II Samuel 24 Part 3

16. And when the angel stretched out His hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD relented from the destruction, and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “It is enough; now restrain your hand.” And the angel of the LORD was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

The pestilence seems to advance from every side like a besieging army until it surrounds Jerusalem. At last the angel bringing the plague stretches out his hand over Jerusalem to destroy it. His “hand” stands for his power, which was being put forth to cause this plague. Yet at this point the LORD relents and speaks to the angel, telling him to stop. The destruction that has happened so far is enough. He should let his hand drop and his power go idle. In this way Jerusalem is spared. So now we see that David was right in his thinking that led to his decision in verse 14. The LORD did show mercy in the end, as David anticipated.

Who exactly was this destroying angel? This is a good question, and one that we cannot answer for certain. The LORD sends a destroying angel on quite a few occasions in the Old Testament. Is it always the same one, we wonder? If so, he appears at many key moments. For example, he was the one who destroyed all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, as we read in Exodus 12:23.

23. For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you.

Here we see two people involved in the destruction of the Egyptians. One is the LORD, Who is passing through to strike them. The other is the destroyer, the angel who is doing the actual destruction, yet who does it apparently at the command of the LORD. This may be the same angel we see here, though we cannot tell for certain.

Another appearance of the destroying angel is in the destruction of the army of Assyria, as we read of it in II Chronicles 32:21.

21. Then the LORD sent an angel who cut down every mighty man of valor, leader, and captain in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned shamefaced to his own land. And when he had gone into the temple of his god, some of his own offspring struck him down with the sword there.

So we read here too of an angel who is sent to destroy the mighty men in the Assyrian camp. If this is the same angel, then this is another example of his destructive actions.

Who, then, is this angel? We cannot say for certain, but we can try to follow out the evidence we have as best we can. First of all, there are times when this angel is mentioned, and then in another passage he is not. For example, in this last occurrence, what II Chronicles says was done by “an angel” is said to be done by “the angel of the LORD,” meaning Christ Himself, in II Kings 19:35 and Isaiah 37:36.

II Kings 19:35. And it came to pass on a certain night that the angel of the LORD went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead.

Isaiah 37:36. Then the angel of the LORD went out, and killed in the camp of the Assyrians one hundred and eighty-five thousand; and when people arose early in the morning, there were the corpses—all dead.

So comparing these three passages, one mentions an angel and the others the angel of the LORD. Could this mean that the two are the same? The same could be said of Exodus 12:12-13, which mentions only the LORD Himself and not a separate angel.

12. ‘For I will pass through the land of Egypt on that night, and will strike all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. 13 Now the blood shall be a sign for you on the houses where you are. And when I see the blood, I will pass over you; and the plague shall not be on you to destroy you when I strike the land of Egypt.

So here the LORD takes credit for doing the destruction Himself. Yet this last passage might give us the key, for the LORD does not say how He is doing the destruction. It seems He is standing right there, seeing that it is done according to His will. But He has with Him the destroyer who is doing the actual dirty work of destruction. This is the picture, remember, when we read down to verse 23.

23. For the LORD will pass through to strike the Egyptians; and when He sees the blood on the lintel and on the two doorposts, the LORD will pass over the door and not allow the destroyer to come into your houses to strike you.

Again we have a clear picture here: the LORD passing through Egypt Himself, and as a companion a destroyer who carries out the destruction at His command. Thus, though the LORD takes credit for “doing” the destruction as it is all at His command, it does not appear to be actually His hands that carry out the destruction. It is done by this destroyer, this angel, though the angel can only destroy as He allows. Notice that this too fits right in with this passage in II Samuel 24. That is what we see in this verse. The LORD is right there, but He is watching the destroyer and commanding him what to do and what not to do. He is in charge, but He is not the destroying angel Himself.

