David consulted with the captains of thousands and of hundreds, even with every leader. David said to all the assembly of Israel, “If it seems good to you, and if it is of Yahweh our God, let’s send word everywhere to our brothers who are left in all the land of Israel, with whom the priests and Levites are in their cities that have pasture lands, that they may gather themselves to us. Also, let’s bring the ark of our God back to us again; for we didn’t seek it in the days of Saul.”
All the assembly said that they would do so; for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v3 His first care was to restore religion, which had…
His first care was to restore religion, which had in Saul’s days been corrupted and neglected.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–4 1Ch 13:1 And David consulted with the captains of…
1Ch 13:1 And David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds, [and] with every leader.
Ver. 1. And David consulted.] He was not of that king of Scotland’s mind, who seldom asked counsel, and never followed any. But though himself were full of wisdom, yet he advised with his subjects about the weighty work he had in hand. See Pro 11:22; Pro 20:18; Pro 24:6. His first care was to establish religion; as the first thing Abraham did in any place he moved to, was to set up an altar. "Seek first the kingdom of God," &c.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–4 Or, governor or elder of the people.
Or, governor or elder of the people.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 Here is, I. David's pious proposal to bring up…
Here is, I. David's pious proposal to bring up the ark of God to Jerusalem, that the royal city might be the holy city, Ch1 13:1-3. This part of the story we had not in Samuel. We may observe in this proposal,
1. That as soon as David was well seated on his throne he had thoughts concerning the ark of God: Let us bring the ark to us, Ch1 13:3. Two things he aimed at herein: - (1.) To do honour to God, by showing respect to his ark, the token of his presence. As soon as he had power in his hand he would use it for the advancement and encouragement of religion. Note, It ought to be the first and great care of those that are enriched and preferred to honour God with their honours, and to serve him, and the interests of his kingdom among men, with their wealth and power. David said not, "What pompous thing shall I do now?" or, "What pleasant thing?" but, "What pious thing?" (2.) To have the comfort and benefit of that sacred oracle. "Let us bring it to us, not only that we may be a credit to it, but that it may be a blessing to us." Those that honour God profit themselves. Note, It is the wisdom of those who are setting out in the world to take God's ark with them, to make his oracles their counsellors and his laws their rule. Those are likely to proceed in the favour of God who thus begin in the fear of God.
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2. That he consulted with the leaders of the people about it, Ch1 13:1. Though it was without doubt a very good work, and being king, he had the authority to command the doing of it, yet he chose rather to do it by consultation, (1.) That he might show respect to the great men of the kingdom and put honour upon them. Though they made him king, yet he would not rule with a high hand. He did not say, "We will and command, and it is our royal pleasure, that you do so and so; and we will be obeyed," but, "If it seem good to you, and you think that the motion comes from the Lord our God, let us send out orders for this purpose." No prince that is wise will covet to be absolute. The people's allegiance is best secured by taking their concurrence in their representatives. Happy then art thou, O Britain! (2.). That he might be advised by them in the manner of doing it, whether just now, whether publicly. David was a very intelligent man himself, and yet consulted with his captains; for in the multitude of counsellors there is safety. It is wisdom to make use of the wisdom of others. (3.) That, they joining in it, it might pass the better for a national act and so might procure a national blessing.
3. That he would have all the people summoned to attend on this occasion, both for the honour of the ark and for the people's satisfaction and edification, Ch1 13:2. Observe, (1.) He calls the common people brethren, which bespeaks his humility and condescension (notwithstanding his advancement), and the tender concern he had for them. Thus our Lord Jesus is not ashamed to call his people brethren, Heb 2:11. (2.) He speaks of the people as a remnant that had escaped: Our brethren that are left in all the land of Israel. They had been under scattering providences. Their wars with the Philistines, and with the house of Saul, had wasted the country and cut off many. We now hope to see an end of these troubles. Let those that are left be quickened by late judgments, and present mercies, to seek unto God. (3.) He takes care that the priests and Levites especially should be summoned to attend the ark; for it was their province in a particular manner. Thus Christian magistrates should stir up ministers to do their duty when they see them remiss.
4. That all this is upon supposition that it is of the Lord their God. "Though it should seem good to you and me, yet if it be not of the Lord our God, we will not do it." What ever we undertake, this must be our enquiry, "Is it of the Lord? Is it agreeable to his mind? Can we approve ourselves to him in it? May we expect that he will own us?"
5. That thus it was requisite they should amend what has been amiss in the last reign, and, as it were, atone for their neglect: "For we enquired not at it in the days of Saul, and this was the reason why things went so ill with us: let that original error be amended, and then we may hope to see our affairs in a better posture." Observe, David makes no peevish reflections upon Saul. He does not say, "Saul never cared for the ark, at least in the latter end of this reign;" but, in general, We enquired not at it, making himself with others guilty of this neglect. It better becomes us to judge ourselves than others. Humble good men lament their own share in national guilt, and take shame to themselves, Dan 9:5, etc.
II. The people's ready agreement to this proposal (Ch1 13:4): The thing was right in the eyes of all the people. Nobody could say to the contrary, but that it was a very good work and very seasonable; so that it was resolved, nemine contradicente - unanimously, that they would do so. Those that prudently proposed a good work, and lead in it, will perhaps find a more ready concurrence in it than they expected. Great men know not what a great deal of good they are capable of doing by their influence on others.
III. The solemnity of bringing up the ark, Ch1 13:5, etc., which we read before, Sa2 6:1, etc. Here therefore we shall only observe, 1. That it is worth while to travel far to attend the ark of God. They came out of all parts of the country, from the river of Egypt, the utmost part south, to the entering of Hemath, which lay furthest north, (Ch1 13:5), to grace this solemnity. 2. That we have reason greatly to rejoice in the revival of neglected ordinances and the return of the tokens of God's presence. When the light of religion shines out of obscurity, when it is openly and freely professed, is brought into reputation, and countenanced by princes and great ones, it is such a happy omen to a people as is worthy to be welcomed with all possible expressions of joy. 3. When, after long disuse, ordinances come to be revived, it is too common for even wise and good men to make some mistakes. Who would have thought that David would commit such an error as this, to carry the ark upon a cart? Ch1 13:7. because the Philistines so carried it, and a special providence drove the cart (Sa1 6:12), he thought they might do so too. But we must walk by rule, not by example when it varies from the rule, no, not even by those examples which Providence has owned.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–4 And David consulted with the captains of thousands, and…
And David consulted with the captains of thousands, and hundreds, and with every leader. With the chiliarchs and centurions, and every officer in that large body of armed men in every tribe, who met to make and crown him king: for at that time was this consultation had, and therefore is connected with it; though the affair advised about was not yet done, as Dr. Lightfoot (h) observes, and was not done until some considerable time afterwards. Advice being taken, the several officers went with their men to their respective countries, to meet again at a certain time and place to put the thing projected into execution; and between this and that time were Hiram's message to David on his accession to the throne, the taking of Jerusalem, and the two battles with the Philistines, as the same writer notes; most of which are recorded before this in the book of Samuel, and follow here.
(h) Works, vol. 1. p. 61, 62.
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John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1–3 David brings up the ark from Kirjath-jearim, ver. 1-8.…
David brings up the ark from Kirjath-jearim, ver. 1-8. Uzza being smitten, it is left at the house of Obed-edom, ver. 9-14.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v1 David consults with his officers, and resolves to bring…
CHAPTER XIII
David consults with his officers, and resolves to bring back
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the ark from the house of Abinadab, 1-4.
They place it on a new cart, and Uzza and Ahio drive the cart;
the oxen stumbling, Uzza puts forth his hand to save the ark
from falling, and he is smitten by the Lord, 5-10.
