Chapter 24 is the concluding chapter of Sefer Shmuel, and it tells of the counting of the nation that was done unlawfully, and the chain of events from the punishment until the revealing of the place of the Mikdash. In this lesson we will focus on the second part of the chapter: the mission of Gad the prophet to David, the three decrees and the choice among them, the course of the plague, the halting of the angel at the threshing floor of Aravna, and finally the purchase of the place and the building of the altar. We will proceed according to the order of the pesukim, following the commentaries of the Malbim, the Radak and the Metzudot, and the words of Chazal gathered around them.
וַיָּקָם דָּוִד בַּבֹּקֶר וּדְבַר־יְהוָה הָיָה אֶל־גָּד הַנָּבִיא חֹזֵה דָוִד לֵאמֹר׃ - And David rose in the morning, and the word of Hashem came to Gad the prophet, David's seer, saying.
The moment David rose in the morning, the prophet was sent to him. The Radak explains: "And David rose" - his heart did not rest at night. All that night he had no peace from this matter, that he had counted the nation at a time when it was forbidden to him, and he understood that this was a grave thing. And then Gad the prophet was sent from Hashem.
הָלוֹךְ וְדִבַּרְתָּ אֶל־דָּוִד כֹּה אָמַר יְהוָה שָׁלֹשׁ אָנֹכִי נוֹטֵל עָלֶיךָ בְּחַר־לְךָ אַחַת־מֵהֶם וְאֶעֱשֶׂה־לָּךְ׃ - Go and speak to David, so said Hashem: Three things I lay upon you, choose for yourself one of them, and I will do it to you.
וַיָּבֹא־גָד אֶל־דָּוִד וַיַּגֶּד־לוֹ וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ הֲתָבוֹא לְךָ שֶׁבַע־שָׁנִים רָעָב בְּאַרְצֶךָ אִם־שְׁלֹשָׁה חֳדָשִׁים נֻסְךָ לִפְנֵי־צָרֶיךָ וְהוּא רֹדְפֶךָ וְאִם־הֱיוֹת שְׁלֹשֶׁת יָמִים דֶּבֶר בְּאַרְצֶךָ עַתָּה דַּע וּרְאֵה מָה־אָשִׁיב שֹׁלְחִי דָּבָר׃ - And Gad came to David and told him, and said to him: Shall seven years of famine come to you in your land, or three months of your fleeing before your foes while he pursues you, or shall there be three days of plague in your land? Now consider and see what answer I shall return to the One who sent me.
The prophet offers David three possibilities: seven years of famine in the land, three months of fleeing before the pursuing enemy, or three days of plague. And we must understand: what is the meaning of this "test"? Where have we heard of a person who deserves a punishment being given three choices and choosing which punishment he wants? And not only that, but there is a contradiction in the wording: "Three things I lay upon you" - meaning I place three upon you, and immediately afterward "choose for yourself one of them." So is it three, or one of three?
The Malbim explains: Know that you were liable for three punishments. "Three things I lay upon you" - you should have received all three of them, except that it is Hashem's kindness upon you that I am willing for you to take only one of them. And how so? Let us ask ourselves which is preferable: to give a person a punishment that he opposes and seeks to remove from himself, or to give him a punishment that he accepts with understanding, knowing that he deserves it? Certainly the second possibility, for it is specifically acceptance with understanding that will rectify the person and benefit him. Therefore the Holy One, blessed be He, says to him: you deserve three punishments for what you did, but there is a possibility that you receive only one of them - if you accept it with understanding, if you accept it willingly. This is "choose for yourself one of them and I will do it to you": if you take the punishment out of choice and consent, out of saying "I am willing to accept the punishment, I deserve it, I see in it a rectification and atonement for myself" - then I will do to you only one of them, and you will not need to receive all three, but that one you choose will suffice.
Let us note that here it is written "seven years of famine," while in Divrei HaYamim it is written three years. So what was offered to him, seven or three? The Metzudat David explains: three years of famine had already passed, and like a person sitting in prison until trial for whom the time already served is counted - so too here. Three that had passed, and another three that would be added to him, and until the grain would grow they add one more year - a total of seven years. The Malbim explains differently: these events were literally at the end of David's days, and in practice only three years could take effect during his lifetime up to the day of his death, while the rest of the time would take effect only after his death. Therefore it was not fitting to say to him "seven years of famine" as his own punishment, and so the three years are what was meant to be during his lifetime and the rest of the years after his death.
