The Place Where Wrath Stops: Costly Worship on Holy Ground Text: 1 Chronicles 21:18-30
Introduction: Sin, Sovereignty, and Sacred Space
We come now to the tail end of one of the most sobering episodes in David's life. He has sinned, and sinned greatly. Moved by Satan, but still entirely responsible, he has numbered the fighting men of Israel. This was not a simple administrative task. It was an act of high rebellion, a king trusting in the strength of his own arm rather than in the Lord of Hosts. And God's judgment was swift and terrible. A plague ripped through Israel, and seventy thousand men fell. As the Angel of Yahweh stood over Jerusalem, sword drawn, ready to strike the capital, God relented. Mercy triumphed over judgment. But the sword was still drawn. The threat was still present. The sin still needed to be dealt with.
This is where our story picks up. And what happens next is not just an interesting historical anecdote. It is a foundational moment in the history of redemption. What happens on this threshing floor establishes the very place where God will put His name. It is the place where heaven and earth will meet, where sacrifice will be offered, and where atonement will be made for centuries to come. This patch of dirt, owned by a Jebusite, is about to become the most important piece of real estate on the planet.
We live in a therapeutic age that despises the categories this story forces upon us: sin, wrath, judgment, substitution, and the necessity of blood atonement. Our culture wants a god who is a celestial guidance counselor, not a holy king. It wants spirituality without cost, forgiveness without repentance, and worship without sacrifice. But the Bible will not have it. This passage confronts us with the staggering cost of sin and the even more staggering cost of redemption. It teaches us that God is holy, that sin is deadly serious, and that the only way for a sinner to approach a holy God is through a prescribed sacrifice at a prescribed place. And it teaches us that true worship will always cost us something.
The Text
Then the angel of Yahweh said to Gad to say to David, that David should go up and erect an altar to Yahweh on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. So David went up at the word of Gad, which he spoke in the name of Yahweh. Now Ornan turned back and saw the angel, and his four sons who were with him hid themselves. And Ornan was threshing wheat. Then David came to Ornan, and Ornan looked and saw David, and went out from the threshing floor and bowed his face to the ground before David. Then David said to Ornan, “Give me the site of this threshing floor, that I may build on it an altar to Yahweh; for the full price you shall give it to me, that the plague may be checked from being upon the people.” And Ornan said to David, “Take it for yourself; and let my lord the king do what is good in his sight. See, I will give the oxen for the burnt offerings and the threshing sledges for the wood and the wheat for the grain offering; I will give everything.” However, King David said to Ornan, “No, but I will surely buy it for the full price; for I will not lift up what is yours to Yahweh, or offer a burnt offering which costs me nothing.” So David gave Ornan 600 shekels of gold by weight for the site. Then David built there an altar to Yahweh and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. And he called to Yahweh and He answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering. Then Yahweh spoke to the angel, and he returned his sword to its sheath. At that time, when David saw that Yahweh had answered him on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite, he sacrificed there. Now the tabernacle of Yahweh, which Moses had made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering were in the high place at Gibeon at that time. But David could not go before it to inquire of God, for he was terrified by the sword of the angel of Yahweh.
(1 Chronicles 21:18-30 LSB)
Obedience at the Point of a Sword (vv. 18-21)
We begin with the divine command, mediated through the prophet Gad.
"Then the angel of Yahweh said to Gad to say to David, that David should go up and erect an altar to Yahweh on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. So David went up at the word of Gad, which he spoke in the name of Yahweh." (1 Chronicles 21:18-19)
Notice the chain of command. The angel speaks to Gad, who speaks to David. God's mercy comes through His ordained means. He has halted the plague, but now He commands the action that will ceremonially ratify that halt. The place is specific: "the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite." This is the very spot where David saw the angel with the drawn sword. The place of judgment is to become the place of worship. The place where wrath was poised to fall is where the altar of mercy must be raised. This is a profound principle. God meets us at the point of our greatest crisis, at the very location of our sin and terror, and it is there that He provides the remedy.
David's response is immediate obedience. "So David went up at the word of Gad." There is no hesitation. Having just witnessed the fruit of his prideful disobedience, he is now quick to obey the word of the Lord. True repentance always bears the fruit of obedience.
Meanwhile, Ornan and his sons are having a terrifying day at work. Ornan is threshing wheat, a mundane, earthy task, when he looks up and sees the angel of the Lord. His sons, quite sensibly, hide themselves. The veil between the seen and the unseen world has been pulled back, and the sight of raw, holy power is terrifying. It is into this charged atmosphere that David, the king, arrives. Ornan, despite the supernatural chaos, shows proper respect and bows before his king. This is a scene of immense gravity: a terrified farmer, a repentant king, and a celestial warrior, all converging on this hilltop.
A Transaction of Ultimate Importance (vv. 22-25)
David gets straight to the point. He needs to buy this land to build an altar so that the plague will be stopped.
