The Ark Comes to Jerusalem – 1 Chronicles 15:1-29
v1 David built houses for himself in the city of David. And he prepared a place for God’s ark. He set up a tent for it. v2 Then he said, ‘Only Levites can carry God’s ark. The LORD chose them to carry it and to serve him for all time.’ v3 David called all the Israelites to come to Jerusalem. They were to bring the LORD’s ark to the place that David had made for it.
v4 Then David called together the descendants of Aaron and the Levites. v5 There were 120 people from Kohath’s clan, with Uriel as their leader. v6 There were 220 people from Merari’s clan, with Asaiah as their leader. v7 There were 130 people from Gershon’s clan, with Joel as their leader. v8 There were 200 people from Elizaphan’s clan, with Shemaiah as their leader. v9 There were 80 people from Hebron’s clan, with Eliel as their leader. v10 And there were 112 people from Uzziel’s clan, with Amminadab as their leader.
v11 Then David asked the priests Zadok and Abiathar to come to him. Also, he called for Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab, who were Levites. v12 David said to them, ‘You are the leaders of the families of Levi. You and the other Levites must prepare yourselves for this holy task. Then bring the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel, to the place that I have made for it. v13 Because you did not carry it the first time, the LORD our God punished us. We did not ask him how we should do it in a proper manner.’ v14 Then the priests and Levites prepared themselves to carry the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel. v15 The Levites carried the ark on their shoulders with poles, as Moses had ordered them. The LORD had said that this was how to carry it.
v16 David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their musicians. They would sing with their musical instruments. With lyres, harps, and cymbals, they would sing songs of joy. v17 The Levites appointed Joel’s son Heman. They also chose his relatives Asaph and Ethan. Asaph was Berechiah’s son. Ethan was from the Merari clan and he was Kushaiah’s son. v18 With them, there was a group of their relatives who belonged to the next rank. These were Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, and Jeiel. They were the temple guards.
v19 The singers Heman, Asaph, and Ethan played bronze cymbals. v20 Zechariah, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Maaseiah, and Benaiah played the harps set to alamoth.
v21 Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah played the lyres set to sheminith. They led the music. v22 Kenaniah, the music leader of the Levites, led the people who sang. He did this because he was very good at it.
v23 Berekiah and Elkanah were guards for God’s ark. v24 The priests Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer would play trumpets in front of God’s ark. Obed-Edom and Jehiah were also guards for God’s ark.
v25 David, Israel’s leaders, and the leaders of 1,000 soldiers went to get the ark of the LORD’s special promise. They all went to bring the ark from Obed-Edom’s house with great joy. v26 God helped the Levites who carried the ark of the LORD’s special promise. So, they sacrificed 7 bulls and 7 male sheep. v27 David wore clothes of fine linen. All the Levites who carried the ark wore fine linen clothes. The singers and Kenaniah, their leader, also wore fine linen clothes. David also wore a special linen shirt. v28 So, all the Israelites brought up the ark of the LORD’s promise. They shouted. They played the instruments called horns and trumpets. And they played cymbals, lyres, and harps.
v29 The ark of the LORD’s special promise entered the city of David. As it came into the city, Saul’s daughter Michal watched from a window. She saw King David. He danced and he jumped for joy. And in her heart, she felt disgust for him.
COMMENTARY
VERSE 1
David built a palace for himself and he built houses for his large family. Also, he prepared a place for the ark of God. He erected a tent in which to put the ark. He probably did this before he tried to bring the ark to Jerusalem for the first time (chapter 13). The ark remained in the house of Obed-Edom for three months. David left the ark there because he was afraid after the death of Uzzah. But God was kind to Obed-Edom and his family while the ark was in his house. When David heard about God’s kindness to Obed-Edom, David again wanted to bring the ark to Jerusalem.
Jerusalem was not in any one tribe but was now the center (capital city) of political Israel. David wanted Jerusalem to be the center of (the most important place for) religion in Israel. For that purpose, the tent or the house of God had to be there. The ark was the most important object in the tent of God. So, although David failed once, it was still necessary for him to bring the ark to Jerusalem.
The original tent was still in the town called Gibeon. But David decided to erect a new tent for the ark of God. Worship of the LORD continued at Gibeon as well as in Jerusalem (16:37-39).
