How does David's altar relate to worship practices in the Old Testament? A moment of crisis and a call to worship “That day Gad went to David and said, ‘Go up and build an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.’” (2 Samuel 24:18) Why an altar, and why here? • The nation was under divine judgment for David’s census (24:1–17). • Gad’s instruction directs David to the remedy God Himself prescribed: blood sacrifice on a specific spot. • From Genesis onward, altars are the God-given means for atonement, thanksgiving, and covenant renewal (Genesis 8:20; 12:7; Exodus 20:24). David’s act stands squarely in that stream. Continuity with patriarchal worship • Noah built an altar after the flood (Genesis 8:20); God smelled the pleasing aroma and withheld further curse. • Abraham regularly marked divine encounters with altars (Genesis 12:7–8; 22:9). • Jacob raised an altar at Bethel after God’s revelation (Genesis 35:7). David’s altar echoes these patriarchs: personal obedience, costly sacrifice, and immediate divine response (2 Samuel 24:25). Alignment with Mosaic instruction • Burnt offerings (Leviticus 1) and peace offerings (Leviticus 3) were the designated sacrifices to restore fellowship—exactly what David offers (24:25). • Exodus 20:24–26 specified altars of earth or uncut stone; David employs a simple threshing floor, not ornate human workmanship. • Deuteronomy 12:5–14 anticipated God’s choice of a central place for sacrifice. By naming Araunah’s threshing floor, God identifies the future permanent site. Costly devotion underscores true worship • “I will not offer to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing” (24:24). • David refuses the free gift, purchasing the site and oxen. Genuine worship in the Old Testament consistently required personal sacrifice (Leviticus 22:18–20; Malachi 1:8). From threshing floor to temple mount • 1 Chronicles 21:28–22:1 records David’s realization: “This is the house of the LORD God.” • 2 Chronicles 3:1 identifies the same location—Mount Moriah—as the place where Solomon built the temple and where Abraham once bound Isaac (Genesis 22:2). • Thus David’s altar is the transitional link between mobile tabernacle worship and the fixed temple system that dominated the remainder of Old Testament history. The thread of substitutionary atonement • The plague stopped “when the LORD answered the plea for the land” (2 Samuel 24:25). • Blood on the altar turns away wrath—foreshadowed in Passover (Exodus 12:13) and the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 16:15–16). • David’s experience re-affirms that “without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness” (Hebrews 9:22). Key takeaways on Old Testament worship practices • Worship is initiated by God’s word; Gad speaks, David obeys. • Location matters when God designates it; from altars in the open to the temple mount, God guides where He meets His people. • Sacrifice must be personal and costly, never perfunctory. • Atonement through substitutionary blood is the heart of Old Testament worship, securing restored fellowship and halting judgment. • David’s altar serves as the hinge between earlier patriarchal/Mosaic altars and the centralized temple worship that follows, bearing witness to God’s unchanging pattern: obedient faith expressed through sacrificial worship. |
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