"Then David said to Ornan, 'Give me the site of this threshing floor, that I may build on it an altar to Yahweh; for the full price you shall give it to me, that the plague may be checked from being upon the people.'" (1 Chronicles 21:22 LSB)
Ornan's response is one of extravagant generosity. He offers not just the land, but everything needed for the sacrifice. "Take it for yourself... See, I will give the oxen for the burnt offerings and the threshing sledges for the wood and the wheat for the grain offering; I will give everything." This is a remarkable offer from a man who was likely a Canaanite, a Jebusite. He is willing to give up his livelihood, his oxen, his tools, his harvest, for the sake of the king and the welfare of the people.
But David's reply is one of the great declarations in Scripture on the nature of true worship.
"However, King David said to Ornan, 'No, but I will surely buy it for the full price; for I will not lift up what is yours to Yahweh, or offer a burnt offering which costs me nothing.'" (1 Chronicles 21:24 LSB)
This is the heart of the matter. David understands a fundamental truth that our consumeristic, convenience-driven culture has forgotten: cheap worship is no worship at all. A sacrifice that costs you nothing is not a sacrifice. It is a gesture. It is religious theatre. David knows that since this plague is the result of his sin, the atonement must cost him something. He cannot pass the cost on to Ornan. He cannot offer to God that which is not his own. To do so would be to cheapen grace, to cheapen repentance, and to cheapen God Himself.
So David pays the full price: 600 shekels of gold for the site. The parallel account in 2 Samuel mentions 50 shekels of silver, which was likely for the oxen and the wood alone. The Chronicler, looking at the larger picture, records the price for the entire property, which would become the site of the Temple. This was not a token payment. It was a massive sum of money, signifying the immense value of this place and the immense cost of atonement. David is not looking for a bargain. He is seeking reconciliation with a holy God, and he knows it is costly.
Fire, a Sheathed Sword, and a New Center of Worship (vv. 26-30)
With the property legally secured, David acts immediately.
"Then David built there an altar to Yahweh and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. And he called to Yahweh and He answered him with fire from heaven on the altar of burnt offering. Then Yahweh spoke to the angel, and he returned his sword to its sheath." (1 Chronicles 21:26-27 LSB)
David offers two types of sacrifices. The burnt offering was for atonement, for sin. The peace offering was for fellowship and communion with God. He is seeking both forgiveness and restored relationship. And God's response is dramatic and unambiguous. He answers with fire from heaven. This is a clear sign of divine acceptance. God Himself consumes the sacrifice, showing that His wrath has been satisfied by the substitute. This is what happened with Aaron's first sacrifice (Lev. 9:24) and with Elijah's on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:38). The fire of judgment falls on the substitute, not the sinner.
Only after the sacrifice is accepted does Yahweh command the angel to sheathe his sword. The threat is officially over. Atonement has been made. The basis for judgment has been removed. The sword of wrath is put away because the fire of wrath has fallen on the altar.
The chapter concludes by explaining the significance of this event. The official Tabernacle of Moses was at Gibeon, several miles away. But David could not go there. Why? Because "he was terrified by the sword of the angel of Yahweh." The crisis was immediate. The angel was right there, over Jerusalem. He couldn't undertake a journey to Gibeon while the sword was drawn over his city. The emergency required an immediate, local solution. And because God answered by fire on Ornan's threshing floor, David recognized that God had consecrated a new place of worship. The center of Israel's sacrificial system was being relocated, right here, on this spot. This place, purchased with David's gold and consecrated by God's fire, would become the site of Solomon's Temple (2 Chron. 3:1). The place where judgment was halted became the permanent place of atonement.
The Threshing Floor of Calvary
This entire narrative is a magnificent foreshadowing of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We, like David, have sinned greatly. We have trusted in our own strength, our own numbers, our own righteousness. And because of our sin, the sword of God's holy wrath is drawn against us. The plague of eternal death is our just desert.
And like David, we are terrified and helpless before the angel of judgment. We cannot make the journey to some far-off place of worship to save ourselves. The crisis is upon us. We need a remedy right where we are, in the place of our sin and fear.
And God, in His mercy, provides the place. He points us to a hill, not Mount Moriah, but Mount Calvary. It is the threshing floor of the universe, the place where God will separate the wheat from the chaff for all time. It is the place where the judgment we deserve will be met.
But who will pay the price? David insisted that a sacrifice must cost something. He paid 600 shekels of gold. But our sin requires a price infinitely greater. We cannot pay it. If we were offered the universe for free to give as a sacrifice, it would not be enough, for we cannot offer to God that which costs us nothing, and we have nothing of our own that is of any value. We are spiritually bankrupt.
This is where the glory of the gospel shines. God the Father provides the sacrifice, His only Son. And Jesus Christ, our great David, pays the full price. He does not offer that which costs Him nothing. He offers Himself. He buys the field not with gold or silver, "but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot" (1 Peter 1:19). The cost was His own life.
And on that altar of the cross, the fire of God's wrath against our sin fell upon Him. He was the burnt offering. He was the peace offering. And because that sacrifice was accepted, God commanded the sword of judgment to be sheathed, forever, for all who are in Christ. The plague is checked. The debt is paid. The terror is gone. And that place of wrath has become our place of eternal mercy and fellowship with God.