John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 24:14
And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait ,.... Not knowing well which to choose, each of them being so grievous, and an answer being to be returned immediately; but by his next words, and by the event, it seems he chose the pestilence, though that is not expressly said: let us fall now into the hand of the Lord ; the Targum in 1 Chronicles 21:13 , is"into the hand of the Word of the Lord:" (for his mercies are great), and let me not fall into the hand of men ; indeed all... 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