What Stopped the Plague? A Sweet Savor to God

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In recent days, this world has been faced with a virus that has turned everything upside down and put fear into the hearts of millions. In my personal reading I have so enjoyed some thoughts from the passage in 1 Chronicles 21, concerning the pestilence that devastated Israel in the days of King David. As I read I pondered two questions. What stopped the plague? Why did David offer a burnt offering and a peace offering?
The story is covered in both 2 Samuel 24 and 1 Chronicles 21. The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel because of their sin. Satan stood up against Israel and provoked David. David tells Joab to number Israel. Over a million men are counted in Israel and Judah. God was displeased and He smites Israel. Gad the prophet goes to David with three choices. David chooses to “fall ... into the hand of the Lord; for very great are His mercies” (1 Chron. 21:1313And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let me fall now into the hand of the Lord; for very great are his mercies: but let me not fall into the hand of man. (1 Chronicles 21:13)). So the Lord sends a plague on Israel and 70,000 men die. Then God sends the angel to Jerusalem to destroy it. Three different ones see the angel, and the story takes a dramatic change.
The Lord Beheld
First, in 1 Chronicles 21:1515And God sent an angel unto Jerusalem to destroy it: and as he was destroying, the Lord beheld, and he repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed, It is enough, stay now thine hand. And the angel of the Lord stood by the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. (1 Chronicles 21:15), “the Lord beheld” and sees the angel. Something about God’s view of the angel at that place by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite caused the Lord to change His direction, and He tells the angel to stay his hand! What was it? This was the place where Abraham was told by God to offer his only son as a burnt offering (Gen. 22:22And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of. (Genesis 22:2)). This was also the place where Solomon would build the temple (2 Chron. 3:11Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. (2 Chronicles 3:1)). This was the city where the Lord Jesus would be the perfect sacrifice to God (John 19:2020This title then read many of the Jews: for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city: and it was written in Hebrew, and Greek, and Latin. (John 19:20)). Something about that sight was so precious that the plague is brought to a halt. Could it be that God’s heart was moved as a sweet savor came from that place, as He looked forward to the cross? “It is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord” (Lev. 1:1717And he shall cleave it with the wings thereof, but shall not divide it asunder: and the priest shall burn it upon the altar, upon the wood that is upon the fire: it is a burnt sacrifice, an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord. (Leviticus 1:17)). This was for God.
David Lifted Up His Eyes
Second, in 1 Chronicles 21:1616And David lifted up his eyes, and saw the angel of the Lord stand between the earth and the heaven, having a drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces. (1 Chronicles 21:16), “David lifted up his eyes” and sees the angel. His response is very different. He had sinned. He was afraid. David and the elders of Israel fell on their faces. He takes the blame and confesses to the Lord: “Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? Even I it is that have sinned and done evil” (1 Chron. 21:1717And David said unto God, Is it not I that commanded the people to be numbered? even I it is that have sinned and done evil indeed; but as for these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, O Lord my God, be on me, and on my father's house; but not on thy people, that they should be plagued. (1 Chronicles 21:17)). The angel of the Lord commands Gad to tell David to go up and set up an altar in the threshing floor of Ornan. He knew the depth of meaning this place had to God’s heart. David obeys. Communion needed to be restored because of David’s sin. “He shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering. ... It is the food of the offering made by fire for a sweet savor: all the fat is the Lord’s” (Lev. 3:9,169And he shall offer of the sacrifice of the peace offering an offering made by fire unto the Lord; the fat thereof, and the whole rump, it shall he take off hard by the backbone; and the fat that covereth the inwards, and all the fat that is upon the inwards, (Leviticus 3:9)
16And the priest shall burn them upon the altar: it is the food of the offering made by fire for a sweet savor: all the fat is the Lord's. (Leviticus 3:16)). This was for God and man, for God delights in communion with His own.
Ornan Saw the Angel
Finally, in 1 Chronicles 21:2020And Ornan turned back, and saw the angel; and his four sons with him hid themselves. Now Ornan was threshing wheat. (1 Chronicles 21:20), “Ornan turned back and saw the angel.” He and his sons hid themselves. They are overwhelmed by the magnitude of the sight. David comes to Ornan and asks to buy the threshing floor. The significance of what had happened was so great that he offers David not just the land, but the threshing instruments, and the wheat “for the meat offering; I give it all” (1 Chron. 21:2323And Ornan said unto David, Take it to thee, and let my lord the king do that which is good in his eyes: lo, I give thee the oxen also for burnt offerings, and the threshing instruments for wood, and the wheat for the meat offering; I give it all. (1 Chronicles 21:23)). When we feed on what the Lord Jesus has done for us, we realize that we should present “all” to God as our reasonable service (Rom. 12:11I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. (Romans 12:1)). “When any will offer a meat offering unto the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour ... of a sweet savor unto the Lord” (Lev. 2:1-21And when any will offer a meat offering unto the Lord, his offering shall be of fine flour; and he shall pour oil upon it, and put frankincense thereon: 2And he shall bring it to Aaron's sons the priests: and he shall take thereout his handful of the flour thereof, and of the oil thereof, with all the frankincense thereof; and the priest shall burn the memorial of it upon the altar, to be an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor unto the Lord: (Leviticus 2:1‑2)).
It does not appear that this meat (or meal) offering was actually offered, for David substituted a peace offering for the meat offering suggested by Ornan. But it is beautiful to see that Ornan, who at this time knew nothing of the interchange between Gad and David, was ready to give all that was available to him, as a free gift, in order to facilitate a sacrifice to the Lord.
At This Place
There it is, at this place, that David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings, and called upon the Lord, and He answered him. Then, the plague is stopped in its tracks. “The Lord commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof” (1 Chron. 21:2727And the Lord commanded the angel; and he put up his sword again into the sheath thereof. (1 Chronicles 21:27)). The plague is over!
I trust that during these times we will seek to cast ourselves on the mercies of the Lord and to remain in communion with Him (peace offering) while remembering the perfect Sacrifice (burnt offering). What happened at the cross of Calvary to our Lord Jesus Christ, the perfect Son of God, ascends to God as a sweet savor, and this prevents the worst plague of all time from falling on me!
M. Allan