What happensPermalink
David orders a census of Israel, and though Joab objects, he carries it out. God offers David a choice of judgment, and David chooses a plague that kills many. As the angel of the Lord prepares to strike Jerusalem, God halts the destruction. David repents, purchases the threshing floor of Ornan, builds an altar, and offers sacrifices that God accepts.
Why it mattersPermalink
David’s sin leads to judgment, but also to a decisive moment of mercy in which God accepts sacrifice at a specific place. This site becomes the future location of the temple, showing that even in failure, God establishes the means by which His people may find atonement. The chapter highlights both the seriousness of sin and the provision of a place where God’s wrath is turned away.
Key versePermalink
And David built there an altar to the Lord and presented burnt offerings and peace offerings and called on the Lord, and the Lord answered him with fire from heaven upon the altar of burnt offering.