VERSE 2
David had learned the lesson of his failure to bring the ark to Jerusalem. The Levites should have carried the ark as the law says (Deuteronomy 10:8). They should carry it on their shoulders and not on a cart. And nobody should ever touch the ark (Numbers 4:5-15).
VERSES 3-10
David called the leaders of the Israelites to come to him in Jerusalem. They would be part of the procession that would bring the ark from the house of Obed-Edom.
Then David called the Levites to come to him. The sons of Levi were Gershon, Kohath and Merari. Their descendants became separate clans. The clan or family of Kohath was the most important of these three families. God appointed the descendants of Kohath to carry the ark. 6 families of Levites came to David. 4 of these were from Kohath (the clans of Uriel, Elizaphan, Hebron and Uzziel). So, 862 Levites plus their leaders came to bring the ark to Jerusalem.
VERSES 11-15
Zadok and Abiathar were the two chief priests. Zadok was a descendant of Eleazar, who was a son of Aaron. Abiathar was a descendant of Ithamar, who was also a son of Aaron. David called for these two priests and the 6 leaders of the Levites.
David told the Levites to make themselves ready to worship God. They had to prepare themselves for this sacred task. They probably had to make special sacrifices. And they made preparations like the preparations in Exodus chapter 19. On that occasion, the people had to wash their bodies and their clothes. And they could not have sex for three days (Exodus 19:14-15 and 19:22). After these preparations, the Levites would be ready to carry the ark of God. And they would bring it to the place that David had prepared for it.
The first time, the Levites did not carry the ark of God. They had not asked God how to do it. They should not have put it on an ox cart. And Uzzah actually touched the ark. God’s law forbade anyone to do that.
This time the priests and Levites prepared themselves for the task. Then they carried the ark by its poles on their shoulders. This was the proper way to carry the ark of God (Numbers 4:5-15).
VERSES 16-24
As David asked them, the Levites appointed their musicians. They would lead the people in songs of joy. They must bring the ark of God to Jerusalem with a glad procession. Heman was the son of Joel and grandson of Samuel the prophet. With him were Asaph and Ethan. These three were the chief musicians in the time of David.
‘Alamoth’ was a kind of song or harmony in music. It was music for the female voices. So, these harps would sound like the voices of girls. The word alamoth is in the title of Psalm 46.
‘Sheminith’ means an 8th, a range of 8 sounds in music. It is the lowest sound that men can sing. So, the lyres played the lower sounds while the harps played the higher sounds. Sheminith is in the titles of Psalms 6 and 12.
One of those who played the lyres was Obed-Edom. He had kept the ark of God in his house for the past three months. Also, he was a guard for the ark (verse 18). 7 priests would play silver trumpets in front of the ark. It seems that the sound of the trumpets was the signal to move.
When the Israelite camp moved in the desert, the priests sounded the trumpets. When the people had to come together, the priests sounded the trumpets. When the army had to go to war, the signal was the sound of the trumpets. This was a rule that Moses gave to the Israelites (see Numbers 10:1-10).
VERSES 25-28
David and the principal men of the nation went to get the ark from the home of Obed-Edom. They remembered how God had acted against Uzzah. Maybe they were afraid that God would act against them. But this time God helped the Levites. God allowed them to carry the ark. The Levite musicians led them all with songs of joy. They worshipped God and they made sacrifices to him. When the ark had gone 6 steps, David sacrificed a bull and a sheep (2 Samuel 6:13). Among the musical instruments were horns. These came from the heads of male sheep. When a person blows into them, they make sounds.
David and the Levites wore clothes of fine white linen. When the priests and Levites served the LORD, they had to wear special clothes. These clothes were of fine white linen. The white linen was to show that they were clean and holy. (‘Clean’ usually means ‘not dirty’, but often in the Bible, it means ‘ready to worship God’.)
VERSE 29
Saul’s daughter Michal was the first of David’s wives. She saw David as he danced. She saw him as he jumped for joy. Such behavior was not what one would expect a king to do. Michal told David that he had disgusted her. David told her that he had danced to the LORD. And because of her attitude, she could not have children (2 Samuel 6:20-23).
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