THE KING CONVINCED OF HIS SIN. 333 This fact rendered that which might otherwise be regarded as an error, an aggravated sin. It was a departure from all the principles that had hitherto governed David's conduct; and, if passed over lightly, would have destroyed the fitness of the kingdom of David to typify and inaugurate the kingdom of Messiah. While, therefore, the motive of David in this action might have been sinful, because it evinced ambition, pride, and an inordinate grasping at power, its consequences were still more deeply sinful, in that it would set aside the just prerogatives of God as the King of His people, and mar the first and most prominent step in a grand series of events designed by the special providence of God to make this kingdom the means of adumbrating and setting forth the kingdom of Messiah. This gave great aggravation to his sin. It is, however, worthy of observation, that before either prophet or priest had spoken to him on the subject, David felt that he had sinned, and confessed and lamented his unfaithfulness. When Joab handed him the tables containing the census, as far as it had been taken, the king's "heart smote him," and "David said unto the Lord, I have sinned greatly in that I have done; and now I beseech Thee, O Lord, take away the iniquity of Thy servant, for I have done very foolishly." That night was spent in penitence and prayer; and, in the morning, his troubled and anxious mind was still more deeply afflicted. The prophet Gad came unto the king, expressly commissioned by God to offer him his choice of one out of three judicial inflictions which he named-three years of famine, three months of defeat and flight before the enemies of his country, or three days of deadly pestilence to smite his population. Confronted with immediate and very terrible punish ment, we do not wonder at his saying in reply, " I am in a great strait; " but he made his election, preferring to fall immediately into the hand of God. So the Lord sent a pestilence, which passed over the whole country; so that in the three days seventy thousand men were cut off, falling victims to the plague. The information given by the sacred writer respecting the termination of this pestilence is very difficult to harmonize into a clear, consecutive account; yet the subject is deeply interesting, not only on account of its important bearing on this portion of the history of David, but also because it led to the Divine appointment of a new locality for the altar of sacrifice, and the public worship of the Hebrew nation. For these and other reasons, we should rejoice not only to state the leading facts in their proper connexion, but also to fill in all the details with perspicuity and accuracy. This, we fear, can only be done approximately; and the following appears to be as correct an account as can be gathered from the sacred narrative. The plague had passed over the whole land, and David's soul was wrung with anguish at the intelligence which he received of the wide-spread destruction of his people, when he and the elders of Israel, clothed in sackcloth, looking abroad over the country, hearing the wail of the terror-stricken population, saw the angel of the Lord, with a drawn sword in his hand, hovering over the small mount immediately at the east of the city, and stretching out his hand over Jerusalem, as if to destroy it. Then the king and the elders fell on their faces to the earth, and David said unto God, "Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? Even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? Let Thine hand, I pray Thee, O Lord my God, THE DESTROYING ANGEL STAYED. 335 be on me, and on my father's house; but not on Thy people, that they should be plagued. And the Lord. said to the angel, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel stood by the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite." The appearance of the destroying angel was not confined to them; Araunah and his sons also saw him, and hid themselves, (1 Chron. xxi. 20,) and probably many others also; for the appearance was not merely momentary, but lasted some time. David does not appear to have known that God, in answer to his prayer, had commanded the angel to cease destroying the people; but while he was waiting in painful suspense, the prophet Gad came to him with a message from God, saying, "Go up, rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite." The terrified king obeyed; and, with a company of attendants, reached the place over which the progress of the angel had been arrested. When Araunah and his sons observed the approach of the king, they came forth from the hiding-place to which they had retired on the sight of the angel, and, receiving the king with the most profound respect, inquired the object of his visit. He told them that he had come to purchase the threshing-floor, to erect an altar unto the Lord, that the plague might be stayed from the people. Araunah, with the utmost readiness, offered to present the land to the king, with the oxen for sacrifice, and the implements for the fire to consume the offering. This offer was so spontaneous and hearty, that the sacred writer observes, "All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king." But David peremptorily refused this generous offer, and bought the ground and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. An altar was then reared unto the Lord, and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the Lord; and He answered him from heaven by fire, upon the altar of burnt offering. "So the Lord was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed." * This was one of the very few occasions on which the Lord was pleased, in this miraculous manner, to signify His acceptance of the offerer and the offering, by sending fire from heaven to consume the sacrifice. This signal display of the Divine acceptance not only made a deep impression on the mind of the king, but appears to have been connected with some further declaration of the Divine will, respecting the selection of this place as the appointed spot for sacrificial worship in future. In proof of this, we have some remarkable statements. It is said: "At that time when David saw that the Lord had answered him in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite, then he sacrificed there. For the tabernacle of the Lord, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of the burnt offering, were at that season in the high place at Gibeon. But David could not go before it to inquire of God: for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of the Lord." (1 Chron. xxi. 28-30.) From these words the strange conclusion has been deduced, that David and the elders were on their way to the tabernacle at Gibeon, to sacrifice and pray for the removal of the plague, when, as they stood near the threshing-floor of Araunah, they saw the angel of the Lord, and did not dare to proceed farther. It would be a sufficient answer to this theory to say, that the threshing-floor of Araunah was on a narrow steep hill, to the east of the city, while Gibeon *This seems to prove that the command of God to the angel, to stay his hand, did not really remove, but suspend the plague; it was only effectually taken away in answer to the prayer and sacrifice of the king. DAVID'S SACRIFICE ON MORIAH. - 337 lay nearly north-west of it. No one, therefore, going to Gibeon, would think of crossing the deep valley, and climbing the hill, as it then was, when this would take him considerably out of the way. But almost all the facts are opposed to this notion. David was certainly not on the Mount when he saw the angel, nor for some time afterward, nor, indeed until he went there prepared to sacrifice. For "the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David, Go up, and set up an altar unto the Lord in the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. And David went up at the saying of Gad." (1 Chron. xxi. 18, 19.) What, then, is the import of this passage? It clearly refers to a passage posterior to the offering of David's sacrifice, and the proof of its acceptance by fire from heaven. For it was "when David saw that the Lord had answered him,". "then he sacrificed there." These latter words, therefore, cannot refer to his first sacrifice, but to his making this spot, and the altar that had been so signally distinguished, the place at which he statedly sacrificed from that time forward. When, therefore, we read that David could not go to the altar of burnt-offering in the high place at Gibeon, "for he was afraid because of the sword of the angel of the Lord," the words must not be referred to the presentation of his first sacrifice, which was consumed by fire from heaven; for the whole text refers to what was consequent on the acceptance of the sacrifice. We seem, therefore, compelled to the conclusion that some revelation was now made to David, by which the high place at Gibeon was superseded as the place for sacrificial worship; and that this place was appointed to be the place of sacrifice in future, and the site of the temple which was to be erected by David's son. It must, therefore, have been the authority which was G G |