Matthew Henry on 1 Chronicles 21:18–end
We have here the controversy concluded, and, upon David's repentance, his peace made with God. Though thou wast angry with me, thy anger is turned away. 1. A stop was put to the progress of the execution, Ch1 21:15. When David repented of the sin God repented of the judgment, and ordered the destroying angel to stay his hand and sheath his sword, Ch1 21:27. 2. Direction was given to David to rear an altar in the threshing-floor of Ornan, Ch1 21:18. The angel commanded the prophet Gad to bring David this direction. The same angel that had, in God's name, carried on the war, is here forward to set on foot the treaty of peace; for angels do not desire the woeful day. The angel could have given…
Read the whole note in the consoleJamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 Chronicles 21:18
HE BUILDS AN ALTAR. (Ch1 21:18-30)
the angel of the Lord commanded Gad to say--The order about the erection of an altar, as well as the indication of its site, is described (Sa2 24:18) as brought directly by Gad. Here we are informed of the quarter whence the prophet got his commission. It is only in the later stages of Israel's history that we find angels employed in communicating the divine will to the prophets.
Adam Clarke on 1 Chronicles 21:15
And God sent an angel - Thus the Targum: "And the Word of the Lord sent the angel of death against Jerusalem to destroy it; and he beheld the ashes of the binding of Isaac at the foot of the altar, and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, which he made in the Mount of Worship; and the house of the upper sanctuary, where are the souls of the righteous, and the image of Jacob fixed on the throne of glory; and he turned in his Word from the evil which he designed to do unto them; and he said to the destroying angel, Cease; take Abishai their chief from among them, and cease from smiting the rest of the people. And the angel which was sent from the presence of the Lord stood at the threshing…
Read the whole note in the consoleJohn Gill
