2 Samuel 24:18

DAVID'S PURCHASE OF THE SITE FOR SOLOMON'S TEMPLE

"And Gad came that day to David and said to him, "Go up, rear an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. So David went up at Gad's word, as the Lord commanded. And when Araunah looked down, he saw the king and his servants coming on toward him; and Araunah went forth, and did obeisance to the king with his face to the ground. And Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?" David said, "To buy the threshing floor of you, in order to build an altar to the Lord, that the plague may be averted from the people." Then Araunah said to David, "Let my Lord the king take and offer up what seems good to him; here are the oxen for the burnt offering, and the threshing sledges and the yokes of the oxen for the wood. All this, O king, Araunah gives to the king." And Araunah said to the king, "The Lord your God accept you." But the king said to Araunah, "No, but I will buy it of you for a price; I will not offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God which cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver. And David built there an altar to the Lord, and offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings. So the Lord heeded supplications for the land, and the plague was averted from Israel."

"2 Samuel 24:24 states that David bought the threshing floor for fifty shekels of silver; but 1 Chronicles 21:25 states that he gave six hundred shekels of gold for the site. No satisfactory explanation of these different prices has been given."[19]

Very well, this writer will give a thoroughly satisfactory explanation of the alleged discrepancy. Here only the threshing floor was bought; in 1 Chronicles 21:25, it was THE SITE. The site was many times larger than a threshing floor. It is quite foolish to believe that anything as immense as the Temple of Solomon and adjacent structures could have been built on a threshing floor. And if that is not satisfactory enough, it is by no means unreasonable that the fifty shekels of silver was the earnest payment and the six hundred shekels of gold was the total price.

This writer had the privilege of buying a Madison Avenue corner for the Manhattan Church of Christ for $25,000.00 (earnest money), but the total price (including the interest) was over ten times that amount. The $20,000 transferred the possession of the corner to the church, and, therefore, it is correct to say that they acquired it for that amount.

Supporting this explanation is the fact of Araunah's being an aristocrat (as determined by the meaning of his Jebusite name).[20] He doubtless had a rather large estate, not merely a threshing floor; and he would have hardly agreed to give his whole estate for fifty shekels of silver; but when David, perhaps even at that time, contemplating the building of the Temple there, purchased more land from Araunah, the price naturally escalated.

"I will not offer burnt-offerings to the Lord my God which cost me nothing" (2 Samuel 24:24). What a remarkable insight there is in this to the nature of true worship.

"All too many people wish to give as little as they can to God. They are willing for others to pay for the cost of the meeting house and the program of the Church. A true Christian will not allow others to pay for his share of the support of the work of the Lord, but finds joy in making a sacrifice to the full extent of his ability."[21]