David is displeased, and orders the ark to be carried to the
house of Obed-edom the Gittite, 11-13.
The ark abides there three months, and the Lord blesses
Obed-edom, 14.
NOTES ON CHAP. XIII
Verse 1. David consulted] Having taken the strong hold of Zion from the Jebusites, organized his army, got assurances of the friendly disposition of the Israelites towards him, he judged it right to do what he could for the establishment of religion in the land; and as a first step, consulted on the propriety of bringing the ark from an obscure village, where it had remained during the reign of Saul, to the royal city or seat of government.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1–4 1Ch 13:1. David consulted with the captains of thousands,…
1Ch 13:1. David consulted with the captains of thousands, &c. — With all the principal persons in authority, who had any command over others. For it is a dangerous thing for a prince, especially in the beginning of his reign, to rely wholly on his own wisdom, and not advise with others.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v1 The captains ... - Such an organisation had probably…
The captains ... - Such an organisation had probably been established generally through the tribes prior to the time of David: but David seems to have been the first to recognize in these officers of the host representatives of the people, to consult them on public affairs, and to give them a certain political position.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Consulted. David wished to give religion due splendour and…
Consulted. David wished to give religion due splendour and authority, in his dominions; and he prudently contrives to obtain the general consent. (Haydock) --- "Where there is no liberty, there is no religion;" and no change in religious matters should be attempted, without the consent of the Church. (Calmet)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 ε. The Removal of the Ark from Kiriath-jearim: 1…
ε. The Removal of the Ark from Kiriath-jearim: 1 Chronicles 13
1Ch_13:1.And David consulted with the captains of thousands and of hundreds, with every leader. 2And David said unto all the congregation of Israel, If it seem good to you, and it be of the Lord our God, let us send quickly unto our brethren remaining in all lands of Israel, and with them the priests and Levites in the cities of their suburbs, that they gather unto us. 3And let us bring again the ark of our God to us; for we inquired not at it in the days of Saul. 4And all the congregation said, We must do so; for the thing was right in the eyes of 5all the people. And David gathered all Israel, from Shihor of Egypt even unto Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim.
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6And David went up, and all Israel, to Baalah, unto Kiriath-jearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up thence the ark of God the Lord, that sitteth over the cherubim, as He is called by name. 7And they carried the ark of God on a new waggon from the house of Abinadab; and Uzza and Ahio drove the waggon. 8And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, and with songs and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and cymbals, and trumpets.
9And they came to the threshing-floor of Chidon; and Uzza put forth his hand to hold the ark; for the oxen shook it. 10And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzza, and He smote him, because he put his hand to the ark; and he died there before the Lord. 11And David was angry, because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzza; and that place is called Perez-uzza to this day. 12And David was afraid of God that day, saying, How shall I bring the ark of God to 13me? And David removed not the ark to him to the city of David, but placed it in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. 14And the ark of God remained in the house of Obed-edom in his house three months; and the Lord blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that he had.
EXEGETICAL
Preliminary Remark.—In the second book of Samuel, where 1Ch_6:1-11 corresponds to the present section, the history of the transference of the ark from Kiriath-jearim to the Louse of Obed-edom (which is there related, irrespective of the somewhat shorter introduction, almost word for word as here; comp. 2Sa_6:2-11 with 1Ch_13:6-14 of our chapter) is immediately followed by the account of the removal three months later of the ark from that house to Zion. Our author, on the contrary, inserted (1 Chronicles 14) an account of David’s house-building, his family, and his victory over the Philistines, which in 2Sa_5:11-25 follows the narrative of the taking of Zion, between the history of the removal of the ark to the house of Obed-edom and its introduction into Zion, and, moreover, on the ground of an old Levitical document, has treated this latter part of the history with vastly greater detail and fulness (see 1 Chronicles 15, , 16). The more circumstantial introduction of our chapter, 1Ch_13:1-5, to which there is only one verse parallel in 2 Samuel 6, may spring from the same source as the following full detail in 1 Chronicles 15, 16.
1. Description of the Assembly in which the Removal of the Ark from Kiriath-jearim was resolved upon: 1Ch_13:1-5.—And David consulted (comp. 2Ch_10:6; 2Ch_30:2) with the captains of thousands and of hundreds (comp. 1Ch_15:25), with every leader. לְ before כָּל־נַגִיד serves here for the brief recapitulation of the fore-mentioned, thus, “in short, namely;” comp. Gen_23:10.
1Ch_13:2. And David said unto all the congregation of Israel, that is, to those princes as the representatives of the community (to the ecclesia reprœsentativa); comp. קהל in Lev_14:3; Deu_31:30, etc.—If it seem good to you, properly, “if it be good with you;” comp. Neh_2:5; Neh_2:7; Est_1:19; Est_3:9. For the following: “and it be of the Lord our God,” comp. Gen_24:50; Act_5:39.—Let us send quickly, properly, “let us break through (פרץ) and send,” that is, with all diligence, and instant suppressing of all hesitation; comp. 1Sa_28:23. Less certain is the interpretation, flowing from the notion of spreading out (so פרץ, for example, Isa_54:3): “send far and wide.”—Unto our brethren remaining in all lands of Israel, in all lands of the several tribes; comp. כָּל־אֲרָצוֹת in Gen_26:3-4; 2Ch_11:23; 2Ch_34:33. The preposition עַל before אַחֵינוּ, because in the sending is implied at the same time the commanding (comp. צִוָּה עַל). After עִמָּהֶם (“with them,” that is, here, “likewise, besides”), this עַל, or even נִשְׁלְחָה עַל, is to be repeated.
1Ch_13:4. We must do so, literally, “to do so;” לַֽעֲשׂוֹת כֵּן, the infin, with לְ, as in 1Ch_5:1, 1Ch_9:25.
1Ch_13:5. All Israel, from Shihor of Egypt even unto Hamath, that is, not all the individuals, but a large representation of the whole people (according to 2Sa_6:1, a select number of 30,000). “From Shihor of Egypt even unto Hamath” means essentially the same as “from Dan to Beersheba,” namely, Palestine from the south to the north border; comp. Jdg_20:1; 2Sa_3:10; 2Sa_17:11. שִׁיחוֹר מִצְרַיִם is abbreviated for שִׁיחוֹר אֲשֶׁר עַל־פְּנֵי מִצְרַיִם, Jos_13:3. It means the small stream between Palestine and Egypt, which is otherwise called the river of Egypt (נחל מצ׳, Jos_15:4; Jos_15:47; 1Ki_8:65; 2Ch_7:8, etc.), the Rhinokorura of old, and the Wady el Arisli of the present. The Nile certainly bears the name שִׁהֹר, that is, “black water” (Isa_23:3; Jer_2:18); yet smaller waters are also so named, as Jos_19:26, the Shihor Libnath, in the tribe of Asher, which, however, casts no doubt on our interpretation. On לְבוֹא הֲמָת, to denote the northern border of Palestine, comp. Num_34:5; Num_34:8; 2Ki_14:25. Hamath, on the river Orontes, on the southern slope of Antilibanus or Hermon, an old Canaanitish colony (Gen_10:8), which the prophet Amos (1Ch_6:2), in the 9th century b.c., designated “the great” (חֲמָת רַבָּה ), and which still, in the Seleucidic and Roman times, when it was called ’Επιφάνεια, belonged to the most considerable Syrian cities, was in David’s time the seat of a king friendly to David, but independent of him, and tolerably powerful; see 1Ch_18:9 f.; 2Sa_8:9 ff.
