What Does II Samuel 24:25 Mean?

The book concludes: "And David built there an altar unto the Lord, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings. So the Lord was intreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel." The altar is built, the sacrifices are offered, and the plague ends. The final verse of 2 Samuel resolves the crisis with worship: the judgment that began with pride ends with sacrifice, and the God who sent the plague is entreated by the offering that the repentant king presents. The last word of the book is not plague but peace.

The burnt offering and the peace offering together represent the full range of worship: the burnt offering addresses the guilt of sin (the whole animal is consumed, symbolizing total dedication), and the peace offering celebrates the restored relationship (the worshipper eats with God, symbolizing fellowship). The combination of the two offerings describes the complete work of atonement: guilt is removed, and fellowship is restored.

The Lord Jesus is both the burnt offering and the peace offering: He is the sacrifice that removes our guilt and the mediator who restores our fellowship with God. "For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us." The altar on Araunah's threshing floor, where 2 Samuel ends, is the altar on which the Temple will be built, and the Temple that will rise on that site is the shadow of the body of Christ, in whom God and man are forever reconciled. The plague is stayed, the altar is built, and the story of David points forward to the Son of David, whose sacrifice will stay every plague and whose peace will have no end.