1 Chronicles 21:25
So David paid Ornan six hundred shekels of gold for the site.
Sermons
Census ReflectionsW. Bramley Moore, M. A.1 Chronicles 21:1-30
David Numbering IsraelHomilist1 Chronicles 21:1-30
David's Self-ConfidenceR. D. B. Rawnsley.1 Chronicles 21:1-30
David's Sin and RepentanceClergyman's Magazine1 Chronicles 21:1-30
Man, Through God, Arresting the Great EvilsHomilist1 Chronicles 21:1-30
Sinful CountingJ. Parker, D. D.1 Chronicles 21:1-30
The Impotence of NumbersHarry Jones.1 Chronicles 21:1-30
Under a SpellW. Birch.1 Chronicles 21:1-30
Effects of David's SinF. Whitfield 1 Chronicles 21:7-18, 29, 30
The Arrested HandW. Clarkson 1 Chronicles 21:14-27
Ornan's Threshing-FloorF. Whitfield 1 Chronicles 21:18-27














And I will not offer unto Jehovah my God of that which doth cost me nothing. The gift of Araunah would have enabled David to perform a religious service in a cheap and inexpensive manner. But,

(1) humbly recognizing the obligations that rested upon him, and animated by a spirit of self-devotion,

(2) he nobly repudiates an offering which would have been, not really his own, but another's; or rendering to God a selfish and mercenary service; "which rebukes and condemns the avaricious disposition of many in this age, who can part with nothing for the maintenance of God's worship or promoting religion or any good work" (Guild). "It is a heartless piety of those base minded Christians that care only to serve God good cheap" (Hall).

(3) He also generously resolves (acting toward the Divine King of Israel in the same spirit as Araunah acted toward himself) to purchase all that was required at "the fullprice," and thus serve God at his own cost, with self-denial and self-sacrifice. "And David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver" (1 Chronicles 21., "the place," the whole hill perhaps, for "six hundred shekels of gold by weight"). The principle applies not only to gifts of money (2 Samuel 8:11); but also to the employment of thought, effort, time, talents, relationships, influence; the renunciation of ease, pleasure, convenience, name, and fame; the endurance of privation, pain, opposition, dishonour, and shame; its highest application is to the "whole burnt offering" of a man himself (heart, soul, will), which virtually includes all other offerings, and without which they are vain. "What a change it would make in the Christian world if Christians of all sorts would put this question seriously to their souls, 'Shall I serve God with that which costs me nothing?'" (Manton, 22:94). Personal sacrifice is:

1. Enjoined by the express commands of God. "None shall appear before me empty" (Exodus 34:20); "Every man as he is able," etc. (Deuteronomy 16:16); "It shall be perfect to be accepted; there shall be no blemish therein. Neither from a stranger's hand," etc. (Leviticus 22:21, 25). Men were required to offer what was valuable, not worthless; what was their own, not another's. Even the poorest were not exempt. Self-denial is also "the law of Christ" (Mark 8:34; Mark 10:21-27).

2. Incited by the supreme claims of God; arising from his greatness and goodness, his ownership of all things (1 Chronicles 29:14), his manifold mercies (ver. 14), above all, the unspeakable Gift of his only Son (Romans 8:32; Romans 12:1).

3. Expressive of a right feeling toward God. Reverence, gratitude, love, self-consecration, holy zeal (John 12:3). "Everything depends on the predominant principle and purpose. If a man's prime feeling be that of self, he will go the easiest and most economic way to work and worship; if a man's prime feeling be that of God, he will rebuke all thoughts of cheapness and facility. In the first ease, he will seek the largest possible results from the least possible expenditure; in the second, the expenditure will be itself the result. Now, it is the end and essence of all religion to turn the mind from self to God; to give it absorbing views of the Divine beauty and glory; to fill it with Divine love and zeal; to make it feel honoured in honouring God, blessed in blessing him; to make it feel that nothing is good enough or great enough for him; and when the mind is thus affected and thus possessed, it will understand and share the spirit of David's resolve" (A.J. Morris, 'The Unselfish Offering').

4. Essential to the true service of God; for this depends not so much upon the form or amount of the offering as upon its relation to the offerer; its being.the genuine expression of the heart (as it professes to be); without which the service is formal, unreal, and insincere. That which costs nothing is worth nothing (Malachi 1:8; Isaiah 1:11; Psalm 51:16, 17).

5. Necessary to the assured acceptance of God. It alone is attended with the sign and sense of his approval (1 Chronicles 21:26).

