The angel of the Lord told Gad to command David to go and build an altar to the Lord at Araunah’s threshing place. David obeyed the Lord’s command and went, as Gad had told him to.
These formalities must be respected (2 Kings 5:13-14).
There at the threshing place Araunah and his four sons were threshing wheat, and when they saw the angel, the sons ran and hid. As soon as Araunah saw King David approaching, he left the threshing place and bowed low, with his face touching the ground.
Between the appearance of the angel and the arrival of the king, that must have been terrifying for Araunah! A day unlike the others…
…the king answered, “No, I will pay you the full price. I will not give as an offering to the Lord something that belongs to you, something that costs me nothing.”
Of course. That said, offering sacrifices wasn’t part of his habits (Psalm 51:16).
…he paid Araunah six hundred gold coins for the threshing place. He built an altar to the Lord there and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. He prayed, and the Lord answered him by sending fire from heaven to burn the sacrifices on the altar.
There was no mention of fire from the heavens in 2 Samuel 24:25. This was no doubt taken from Elijah on Mount Carmel (1 Kings 18:36-38) – events that are not taken up in this book (only the tribe of Judah is addressed).
The Lord told the angel to put his sword away, and the angel obeyed. David saw by this that the Lord had answered his prayer, so he offered sacrifices on the altar at Araunah’s threshing place.
Go with what works…
King David… had the people of Tyre and Sidon bring him a large number of cedar logs. David thought, “The Temple that my son Solomon is to build must be splendid and world-famous. But he is young and inexperienced, so I must make preparations for it.” So David got large amounts of the materials ready before he died.
It was Solomon who was responsible for this in 1 Kings 5:1-12. There is a clear intent here to maximize David’s contributions while minimizing his faults: adultery, murder – vengeance / retribution also (1 Kings 2:5-9). The embellishment and whitewashing are in no ways helpful. Better to be a faithful witness and let the chips fall where they may.