2. The Execution of this Resolve: 1Ch_13:6-14.—And David went up, and all Israel. By “all Israel” is undoubtedly to be understood here, as well as in the foregoing verse, that assembly of select representatives of the people from every tribe, which amounted, 1Sa_6:1, to 30,000 men. Neither the assumption that here, in the fetching of the ark, the participation of a much greater number is presupposed than in that preparatory assembly, nor the hypothesis that 2Sa_6:1 originally conveyed the sense: “And David multiplied all the men of war in Israel, the Sheloshim and the captains of thousands” (instead of 30,000), is necessary (against Berth.), as the indefinite “all Israel” would suit even a smaller number of representatives than 30,000.—To Baalah, unto Kiriath-jearim. For בַּֽעֲלָתָה אֶל קִרְיַת י׳ might be expected, from Jos_15:9, perhaps בַּֽעֲלָתָה הִיא ק׳ י׳; for Baalah is the older Canaanitish name for Kiriath-jearim, which is also called Kiriath-baal (Jos_15:60; Jos_18:14). Yet the thing is expressed intelligibly enough; the “to Baalah” is sufficiently explained by the addition, “unto Kiriath-jearim.” For the addition, “which belonged to Judah, comp. on Jdg_18:12, and for the situation of Kiriath-jearim, the present Kureyet el Enab, on the way from Jerusalem to Ramleh and Lydda (three hours from Jerusalem), comp. Rob. Pal. ii. 589.—That sitteth over the cherubim, as He is called by name. אֲשֶׁר, here ὡς, “as” (comp. Ew Lehrb. § 333, a); the acc, of reference שֵׁם belongs not merely to יהוה, but to יהוה ישב הכרובים, and designates the whole phrase as a usual epithet of God in religious worship; comp. Isa_37:16; Psa_80:2. Others would refer אֲשֶׁר to אֲרוֹן, and change שֵׁם into בְּשֵׁם (Kamph.: “which is called by the name”), or even change שֵׁם into שָׁם (with reference to 2Sa_6:2, where also שָׁם is once to be read), and so get the sense: “who was there, at the ark, addressed” (Berth.; comp. Then, on 2 Samuel 6). See, on the contrary, and in favour of our interp., Keil, p. 144.
1Ch_13:7. And they carried . . . from the house of Abinadab. This house lay on a hill in Kiriath-jearim (בְּגִבְעָה, 1Sa_7:1), not in a place Gibeah, near Kiriath-jearim, as the passage 1Sa_7:1 seems to say in the faulty translation of the Vulg, and Luther (comp. C. Hoffmann, Blicke in die früh. Gesch. d. gelobten Landes, i. p. 156). Uzza and Ahio, the drivers of the waggon with the ark, are, 2 Samuel 6, expressly called the sons of Abinadab.
1Ch_13:8. With all their might, and with songs, and with harps, etc. The parallel: “with all woods of cypresses,” in 2Sa_6:5, rests on a corruption of the text, and is, as ἐν ἰσχύϊ of the Sept, there shows, to be amended by our passage (בְּכָל־עֹז) comp. 2Sa_6:14. For the instruments here named, particularly the harps, psalteries, and cymbals, see on 1Ch_15:16.—Cymbals and trumpets. The words presented instead of במצלתים ובחצצרות in 2Sa_6:5 : וּבִמְנַעַנְעִים וּבְצִלְצְלִים, “and with rattles and with cymbals,” are perhaps more original; at least the מנענעים (Vulg. sistra), occurring nowhere else, might easily have been suppressed by the alleviating correction of a later hand (comp. Wellh. p. 167 f.).
3. Uzza’s Fall, and the Placing of the Ark in the House of Obed-edom: 1Ch_13:9-14.—And they came to the threshing-floor of Chidon. The name כִּידֹן is written, in 2Sa_6:6, נָכוֹן (Sept. Ναχώρ), a reading scarcely preferable to our own.—For the oxen shook it, were on the point of upsetting it (Sept. ἐξέκλινεν αὐτήν; Vulg. paululum inclinaverant eam); the ark of itself supplies the subject to שָֽׁמְטוּ. Others give “the oxen let go” (Berth.), or “stept aside” (Luther and many ancients), or “flung on every side,” Ew., etc.
1Ch_13:10. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzza, whose error might lie less in the accidental and involuntary touching of the ark, as in his conveying this sacred thing on an ox waggon, instead of having it borne according to the law (Num_7:9; Num_10:17); comp, what David afterwards did, 1Ch_15:2. For the parallel text of Samuel to be amended by our passage, comp. Thenius and Wellhausen.
1Ch_13:13. In the house of Obededom the Gittite; according to 1Ch_15:18; 1Ch_15:24, this Obed-edom was one of the Levitical porters; whence we are not to think of the Philistine Gath, but the Levitical city Gath-rimmon (Jos_19:45; Jos_21:24), as his birth-place.
1Ch_13:14. In the house of Obed-edom in his house, in his own tent, which was spread over it in the court of this Levite (thus, in his dwelling-house, עִמ־בֵּיתוֹ). This text appears more correct than that in 2 Samuel 6, which only states that the ark remained “in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.”—And all that he had. For this 2 Samuel 6. has: “and all his house.” The various reading of our passage “is well chosen, because, just before, בֵּיתוֹ was used of the tent of the ark” (Berth.). That the blessing which God gave to Obed-edom consisted chiefly in numerous offspring, appears from 1Ch_26:4-8. Yet, even during the three months mentioned in our passage, David must have clearly perceived that the Lord’s anger was sufficiently appeased by the death of Uzza, and that the removal of the ark to Jerusalem involved no danger, but would be attended with blessed effects.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v2 If it seem good unto you, and . .…
If it seem good unto you, and . . . it be of the Lord--that is, I shall conclude that this favorite measure of mine is agreeable to the mind of God, if it receive your hearty concurrence.
let us send abroad to our brethren everywhere--He wished to make it known throughout the country, in order that there might be a general assembly of the nation, and that preparations might be made on a scale and of a kind suitable to the inauguration of the august ceremonial.
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with them also to the priests and Levites . . . in their cities and suburbs--(See on Num 35:2). The original terms, "Let us send," imply immediate execution; and, doubtless, the publication of the royal edict would have been followed by the appointment of an early day for the contemplated solemnity, had it not been retarded by a sudden invasion of the Philistines, who were twice repulsed with great loss (Sa2 5:17), by the capture of Jerusalem, and the transference of the seat of government to that city. Finding, however, soon after, peace restored and his throne established, he resumed his preparations for removing the ark to the metropolis.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–3 1. David consulted with the captains etc.] The Chronicler…
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; cp. 1Ch_13:4 (the assembly said that they would do so), also 2Ch_30:2; 2Ch_30:4. Similarly in 1Ch_28:2 the king addresses the elders as My brethren. Doubtless the Chronicler had in mind Deu_17:20.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–4 (1) And David consulted.—This consultation took place some time…
XIII.
(1) And David consulted.—This consultation took place some time after the coronation at Hebron (comp. 2Sa_6:1), “And David gathered together again every chosen man iύύ Israel, thirty thousand.” This is all that Samuel has corresponding to our 1Ch_13:1-5. It is by no means necessary to assume that, “according to the context, we are still at Hebron in the assemblage of 350,000 warriors” (Reuss). Samuel implies the contrary.
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Captains of thousands.—The thousands (comp. 1Ch_12:20).
And the hundreds.—Comp. Num_31:14. The hundreds were the smaller military divisions of the tribe, representing, perhaps, the warlike strength of the houses, as the thousands represented that of the clans or sub-tribes.
And with every leader.—Rather, viz. with every prince (nagîd) or chief. These chiefs constituted the Great Council of the nation.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–4 The opening verses of this chapter explain and amplify…
The opening verses of this chapter explain and amplify the compressed announcement of 2Sa_6:1, "Again, David gathered together all the chosen of Israel, thirty thousand." And the remaining verses (6-14) cover the same ground as 2Sa_6:2-11.