וַיֹּאמֶר דָּוִד אֶל־גָּד צַר־לִי מְאֹד נִפְּלָה־נָּא בְיַד־יְהוָה כִּי־רַבִּים רַחֲמָו וּבְיַד־אָדָם אַל־אֶפֹּלָה׃ - And David said to Gad, I am in great distress; let us fall now into the hand of Hashem, for His mercies are great, but let me not fall into the hand of man.
This is the wording that we Ashkenazim recite during Nefilat Apayim, and so too is the practice of the Baladi Teimanim: "And David said to Gad, I am in great distress; let us fall now into the hand of Hashem, for His mercies are great." We recite only this portion, while in their version they recite the entire pasuk.
And what was the reasoning behind David's choice? The Malbim explains: David HaMelech saw that the punishment of famine is a natural punishment, the punishment of the sword is a punishment of free choice, and the punishment of the plague is a punishment of Divine providence. Famine comes through the way of nature, for there are drought years and there are rainy years. If I fall into such a punishment, it is as though I have been handed over to the cosmic order, subject to fortune: there is famine, people die, and what can be done, they will die. Such a punishment I do not want. The punishment of the sword is also not good, for it is a punishment of free choice: the man who comes to kill has free will, and Hashem, as it were, does not interfere with his choice. There is a great debate among the Rishonim on this point, whether a person possessing free will can harm someone who was not decreed to be harmed, that is, whether this is included within his free choice, or whether free will stops here and if the victim does not deserve it, the aggressor cannot harm him. There is an entire book by Rav Friedlander dealing with this question, and I too bring a discussion of the matter in my book. In any case, a punishment of free choice is a dangerous punishment, for it is possible that that person, having free will, will harm me more than I deserve. This too I do not want. What remains? Plague, a punishment of Divine providence, under Hashem's supervision. A plague is an epidemic, and it is not a natural thing; no epidemic comes about through nature, but rather through His providence. And there is no free choice in it, there is no person choosing to harm me. Therefore it is preferable for me to fall into the hand of Hashem, for His mercies are great, than to fall into the hand of nature or into the hand of a man possessing free will.
Let us note that the navi hinted to him what would be worthwhile to choose, and even said so explicitly at the end of his words: "Now know and see what answer I shall return to Him who sent me, a word (davar)" - do not read davar (a word) but dever (a plague). He hinted to him that the punishment of the plague would be more worthwhile, being the least harsh of the three. And then David said "let us fall now into the hand of Hashem" - I prefer the punishment of Divine providence, which is in the hand of Hashem, for His mercies are great.
The Radak explains: why is the plague called "the hand of Hashem"? Because concerning plague it is said, "Behold, the hand of Hashem is upon your livestock," and therefore "let us fall now into the hand of Hashem." But regarding the other punishments David said that they would bring great disgrace upon Israel. How so? When Israel is in famine, they wander from nation to nation, from people to people, and from kingdom to kingdom seeking food, and this is a great humiliation for the people of Israel: they would be seen as poor, downtrodden and afflicted, moving from place to place like beggars. The sword too is a great humiliation, for they are delivered into the hand of their enemies, and this is a disgrace in the eyes of the nations. Therefore David preferred the punishment of the plague, which is an internal epidemic, and there is no humiliation for a people afflicted by an epidemic; an epidemic is, as it were, a punishment from above, and there is no disgrace in it.
The Midrash offers a further explanation: David feared that if he were to choose famine, all Israel would say, "What does the son of Yishai care? Are not his storehouses full from one kind to another" - he has enough, he lacks no food, would the king go hungry? What does he care about asking for famine, let there be famine for everyone while he manages fine. David said: I cannot take such a thing. And if he were to choose the sword, they would say: what does the king have to worry about? He has his mighty warriors, they will go out to war and die for him while he is saved. Once again there would be an accusation against the people here.
And one further point must be remembered: the essential sin here was David's, so why was the people punished? Because they had a prior transgression, in that they had rejected the kingship of the house of David: they went and formed a conspiracy with Avshalom, afterward they formed a conspiracy with Sheva ben Bichri, and they also delayed in crowning David when he was in Chevron and followed Ish Boshet. They had transgressions. In other words, the people were not punished because of David, they have their own file and their own story.
וַיִּתֵּן יְהוָה דֶּבֶר בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל מֵהַבֹּקֶר וְעַד־עֵת מוֹעֵד וַיָּמָת מִן־הָעָם מִדָּן וְעַד־בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע שִׁבְעִים אֶלֶף אִישׁ׃ - So Hashem sent a plague upon Israel from the morning until the appointed time, and there died of the people, from Dan to Be'er Sheva, seventy thousand men.
