1 Chronicles 21:26

“David built there an altar--He went in procession with his leading men from the royal palace, down Mount Zion, and through the intervening city. Although he had plenty of space on his own property, he was commanded, under peremptory direction, to go a considerable distance from his home, up Mount Moriah, to erect an altar on premises which he had to buy. It was on or close to the spot where Abraham had offered up Isaac. answered him by fire from heaven--(See Lev 9:24; Kg1 18:21-23; Kg2 1:12; Ch2 7:1).”

“He answered him from heaven by fire - This fact is not mentioned by the author of Samuel, since his object is to give an account of the sin of David, its punishment, and the circumstances by which that punishment was brought to a close, not to connect those circumstances with anything further in the history. With the writer of Chronicles the case is different. He would probably have omitted the whole narrative, as he did the sin of David in the matter of Uriah, but for its connection with the fixing of the temple site 1 Chronicles 22:0. It was no doubt mainly the fact that God answered him by fire from heaven on this altar, which determined David, and Solomon after him, to build the temple…”

“By fire - Heb. by fire sent from heaven: which was the sign of God's acceptance. The fire that might justly have fastened on the sinner, fastened upon the sacrifice and consumed it. Thus Christ was made sin and a curse for us, and it pleased the Lord to bruise him, that through him God might be to us, not a consuming fire, but a reconciled Father. 1 Chronicles 21:28”

“21:26–22:1 The census and plague led up to the dedication of Araunah’s threshing floor as the site for the new sanctuary. Typically, offerings would have been made at Gibeon, where the Tabernacle was located (see 16:39; 21:29; 2 Chr 1:3). The halting of the plague at the threshing floor enabled David to make offerings there in accordance with the word he received through Gad the seer (1 Chr 21:18). David then designated the new location for the future Temple of the Lord God.”

“built there: Exo 20:24, Exo 20:25, Exo 24:4, Exo 24:5 and called: Sa1 7:8, Sa1 7:9; Psa 51:15, Psa 91:15, Psa 99:9; Pro 15:8; Isa 65:24; Jer 33:3 by fire: Lev 9:24; Jdg 6:21, Jdg 13:20; Kg1 18:24, Kg1 18:38; Ch2 3:1, Ch2 7:1 1 Chronicles 21:27”

“In Sa2 24:25 the conclusion of this event is shortly narrated thus: David offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, and Jahve was entreated for the land, and the plague was stayed from Israel. In the Chronicle we have a fuller statement of the יהוה יעתר in Ch1 21:26. David called upon Jahve, and He answered with fire from heaven upon the altar of burnt-offering ( Ch1 21:27); and Jahve spake to the angel, and he returned the sword into its sheath. The returning of the sword into its sheath is a figurative expression for the stopping of the pestilence; and the fire which came down from heaven upon the altar of burnt-offering was the visible sign by which the Lord assured the king that his…”