6. Conducive to the proper honour of God amongst men; in whom it begets a spirit like its own.

7. Embodied in highest perfection in Christ; "who gave himself up for us, an Offering and a Sacrifice to God," etc. (Ephesians 5:2). "A Spanish proverb says, 'Let that which is lost be for God.' The father of a family, making his will and disposing of his goods upon his death bed, ordained concerning a certain cow which had strayed, and had been now for a long time missing, if it were found it should be for his children, if otherwise for God. Whenever men world give to God only the lame and blind, that which costs them nothing, that from which they hope no good, no profit, no pleasure to themselves, what are they saying in their hearts but that which this man said openly, 'Let that which is lost be for God'?" (Trench, 'Proverbs'). - D.

Then David said to Ornan.
Contemplate this subject —

I. IN REFERENCE TO THE SPIRITUAL EXPANSION OF THE INTELLECTUAL POWERS. We may be Christians without much knowledge, but our honour, glory, and felicity to abound in knowledge —

1. Of God.

2. Of Christ.

3. Of theology generally. The cost must be paid in the attainment.

II. APPLY THE SUBJECT TO THE SPIRITUAL CULTIVATION OF THE MORAL NATURE. The soul before conversion like a barren heath or desert. It must be cultivated. Much labour needful. Evil habits to be abandoned. Holy habits to be formed.

III. TO THE INFLUENCE OF SELF-DENIAL IN ADORNING THE CHRISTIAN PROFESSION. Self-denial not merely the abandonment of sin. It involves the surrendering even of what might be lawfully retained. Our will must be sacrificed, that God's may be done.

IV. TO THE IMPORTANCE OF USEFULNESS IN THE CAUSE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST.

1. The heart must be given to Christ.

2. Then life, talents, influence, time, wealth.

(1)This cost must be paid in the right spirit.

(2)This cost is not equal to the demands of sin.

3. To pay this cost grace is both necessary and provided.

(J. Burns, D. D.)

Homilist.
This incident teaches us —

I. THAT TRUE RELIGION IS SPIRITUALITY IN CONTRADISTINCTION TO FORMALISM. The spirit of love which now inspired David was something distinct from all outward service, something that could not be expressed by the most valuable of offerings that cost him nothing. Personal sacrifice was required. "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit." "Circumcision or uncircumcision availeth nothing."

II. THAT TRUE RELIGION IS ENTHUSIASM IN CONTRADISTINCTION TO PRUDENCE. David rejected the offer of Ornan. He repudiated the securing of the higher interests of the soul without any detraction from secular resources. It is ever so where love reigns — all personal interests are in the background; God is the one all-commanding, all-absorbing object of thought.

III. THAT TRUE RELIGION IS NOBILITY IN CONTRADISTINCTION TO MEANNESS.

IV. THAT TRUE RELIGION IS PROGRESS IN CONTRADISTINCTION TO STATIONARINESS. The man inspired with this spirit would never rest with present attainments.

1. There will be a delight in studying truth. The creed of a true religious man has cost him something.

2. There will be a delight in doing all that is commanded.

V. THAT TRUE RELIGION IS REALITY IN CONTRADISTINCTION TO FALSENESS. That the spirit of David is the only true spirit of religion will appear if you consider —

1. What God is.

2. What He has done for us.

3. That all we have and are are His.

(Homilist.)

Observe the laudable strife of two noble minds.

I. ORNAN'S CONDUCT. Ornan, a Jebusite, and so by birth a heathen, but by choice a proselyte (see his prayer, 2 Samuel 24:23). A pledge of the Gentiles coming in: the very site of the temple belonged to one. Thankful for his privileges, and therefore liberal in his gifts.

II. DAVID'S CONDUCT.

1. His sense of sin (1 Timothy 1:12-15).

2. His sense of mercy. God's direction about the altar was an indication of forgiveness. David looked beyond this to the Redeemer. All he had was too little to express his gratitude. "Much forgiven, loving much." If religion be real it will be self-denying. Does your religion cost you anything? Has it led you to give up your own will; to sacrifice your own inclinations? to crucify the flesh with its affections and lusts? What do you give to God of your time, your influence, your means?

(W. Pakenham Welsh, D. D.)

, J. Burns, D. D.
I. THAT EXTERNALLY THERE IS NOTHING IN ANY PLACE WHY GOD SHOULD THERE MEET WITH MEN. Why was the threshing-floor of Ornan to be the meeting-place of David with his God, and the spot where prayer was to be heard?

1. Certainly it was a very simple, unadorned place. Yet when the temple, with all its glory, crowned the spot, God was never more conspicuously present than on that bare, ungarnished threshing-floor. A tasteful building may be a way of showing your pious regard for the Lord, but take care that you do not regard it as essential, or even important, or you will make an idol of it.

