2 Samuel 24:18
ESV
And Gad came that day to David and said to him, "Go up, raise an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite."
NIV
On that day Gad went to David and said to him, "Go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite."
NASB
So Gad came to David that day and said to him, 'Go up, erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.'
CSB
Gad came to David that day and said to him, "Go up and set up an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite."
NLT
That day Gad came to David and said to him, 'Go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.'
KJV
And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite.
NKJV
And Gad came that day to David and said to him, “Go up, erect an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.”
What does 2 Samuel 24:18 mean?
David sinned by ordering a census of fighting men. As punishment, God sent an angel across Israel with a pestilence. Many thousands are dead. When David sees the angel on the hill above Jerusalem, he dresses in sackcloth and begs God to punish him and his family, not the innocent in Jerusalem (2 Samuel 24:1–2, 12, 15–17).The site where the angel has stopped is the top of Mt. Moriah. A Jebusite owns the land and uses it for a threshing floor; the high elevation allows the wind to blow away the chaff from the grain. God sends Gad the seer to tell David to build an altar there.
Araunah, or Ornan (1 Chronicles 21:18), is a Canaanite whose family was likely there centuries before David took the city. But he recognizes David as king. When David asks to buy the land, Araunah agrees and offers to donate his oxen and grain for the sacrifice and his threshing sledge and yoke for the firewood (1 Chronicles 21:23). David insists on paying for everything, including a larger piece of land (2 Samuel 24:24; 1 Chronicles 21:25). David sacrifices the oxen, and God spares Jerusalem (2 Samuel 14:19–25).
God's order from the Mosaic law leaves some room for interpretation:
"Any Israelite or any foreigner residing among them who offers a burnt offering or sacrifice and does not bring it to the entrance to the tent of meeting to sacrifice it to the Lord must be cut off from the people of Israel." (Leviticus 17:8–9)Now, God is telling David to sacrifice outside of Jerusalem. When the Israelites entered the Promised Land, they erected the tabernacle in Shiloh and set the ark inside. Since Samuel's childhood, the tabernacle has been in Nob (1 Samuel 21:1–6). As of the events of this chapter, the tabernacle is in Gibeon (1 Chronicles 16:39–40). The ark was stolen by the Philistines and recovered (1 Samuel 4:11; 6:1–18), and has moved in Beth-shemesh, Kiriath-jearim (1 Samuel 18–21), traveled with the army (1 Samuel 14:18), back to Kiriath-jearim (2 Samuel 6:2), and is now in Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6:12–15). David is too afraid of the angel to go to the tabernacle in Gibeon, but God allows him to sacrifice on the hilltop.
Later, Solomon will build the temple on the same site.
