2 Samuel 24:9

2 Samuel 24:9

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 as far as 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.

16 ^aAnd 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.

Commentaries:

Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown

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Joab gave up the sum of the number of the people unto the king—The amount here stated, compared with I Chronicles 21:5, gives a difference of three hundred thousand. The discrepancy is only apparent, and admits of an easy reconciliation; thus (see I Chronicles 27:1-15), there were twelve divisions of generals, who commanded monthly, and whose duty was to keep guard on the royal person, each having a body of troops consisting of twenty-four thousand men, which, together, formed an army of two hundred eighty-eight thousand; and as a separate detachment of twelve thousand was attendant on the twelve princes of the twelve tribes mentioned in the same chapter, so both are equal to three hundred thousand. These were not reckoned in this book, because they were in the actual service of the king as a regular militia. But I Chronicles 21:5 joins them to the rest, saying, "all those of Israel were one million, one hundred thousand"; whereas the author of Samuel, who reckons only the eight hundred thousand, does not say, "all those of Israel," but barely "and Israel were," etc. It must also be observed that, exclusive of the troops before mentioned, there was an army of observation on the frontiers of the Philistines' country, composed of thirty thousand men, as appears from II Samuel 6:1; which, it seems, were included in the number of five hundred thousand of the people of Judah by the author of Samuel. But the author of Chronicles, who mentions only four hundred seventy thousand, gives the number of that tribe exclusive of those thirty thousand men, because they were not all of the tribe of Judah, and therefore he does not say, "all those of Judah," as he had said, "all those of Israel," but only, "and those of Judah." Thus both accounts may be reconciled [DAVIDSON].

**Other Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown entries containing 2 Samuel 24:9:**

2 Samuel 24:1-4
1 Chronicles 21:5

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