2 Samuel 24:16

the angel Angels are God's ministers in temporal judgment now, as well as in the final judgment hereafter. Cp. Exodus 12:23; Psa 78:49; 2 Kings 19:35; Acts 12:23; Matthew 13:41.

theLord repented him of the evil Cp. Exodus 32:14; Jeremiah 26:13; Jeremiah 26:19; Jonah 3:10. On the one hand Scripture teaches us that "God is not a man that he should repent" (Numbers 23:19; 1 Samuel 15:29); on the other hand it does not shrink from saying that God repents (a) when, as here, upon man's penitence He withdraws or mitigates a punishment: (b) when, upon man's faithlessness or disobedience, He cancels a promise or revokes a blessing which He had given. God's repentance does not mean that He who foreknows all things regretsHis action, nor is it a sign of mutability. Scripture boldly states the two apparently contradictory truths, and leaves conscience to harmonize them. See notes on 1 Samuel 15:11; 1 Samuel 15:29.

the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite The threshingfloor: precisely the same word as in 2 Samuel 24:18; 2 Samuel 24:21; 2 Samuel 24:24. Threshingfloors were constructed on eminences, to catch the wind for winnowing the grain. Araunah's threshingfloor was on Mount Moriah, the hill to the eastward of Jerusalem, and was the site upon which the Temple was afterwards built (2 Chronicles 3:1). See Additional Note VI. p. 240. This Mount Moriah was identified by Jewish tradition (e.g. Josephus Ant.VII. 13. 4) with the mountain in the land of Moriah which was the scene of the sacrifice of Isaac (Genesis 22:2 ff.), but the identification has been questioned. See Sinai and Pal.p. 251.

It has been supposed by some that the sacred rock of the Moslems, which is the highest point of the Temple hill, and is now covered by the Kubbet es Sakhrahor "Dome of the Rock," marks the actual site of Araunah's threshing-floor. See Sinai and Pal.p. 178 ff.

Araunah The name is variously spelt Aravnah (2 Samuel 24:16 Qrî), Avarnah (2 Samuel 24:16 Kthîbh), Aranyah (2 Samuel 24:18 Kthîbh); in Chron. it is written Ornan; and in the Sept. in both books " Ὄρνα (Orna). This variety of form is probably due to different attempts to represent a non-Hebraic name. There is no ground for the popular belief (based on a misunderstanding of 2 Samuel 24:23) that Araunah was the old king of Jebus before its conquest by David, and had been permitted by David to reside on his estate just outside Jerusalem. But his presence there is an evidence that the old inhabitants had been allowed to remain, and even to retain their property. Cp. 1 Kings 9:20.