"From the morning" - from the time the prophecy came to Gad, then the plague began. "Until the appointed time" - the Metzudat David says: until the same day of the next morning. In truth there is a dispute about this in Masechet Berachot: one view says from the time of the slaughtering of the daily offering until the sprinkling of its blood, that is, an extremely short time, while Rabbi Yehuda says until midday, which is already several hours.
The Malbim says: according to the first view, the decree was, as it were, to destroy everything. For if in a single hour seventy thousand fell, how many would have fallen in twenty-four hours? One million six hundred and ten thousand, more than the number that Yoav had counted! It emerges that according to this calculation the decree was one of complete annihilation, except that Hashem had mercy and confined the plague to a single hour alone. And according to Rabbi Yehuda's view, the decree was only upon those who had been counted among Bnei Yisrael and not upon those counted from Bnei Yehuda: seventy thousand fell in six hours, and in three days that would be twelve times six hours, amounting to eight hundred and forty thousand, very close to the total of those counted from Bnei Yisrael without the portion of Bnei Yehuda.
וַיִּשְׁלַח יָדוֹ הַמַּלְאָךְ יְרוּשָׁלַיִם לְשַׁחֲתָהּ וַיִּנָּחֶם יְהוָה אֶל־הָרָעָה וַיֹּאמֶר לַמַּלְאָךְ הַמַּשְׁחִית בָּעָם רַב עַתָּה הֶרֶף יָדֶךָ וּמַלְאַךְ יְהוָה הָיָה עִם־גֹּרֶן הָאֲרַוְנָה הַיְבֻסִי׃ - And the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it, and Hashem relented from the evil, and He said to the angel that was destroying the people: Enough, now stay your hand. And the angel of Hashem was by the threshing floor of Aravna the Yevusi.
The angel stretches out his hand against Jerusalem to destroy it: that same angel who had struck down the people wished to destroy the people of Jerusalem as well, and then he was told, "Enough (rav), now stay your hand." The plain meaning of "rav" is: it is enough for you. But Chazal expound: "rav" means the great one (the rav) among them; He took the greatest one among them. He said to him: take the great one among them, and that was Avishai ben Tzeruya, who was equal in worth to the majority of the Sanhedrin. And by taking the greatest among them, he served as atonement for them all, for otherwise many more of the people would have had to die, as we saw in the count.
The wording here is somewhat difficult: "And the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it" should have read, "And the angel stretched out his hand toward Jerusalem to destroy it" (with the word order placing the angel first). And in Divrei HaYamim it is written, "And God sent an angel to Jerusalem." According to this, who is the one referred to as "and he sent" here? It is the Holy One, blessed be He. He sent out His hand, and who is His hand? The angel, for the destroying angel is called "the hand of Hashem." It emerges that the verse is saying: and Hashem sent out His hand, which is the angel. Therefore it is written "and He sent His hand, the angel" and not "and the angel sent his hand," for the angel does not send his own hand, but rather Hashem sends His hand, and the sending of Hashem's hand is the angel himself.
And why specifically here is it said "enough"? What happened in Jerusalem? Jerusalem is the place of the Beit HaMikdash, and the very place where the angel was stopped is the place where the Beit HaMikdash was destined to be built. Until then they did not know where exactly the precise place was: it is written that David discussed with Shmuel in Nayot in Rama the matter of the Beit HaMikdash that was to be the eternal edifice of the world, but the exact location was not known. Only here, when he reached that place which was then the threshing floor of Aravna the Yevusi, which is the precise location of the Mikdash, there Chazal say: what did he see? He saw the ashes of Yitzchak, for this was the place of the Akeida and it is the place of the Mikdash. And some say: he saw the atonement silver, for they were destined to weigh out there in the Beit HaMikdash the atonement silver, and this is what atoned for them.
In Divrei HaYamim it is written: "And David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of Hashem standing between the earth and the heavens, with his drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem, and David and the elders, covered in sackcloth, fell upon their faces." And what happened to David as a result of this? "And King David was old, advanced in years, and they covered him with garments, but he could not get warm" - Chazal say that from the moment he saw the angel he grew cold. That is, such fear and trembling seized him that from then on he could not get warm, no matter how much they warmed him. There is another explanation there for why this happened to him, but this explanation is connected to seeing the angel. Seeing an angel is a most terrifying thing, and it caused him a fear that accompanied him in the years that followed.
