As a king, give unto the king - Literally, All these did King Araunah give unto the king. That there could not be a king of the Jebusites on Mount Moriah, is sufficiently evident; and that there was no other king than David in the land, is equally so: the word המלך hammelech, "the king," given here to Araunah, is wanting in the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic; in three of Kennicott's and De Rossi's MSS., and in the parallel place in Chronicles: and, it is very probable, never made a part of the text. Perhaps it should be read, All these did Arnunah give unto the king.

There is, however, a difficulty here. David had taken the fortress of the Jebusites many years before; yet it is evident that Araunah was proprietor of the soil at this time. It is not clear that he was a subject of David; but he paid him respect as a neighbor and a king. This is merely possible.

And the king said unto Araunah, nay, but I will surely buy it of thee at a price,.... And a full price too, Ch1 21:24; that is, give him as much for it as it was worth:

neither will I offer burnt offerings to the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing; which shows an ingenuous spirit, and contrary to the temper of many, who like to serve the Lord in the cheapest manner, or with little cost to themselves:

so David bought the threshingfloor and the oxen for fifty shekels of silver; which, reckoning a shekel at two shillings and sixpence, made but just six pounds five shillings of our money; though its value is but about two shillings and four pence farthing, which reduces the sum; in Ch1 21:25, David is said to give six hundred shekels of gold by weight; two ways are proposed by the Jews (i) for the reconciling of the difficulty; the one is, that fifty shekels were collected out of every tribe, and twelve times fifty make six hundred shekels, and these were of the value or weight of gold; but this seems not likely, that it should be collected out of all the tribes, and since it appears plainly to be the king's purchase, and with his money: the other is, that there were two purchases, the first was of the threshingfloor, oxen, and instruments, which were bought for fifty shekels of silver, as here, and the other was a purchase of the place, as it is called in the book of Chronicles; that large space of ground on which afterwards the temple, and all the courts adjoining to it, were built, and which was now Araunah's farm, and on which were his dwelling house, and other buildings; and for all this David gave him six hundred shekels of gold, which made three hundred ounces (k) and reckoning gold as twelve times the value of silver, according to Brerewood (l), it amounted to four hundred fifty pounds of our money; and learned men have not been able to give a better solution of this difficulty; and with this Montanus (m) agrees. Bochart and Noldius have taken another way, but not so clear and satisfactory; the Septuagint of Ch1 21:25 has fifty shekels, as here.

(i) T. Bab. Zebachim, fol. 116. 2. (k) Vid. Gronov. de Pecunia Vet. l. 3. c. 7. p. 369. (l) De Ponder. & Pretiis, c. 5. (m) Tubal-Cain, p. 15. So Hieron. Trad. Heb. fol. 80. F.

All these things did Araunah, as a king, give--Indicating, as the sense is, that this man had been anciently a heathen king or chief, but was now a proselyte who still retained great property and influence in Jerusalem, and whose piety was evinced by the liberality of his offers. The words, "as a king," are taken by some to signify simply, "he gave with royal munificence."