1 Chronicles 21:7-14

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 1 Chronicles 21:7-17

David is here under the rod for numbering the people, that rod of correction which drives out the foolishness that is bound up in the heart, the foolishness of pride. Let us briefly observe, I. How he was corrected. If God's dearest children do amiss, they must expect to smart for it. 1. He is given to understand that God is displeased; and that it is no small uneasiness to so good a man as David, 1 Chron. 21:7. God takes notice of, and is displeased with, the sins of his people; and no sin is... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 1 Chronicles 21:1-27

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Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Chronicles 21:12

Three days - the pestilence in the land - In 2 Samuel 24:13 ; (note), seven years of famine are mentioned. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 1 Chronicles 21:13

David said - I am in a great strait - The Targum reasons thus: "And David said to Gad, If I choose famine, the Israelites may say, The granaries of David are full of corn; neither doth he care should the people of Israel die with hunger. And if I choose war, and fly before an enemy, the Israelites may say, David is a strong and warlike man, and he cares not though the people of Israel should fall by the sword. I am brought into a great strait; I will deliver myself now into... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Chronicles 21:7

Smote Israel . These two words serve simply to summarize in the first instance what the compiler is about to rehearse at greater length. The parallel place shows, "And David's heart smote him after that he had numbered the people." Some better power occasioned that smiting. Reflection brought to David's heart and conscience ( 1 Samuel 24:5 ), as often to those of others, restored vitality. The exact circumstances or providences, however, which roused into action the conscience of David are... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Chronicles 21:9

Gad, David's seer . The parallel place says, "The Prophet Gad ( הֲנָּבִיא ), David's seer" ( 2 Samuel 24:11 ). The Hebrew word here used in both passages for "seer," is חֹזֶה , in place of the word of higher import, הָרֹאֶה , the use of which is confined to Samuel, Hanani, and to the person spoken of in Isaiah 30:10 . In this last passage our Authorized Version translates "prophet" while in 1 Chronicles 29:29 our Authorized Version translates both Hebrew names in the very... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Chronicles 21:12

Three years' famine . The parallel place has, in our Hebrew text, "seven" instead of "three." But the Septuagint indicates this to be but a corruption of a later text; for it reads" three," as here. The parallel place shows no mention of the destroying angel here spoken of. The three inflictions of famine, sword, pestilence, are found not unfrequently elsewhere in Scripture (see Deuteronomy 28:21-25 ; Ezekiel 14:21 ; Revelation 6:4-8 ). Now … advise thyself . The simple text is" Now... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Chronicles 21:13

It is in such answers as these—answers of equal piety and practical wisdom, that the difference is often visible between the man radically bad, and the man good at heart and the child of grace, even when fallen into the deepest depth of sin. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 Chronicles 21:14

So the Lord sent pestilence upon Israel . This sentence is followed in the parallel place by "from the morning even to the time appointed." It has been suggested that "the time appointed" may mean the time of the evening sacrifice, and that God shortened thus the three days to a short one day. There seems nothing sufficient to support the suggestion, unless it might lie in the "repenting" of the Lord, and his "staying" of the angel's hand, in 1 Chronicles 21:15 . There fell of Israel... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 1 Chronicles 21:12

And the angel of the Lord destroying ... - These words are not in Samuel, which puts the third alternative briefly. They prepare the way for the angelic appearance 1 Chronicles 21:16, on which the author is about to lay so much stress. read more

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