1 Chronicles 21:22
“Then David said to Ornan, “Give me the place of this threshing floor, that I may build an altar to Yahweh on it. You shall sell it to me for the full price, that the plague may be stopped from afflicting the people.””
What does 1 Chronicles 21:22 mean?
David is asking to buy Ornan's threshing floor after God has stopped a plague that killed thousands of Israelites. David recognizes that to properly worship God and seek His forgiveness, he needs to make a genuine sacrifice, not accept a free gift. By insisting on paying full price, he's saying that true repentance and gratitude require something that actually costs him something real. This moment shows David taking responsibility for his sin (he'd ordered a census against God's will, which triggered the plague). He understands that worship isn't authentic when it's cheap or when we're trying to appease God with offerings that cost us nothing. There's something deeply human about this: when we're truly sorry or truly grateful, we naturally want to give something that matters to us, not just words.