2 Samuel 24:14-25
Divine chastisement is about to fall on the nation. The census of the warriors is hardly completed, when their count is already diminished by the pestilence. It is as if God said to David, "Mine is the prerogative to build up or to run down in three days this nation that it has taken you nearly ten months to count up."
David’s reply to the difficult options set before him is beautiful: "Let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great . . ." (v. 14). He knows the heart of God and, even under discipline, his confidence in divine love is not shaken. This trust will never be disappointed. Once again, man’s sin is God’s opportunity to show the marvellous resources of His mercy and of His forgiveness. "It is enough", He says, when the fruit He has been waiting for is produced in our hearts.
A sacrifice is offered, and the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite which the king purchased is later to become, as we shall presently see, the site for the temple.
David will not offer to the LORD burnt offerings of that which has cost him nothing (v. 24). Think of Mary’s offering in the Gospels; she too wanted to bring to the One for whom she had supreme regard an ointment that was very costly (John 12:3).