Chapter XIII
1–14 (= 2 Samuel vi. 1–11).
Removal of the Ark from Kiriath-jearim to the House of Obed-edom. Death of Uzza.
In harmony with his conviction that the acts of David in promoting or instituting the religious ceremonial of Israel were the supremely important events of his reign, the Chronicler represents the removal of the Ark from Kiriath-jearim as being the first concern of the new monarch and his first action subsequent to the capture of Jerusalem. David’s building of a royal residence for himself and his family in Jerusalem, and his victories over the Philistines, which in 2 Samuel precede the removal of the Ark, are relegated to the second place in Chronicles (see chapter xiv.). The transposition of order is effected by means of the introductory verses 1–4, which are from the Chronicler’s own hand.
It is convenient to draw attention here to a matter of some importance in the narrative of Chronicles, viz. that the Chronicler believed the Tabernacle (Mishkān) of the Lord (Exodus xxxv.–xl.) “which Moses made in the wilderness” (1 Chronicles xxi. 29) to be in existence in David’s day and to be standing at Gibeon (see xvi. 39, and 2 Chronicles i. 3). Yet when the Ark was taken into the city of David it was placed not in the Mishkān but “in the tent (Ohel) which David pitched for it” (xvi. verse 1 = 2 Samuel vi. 17). Thus in Chronicles the two holy things, the Ark and the Tabernacle, are represented as separated, and a separate daily service has to be instituted for each; Asaph and his brethren being said to minister before the Ark in the city of David (1 Chronicles xvi. 37), and Zadok and his brethren before the Tabernacle at Gibeon (xvi. verse 39). The worship at Gibeon as well as Jerusalem entailed a manifest breach of the Deuteronomic law that at one sanctuary only must worship be offered. It is hard to say what the Chronicler thought of David’s strange disregard of a stringent law which (on the Chronicler’s theory) was well known to David, and which the Chronicler used as one of the criteria distinguishing the good from the evil kings from Solomon onwards. Doubtless David’s ecclesiastical arrangements were regarded as temporary, pending the building of the Temple, but surely the Mishkān could have been removed to Jerusalem almost as easily as the Ark. Why then does the perfect king fail in this duty? The Chronicler ignores the difficulty completely, probably because he was unable to see or conjecture any adequate explanation of David’s conduct. It goes without saying that in reality the Deuteronomic law of the one sanctuary was of much later origin than the time of David, and the difficulty is an unreal one.
¹And David consulted with the captains of thousands and of hundreds, even with every leader.
1. David consulted with the captains, etc.] The Chronicler is fond of associating the people with the king in religious measures so as to minimise the appearance of arbitrary power which is suggested by the language of the books of Samuel and of Kings; compare verse 4 (the assembly said that they would do so), also 2 Chronicles xxx. 2, 4. Similarly in xxviii. 2 the king addresses the elders as My brethren. Doubtless the Chronicler had in mind Deuteronomy xvii. 20.
²And David said unto all the assembly of Israel, If it seem good unto you, and if it be of the Lord our God, let us send abroad every where unto our brethren that are left in all the land¹ of Israel, with² whom the priests and Levites are in their cities that have suburbs³, that they may gather themselves unto us: and let us bring again the ark of our God to us:
¹ Hebrew lands.
² Or, and with them to the priests and Levites which are &c.
³ Or, pasture lands.
2. let us send abroad every where] The Hebrew phrase is peculiar; let us spread, let us send, i.e. let the invitation be sent far and wide throughout the land and not limited to the southern tribes.
the priests and Levites] In Samuel no mention of the Levites is made in the account of the removal of the Ark. The Chronicler retells the story in accordance with the conviction that the complete Levitical ceremonial with which he was familiar was actually in operation in the days of David.
in their cities that have suburbs] or, as margin, ... that have pasture lands; i.e. following the provision that cities are to be assigned to the Levites with “suburbs for their cattle and for their substance, and for all their beasts” (Numbers xxxv. 2–7; compare Joshua xiv. 4, xxi. 2).
³for we sought not unto it in the days of Saul. ⁴And all the assembly said that they would do so: for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.
3. we sought not unto it] The meaning is to seek with care, to care for. Compare xv. 13.
⁵So David assembled all Israel together, from Shihor the brook of Egypt even unto the entering in of Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim.
5. from Shihor the brook of Egypt] Shihor was the name of the brook (now wady el-Arish) which divided Palestine from Egypt (Joshua xiii. 3, xv. 4; Jeremiah ii. 18).
the entering in of Hamath] Hamath (now Hama) is on the Orontes, see note on xviii. 5. The entering in of Hamath is to be identified with the Beḳā‘a, a broad valley between Lebanon and Anti-Libanus watered by the Orontes, Bädeker, Palestine⁵, p. 372. It is mentioned as on the northern frontier of Israel in Joshua xiii. 5; 1 Kings viii. 65, and elsewhere.