There can be little doubt that the captains of thousands and hundreds... with every leader, here spoken of, represented what had become by this time a confirmed institution, although in embryo, dating from the time of Moses at least (Num_31:14; Deuteronomy Jud_1:20:7; 2Ch_20:21)
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Vers. 1-14.
The chapter of reverse; or, the good enterprise of a good man overthrown in a day.
Before viewing this chapter in any detail, there is a general impression which it makes, and that, though general, yet not vague, but of a commanding sort. Here is, so to put it, a certain day in a man"s life, an important day, one looked for and consecrated to high end. It rose bright and its joy spread. With intense activity the work is set about, and it is at all events designed and superintended by a good man, though it is not possible that he should, in his own person, carry out every detail of it. That great day ended in disappointment and disaster. And though the proximate cause of this reverse of all that was intended, hoped, and prayed for is plainly enough told, the providence that permitted it in place of preventing it seems obscure. Such days happen in not a few lives, not least in the lives of men in exalted and responsible position. They produce sometimes a wounded spirit, a sense of aggravation and of intense disappointment and grief. Large thought, large care, large love, seem to have been thrown away and rebuffed. And though fault may have been, yet that fault, the fault of a mere subordinate, visits its worst effects upon the chief persons involved in the enterprise, or on a whole community, or upon both. It may throw some light on such disappointments and catastrophes in our own experience or under our own immediate observation if we view them at a little greater distance and as they befell others. Notice, then
I THE ENTERPRISE ITSELF AND THE NATURE OF IT. It is to bring again the ark to some place of right, of honour, of influence.
1. To bring it back to the royal city was only to give it
(1) the place that belonged to it of right;
(2) the place that for honour it merited;
(3) the place where it would be likely to be most influential.
Even the ark out of sight was only too liable to be proportionately out of mind. There is, therefore, nothing of the nature of a mere empty demonstrativeness in the activity of David and his people. Of national, historic, and revealed sanction, what they sought to do that day was the proper thing to do. Again, it was something more than merely the becoming thing to do.
2. It was a holy thought and a holy deed. For the ark was a symbol of thehighest kind; it spoke to all who knew of it of the Divine presence. To bring such a remembrancer into the midst of the nation and to its metropolis was to put it also at its moral centre, and where it would radiate forth innumerable rays of light and truth and warmth. Here placed, it taught
(1) how God must not be regarded as a God far off, but as one nigh at hand;
(2) how God wills to be in the constant sight and constant regard of his people, though in veiled majesty;
(3) how God would be known, even by symbol and emblem (though not by image), rather than as merely working through second causes and inexplicable influences. The ark ought to be where it can be inquired at" or "sought to" in whatever may be the ordained ways. Once more, the ark was not only the depository of law and commandment, the stones of Sinai and the strict impartiality of ancient covenant, but its chiefest and most conspicuous accessory was all of mercy, and mercy ever accessible.
3. It was a course tending to the higher health of all to bring that ark back.Not mere addition to ecclesiastical pomp and furniture and display, nor to a pervading and penetrating sense of the awful and the infinite in contact with human life, it brought in benigner influences as well. Hope for the sinner; pardon for the penitent; soothing to save from despair; bright and happy thoughts of the supreme Father. That mercy-seat and overshadowing cherubim served to break up into welcome radiancy what would otherwise be the insufferable blaze of the eternal Light himself. It is like an infinite nature parting itself into those attributes by which alone partial and finite creatures like ourselves can in any wise lay hold upon it with comfort. Mere soothing, mere comforting, mere subduing influences will not necessarily minister to the higher education of either individual or community, but such influences as these must do so. And the known and offered mercy of God, just so fenced as it is, must be all pure gain to those who look to it and live in it.
II THE FAILURE AND THE PECULIAR CIRCUMSTANCES OF IT. Though to the eye that looks on the outside only it might then have seemed, and may now seem, that it was not altogether necessary that failure should have been allowed to be the result of the day and of what happened upon it, yet:
1. as matter of fact, this was the verdict, very decisively pronounced by the person who bore the principal part in the transaction, and apparently no objection, no remonstrance is made by any others, and they were many, involved in the loss. That the outer reason was not very patent, and the obstacle not very physical, may make the difficulty the worse. Nervous complaints may be largely compounded of fancies these their chiefest ingredients yet they are, as matter of fact, not a whit the less real; they are the stubbornest to hold their own, and most indocile to argument or to persuasion. Much more are conscientious complaints untractable, and justly so. Force will not drive them, persuasion will not conquer or stifle them, their reason is deep-hidden within themselves. And something of this kind must have been at the heart of the matter when David found himself so appalled and so stricken by a certain kind of impression which he received upon the death of one person an event which must have been, in all ordinary aspects, one of the commonest sights for David. That the failure, therefore, arose from the unseen and the intangible forces that were set active confessedly by the death of one man made by no means a less real, less serious obstacle, but rather the reverse.
2. The failure was very unexpected. It certainly was very unexpected as matter of fact. But it was also unexpected in the further degree that, if it had been thought of if it had entered into the passing stream of thinking of any one, it would have been at once carried. out of the current and surrendered itself to the nearest eddying. For
(1) nothing in the object at heart would have warranted the gratuitous conjecture of ill omen;
(2) nothing in the necessities or likely perils of circumstances would have suggested the conjecture; and
(3) nothing (so far as was known) done, or neglected in the preparations, would have bespoken failure in the judgment of a calm, sympathizing, kindly bystander. Little indeed, then, was there to prepare for such a falling through of the very cherished hopes and the earnest deeds of that day.
3. The failure was of a sort to have many and wide effects and also cross-effects. How much thinking of friend and foe would be stirred! How many tongues of friend and foe would allow themselves licence! How would the matter be viewed from one point and another! Its relation to the king and what he had so fervently desired to the people and their recent union under one king, would be eagerly scanned. The ill omen would be quickly discerned by those who wished ill to David or to Israel. And many a sincere heart would share the pain and anxious doubt and the fear of David himself. There can be no doubt that the greater the previous interest and enthusiasm in the undertaking, and pious zeal towards it, so much severer now the stroke and the shock to all concerned.
II THE POSSIBLE USES AND EXPLANATION OF THE FAILURE. In default of being able to assign any one positive reason for the disappointment of this day, and for the fact that it fell heavy on those apparently free from blame and inspired with all good feeling and purpose it is ever open to us to notice results. We may reverently track consequences of Divine judgments and providence, and thence gather something of their origin, even where it would be most irreverent to dogmatize on these causes, to challenge the equity or to criticise the disposition of them. The deepest sorrows, the bitterest griefs, the keenest strokes which fall upon the humble and the wise, are ever found to lead to conduct similar to this in our actual life. When the severest has passed, and we are recovered but a little from the shock, we begin to cast about to inquire with solemn self-searchings what hidden fault there was in ourselves, to what great danger we were drawing near, heedless and unwitting, and at least what residuum of good we may derive out of so much evil and suffering. This is right conduct personally, and to follow the lines of such a practical analogy may help us see our way through many a deep thicket of the world"s dark history. We never do right when we would "do wrong that good might come." But God ever does right and kindness when he directs trouble upon us, upon our very head, into our very heart, that good may come of it. It is his to chasten, and he chastens for our profit. And thus, when we have seen Uzza, the rash offender, suffer what must have been the just reward of his deeds, and he is passed away, we can but return to ask what lesson the deep and widespread disappointment had for all the rest, high and low. In what significant moral sense of this kind did this disaster find its root? And the answer is of this kind.
1. It may very possibly have been that outward zeal exceeded discretionand sincere piety.
2. It may have been that David and those high ecclesiastical officers withwhom lay the ultimate responsibility had not given sufficiently careful instruction to those who only served, and had neglected to copy the well known minuteness and accuracy o! their old and revered Law. If so, they had failed of their duty in very high and significant respects.
