1 Chronicles 21:22
Then David said to Ornan, Grant me the place of this threshingfloor, that I may build an altar therein unto the LORD: thou shalt grant it me for the full price: that the plague may be stayed from the people. Then David said to Ornan, Grant me the place of this threshingfloor, that I may build an altar therein unto the LORD: thou shalt grant it me for the full price: that the plague may be stayed from the people.
David sought Ornan's threshing floor in order to erect an altar to the Lord there so that the plague upon the people might be stayed. He asked that it be granted to him for the full price. Although the place and the materials for offering were freely offered to him, he insisted on paying for them, for he would not present to God a sacrifice that cost him nothing. Having bought the threshing floor, he offered burnt offerings and peace offerings upon it.
God answered him by fire from heaven upon his offering. That sacrifice turned aside the sword of the destroying angel and halted the work of destruction. The acceptance of the offerings was shown in the staying of the angel's avenging stroke against Israel.
The threshing floor was the consecrated spot on Mount Moriah where the temple planned by David and afterward built by Solomon was erected. It was the same place where Abraham had revealed his willingness to sacrifice his son and where God had renewed the covenant of blessing with its Messianic promise of deliverance through the sacrifice of the Son of the Most High. The altar erected there and the sacrifice offered upon it were a fitting symbol of the Saviour's sacrifice and mediation in behalf of guilty people.