And through Hashem saying to the angel "desist," the angel returned and stood between the heavens and the earth, as is written in Divrei HaYamim. And at that moment he turned his sword from the side of Tzion toward the side of Jerusalem, and his hand was still stretched out over Jerusalem, that is, the matter was still in the category of a threat. Shortly we will see how the striking ceases entirely and how that harsh decree is annulled completely.
וַיֹּאמֶר דָּוִד אֶל־יְהוָה בִּרְאֹתוֹ אֶת־הַמַּלְאָךְ הַמַּכֶּה בָעָם וַיֹּאמֶר הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי חָטָאתִי וְאָנֹכִי הֶעֱוֵיתִי וְאֵלֶּה הַצֹּאן מֶה עָשׂוּ תְּהִי נָא יָדְךָ בִּי וּבְבֵית אָבִי׃ - And David said to Hashem when he saw the angel striking the people, and he said: Behold, I have sinned, and I have acted perversely, but these sheep, what have they done? Let Your hand, I pray, be against me and against my father's house.
David says: Master of the Universe, I have sinned and I have acted perversely, meaning the entire cause of this thing came from me, for I counted Israel unlawfully. And we have already explained the meaning of the doubling of "I have sinned" and "I have acted perversely": "I have sinned" refers to an inadvertent error in deed; "I have acted perversely" refers to a distortion of the intellect, for according to the ruling of my intellect I should not have decided in this manner nor in this way. If so, it all comes from me, "but these sheep, what have they done?" - the people of Israel, what did they do? "Let Your hand, I pray, be against me and against my father's house" - if punishment is warranted, Master of the Universe, give it to me, for it is I who deserve it.
And why, nevertheless, was the people punished? As we explained, because the people did not act properly: they rebelled against the kingdom of the house of David in the days of Avshalom and conspired with him, afterward they conspired with Sheva ben Bichri, and they were also slow to crown David when he was in Chevron and followed after Ish Boshet. They had sins, and they were not punished merely because of David; they have their own dossier and their own account. And with all this, David certainly preferred this punishment over all the other things.
וַיָּבֹא־גָד אֶל־דָּוִד בַּיּוֹם הַהוּא וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ עֲלֵה הָקֵם לַיהוָה מִזְבֵּחַ בְּגֹרֶן אֲרַוְנָה הַיְבֻסִי׃ - And Gad came to David on that day and said to him: Go up, erect an altar to Hashem on the threshing floor of Aravna the Yevusi.
In Divrei HaYamim it appears that the angel came to Gad, and then Gad came to David. Gad is the prophet, the seer, and the angel was revealed to him. The Malbim asks: who was that angel? It was the angel who had been striking the people. That very angel of judgment now turned into kindness and mercy, and through him the prophecy was sent to Gad the seer, to come and tell David to build an altar. Here you see, says the Malbim, that the Holy One, blessed be He, acts in the manner of "I have wounded and I will heal": through the very thing that wounds He also brings the healing. That same angel who brought the destruction is the angel who effects the repair by telling David to build an altar there.
וַיַּעַל דָּוִד כִּדְבַר־גָּד כַּאֲשֶׁר צִוָּה יְהוָה׃ - And David went up according to the word of Gad, as the Lord had commanded.
David goes up to the threshing floor according to the command that he hears.
וַיַּשְׁקֵף אֲרַוְנָה וַיַּרְא אֶת־הַמֶּלֶךְ וְאֶת־עֲבָדָיו עֹבְרִים עָלָיו וַיֵּצֵא אֲרַוְנָה וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ לַמֶּלֶךְ אַפָּיו אָרְצָה׃ - And Aravnah looked out and saw the king and his servants coming toward him, and Aravnah went out and bowed down to the king with his face to the ground.
"And he looked out" is said of a person who is hiding and peeking, gazing out from between the cracks. Our Sages say: "And Aravnah looked out" - he was hiding from the angel, for he saw the destroying angel striking the people. But when he saw the king and his servants passing by, he went out toward him and bowed down to him with his face to the ground. Aravnah the Jebusite was a gentile, from the people called Jebus, and not from Israel.
וַיֹּאמֶר אֲרַוְנָה מַדּוּעַ בָּא אֲדֹנִי־הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶל־עַבְדּוֹ וַיֹּאמֶר דָּוִד לִקְנוֹת מֵעִמְּךָ אֶת־הַגֹּרֶן לִבְנוֹת מִזְבֵּחַ לַיהוָה וְתֵעָצַר הַמַּגֵּפָה מֵעַל הָעָם׃ - And Aravnah said, Why has my lord the king come to his servant? And David said, To buy the threshing floor from you, to build an altar to the Lord, so that the plague may be halted from upon the people.
