atonement, he might stand betwetin the de&d more clearly how hearty and idncere he was In Rnd the living, ILi! Al\l'On h!Mi done in the hie offering, the narrator ad<ls, In AraunRh's wilderness (Numb. xvi. 46--48). He is own wor<ls, his pmyer for God's aooeptanoe therefore to leave the tabernacle, e.nd mount of David and bis offering. up to the summit on which Araunah'e Vere. 24, 25.-David bought the tbreahin1- threshing-floor we.e situated. We read in tloor and the oxen for tlft:, 1hekela of li.lver, 1 Chron. ni. 28--30 the.t David wished to In I Chron. :11:i. 25, "So David gave to go to Gibeon, where the Moee.ic tabernacle Oman for the place eix hundred shekels of e.nd e.ltarof burnt offering were, to inquire of gold by weight." There is e. superflcie.1, God, but that he we.s afraid, as the angel of but no real disorepanoy between those two the pestilence wae smiting outside the walls. narratives. David gave lho fifty shekels This is mentioned e.e e.n ei:cuee for hie for the immediate use of the place, and for offering e.t e.n unconsecrated spot, But it the oxen and implements. He had no idoe. e.lso suggests that David's choice we.s a sub- at the time of permanently occupying it, mission to a ohastieement already at work. and probably the note in the LXX., inter- Ver. 20.-Ara.lllle.h . . . aw the king. polated bf scribes from the margin into In 1 Chrou. xl:i. 20, "eaw the angel;" but the tei:t, 18 true, "And Solomon added to the text there is apparently oorrupt, the the altar afterwards, for it was small at the diffPrence, moreover, in Hebrew between first." It was a small altar hurriedly put "king" and "angel" being very slight. together for the purpose of offering one The Rddition there of the story of Amunah's aaorifice; and fifty shekels would be full four sons hiding themselves ie very lifelike compensation. But the sacrifice had hal- and ne.tural. For these remnants of the lowed the spot, and, when finally it was aborigines, though tolerated, yet held a very selected as the site for the temple, David insecure position, e.s we have seen in the bought the whole area and all that Araunah dealings of Saul with the Gibeonites; and possessed there. Fifty shekels of silver the cowing of the king with his :retinue to would be about £9; six hundred shekels of the out-of-the-way spot where Araunah we.s gold would be about £1500; so that there is at work, no doubt filled them all with terror. no comparison between the two sums. But Ver. 22.-Behold, here be oxen. Arallllah the precious metals were worth very much Wll8 threshing out his wheat by dragging more in David's time than in ours, so that sledges or frames of wood without wheels the smaller sum was adequate compensation over it. All these he at once gives to David, for David's first acquisition, while the larger that the sacrifice may be offered without implies the purchase of an extensive and delay, as it would have cost much time and valuable estate. Substantially the fuller labour to bring wood up from the city. narrative in Chronicles agrees with this. Instead of and other instruments of the Da'lid refuses t.o sacrifice of that which cost oxen, tue Hebrew has " the harness or furni- him nothing, and must therefore have at ture of the oxen," all of which was of wood. once paid for what he took. But when God Ver. 23.-All these did AraUll&h, as a accepted his offering, and answered him by king, give Ullto the king. The Hebrew is, fire from heaven, then David said, "Thie ie "The whole gave Ara.unah the king to the the house of the Lord God, and this is the king;" and so the Vulge.te, dedit .A.reuna altar of the burnt offering for Israel." And re:,; regi. The rendering of the Revised ae the Chronicler has in view throughout Version (and Keil)," All this. 0 king, doth the selection of the site for the temple, be Araunah give unto the king," requires a naturally mentions its full cost. In the change both of the order and of the tense. Book of Samuel this purpose is not expressly It is, of course, possible (though highly im- mentioned, and the narrative closes with the probable) that Ara.unah wae the representa- forgiveness of the sin both of David and his tive of tbe kings of Jebus, and a titular people. Jehovah was entreated for the land, monarch, like the Maori king in New Zea- and the plague was stayed. But this sudden land. But the word is omitted in the smiting down of so large a host humbled Septuagint and Syriac, e.nd is probably a both king and people, and their eagerness mere repetition of the following word. The for war and their lust of empire ceased. remark is made in order to point out DEO GLOIUA, Ara.unah's generosity; and to mark even
HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-9.-The facts are: 1. On account of some transgressions, God, being angry with Israel, permits some one to incite David to number the people. 2. David, on is~uing his command!! to J oab, is met with a remonstrance from him and the captain!!! of the host. 3. But •he king persisting in his desire, Joab and his officers and men apply ClH, XXIV, 1-26.] THE SECOND BOOK OF SAMUEL. 601