3. It is certain that, for sanctified uses, this event must have deepened the solemn fear and respect toward the ark and him of whom it told throughout all the people far and wide who had lost some of that essential reverence for it during its long absence.
4. The disaster and disappointment were not a final loss. The delay ofthree months" taught fear, raised hope, chastised self-trust, and helped educate to religion a whole people and their priests and king.
Vers. 1, 2, 4.
The rule that makes a willing people.
These verses discover to us the first, or some of the first, things which David did on finding himself now ruler over an entire and united people. And they serve to illustrate in particular, not merely the good and wise thing which he did, of which we shall speak hereafter, but the good and wise manner in which he set about doing it. Many a promising career has been spoilt by neglecting to observe the method which David now pursued, and diligently pursued, when the career that Providence may have opened has been of the same nature, namely, that of ruler or leader of men. Notice
I THE HIGH ESTIMATE SET UPON NATIONAL AND RELIGIOUS HARMONY. The ruler now evidently bids for no mere outer form of this, but for the presence of the deep, genuine spirit of it in his people. The captains and all the leaders and all the congregation if all these will think, and love, and determine, and do the same things, he will be satisfied, and his heart will rejoice. Though possibly he might have been in policy compelled to take less than this and effect or at least accept a compromise, it is this for which he makes his first bid, and that a sincere and hearty bid. The mere acknowledgment of so great a principle was a happy inauguration of his own kingship and a favourable omen for his reign. He had learnt not a little of the intrinsic value of this harmony in previous affliction of his own, in observation of how things had gone in the notorious absence of it with Saul, and partly in his own experience while he ruled over only a portion of the people. And having now gained the opportunity, he seizes it almost eagerly, he sanctifies it by an immediate practical honouring of it, and does his best not to lose early or needlessly so great and splendid an offer of Providence. Who can estimate the value of the act of a man already known as a good man, and occupying the place of a great man, when he thus sees the opportunity of advertising before a whole nation (not the individual quality of individual character, which haply might claim retirement for its perfection, best blossom in the dark and be "born to blush unseen," but) that intrinsically good and Heaven-born principle which the arbitrary disposition and the despot would have made it their first endeavour to trample underfoot and hide out of the way? The man who stamps a beneficent principle of this kind with royal approbation with that most royal kind of approbation which belongs to exalted andwide moral influence is one of the very chiefest of the benefactors of his kind, and honours his own nature and its Author at the same time. His deed is one of the best in kind, most multifarious in good effect, and most far-reaching in place and lime. The fashion of the selfish, the haughty, the arbitrary, is the contrary to smother with jealous fear for themselves and their supposed influence the growth of opinion and private judgment the co-operation and the sympathy of the many, while they love their obedience best when it is the blindest.
II THE RATIONAL WAY TAKEN TO OBTAIN THAT HARMONY. This was shown in two degrees. David is not a leveller. He knows well the principle of hierarchy, which nature itself illustrates in every direction, but nowhere more than in the gift and circumstance of man. These distinctions he does not affect to ignore or to despise. So
(1) he consults the judgment of the captains and every leader, who themselves formed a very "congregation of Israel" round about him; and
(2) tests the willinghood, or professes to do so, of the" brethren" and "the priests and Levites" everywhere... in all the land of Israel." There is no doing even the best and most religions thing altogether over the heads of the great people themselves. The principle of proxy in religion is nobly and opportunely here dishonoured. A religions people can alone constitute a religions nation. Willinghood in religion alone adequately attests the reality of its nature. This ruler David yields of his own accord what not a few, even of enlightened, civilized, modern times, would think it a great deal to yield the pride of commanding the pride of personal authority, the pride of bearing down any possible little difference or contrariety of opinion that might be expressed in order to attain the end, and an end in itself supremely desirable. How often that end the end answering exactly to that description, that it is supremely desirable gets overlooked and suffers loss or absolute eclipse because of the eager, jealous, unlovely fray of personal, class, or priestly feeling! When we act thus we court defeat for our cause, though it be the highest; and to the great foe against whom we should show front so united we show instead the joints in our harness and armour and the weak places of ourselves. When we act thus it is not the resistlessness of the force of co-operation that we are likely to get, for it is not this that we are honestly seeking. We are seeking self first, The confidence that we do not give, or offer to give, we do not get offered in return, nor get it at all. We are poor, weak, uncertain. There is not constitution in us, nor the health and soundness of constitutionalism. Great is the gulf between that people of whatsoever sort and the ruler, the first principle of the latter of whom is that he must rule with unquestioned and inelastic command, and they obey with unquestioning and blind obedience. Nations and communities and families have, in numbers that cannot be numbered, suffered wreck irretrievable from this one cause, and yet the forcible and. innumerable warnings do not seem as yet to have secured a thorough mastery of the lesson on the part of the world. But at all events one clear, noble, loving exemplification of the very opposite is furnished to us by the prudent and sympathetic conduct of David in the narrative before us. He determines on ascertaining whether it is not possible to have the entire approval of the nation and the hearty co-operation of all. And he takes the right method to evoke these. The effect is that which has rarely failed to be the effect under any fairly analogous circumstances, that a splendid example of national and religious willinghood and harmonious consent is brought to view a common glory of ruler and people and a universal source of instruction to the world. "All the congregation said that they would do so: for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.
HOMILIES BY J.R. THOMSON Vers. 1-3.
Revival of religion.
The resolve to fetch back the ark of God was a sign of reviving interest in religion, of a more lively desire for the Divine favour, and of a deeper sense of the importance of observing religious ordinances. As the symbol of the Divine presence, as the depository of mementos and pledges of Jehovah"s authority and mercy, the ark was held sacred by the Hebrew people. Its proper position was in the most holy place of the tabernacle. It was justly felt to be a national calamity when the ark was taken by the Philistines in battle. That it was allowed to remain after its restoration at Kirjath-jearim for seventy years was culpable negligence, which was significant of religious indifference. The newly elected king was acting rightly as the human head of the theocratic kingdom in advising that the almost forgotten ark should be brought up with joyful solemnities to Jerusalem. His resolution, supported by the sympathy and cooperation of the people, was indicative of a revival of religion. The incident suggests several highly important lessons.
I NATIONAL IRRELIGION ENTAILS NATIONAL CALAMITIES. It is always unjustifiable to attribute specified individual instances of calamity to the intentional interposition of a retributive Providence. At the same time, the world is under a righteous Ruler, and communities as well as individuals are subject to his sway. National vices and crimes have unquestionably a tendency to produce national troubles and disasters. Sin cannot go unpunished; a nation suffers when a nation errs.
II REPENTANCE IS A NATIONAL DUTY. If a people in its corporate capacity can err, why can it not in the same capacity repent? David reminded the chiefs that, as a people, Israel had not inquired at the ark in the days of Saul. Thus he quickened the conscience of the community. Insensibility to sin is of all sins the worst. To recognize and confess, to mourn and to forsake sin, is the indispensable condition of acceptance and of reformation. "If we confess our sins, he is faithful," etc.
III IN A GREAT MORAL CRISIS IT BECOMES THE REPRESENTATIVES OF A NATION TO CONSULT WITH A VIEW TO UNITED REVIVAL. David consulted every leader and referred the matter to all the congregation. In a theocracy, no doubt, action was possible which would be impracticable in a nation where great diversity of opinion and practice prevails. But how obviously appropriate is it that religious societies and their leaders the devout, the wise, the experienced should take counsel with a view to religious revival and reform!