⁶And David went up, and all Israel, to Baalah, that is, to Kiriath-jearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, the Lord that sitteth¹ upon the cherubim, which² is called by the Name.
¹ Or, dwelleth between.
² Or, where the Name is called on.
6. to Baalah, that is, to Kiriath-jearim] A Gibeonite city, probably Ḳaryet el-‘Enab (“City of Grapes”) some 7 miles north-west of Jerusalem. Compare Joshua xv. 9; in Joshua xv. 60 Kiriath-baal.
sitteth upon the cherubim] Compare Ezekiel i. 26.
which is called by the Name] The God whose is the Ark is here distinguished from the gods of the nations as the God who bears the ineffable Name.
⁷And they carried the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab: and Uzza and Ahio drave the cart.
7. a new cart] A new cart was chosen as one which had not been profaned by common work. So (Judges xvi. 11, 12) new ropes “wherewith no work hath been done” were used in the attempt to bind the consecrated man, Samson. So also (Mark xi. 2, 7) our Lord rode into Jerusalem on a colt “whereon no man ever yet sat.”
the house of Abinadab] Compare 1 Samuel vii. 1, 2; also 2 Samuel vi. 3. Here the Ark had been since the Philistines restored it to Israelite territory.
⁸And David and all Israel played before God with all their might: even with songs, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with cymbals, and with trumpets.
8. played] The Hebrew word means to sport, to dance (compare xv. 29).
with all their might: even with songs] A better reading than that of 2 Samuel vi. 5, with all manner of instruments made of fir wood.
psalteries] The instrument here meant (Hebrew nēbhel) “is generally identified at the present day with an instrument called the santir still in use among the Arabs. This consists of a long box with a flat bottom covered with a somewhat convex sounding-board over which the strings are stretched.” (Nowack, Hebräische Archäologie, I. 275.) The “harp” (Hebrew kinnōr) was a simpler instrument (like the Greek Kithara), a lyre rather than a true harp.
For a full discussion of nēbhel and kinnōr see Driver, Amos, p. 234, or the articles Music in Encyclopedia Biblia or Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible.
⁹And when they came unto the threshing-floor of Chidon, Uzza put forth his hand to hold the ark; for the oxen stumbled¹.
¹ Or, were restive Or, threw it down.
9. the threshing-floor of Chidon] LXX. (B) omits of Chidon. In 2 Samuel vi. 6, Nacon’s threshing-floor. Nacon is probably a textual blunder.
to hold the ark] The Chronicler from a feeling of reverence shrinks from saying, and took hold of it (2 Samuel vi. 6).
stumbled] margin threw it down, but the meaning is perhaps rather, let it go, i.e. let the cart on which the Ark was slip backwards. The same Hebrew word is used 2 Kings ix. 33; there Jehu in his mocking humour says not, Throw her down, but, Let her go, an ambiguous command meant to throw as much responsibility as possible upon those who obeyed it.
¹⁰And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzza, and he smote him, because he put forth his hand to the ark: and there he died before God.
10. before God] In 2 Samuel vi. 7, by the ark of God.
¹¹And David was displeased, because the Lord had broken forth upon Uzza: and he called that place Perez-uzza¹, unto this day. ¹²And David was afraid of God that day, saying, How shall I bring the ark of God home to me?
¹ That is, The breach of Uzza.
11. was displeased] Rather, was wroth, presumably against his advisers for not warning him that the method adopted for the removal of the Ark was wrong; compare xv. 13.
had broken forth] Literally as Authorized Version, had made a breach upon Uzza. Compare Exodus xix. 22.
Perez-uzza] The meaning of the name is given by the margin The breach of Uzza.
¹³So David removed not the ark unto him into the city of David, but carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.
13. Obed-edom the Gittite] As Gittite means man of Gath, Obed-edom was doubtless of Philistine origin; perhaps he attached himself to David during David’s sojourn among the Philistines. In xv. 18, 24, xvi. 38, xxvi. 4 an Obed-edom is mentioned as a Levite and a porter (doorkeeper) for the Ark, and elsewhere (xv. 21, xvi. 5) as a singer (see the notes on xv. 18, and xvi. 38).
¹⁴And the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house three months: and the Lord blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that he had.
14. with the family of Obed-edom in his house] Render, by (i.e. near) the house of Obed-edom in its own house. The Chronicler (regarding Obed-edom as a foreigner if not also an idolater) finds it necessary to alter the expression found in 2 Samuel vi. 11, “in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.” (On the significance of the name—literally servant of Edom—see Driver, Samuel², pp. 268, 269.)
blessed] Targum blessed with sons and sons’ sons.