Aravnah says to him: Why has my lord the king come? The king would normally call and his servant would arrive, so why does the king come to him? David answers him: I have come here for the honor of the Holy One, blessed be He, I have come to build an altar here. I want the plague to stop completely, and through building the altar this is possible, and therefore I must now begin by purchasing the place and building the altar so that the plague will be halted.
וַיֹּאמֶר אֲרַוְנָה אֶל־דָּוִד יִקַּח וְיַעַל אֲדֹנִי הַמֶּלֶךְ הַטּוֹב בְּעֵינָו רְאֵה הַבָּקָר לָעֹלָה וְהַמֹּרִגִּים וּכְלֵי הַבָּקָר לָעֵצִים׃ - And Aravnah said to David, Let my lord the king take and offer up what is good in his eyes; see, here are the cattle for the burnt offering, and the threshing sledges and the ox equipment for the wood.
Aravnah says to him: Why buy at all? "Let him take" - I give you everything as a gift, for free. "And let my lord the king offer up what is good in his eyes" - go up and do as is good in your eyes. "See, the cattle for the burnt offering" - the cattle can be slaughtered as a sacrifice, since he wants to build an altar. "And the threshing sledges and the ox equipment for the wood" - the threshing sledges are like "a new sharp threshing sledge with teeth," a wooden implement with which they would thresh the grain, crumbling it and separating the chaff from the wheat; and the ox equipment are the implements with which the cattle are tied to the wagon or to the plow. He says to him: let all of these serve as wood, to kindle a fire upon the altar.
הַכֹּל נָתַן אֲרַוְנָה הַמֶּלֶךְ לַמֶּלֶךְ וַיֹּאמֶר אֲרַוְנָה אֶל־הַמֶּלֶךְ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ יִרְצֶךָ׃ - Everything did Aravnah the king give to the king, and Aravnah said to the king, May the Lord your God accept you favorably.
Aravnah donated everything to the king, and said to him "May the Lord your God accept you favorably" - that God should receive your offerings with favor, this is the meaning of "accept you favorably."
וַיֹּאמֶר הַמֶּלֶךְ אֶל־אֲרַוְנָה לֹא כִּי־קָנוֹ אֶקְנֶה מֵאוֹתְךָ בִּמְחִיר וְלֹא אַעֲלֶה לַיהוָה אֱלֹהַי עוֹלוֹת חִנָּם וַיִּקֶן דָּוִד אֶת־הַגֹּרֶן וְאֶת־הַבָּקָר בְּכֶסֶף שְׁקָלִים חֲמִשִּׁים׃ - And the king said to Aravnah: No, but I will surely buy it from you for a price, and I will not offer to Hashem my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing. So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver.
The king tells Aravnah: absolutely not. I will buy everything for full payment, "and I will not offer to Hashem my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." From here we learn a tremendous principle, which the Zohar also states: a person may not bring burnt offerings for free. When a person does something for Hashem, let him pay for it, at least something, and if not, it is written that the forces of impurity attach themselves to it. A person wants to buy an etrog, and someone comes and says to him: you do not need to, I have one on my tree, I will bring you one as a gift. Under no circumstances accept it as a gift. Say to him: I am willing to pay, I will pay you. And if he insists that he does not want payment, tell him: take ten shekels. It is worth three hundred shekels, take ten. I am giving you something. Under no circumstances take it for free. Mitzvot are not done for free, mitzvot are done for a price. When a person does it for free, it is as if he says: well, I got rid of this, I fulfilled the mitzvah cheaply, no need to pay, Master of the World leave me alone, I fulfilled the mitzvah.
There is a great lesson here. Once a man showed me an etrog and asked: Rabbi, how much did this etrog cost me? I looked at it, very beautiful. I asked how much, he said to me: how much do you think? I told him: two hundred shekels. He said to me: five shekels. I told him: that cannot be. He said to me: yes, Rabbi, I bought this one ten minutes before the holiday came in, when they were already only making jam out of those etrogim, and so I bought it for five shekels. I said to him: tell me, if you had become engaged, and you came to your fiancee and showed her a very special ring that you bought for her, and she asks how much it cost, and you say: five shekels, end of season, I bought this for you for five shekels, what would she say to you? Shame on you! This is how you value me? For five shekels? You cannot invest a little more than that on me? And you even come to boast about it, to say: look, I got off cheaply, I bought myself something for five shekels, I got rid of the matter, you had to buy a ring so she would have no complaints, here, take it.