IV GENERAL COUNSELS OF REFORMATION SHOULD ISSUE IN PRACTICAL ACTION, The people were not brought together merely to "talk over" the existing state of things. They were summoned under the king"s leadership to act, and they did act. (What are called "resolutions" at religious meetings are often misnamed; it is sometimes the case that those who pass them never dream of exerting themselves to carry them into effect.) If religion is to be revived and the land to be purged of iniquity, if the favour of God is to be recovered and the honour of God to be sought, it must be by united effort and action. Each godly person must ask, "What can I do towards such an end?" True acknowledgment of God is not merely verbal, it is practical. When all the people, repenting of sin, turn unto the Lord, he too will turn them again unto himself, and they shall be saved. T.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON Vers. 1-6.
Piety and policy.
As King of Israel, David made an excellent beginning; he commenced his reign by an act in which piety and policy were happily united. His action was:
1. Indicative of the piety which was characteristic of him. We who know David so well from his psalms, as well as from the Biblical history of his life, are not surprised that, when anointed king over all Israel, his first thoughts were directed to the service of God. With many monarchs this would have been the last consideration. But it was deepest and uppermost with David. He felt, and most truly, that he owed his elevation to the distinguishing goodness of Jehovah, and when he had reached the height of his ambition he was not going to forget the hand that had lifted him up. Piety was a vein that ran straight through the life, because right through the character of the king.
2. Politic in all particulars. He acted:
(1) With sound constitutionalism. Instead of deciding and decreeing absolutely, he consulted," etc., he "said unto all the congregation of Israel," etc. (vers. 1, 2). This was "the manner of the kingdom". (see Jud_1:20:7; 1Ki_12:6; 2Ch_20:21) It was an act likely to impress the nation very favourably.
(2) With consideration toward the sacred tribe. "Let us send to the priests and Levites," etc. They would naturally expect that special reference would be made to them, and they would be gratified by the royal attention.
(3) With regard to the general wishes of the people. All that could come to such a ceremony would like to be present; all were to be invited: "Our brethren everywhere" were to gather together (ver. 2); "David gathered all Israel together" (ver. 5).
(4) With tenderness toward the fallen house. He did not reproach Saul with the neglect with which he might have been justly charged; he gracefully included himself in whatever condemnation was implied: "For we inquired not at it in the days of Saul" (ver. 3).
(5) Reserving one point which must be final and supreme. Their wishes were consulted and should be carried out, but subject to one condition the approval of God himself: "And that it be of the Lord our God.
(6) With personal participation and co-operation. He did not send up and fetch the ark; he "went up, and all Israel" with him (ver. 6).
I POLICY WITHOUT PIETY IS A POOR AND VAIN THING. It seems clever or even brilliant to those who imitate and practise it; but it is contemned of God, disregarded by the wise and good, and certain to come to an ignominious end. It works in the ground, and then sports in the sun for its little hour, and then it falls utterly to pieces and cannot be lifted up again.
II PIETY WITHOUT POLICY IS A DEFECTIVE THING. A reverent spirit and a pious purpose are admirable things, but if they are dissociated from discretion, and proceed on their way without regard to the claims, wants, and wishes of men, they will commonly, if not always, fail to secure the object they have in view.
III PIETY AND POLICY TOGETHER ARE A BENIGNANT POWER. Let good men be prudent as well as reverent, discreet and considerate as well as godly and zealous; let the cause of God be championed and conducted by those who have a knowledge of "what is in man" and what are the conditions under which they work in harmony, and then will the goal be reached and the prize be won. C.
HOMILIES BY F. WHITFIELD Vers. 1-8.
David and the ark.
Now that David had been anointed king over Israel, his first act was to think of the ark. During the reign of Saul it had been utterly neglected, and the people had become careless about the ordinances of Divine worship. This was the thought ever uppermost in David"s heart. The ark, the outward symbol of the Divine presence, was everything to him. He could not live outside the sunshine of God"s favour. To him God was everything, and without him there was nothing. What to him was all the popularity, the loyalty of those who rallied round him to proclaim him king, the devotion of the many thousands of Israel, if the Lord was not with him, the Centre and Source of all? Nothing. We see what David"s estimate of God"s presence was by the praises which he and all Israel offered on the occasion of bringing up the ark (ver. 8). What had been of old a terror to the Philistines (see 1Sa 6) was the highest joy to the people of God. It is so always. God"s presence is to God"s people their highest joy. To those who are out of Christ what can it be but terror? Notice, again, how David adds to "if it seem good unto you" the words "and it be of the Lord our God." A true Christian will never, in any question, leave out the latter words. They must ever qualify all that precedes. W.
HOMILIES BY R. TUCK Vers. 1-3, 4.
Unity in religious enterprises.
The ark was the national religious symbol. Its return, was a matter of interest to the whole nation. So David made a very earnest effort to unite the whole nation in the work of its restoration. It was but a little thing that David, as the king, should order the ark to be fetched. It was a great mark of respect and honour shown to Jehovah that the whole nation should rise, as one man, and show its care of the Divine symbol. Religion has its private spheres. It is strictly an individual and personal thing. Men cannot be saved in masses; the regenerating grace of God only reaches them one by one. But while we see this with the utmost distinctness, we must also admit that religion has its public spheres, and that these are properly a care and anxiety to all sincere and earnest men. We are not to "forsake the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is." Our Lord gave us his own example of reverent sharing in public worship. With much suggestiveness the evangelist says, "Jesus, as his custom was, went into the synagogue". (Luk_4:16) The apostles afford the example of sharing together in worship and work. And the best men in every age have fully recognized both the duty and the moral value of public religion. It has been left to our times of luxurious self-indulgence to find excuses for half-day attendance at the sanctuaries, which too often grows into entire neglect of all public means of grace. Bishop Wordsworth notices, in ver. 3, that "David, in his charitable spirit towards the memory of the departed king, does not say that Saul, being possessed by an evil spirit, became indifferent and careless to religion, and was given over to a reprobate mind; but he speaks in general terms, and takes a share of the blame to himself: "We troubled ourselves little about the ark in the days of Saul." Here is a happy example of mildness and charity, joined with piety and zeal.
I THE MORAL VALUE OF UNITY IN RELIGIOUS ENTERPRISE AND WORSHIP. The complete circle of human culture cannot be reached and covered by a purely private religious life. This is fully illustrated in the case of hermits, nuns, and monks, who have isolated themselves from their fellows for purposes of personal soul-culture. But the results have never been the harmonious development of the whole nature. Some sides have been unduly cultured, others have been neglected. In our commoner life private culture can no better suffice. The side of feding becomes unhealthily exaggerated. Certain necessary things in the religious life are only nourished by united and public acts of devotion and worship. We only notice a few of the chief influences for good exerted by such scenes.
1. They check the self-centering, introspective habit, the undue attention to feeling.
2. They take us out of ourselves by presenting to thought matters of common rather than individual interest.
3. They sway us to higher ranges of feeling than we could otherwise reach.
4. They culture reverence, and so counteract the tendency of private devotion to nourish undue familiarity with God.
5. And they provide peculiar help for those who, being weak in piety, arevery dependent on sympathy.
II THE POWER THAT MAY BE GIVEN TO ONE MAN TO SECURE SUCH UNITY IN ENTERPRISE AND WORSHIP. Illustrated in David. So, now, a man may give the initiative, as has been again and again illustrated in modern missions. Especially note Hudson Taylor"s starting of itinerant work in China. A man may give a leading example. A man may use effort to secure efficiency and attractiveness in worship. Illustrate from reformers of modern services those who have improved Church singing, etc. Impress how superior a force the Church has and wields to that exerted, in Christian work, by any number of private individuals. R.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v3 And let us bring again the ark of our…
1Ch_13:3-6
And let us bring again the ark of our God to us.
