seven years , 1 Chronicles 21:12 -three years; also Septuagint. The Hebrew numeral letters for three and seven were probably very much alike. Hence perhaps mistaken by an ancient scribe. Both maybe right = "seven, or even three. " advise = consider, or know. read more
mercies = compassions. great = manifold. man . Hebrew. 'adatn . App-14 . read more
DAVID ACKNOWLEDGED HIS SIN AND IS PUNISHED"But David's heart smote him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, "I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, I pray thee, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly." And when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, "Go and say to David, 'Thus says the Lord, three things I offer you; choose one of them that I may do it to you.'"... read more
2 Samuel 24:10. David said,—I have sinned— The specific nature of his sin may be easily determined and understood, though it has embarrassed many of the commentators; for, among other commands which were given by Moses, was that recorded Exo 30:12-13 to which the reader is referred. David, either not thinking of this command, or thinking himself, as king of Israel, exempt from it, ordered the people to be numbered without exacting the ransom from each of them. This was one of the highest... read more
2 Samuel 24:11. For when David— There is an error here in our translation, which gives us to apprehend that David's penitence was the effect of Gad's threat: for, says the text, when David was up, whereas the word which is translated for, should be rendered and; it being not a casual, but a connective particle. Houbigant renders it deinde, afterwards. read more
2 Samuel 24:13. Seven years of famine— In 1Ch 21:12 it is three years, which is the reading of the LXX; a reading, says Houbigant, which I prefer in this place, because the three years answer to the three months and the three days. read more
10-13. David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the Lord, I have sinned—The act of numbering the people was not in itself sinful; for Moses did it by the express authority of God. But David acted not only independently of such order or sanction, but from motives unworthy of the delegated king of Israel; from pride and vainglory; from self-confidence and distrust of God; and, above all, from ambitious designs of conquest, in furtherance of which he was... read more
13. Shall seven years of famine come unto thee—that is, in addition to the three that had been already, with the current year included (see on :-). read more
14. David said, . . . Let us fall now into the hand of the Lord—His overwhelming sense of his sin led him to acquiesce in the punishment denounced, notwithstanding its apparent excess of severity. He proceeded on a good principle in choosing the pestilence. In pestilence he was equally exposed, as it was just and right he should be, to danger as his people, whereas, in war and famine, he possessed means of protection superior to them. Besides, he thereby showed his trust, founded on long... read more
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E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - 2 Samuel 24:12
I offer thee = I impose on thee (Hebrew. natal). A choice out of God's four sore judgments (Ezekiel 14:21 ). read more