7 and they came to the stronghold of aTyre and to all the cities of the bHivites and the Canaanites. Then they went out to South Judah asfaras Beersheba.
8 So when they had gone through all the land, they came to Jerusalem at the end of nine months and twenty days.
9 Then Joab gave the sum of the number of the people to the king. aAnd there were in Israel eight hundred thousand valiant men who drew the sword, and the men of Judah were five hundred thousand men.
The Judgment on David’s Sin
10 And aDavid’s heart condemned him after he had numbered the people. So bDavid said to the Lord, c“I have sinned greatly in what I have done; but now, I pray, O Lord, take away the iniquity of Your servant, for I have ddone very foolishly.”
11 Now when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet aGad, David’s bseer, saying,
12 “Go and tell David, ‘Thus says the Lord: “I offer you three things; choose one of them for yourself, that I may do it to you.” ’ ”
13 So Gad came to David and told him; and he said to him, “Shall aseven years of famine come to you in your land? Or shall you flee three months before your enemies, while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days’ plague in your land? Now consider and see what answer I should take back to Him who sent me.”
14 And David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Please let us fall into the hand of the Lord, afor His mercies are great; but bdo not let me fall into the hand of man.”
15 So athe Lord sent a plague upon Israel from the morning till the appointed time. From Dan to Beersheba seventy thousand men of the people died.
16aAnd when the1 angel stretched out His hand over Jerusalem to destroy it, bthe 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 of2 Araunah the Jebusite.
17 Then David spoke to the Lord when he saw the angel who was striking the people, and said, “Surely aI 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.”
The Altar on the Threshing Floor
18 And Gad came that day to David and said to him, a“Go up, erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”
19 So David, according to the word of Gad, went up as the Lord commanded.
In Israel eight hundred thousand - the men of Judah were five hundred thousand - In the parallel place, I Chronicles 21:5, the sums are widely different: in Israel one million one hundred thousand, in Judah four hundred and seventy thousand. Neither of these sums is too great, but they cannot be both correct; and which is the true number is difficult to say. The former seems the most likely; but more corruptions have taken place in the numbers of the historical books of the Old Testament, than in any other part of the sacred records. To attempt to reconcile them in every part is lost labor; better at once acknowledge what cannot be successfully denied, that although the original writers of the Old Testament wrote under the influence of the Divine Spirit, yet we are not told that the same influence descended on all copiers of their words, so as absolutely to prevent them from making mistakes. They might mistake, and they did mistake; but a careful collation of the different historical books serves to correct all essential errors of the scribes. See the Dissertations of Dr. Kennicott mentioned at the conclusion of the preceding chapter.
Other Adam Clarke entries containing 2 Samuel 24:9:
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