John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 24:13
So Gad came to David, and told him ,.... Said nothing to him about his sin, but correction for it; which confirms it that David was made sensible of his sin before he came to him: and said unto him, shall seven years of famine come unto thee in thy land ? in 1 Chronicles 21:12 , only "three years" are mentioned, and so the Septuagint version here; but Josephus F4 Antiqu. l. 7. c. 13. sect. 2. , the Targum, the Syriac and Arabic versions, have the number "seven"; three seems to be... read more
Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 2 Samuel 24:10-17
We have here David repenting of the sin and yet punished for it, God repenting of the judgment and David thereby made more penitent. I. Here is David's penitent reflection upon and confession of his sin in numbering the people. While the thing was in doing, during all those nine months, we do not find that David was sensible of his sin, for had he been so he would have countermanded the orders he had given; but, when the account was finished and laid before him, that very night his conscience... read more