Page:02.BCOT.KD.HistoricalBooks.A.vol.2.EarlyProphets.djvu/1035

 description of the judgment itself, and the arrest of the plague. “When the destroying angel (‘the angel’ is defined immediately afterwards as ‘the angel that destroyed the people') stretched out his hand towards Jerusalem to destroy it, Jehovah repented of the evil (for this expression, see Exo 32:14; Jer 26:13, Jer 26:19, etc.; and for the repentance of God, the remarks on Gen 6:6), and He commanded the angel, Enough! stay now thine hand.” This implies that the progress of the pestilence was stayed before Jerusalem, and therefore that Jerusalem itself was spared. “And the angel of Jehovah was at the threshing-floor of Aravnah the Jebusite.” These words affirm most distinctly that the destroying angel was visible. According to 2Sa 24:17, David saw him there. The visible appearance of the angel was to exclude every thought of a natural land plague. The appearance of the angel is described more minutely in the Chronicles: David saw him standing by the threshing-floor of Aravnah between heaven and earth with a drawn sword in his hand, stretched out over Jerusalem. The drawn sword was a symbolical representation of the purpose of his coming (see at Num 22:23 and Jos 5:13). The threshing-floor of Aravnah was situated, like all other threshing-floors, outside the city, and upon an eminence, or, according to the more precise statement which follows, to the north-east of Zion, upon Mount Moriah (see at 2Sa 24:25). According to the Chethib of 2Sa 24:16, the name of the owner of the floor was האורנה, of 2Sa 24:18 ארניה, and of 2Sa 24:20 (twice) ארונה. This last form also occurs in 2Sa 24:22, 2Sa 24:23, and 2Sa 24:24, and has been substituted by the Masoretes as the Keri in 2Sa 24:16 and 2Sa 24:18. In the Chronicles, on the other hand, the name is always written ארנן (Ornan), and hence in the Septuagint we find Ὄρνα in both texts. “The form ארונה (Aravnah) has not a Hebrew stamp, whereas Orna and Ornan are true Hebrew formations. But for this very reason Aravnah appears to be derived from an ancient tradition” (Bertheau).

Verse 17
When David saw the angel, he prayed to the Lord (he and the elders being clothed in mourning costume: Chron.): “Behold, I have sinned, and I have acted perversely; but these, the flock, what have they done? Let Thy hand come upon me and my house.” The meaning is: I the shepherd of Thy people have sinned and transgressed, but the nation is innocent; i.e., not indeed free from every kind