2 Samuel 24:15-17

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

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 24:15

So the Lord sent a pestilence upon Israel ,.... Upon the land of Israel, the people of the land, directly employing an angel to go through the coasts of it, and empowering him to inflict a pestilential disease: from the morning even to the time appointed : from the morning the prophet Gad came to David with a message from the Lord; that very morning the plague began, and lasted to the time set for it, the three days, or at least unto the beginning of the third, when reaching Jerusalem,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 24:16

And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it ,.... Which, as it was perhaps the last place where the people were numbered, it was the last to which the plague came: this angel appeared in an human form, standing "between the earth and the heaven"; in the midst of the heaven, in the air, right over Jerusalem: "having a drawn sword in his hand stretched over the city"; as is said in 1 Chronicles 21:16 ; which was done as a menace, and to inject terror into David and... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - 2 Samuel 24:17

And David spake unto the Lord ,.... In prayer; he and the elders of Israel being clothed in sackcloth, and fallen on their faces, he prayed, not unto the angel, but to Jehovah that sent him; see 1 Chronicles 21:16 , when he saw the angel that smote the people ; in the air over Jerusalem, with a drawn sword in his hand, which made him appear terrible: and said, lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly ; in numbering the people: but these sheep, what have they done ? he looked... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Samuel 24:15

From the morning - to the time appointed - That is, from the morning of the day after David had made his election till the third day, according to the condition which God had proposed, and he had accepted: but it seems that the plague was terminated before the conclusion of the third day, for Jerusalem might have been destroyed, but it was not. Throughout the land, independently of the city, seventy thousand persons were slain! This was a terrible mortality in the space of less... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Samuel 24:16

The angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem - By what means this destruction took place, we know not: it appears that an angel was employed in it, and that this minister of Divine justice actually appeared as an object. of sight; for it is said, 2 Samuel 24:17 , When David saw the angel that smote the people, he said, etc.; and both Ornan and his four sons saw him and were affrighted, 1 Chronicles 21:20 . The threshing-place of Araunah - These... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 2 Samuel 24:17

But these sheep , what have they done ? - It seems that in the order of Providence there is no way of punishing kings in their regal capacity, but by afflictions on their land, in which the people must necessarily suffer. If the king, therefore, by his own personal offenses, in which the people can have no part, bring down God's judgments upon his people, (though they suffer innocently), grievous will be the account that he must give to God. The people generally suffer for the... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Samuel 24:9-19

( 1 Chronicles 21:9-13 , 1 Chronicles 21:18 , 1 Chronicles 21:19 ). The Prophet Gad. "And when David was up in the morning," etc. Gad had formerly given valuable direction to David ( 1 Samuel 22:5 ); and he must have been now far advanced in life. He was "David's seer," or spiritual counsellor; a true prophet of God ( 1 Samuel 2:27 ; 1 Samuel 3:19 ; 2 Samuel 7:3 ); assisted in the arrangements for the temple service ( 1 Chronicles 9:22 ), and (like Samuel and Nathan)... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Samuel 24:10-17

A king's sin and a people's chastisement. The facts are: 1 . David, reflecting on the accomplishment of his purpose, comes to a consciousness of his sin, and makes confession before God. 2 . In the morning the Prophet Gad is sent to him from. the Lord, offering him, as a choice of a chastisement, either seven years' famine, or three months' defeat before his enemies, or three days' pestilence. 3 . David, in his anguish, elects to fall into the hands of God. 4 . Thereupon... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - 2 Samuel 24:15

Even to the time appointed. This rendering, though very uncertain, is retained in the Revised Version. It would mean, of course, the end of the third day, as the pestilence was to last for that time. The objections to it are that there is no article in the Hebrew, so that literally it would be "unto a time appointed." Secondly, the pestilence did not continue unto the time appointed, but was mercifully stayed. And thirdly, these words are a literal translation, indeed, of the Vulgate, but a... read more

Group of Brands