The angel of the Lord commands Gad to tell David to go up and build an altar to the Lord on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. The divine command to build an altar represents the beginning of the redemptive process and the transformation of the place of judgment into a place of worship and reconciliation. The threshing floor of Ornan is identified as the location where the destroying angel stood and where divine judgment has visited the nation, making this place simultaneously the locus of catastrophe and the site of redemptive action. The command to build an altar establishes the principle that worship and sacrifice can mediate between divine judgment and human redemption, and that the place of suffering can be transformed into a place of encounter with God. This moment sets the stage for the building of the temple on this exact location, suggesting that the catastrophe of the plague serves a redemptive purpose in establishing the sanctity of the temple site.

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