.
David stands before that altar. He buys and offers, and so meets the claim of God. He is a picture of our Lord, who bought us with the great price and offered Himself.
Another writer takes the picture further, then adds a caution about the man in it.
All these details show us Christ in David in a wonderful way. David pictures Him here, though we must not forget that his own sin was the cause of this whole scene. He is the mediator, intercessor, and priest, for he builds the altar and offers the sacrifice. The high priest is not even mentioned here, so as to leave all the place to David.
Safety came after acceptance, not before it. One writer follows that order right through to the believer today.
The God of the New Testament is the God of the Old. His love moved Him to act in mercy toward guilty creatures. In His love He also made known the need of a sacrifice, to deliver the guilty from the judgment they deserved. And we can now add: He has Himself provided the sacrifice. How safe everyone was that evening from any further visit by the destroying angel! God accepted the sacrifice, and so the sword went back into its sheath. He made that acceptance known by answering David from heaven with fire on the altar of burnt offering. How sure, then, is deliverance from the wrath to come for all who now believe on the Lord Jesus Christ! God has raised Him from the dead.
The fire did more than end a plague. It marked out a site, and one writer draws a lasting principle from that.
The fire came down from heaven that day on the altar of burnt offering. By it David discovered where the temple was to be built and the altar set up. Israel would later carry on its worship at the very place where God had accepted the sacrifice. In principle it is the same now. True and acceptable worship is based on God's acceptance of the sacrifice.
- Accepted, not assumed — the fire was God's public answer that the offering pleased Him. David did not have to guess.
- Accepted by fire — fire speaks of God in judgment. Here it burns the sacrifice, not the guilty, and marks it as fully accepted.
- Accepted, so the sword rests — God accepted the sacrifice, and the sword went back into its sheath.
- Accepted through one man's cost — David bought the ground and paid for what he offered. He acted as mediator and priest, picturing the Lord who bought us and offered Himself.
- Accepted, so we worship — the temple rose where God accepted the sacrifice. True worship still rests on that acceptance.