Ornan

Ornan, also known as Araunah, was a Jebusite who owned a threshing floor in Jerusalem during the reign of King David (2 Samuel 24:16; 1 Chronicles 21:15). After David sinned by taking a census of Israel, God sent a plague that killed 70,000 people (2 Samuel 24:15; 1 Chronicles 21:14). When the angel of the Lord was about to destroy Jerusalem, God commanded the angel to stop at Ornan's threshing floor (2 Samuel 24:16; 1 Chronicles 21:15). David was instructed by the prophet Gad to build an altar to the Lord on Ornan's threshing floor (2 Samuel 24:18; 1 Chronicles 21:18). Ornan offered to give David the threshing floor and the oxen for the sacrifice, but David insisted on paying the full price (2 Samuel 24:21-24; 1 Chronicles 21:22-25). David purchased the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 shekels of silver (2 Samuel 24:24) or 600 shekels of gold (1 Chronicles 21:25). The threshing floor became the site where David built an altar and offered sacrifices to the Lord (2 Samuel 24:25; 1 Chronicles 21:26). This location later became the site of Solomon's temple (2 Chronicles 3:1).