So do we have any other possibilities for who this destroyer might be? Did God create an angel specifically for the purpose of being a destroyer? Did He give one of his loyal followers this task, like David and Solomon made Benaiah their executioner, as we will see in I Kings? We cannot prove this is not the case, but if we compare this to what we read in the New Testament, this may all become much clearer.

In the book of I Corinthians, we read the shameful record of the man among the Corinthians who had taken his father’s wife. The Spirit through Paul condemns the Corinthians for their attitude about this and for their lack of action. Then, He tells them this in I Corinthians 5:4-5.

4. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you are gathered together, along with my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, 5. deliver such a one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus.

These people have entered the kingdom of God and have received from God much power. As Paul writes in the next chapter in I Corinthians 6:3, “Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life?” So the leaders in God’s kingdom have the right to set angels in order, given them by their Lord. And that appears to be just the kind of thing Paul tells the Corinthians to do here. They are to turn this wicked man who has his father’s wife over to Satan so that he can destroy his flesh, that is, his body. In other words, so that Satan can put him to death. Satan, then, is here to be a destroying angel, carrying out an execution through the power of the Lord Jesus Christ commanding him to do so.

Now I am not saying that Satan is one of that heavenly race of beings we like to call “angels.” Satan appears to be a cherub, as he is called this in Ezekiel 28:14, “You were the anointed cherub who covers.” Cherubs are fantastic beings with four faces, multiple sets of wings, many eyes, and so forth. What we call “angels” appear like men in white and shining clothing. Yet the word “angel” means a messenger or agent, and is not really the name of a race of beings at all. The word malak in Hebrew and angelos in Greek is used many times of those who are clearly human beings and part of Adam’s race. In these cases, our Bibles often translate these words as “messenger” instead of “angel.” Yet if God uses Satan as His agent to carry out His will, then Satan in that case is an “angel,” though not a faithful one.

Thus it seems very likely that the destroyer or the angel of destruction whom the LORD uses in cases like this is not the LORD Himself, nor is it even a good servant of God or a Godly angel. It is very likely that it is a fallen angel, one who would delight in destroying mankind and would prefer to destroy them all, if he was not restrained. All it takes is God’s permission and he will destroy whomever he may. In fact, it seems very likely that Satan is the destroyer himself. Satan would delight in destroying, as Satan is the murderer of all mankind, it being true that every last person who has died throughout history has died because of Satan’s lies and his deception of Adam and Eve. If any human being needs to be killed according to the LORD’s judgment, Satan would be all too willing to do the job. So he would seem to be the most likely one to be the destroyer or the destroying angel, though it could also be one of his servants, of course. Yet we would guess this might well be Satan himself.

Whoever he is, it seems this destroying angel stops and stays where he was when the LORD called him off. This was by the threshing place of Araunah the Jebusite. A threshing floor was a place for processing grain to separate it from the chaff. The grain was typically thrown up into the air, and the idea was that the wind would carry away the light-weight chaff, while the heavier grain fell back down on the threshing floor. A threshing floor would often be elevated, therefore, in order to better catch the wind.

Araunah means “I Shall Shout for Joy.” This man is called “the Jebusite,” which means he was a descendant of Jebus, which name means “Threshing Place.” This was an appropriate place to find a man with this name! Jebus was the third son of Canaan, the son of Ham whom the LORD Himself cursed. The Jebusites were the ones who inhabited Jerusalem before Israel took it over, partially under Joshua and finally under David, as we saw back in II Samuel 5. Yet somehow this Jebusite remained in spite of the destruction of his people. It seems likely that he was one among the Canaanites like Rahab or like Uriah the Hittite: a Godly man who had chosen to worship the LORD instead of the repulsive gods of his people. Thus he remains at the home site of his people after the others are gone, and is apparently a prosperous and established man in the community.

17. Then David spoke to the LORD when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Surely I have sinned, and I have done wickedly; but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, be against me and against my father’s house.”