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The ark in the royal city
A place of honour, influence, and right, as:--
I. The centre of unity.
II. The source of religious life. This act:
1. Purified religious life.
2. Unified religious life.
3. Organised religious life.
III. The sign of Gods presence. (J. Wolfendale.)
The arks progress to Mount Zion
One of the Psalms composed by David to be sung on the removing of the ark (Psa_68:1-35.) is quoted by Paul (Eph_4:7-8) as having foretold what this procession itself foreshadowed, viz., the ascension of Christ, and the blessings which should flow therefrom upon every member of His Mystical Body. We see in all this great procession nothing less than the Universal Church of Christ, partaking with the Divine David in the glory of His ascension into the Heavenly Zion. From the narrative of which the text forms a part we may learn:--
I. General lessons.
1. That periods of reformation, after past neglect, are those in which we need more than ordinary caution, lest we mar the work which is designed to promote Gods glory.
2. That all religious reformation which is the work of man can scarcely fail to be blemished and disfigured more or less by human infirmities.
3. That the effects of those infirmities are not to be acquiesced in, but to be confessed and corrected, if ever we would hope to obtain the Divine approval, or even to escape the Divine chastisement.
4. Not to abandon our good intentions because we have been checked and hindered in our efforts after amendment, but still to hold on and persevere in our exertions; only taking heed to profit by the instruction which the experience of past failure was designed to give.
5. God will be sanctified in all them that come nigh Him, by obedience to His holy laws (Lev_10:2).
6. That ignorance and neglect, even when allowed to pass unchastised in others, may bring upon His ordained ministers the severest punishment.
II. Particular lessons.
1. That every Christian has his place in that great procession, which is occupied in conveying the Ark of the Covenant (Rev_11:19) up to its final resting-place in Mount Zion; but every Christian has not the same place.
2. That it is not enough that we do, whatever we do, with a good intention unless what is done be also good, good in itself, and good in us. (Bishop Chris. Wordsworth.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 CRITICAL NOTES.] This chapter corresponds closely with 2Sa_6:1-11; but…
CRITICAL NOTES.] This chapter corresponds closely with 2Sa_6:1-11; but in the first verse of that chapter is stated, with great brevity, what is given here in full (1Ch_13:1-5).
1Ch_13:1-5.—The Consultation. Leaders (omit and, for leaders intended) are captains named, i.e., chiefs of people. If civil and military organisation existed before this, “David seems to have been the first to recognise in these officers of the host representatives of the people, to consult them on public affairs and to give them a certain political position (see, besides the present place, ch. 1Ch_15:25; 1Ch_26:26; 1Ch_28:1)” [Speak. Com.]. 1Ch_13:2. All assembled together; send quickly everywhere; left at home. 1Ch_13:3. Enquired not (cf. 1Sa_7:1-2; 1Sa_28:6; 1Ch_10:14). 1Ch_13:5. Shihor, probably one of the names of the Nile (cf. Jos_13:3; Isa_23:3; Jer_2:18); was the southern bounds, as Hemath was the northern of Canaan [Pat.]. Kirjath-jearim, where it had been since it returned out of land of Philistines (cf. 1 Samuel 6).
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1Ch_13:6-8.—The Undertaking (cf. 2Sa_6:2-11). All Israel, 30,000 in Sam. 1Ch_13:6. Baalah (Jos_15:9-60). Whose name, rather “who is worshipped there.” 1Ch_13:7. Uzza and Ahio, sons or grandsons of Abinadab, who from age or death was unable to accompany procession. 1Ch_13:8. “Harps and lutes, stringed instruments; timbrels and cymbals, percussive instruments for keeping time in march or solemn dance.” Trumpets used by priests, generally on joyous occasions (Numbers 10; Psa_98:6). Some suppose that Psalms 34 was sung in parts on this occasion.
1Ch_13:9-14.—The Breach. Chidon, Nachon (2Sa_6:6). Stumbled, descent steep and dangerous. Hand, ark not to be touched, would not have required it, if in obedience to law, it had been carried on the priests’ shoulders by poles (cf. Exo_25:14; Num_4:15). 1Ch_13:11. David displeased and afraid at such sudden vindication of holiness. 1Ch_13:14. Obed, a Levite, and afterwards doorkeeper in tabernacle (1Ch_15:18; 1Ch_16:5). Gittite, of Gath-rimmon, one of the Levitical cities (Jos_21:24).
HOMILETICS
THE FIRST COUNCIL.—1Ch_13:1-5
David securely established on the throne, taken and fortified Jerusalem, organised and trained an army, turns attention to civil and religious concerns. First thing to restore the ark to its proper place. Hence consultation with chiefs.
I. The parties of which it was composed. David begins well. Instead of ignoring the people, he calls their representatives; he “consults” them and decides nothing absolutely, and unconstitutionally. Many sovereigns, proud and tyrannical, will yield nothing, give nothing, overrule the wish and rights of the people. “I am the state,” said one. The people’s allegiance is best secured by consent in their representatives. “If it seem good unto you.”
II. The purpose for which it was convened. Many historic councils summoned for important objects. This not called to celebrate success, organise plans of campaign; but to unite the people and establish the worship of the sanctuary by the restoration of the most sacred of all symbols. This—
1. A religious movement. Former neglect great, people degenerated by influence and example of Saul; careless and indifferent concerning ordinances and worship of God. “We enquired not in the days of Saul.”
2. A national movement. “If it seem good unto you.” The throne established, national government under one head; foundation laid for internal unity by concentrating national life on its centre and source. Not like other kings, David displays in proceedings the popular character of his rule, assembles all round the sanctuary before the throne, and under the government of Jehovah (Psa_24:1-10).
3. A divinely sanctioned movement. “If it be of the Lord our God.” All enterprises opposed to his will, though carried on with numbers and valour, will come to nought. This first, “Is it the will of God?” For “man proposes, but God disposes.” “Ye ought to say if the Lord will we shall live and do this or that.”
III. The decision at which it arrived. The purpose noble, and reasons for execution weighty and abundant.
1. A wise decision. “It was right.” Always wise to seek first the kingdom of God, &c. “Oh that they were wise!”
2. A unanimous decision. “All the congregation said it was right.” People rightly consulted readily agree. Leaders should never fear to appeal in God’s name to the nation, seek to rouse its conscience and gain its sympathies. The response will be cordial and unanimous. “The Lord our God will we serve, and his voice will we obey” (Jos_24:24).
3. A firm decision. “We will do so.” Needful to be prudent in counsel and firm in execution.
THE ARK IN THE ROYAL CITY
A place of honour, influence, and right, as—
I. The centre of unity. Politically and morally, outwardly and inwardly people one. Unity in worship not complete, for there were two holy places, one in Gibeon, another pitched over the ark, but internal unity which did not exist before.
II. The source of religious life. Under Saul it had fallen from the height to which Samuel had brought it. The royal family had lost piety, and, as instanced by Michal, had become proud. In her father’s house she had an idol god. But this act—
1. Purified religious life. Elevated its tone and grandeur.
2. Unified religious life. External unity destroyed by war between Saul and David. Now national life one centre and source in dwelling of God in Zion. The sanctuary in Gibeon retires from view.
3. Organised religious life. He arranged priests and Levites, divided them into classes for service, gave a new impulse to music and culture. Reorganisation raised divine worship from its disintegration and lawlessness under Saul to an artistic and beautiful order.
III. The sign of God’s presence. David had captains and mighty men, but God was required. Conscious of dependence upon God, he confesses desire to rule according to the will of God. If it be “of the Lord our God.” This act one of reverence and gratitude, which enthrones God the king of glory (Psalms 24); makes Jerusalem the city of the Great King (Psa_48:3); from whence proceed all manifestations of glory and might (Psa_20:3); and before whom it is an unspeakable privilege to worship. “Who may be guest in thy tent? who may dwell on thy holy mountain?” (Psa_15:1).
