18 Then the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say to David , that David should go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite . 19 So David went up at the word of Gad , which he spoke in the name of the Lord . 20 Now Ornan turned back and saw the angel , and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. And Ornan was threshing wheat . 21 As David came to Ornan , Ornan looked and saw David , and went out from the threshing floor and prostrated himself before David with his face to the ground . 22 Then David said to Ornan , "Give me the site of this threshing floor , that I may build on it an altar to the Lord ; for the full price you shall give it to me, that the plague may be restrained from the people ." 23 Ornan said to David , "Take it for yourself; and let my lord the king do what is good in his sight . See , I will give the oxen for burnt offerings and the threshing sledges for wood and the wheat for the grain offering ; I will give it all ." 24 But King David said to Ornan , "No , but I will surely buy it for the full price ; for I will not take what is yours for the Lord , or offer a burnt offering which costs me nothing ." 25 So David gave Ornan 600 e shekels of gold by weight for the site . 26 Then David built an altar to the Lord there and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings . And he called to the Lord and He answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering . 27 The Lord commanded the angel , and he put his sword back in its sheath .

The Site for the Temple

28 At that time , when David saw that the Lord had answered him on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite , he offered sacrifice there . 29 For the tabernacle of the Lord , which Moses had made in the wilderness , and the altar of burnt offering were in the high place at Gibeon at that time . 30 But David could not go before it to inquire of God , for he was terrified by the sword of the angel of the Lord .

Matthew Henry's Commentary on 1 Chronicles 21:18-30

Chapter Contents

David's numbering the people.

No mention is made in this book of David's sin in the matter of Uriah, neither of the troubles that followed it: they had no needful connexion with the subjects here noted. But David's sin, in numbering the people, is related: in the atonement made for that sin, there was notice of the place on which the temple should be built. The command to David to build an altar, was a blessed token of reconciliation. God testified his acceptance of David's offerings on this altar. Thus Christ was made sin, and a curse for us; it pleased the Lord to bruise him, that through him, God might be to us, not a consuming Fire, but a reconciled God. It is good to continue attendance on those ordinances in which we have experienced the tokens of God's presence, and have found that he is with us of a truth. Here God graciously met me, therefore I will still expect to meet him.