It seems that at this time Jehovah draws aside the veil of invisibility that often seems to cover the world of heavenly beings and allows both David and others present to see the angel who had been striking down the people. When David sees him it seems he is provoked to cry out to Jehovah, as well he might be to see such a terrifying sight. He admits his own sin and wicked actions that have led to these sad events. Yet he pleads for these sheep, the common people of Israel, and asks what they have done? Therefore he requests that Jehovah would punish him and his family, not the people of Israel.

David’s plea is incorrect, for the people had been guilty as well as David, as we know from the earlier record. We do not know just what it is that made Jehovah so angry, though we did have some guesses. But we know they must have done something for Jehovah’s anger to be kindled against them. David, however, does not know this, nor does he know what Jehovah was angry about any more than we do. Therefore he makes this plea for the destruction to stop. Of course, his plea came after the fact, for Jehovah had indeed already stopped the destruction before he asked.

18. And Gad came that day to David and said to him, “Go up, erect an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”

This very day, and probably not long after David made his plea, the prophet Gad comes to David. Since I Chronicles 29:29 refers to what we call the books of Samuel as “the book of Samuel the seer…the book of Nathan the prophet, and…the book of Gad the seer,” we know that this Gad was one of the authors of this book we are reading, and since his name is listed last, we would guess he is actually the author of this part of Samuel. At any rate, Gad tells David to go up, either meaning to go into action or else literally to go up to this threshing floor, and to erect there an altar to Yahweh on the threshing floor of Araunah, right where this destroying angel stopped his rampage.

19. So David, according to the word of Gad, went up as the LORD commanded.

David obediently goes up to the threshing floor as the LORD commanded through Gad. To hear the word of the LORD, to take Him at His word, and to respond accordingly, this is an act of faith. David demonstrates faith here, doing just what the word of God that came to him through His prophet told him to do.

20. Now Araunah looked, and saw the king and his servants coming toward him. So Araunah went out and bowed before the king with his face to the ground.

Now we learn of the man Araunah, to whom belonged the threshing floor at which the destroying angel had stopped. We do not read of it here, but I Chronicles 21:20 we are told of Araunah (whom Chronicles calls “Ornan,” another name for him):

20.  And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat.

This is fascinating to me. Araunah saw the angel, and it was so frightening that his sons all ran and hid. Yet what did Araunah do? He went right on threshing the wheat! Maybe he figured that hiding would do little good. If Jehovah wanted him to die he would die, and if Jehovah wanted him to live he would live. But meanwhile there was threshing to do, and he might as well keep doing it. If all men could be so calm in the face of the destroyer it would be a good thing, I think!

Yet now Araunah sees David and the men his servants coming toward him. The sight of the destroyer may not have caused him to leave his wheat, but the sight of the king does. It would be good if we all feared God’s mediators more than we do the enemy! So he leaves the threshing floor and bows to the king, going all the way down to the ground on his face after the manner of Middle Easterners.

21. Then Araunah said, “Why has my lord the king come to his servant?”
And David said, “To buy the threshing floor from you, to build an altar to the LORD, that the plague may be withdrawn from the people.”

Araunah wonders why his master the king has come to him, his servant? I suppose he might have figured that it would have something to do with the awe-inspiring sight of the terrible being standing near his threshing floor! But he assumes nothing and asks David his business, as if there was nothing unusual going on. Again, this Canaanite is a good example for us all. If we all would pay no attention to Satan, it would be a good thing, would it not?

David tells Araunah of his intention to buy his threshing floor in order to set up an altar to Yahweh there. He also tells him of the promise implied in Gad’s message: that the building of this altar would ensure that the plague would be withdrawn from the people. Again notice the evidence that this is ahead of the time when the plague was to be withdrawn. If this were taking place at the end of the three days, it would hardly be necessary to build an altar to ensure that the plague would be withdrawn. It simply would have been withdrawn, the three days it was to rage through the land being completed. The fact that David had to build an altar to cause it to withdraw shows us that it is still ahead of time for it to do so. As we pointed out, Yahweh is being merciful, even as David hoped He would be.

