(credit: Varsha Salome)
Sorry, no cheap sacrifice!
It would have been easy enough for David to accept the generous offer made by Araunah the Jebusite. After all, He was king and Araunah felt honoured that the King has come calling. Also, prophet Gad didn’t say anything about paying Araunah, only that he build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Araunah. And Araunah was offering everything on a platter. David only needed to say, “thank you, may the Lord bless you” and go fulfill the requirement.
But David was no free loader. He was clear in his mind that his sacrifice to the Lord should cost him something personally. He wasn’t the kind to “grab a coconut from a wayside shop to offer a deity” (a graphic proverb in Tamil reading கடை தேங்காயை எடுத்து வழி பிள்ளையாருக்கு உடைத்தல்).
Pay your dues.
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18 Sep, setting 1 January as Day 1