2. It was a place of ordinary toil.

3. It was, also, in possession of a Jebusite. The Jebusites were among the nations doomed for their iniquities. Herein the Lord showeth that He is no respecter of persons. The Jews wrapped themselves up within themselves, and said, "The temple of the Lord; the temple of the Lord are we"; but the Lord seemed to rebuke their national pride by saying, "And your temple is built upon the threshing-floor of a Jebusite." If you happen to have been born of parents who did not train you in the fear of the Lord, yet do not despond; but say to thy soul, "The Lord shall have a dwelling within my heart, Jebusite though I be."

4. Before it could be used it had to be bought with money. In connection with all true worship of God in the olden time there was always the offertory.

II. SPIRITUALLY THIS THRESHING-FLOOR OF ORNAN WAS AN ADMIRABLE TYPE OF HOW GOD MEETS WITH MEN.

1. Its extreme simplicity enters into the essence of the type.

2. The threshing-floor is the exact type of affliction. The temple of glory is built on the threshing-floor of affliction.

3. This was the place where justice was most clearly manifest. Above this place, in mid-air, stood a dreadful apparition. Conviction of sin, wrought by the Spirit or God, is more powerful than argument. It some men had more fully felt that they were sinners, they would have made better saints.

4. It was the place where sin was confessed.

5. It was the place where sacrifice was offered and accepted.

6. It was where David beheld the sign of peace.

III. I CLOSE BY HEARTILY EXHORTING YOU TO USE THIS PLACE.

( C. H. Spurgeon.)The altar built and the plague stayed: — Observe —

I. A FEARFUL EVIL.

II. THE DIVINE REMEDY.

III. A GENEROUS PROPOSAL.

IV. A NOBLE AND SELF-SACRIFICING SPIRIT.

(J. Burns, D. D.)

The altar and sacrifice as means of propitiation illustrates the atonement of Christ.

I. THE MORAL CONDITION WHICH IT IS DESIGNED TO MEET.

II. THE PROVISION MADE FOR THIS CONDITION.

III. THE RESULTS WHICH IT ACCOMPLISHED.

(J. Wolfendale.)23

People
Araunah, Benjamin, Dan, David, Gad, Gibeon, Israelites, Joab, Levi, Ornan
Places
Beersheba, Dan, Gath, Gibeon, Jerusalem
Topics
Araunah, David, Giveth, Gold, Hundred, Ornan, Paid, Shekels, Site, Six, Weight
Outline
1. David, tempted by Satan, forces Joab to number the people
5. The number of the people being brought, David repents of it
9. David having three plagues proposed by God, chooses the pestilence
14. After the death of 70,000, David by repentance prevents the destruction of Jerusalem
18. David, by Gad's direction, purchases Ornan's threshing floor;
26. where having built an altar, God gives a sign of his favor by fire.
28. David sacrifices there, being restrained from Gibeon by fear of the angel

Dictionary of Bible Themes
1 Chronicles 21:25

     4333   gold
     5260   coinage

1 Chronicles 21:9-26

     4843   plague

1 Chronicles 21:15-26

     4524   threshing-floor

1 Chronicles 21:18-28

     4542   wheat

Library
"For what the Law could not Do, in that it was Weak through the Flesh, God Sending his Own Son in the Likeness of Sinful Flesh,
Rom. viii. 3.--"For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin condemned sin in the flesh." For what purpose do we meet thus together? I would we knew it,--then it might be to some better purpose. In all other things we are rational, and do nothing of moment without some end and purpose. But, alas! in this matter of greatest moment, our going about divine ordinances, we have scarce any distinct or deliberate
Hugh Binning—The Works of the Rev. Hugh Binning

The Work of Jesus Christ as an Advocate,
CLEARLY EXPLAINED, AND LARGELY IMPROVED, FOR THE BENEFIT OF ALL BELIEVERS. 1 John 2:1--"And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." By JOHN BUNYAN, Author of "The Pilgrim's Progress." London: Printed for Dorman Newman, at the King's Arms, in the Poultry, 1689. ADVERTISEMENT BY THE EDITOR. This is one of the most interesting of Bunyan's treatises, to edit which required the Bible at my right hand, and a law dictionary on my left. It was very frequently republished;
John Bunyan—The Works of John Bunyan Volumes 1-3

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

Chronicles
The comparative indifference with which Chronicles is regarded in modern times by all but professional scholars seems to have been shared by the ancient Jewish church. Though written by the same hand as wrote Ezra-Nehemiah, and forming, together with these books, a continuous history of Judah, it is placed after them in the Hebrew Bible, of which it forms the concluding book; and this no doubt points to the fact that it attained canonical distinction later than they. Nor is this unnatural. The book
John Edgar McFadyen—Introduction to the Old Testament

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