2 Samuel 24

Jehovah, who takes away iniquity

Jehovah — the covenant God of Israel, the premortal Christ

And David’s heart smote him after that he had numbered the people. And David said unto the LORD, I have sinned greatly in that I have done: and now, I beseech thee, O LORD, take away the iniquity of thy servant; for I have done very foolishly. 2 Samuel 24:10

David, heart-stricken, asks the LORD to take away his sin. Only Jehovah, the premortal Christ, can remove iniquity, which He does through His Atonement.

How we know: Jehovah is the premortal Christ (Abraham 1:16; D&C 110:3–4)

• a parallel account in 1 Chronicles 21:8 — The same prayer of repentance in Chronicles.

Jehovah, great in mercy

Jehovah — the covenant God of Israel, the premortal Christ

And David said unto Gad, I am in a great strait: let us fall now into the hand of the LORD; for his mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man. 2 Samuel 24:14

David trusts the LORD's mercy more than human mercy. Jehovah, the premortal Christ, is the source of the mercy David relies on.

How we know: Jehovah is the premortal Christ (Abraham 1:16; D&C 110:3–4)

• a parallel account in 1 Chronicles 21:13 — The same words in Chronicles.

Jehovah stays the destroyer

Jehovah — the covenant God of Israel, the premortal Christ

And when the angel stretched out his hand upon Jerusalem to destroy it, the LORD repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand. And the angel of the LORD was by the threshingplace of Araunah the Jebusite. 2 Samuel 24:16

The LORD commands the destroying angel to stop at the very spot where sacrifice will soon be offered. Jehovah's mercy stops destruction there. The angel here is a destroying messenger, not a theophany of Christ.

How we know: Jehovah is the premortal Christ (Abraham 1:16; D&C 110:3–4)

• a parallel account in 1 Chronicles 21:15 — The same event in Chronicles (Ornan's threshingfloor).

The shepherd who offers himself for the sheep

And David spake unto the LORD when he saw the angel that smote the people, and said, Lo, I have sinned, and I have done wickedly: but these sheep, what have they done? let thine hand, I pray thee, be against me, and against my father’s house. 2 Samuel 24:17

David, once a shepherd, calls the people sheep and asks that the punishment fall on him instead of them. This is a type of Jesus Christ, the Good Shepherd, who took the punishment we deserved.

• a type of what is in John 10:11 — The good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
• a parallel account in 1 Chronicles 21:17 — The same plea in Chronicles.

Costly sacrifice that stays the plague

And Gad came that day to David, and said unto him, Go up, rear an altar unto the LORD in the threshingfloor of Araunah the Jebusite. 2 Samuel 24:18–25

Destruction stops only when a costly sacrifice is offered at God's chosen place. That place is Mount Moriah, where Abraham offered Isaac and where the temple would stand. It points to Christ's infinite sacrifice, which cost Him everything and stops spiritual death for all who come to Him.

• the same event in 2 Chronicles 3:1 — Solomon builds the temple on mount Moriah, in the threshingfloor of Ornan, where the LORD appeared unto David.
• interpreted by Moses 5:7 — Sacrifice is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father.
• a parallel account in 1 Chronicles 21:18-28 — Chronicles adds that the LORD answered by fire from heaven on the altar.