Reading for June 16th

Read 2 Samuel 24.10-25
In verses 10-14: David is given a choice of three punishments.
He chooses the hand of the Lord, an idiom for plague, trusting in the Lord's mercy.
In verses 15-16: David's strategy works.
The plague is stopped after only one day.
The appointed time (v. 15) may be the time of the evening meal.
Evil (v. 16) is not moral evil but destruction.
Araunah is called Oran in 1 Chr 21.
A threshing floor was a flat high area where grain was separated from the chaff.
In the Bible, God often appears to people at threshing floors (Judg 6.11-12).
In verse 17: The sheep are the people of Jerusalem.
The image is of David, the king, as their shepherd.
In verses 18-25: These verses indicate that the plague was stopped after David built his altar and made his offerings rather than by the Lord's free will as in v. 16.
The site of David's altar is the location of the later altar of bunt offering of Solomon's Temple.
Fifty shekels (v. 24) was about one and a quarter pounds
Comment or Questions..