Offerings that cost me nothing...

...Are they really offerings at all?

20 Araunah looked down and saw the king and his servants coming toward him, so he went out and bowed to the king with his face to the ground. 21 Araunah said, "Why has my lord the king come to his servant?"
David replied, "To buy the threshing floor from you in order to build an altar to the Lord, so the plague on the people may be halted." 22 Araunah said to David, "My lord the king may take whatever he wants and offer it. Here are the oxen for a burnt offering and the threshing sledges and ox yokes for the wood. 23 My king, Araunah gives everything here to the king." Then he said to the king, "May the Lord your God accept you." 24 The king answered Araunah, "No, I insist on buying it from you for a price, for I will not offer to the Lord my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." David bought the threshing floor and the oxen for 50 ounces of silver. 25 He built an altar to the Lord there and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then the Lord answered prayer on behalf of the land, and the plague on Israel ended. 2 Samuel 24:20-25
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T