Translations
Original
Notes
the LORD relented: God might stop his judgment:
when someone else pleads for the person in trouble (Exodus 32:12–14),
when the sinful person turns away from their wrongdoing (Jeremiah 18:8), or
simply because God chooses to stop.
the angel who was destroying the people: See Exodus 12:23.
A threshing floor was an open area where people separated grain from the chaff. Gideon met God at a threshing floor (Judges 6:37). Araunah’s threshing floor later became the location of the Temple (1 Chronicles 21:18–22:1; 2 Chronicles 3:1).
Araunah the Jebusite: Although David captured Jerusalem from the Jebusites (2 Samuel 5:6–9), he did not completely remove them or drive them away.
The final chapters of 2 Samuel form a coda (a concluding section). This section brings together and summarizes the main themes from earlier chapters.
These chapters are thematic, not chronological (arranged by topic, not by time). Because of this, not all the events happened at the end of David’s reign (for example, 2 Samuel 22:1).
The material is arranged using a common Hebrew literary pattern called a chiasm (a mirror-like structure). In a chiasm, the first and last sections match, and the middle section is the focus.
The structure of this chiasm is as follows:
A: Saul’s sin against the Gibeonites and the punishment that affected the whole community (2 Samuel 21:1–14)
B: David’s warriors and their heroic deeds (2 Samuel 21:15–22)
C: David’s Psalm (2 Samuel 22:1–51)
C′: David’s Psalm (2 Samuel 23:1–7)
B′: David’s warriors and their heroic deeds (2 Samuel 23:8–39)
A′: David’s sin involving the census and the punishment that affected the whole community (2 Samuel 24:1–25)
A chiasm draws attention to the center section. Here, the center is David’s hymns. These hymns do not focus on David himself. Instead, they focus on David’s God.
Events
Parallels
People
Jebusites: Canaanite tribe inhabiting Jerusalem before David's conquest Ornan: Jebusite, sold threshing floor to David
Places
Jerusalem: The capital of Israel, a holy city for three religions
Glossary
Angel of the Lord Araunah Census David Disease Gad (Person) Genesis, Book of Moriah Samuel, Books of First and Second Zion
Topics
Angel (A Spirit): Appearances of To David, at the Threshing Floor of Araunah Angel (A Spirit): Execute Judgments Upon the Wicked Angel (Holy Trinity): One of the Holy Trinity: Called Angel of the Lord Angels: Execute the Judgments of God Anthropomorphisms: Miscellaneous Figures Araunah: A Jebusite from Whom David Bought a Site for an Altar God: Mercy of God: Repentance Attributed To Jerusalem: David Purchases and Erects an Altar Upon Araunah's Threshing Floor Jerusalem: God's Care and Protection of Jerusalem: The Threshing Floor of Araunah Within the Citadel of Nation: Involved in Sins of Rulers Ornan: Called Araunah Plague: On the Israelites: On Account of David's Sin Presumption: David, in Numbering Israel Repentance: Attributed to God The Plague or Pestilence was Attributed to a Destroying Angel Threshing: Floor of Araunah Purchased by David for a Place of Sacrifice