We must know: do not be stingy in matters of mitzvot, do not be stingy in matters of kindness, in things done for Hashem may He be blessed. Here do not look to save. You want to buy a car, you want a 2008, buy a 2004, save forty or fifty thousand shekels. But do not go and save on the etrog or on the mitzvah or on the tefillin, saying: this is two thousand shekels, I can also get it for fifteen hundred. In matters of mitzvah, fulfill the mitzvah with beauty. "And I will not offer to Hashem my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing", free offerings under no circumstances. A mitzvah for Hashem must be bought for a price.
How much did it cost him? Fifty shekels. Yet in Divrei HaYamim it is written "And David gave Ornan for the place six hundred shekels of gold by weight." Here fifty and there six hundred, how do we reconcile the contradiction? Chazal give one explanation: he collected fifty shekels from each tribe, so that all the tribes would have a share in the place of the Mikdash, for this is the place of the Mikdash that we are now speaking about. He collected fifty from each tribe, twelve tribes, so you have six hundred as written in Divrei HaYamim. And a further explanation: at first David bought only the threshing floor, in order to build an altar upon it; and afterward, when he saw that fire came down there and the offering was accepted with favor as brought in Divrei HaYamim, he decided to buy the entire surrounding area, the whole mountain, what is called today Har HaBayit. For that it no longer costs fifty shekels but six hundred shekels of gold. Therefore here the fifty is mentioned regarding the actual purchase of the altar site, and there the price of purchasing the entire place is mentioned.
And what we see from this whole episode: this plague and everything that happened here were ultimately for David's benefit. For through this matter David came to know which place was designated for building the Beit HaMikdash, and without it he would not have known. Here he saw the destroying angel halted there, and here he offered on the altar and the offering was accepted with favor, and from this he came to know that this is the place that Hashem chose to dwell, this is the place for building the House.
וַיִּבֶן שָׁם דָּוִד מִזְבֵּחַ לַיהוָה וַיַּעַל עֹלוֹת וּשְׁלָמִים וַיֵּעָתֵר יְהוָה לָאָרֶץ וַתֵּעָצַר הַמַּגֵּפָה מֵעַל יִשְׂרָאֵל׃ - And David built there an altar to Hashem, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. And Hashem was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel.
David builds an altar to Hashem, offers burnt offerings and peace offerings, and Hashem is entreated for the land, that is, He accepts their repentance with favor, and the plague is stayed.
The Radak says here: seemingly we see that David bought the place here from the Yevusi and paid for it, yet we already saw earlier that David conquered the stronghold, and the stronghold is Yevus. How can it be that he conquered it and nevertheless the place still belongs to Aravnah? The Radak explains: the place was indeed conquered, but the Yevusim became tributaries to him, he left them there and they would pay tribute to the king. And only now David came and gave money to Aravnah the Yevusi, and through this he freed the place completely from any right they had in it. And the reason David left them there: as long as the gentile is willing to remain in the land and pay us tribute, one is permitted to leave him. And these are the words of the Radak: even from the seven nations they could dwell in the land on the condition that they do not cause sin, as it says "They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me," but as long as they do not sin, having accepted upon themselves the seven mitzvot, one is permitted to leave them in the land. Therefore David left them here.
The chapter opens with punishment and closes with building. David did not sleep the entire night on account of the sin of the census, and when he rose in the morning Gad the prophet came to him on Hashem's mission: three decrees are coming to him, and if he chooses one of them willingly and with understanding, one will suffice. David chooses pestilence, which is a providential punishment and not natural nor dependent on human choice, "Let us fall now into the hand of Hashem, for His mercies are great," and it also involves no disgrace to Israel. The plague strikes seventy thousand, but Hashem halts the angel at the threshing floor of Aravnah, and that angel of judgment turns into an angel of kindness and sends Gad to instruct David to build an altar, "I have struck and I will heal." David refuses to receive the place for free: "And I will not offer to Hashem my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing," and from here comes the great principle that one does not fulfill mitzvot cheaply and without investment. From the punishment itself grew the great benefit: the place of the Mikdash became known, the place where the ashes of Yitzchak were seen, and from now on the place becomes a special place for building the Beit HaMikdash, as we will see in the next book, in Sefer Melachim, how King Shlomo takes this place and builds the Beit HaMikdash upon it. Chazak chazak venitchazek.