22. Now Araunah said to David, “Let my lord the king take and offer up whatever seems good to him. Look, here are oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing implements and the yokes of the oxen for wood.

Araunah responds by offering that David simply take whatever he needs. He offers to freely supply to David not only the threshing floor, but also the oxen for the burnt sacrifice, and his threshing implements (probably a shovel to toss the grain into the air with) and the yokes of the oxen to use as wood to make the fire to burn the sacrifice. In other words, Araunah is ready to give David everything. This man, in spite of being a Jebusite, is most impressive. When our Lord comes to us, are we as willing to freely give Him all that He requires as this man was for his lord?

23. All these, O king, Araunah has given to the king.”
And Araunah said to the king, “May the LORD your God accept you.”

Interestingly, the old King James Version calls Araunah “a king” here, saying, “All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king.” Had he been a king of the Jebusites before their destruction by David? Or was he king of the few remaining Jebusites like himself who had been spared for one reason or another? We are not told. But the New King James makes this to be a continuation of Araunah’s statement, “All these, O king, Araunah has given to the king.” This makes sense, and does not leave us guessing as to why Araunah the Jebusite is called a “king.”

So Araunah offers to give all these things to David. Then he expresses his desire, obviously a true one, that David will be accepted with the LORD his God. This was always the desire with offerings: you wanted the LORD to accept them. His acceptance typically was shown by Him sending fire to consume the sacrifice from heaven.

24. Then the king said to Araunah, “No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price; nor will I offer burnt offerings to the LORD my God with that which costs me nothing.” So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.

As generous and right-hearted as Araunah’s offer was, David refuses to take these things as a gift, but insists on buying the threshing floor for a price. He states why this is so: he will not offer offerings to God that cost him nothing. This is a good principle for us to remember, that we ought to give our God meaningful gifts that really cost us something. Many people have no trouble with the idea of offering gifts to God which cost them nothing. Many have the idea that they should promise God that, if He should help them win the lottery, then they will give Him a large portion of it. This is their way of asking God to help them get lucky. Such people use God like a good luck charm, but this is not honoring to Him. When we offer something to God, it should be something meaningful, something that costs us something. Such people only offer God empty promises based on greed. This is not a worthy offering.

So David buys the floor with the oxen for the burnt offering for fifty shekels of silver. According to The Companion Bible, this would be 11,000 grains of gold, which is 22.917 ounces Troy of gold or 712.79 grams of gold. This is not an insignificant amount, but is realistic for the purchase of property.

This seems to be in contrast with I Chronicles 21:25, which says, “25. So David gave to Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight.” Six hundred shekels of gold is 132,000 grains of gold, which is 275 ounces Troy or 8,553.46 grams of gold. Yet Chronicles says he gave this much larger amount for the “place,” maqom, whereas here it only speaks of the threshing floor, goren. Thus David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for the fifty shekels, and then later bought the whole place, about eight acres which became the Temple site, for six hundred shekels of gold. There is no contradiction here when we read both accounts closely.

25. And David built there an altar to the LORD, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the LORD heeded the prayers for the land, and the plague was withdrawn from Israel.

After paying for the threshing floor David builds an altar there to Jehovah as he was commanded and offers burnt offerings and peace offerings to Him on it. Jehovah accepts the offering and heeds David’s pleas for the land, and so the plague is restrained from doing further devastation to the land of Israel.

Thus we come to what seems like a rather abrupt ending to the books of Samuel here. Yet the history is continuous, even as it has been from Genesis. The original Hebrew texts had Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Joshua, Judges, Samuel, and Kings, all as an uninterrupted series giving the history from creation to the captivity. So though Samuel stops here, the history is continued from this point in the next book, the book of Kings. We will take up the study of that book in the future, but for now we will close out our studies in the books of Samuel.