THE SOLEMN PROCESSION.—1Ch_13:6-8
Extreme anxiety to have the ark in the city, for counsel and succour on all occasions. To attain this all classes eager to undertake any effort and submit to any inconvenience. A procession formed which befits the object in view.
I. In military escort. The way rugged, the enemy defeated, but not destroyed. We must ever be on guard.
II. In united ranks. “All Israel” (30,000 in Sam.), king, priests, and people in order and position. All ranks indebted to God, all should join in service and praise.
III. In festive joy. “The festival,” says Dean Stanley, “was one which exactly corresponded to what in the Middle Ages would have been ‘the Feast of the Translation’ of some great relic, by which a new city or a new church was to be glorified. Long sleepless nights had David passed in thinking of it (Psa_132:4), as St. Louis of the transport of the Crown of Thorns to the Royal Chapel of Paris.” Such joy is natural and becoming, pleasing to men and acceptable to God.
THE LESSON OF UZZA.—1Ch_13:8-12
David loved God, venerated the symbol of his presence, desired to restore appointed worship, and put the ark where it should be. But right things must be done in right manner, or they will fail. In this case failure, sad and signal, for Uzza died and the ark turned aside to the house of Obed-edom.
I. The failure. Here multitudes, “David and all Israel,” yet business nought. Crowds do not ensure blessing. Here pomp, singing, harps, trumpets, &c., yet ended in mourning. Gorgeous ceremonial no guarantee of grace. Here energy; “they played before God with all their might”—no dull and sleepy worship, but a bright, lively service, yet the matter fell through. But there was no thought as to God’s mind. David confessed, “We sought him not after the due order” (1Ch_15:13). The priests not in their places, nor Levites to carry the ark; oxen took the place of willing men. The worship was not sufficiently spiritual and humble. There was no sacrifice. This a fatal flaw, for how can we serve the Lord apart from sacrifice? There was little reverence. We hear little of prayer, but much of oxen, a cart, and the too familiar hand of Uzza. Now, even David must keep his place, and the Lord’s command must not be supplanted by will-worship. Therefore the breach upon Uzza, and David greatly afraid. May we not expect similar failures, unless careful to act obediently and serve the Lord with holy awe? Are all observances and practices of our churches scriptural? Are not some of them purely will-worship?
II. The fear. The terrible death of Uzza caused great fear. Thus the Lord slew Nadab and Abihu for offering strange fire; and the men of Beth-shemesh for looking into the ark. “I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified” (Lev_10:3). Sense of wrong-feeling caused fear in David, for we read, “And David was displeased” (1Ch_13:11). We are too apt to be displeased with God because he is displeased with us. Sense of unworthiness for such holy work made him cry, “How shall I bring the ark of God home to me?” His feeling that he failed in that which God expected of his servants created a holy fear. “Sanctify yourselves, that ye may bring up the ark of the Lord God” (1Ch_15:12). He meant well, but erred and came to a pause; yet not for long. Ark remained with Obed-edom three months, not more (1Ch_13:14). Some make the holiness of God and the strictness of His rule an excuse for wicked neglect. Others are overwhelmed with holy fear, and pause awhile till they are better prepared for the holy service [Spurgeon].
RIGHT THINGS DONE IN A WRONG WAY
I. The matter and right manner of performing duties are, in the command of God, linked together. He will have his service well done, as well as really done, with a perfect heart and a willing mind, for the Lord searcheth all hearts and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts. Masters on earth challenge to themselves a power to oblige their servants, not only to do their work, but to do it so-and-so; and though they do the thing itself, yet if not in the manner required, it is not accepted.
II. The doing of a duty in a wrong manner alters the nature of it, and makes it sin. Hence, the ploughing of the wicked is sin (Pro_21:4). Hence, prayer is accounted a howling upon their beds (Hos_7:14). Unworthy communicating is not counted as eating the Lord’s Supper (1Co_11:20). If a house be built of never so strong timber and good stones, yet if it be not well founded and rightly built, the inhabitant may curse the day he came under the roof of it.
III. Duties not prepared according to the right order are but the half of the service we owe to God, and the worst half too [Thos. Boston].
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
1Ch_13:2. Send abroad. Erumpamus, dimittamus. Let us break forth and send, i.e., let us send speedily and effectually. See his zeal for the Lord of Hosts [Trapp].
1Ch_13:8. Played before God. Public joy should always be as before the Lord, with an eye to him, and terminating in him, otherwise it is no better than public madness, and the source of all manner of wickedness [Benson].
1Ch_13:7-10. Perez-Uzza.
1. The act of Uzza. Rash, lacking faith in God’s power or providence to preserve the ark; irreverent; disobedient.
2. The punishment of Uzza. Sudden, signal, and severe. Apparently out of all proportion to the act. But we are improper judges of wrong, desert, and divine justice. God displays holiness, to secure discipline and check sin, to which we are prone. One instance of justice may benefit generations and ages.
3. The results of the punishment of Uzza. (a) The procession was broken up. (b) David was afraid. “How could such a festal joy which knew nothing of holy fear, however well meant, prove acceptable to God? It is not enough that we mean well, and have pious thoughts; we must also, in what we do, hold fast to God’s word and commandment, and in all our joy in the Lord must not allow ourselves to forget that we have to do with a holy God.”
Uzza, or Irreverence in sacred things.
1. Rashness in devotion. “God smote Uzza for his rashness (marg.)” (2Sa_6:7). Worldly thoughts and plans brought into the very house and presence of God. Haste in spirit and utterance. “Be not rash with thy mouth,” &c. (Ecc_5:2).
2. Thoughtlessness in Christian effort. No due preparation, trust to accidents or emergencies. Inconsiderate effort has blasted many a noble project. Prudence and thought required. Collect and arrange materials; for an unfurnished minister can never be “a wise master-builder.” “Prepare thy work (set it in order) without and make it fit for thyself in the field” (Pro_24:27).
3. Sinfulness in the Christian ministry. Uzza a type of all who, unsanctified in spirit, take upon themselves to rescue the cause of God. “Be ye clean that bear the vessels of the Lord.” Profanation of the ark. It is of importance to observe the proportionate severity of the punishment attending the profanation of the ark. The Philistines suffered by diseases, from which they were relieved by their oblations, because the law had not been given to them; the Bethshemites also suffered, but not fatally, their error proceeding from ignorance or inadvertency; but Uzza, who was a Levite and well instructed, suffered death for his breach of the law [Jamieson].
HOMILETICS
FEREZ-UZZA AND ITS LESSONS
Arrangements of David for transport of the Ark differed from those which God had prescribed (Numbers 4). Never carry on the work of God by means which God has forbidden. Learn—
I. If God be absent from a people, and the ark be long in obscurity, that people will lose a sense of reverence. All thought of divine power in the ark forgotten, a question of mere safety, not reverence; arrangements those of heathen nations, not divine injunctions.
II. That God, mindful of his honour, often singles out guilty men to be monuments of his displeasure. God will be sanctified in those who come nigh him (Lev_10:3). Uzza presumptuous and irreverent, like Nadab and Abihua, suffered for sin. “When many have sinned, God commonly punishes one or two of the leaders, in order that the others may remember their sin and beg forgiveness.”
III. That by such examples of terror God warns others. King, priests, and people inspired with dread of divine majesty. Judgment opened the eyes and humbled the soul of David, who wisely delayed for thought, self-examination, and, under divine teaching, to learn the right way. “For when thy judgments are in (strike) the earth, the inhabitants of the world (earth) will learn righteousness” (Isa_26:9).
“Heaven wills our happiness, allows our doom;
Invites us ardently, but not compels” [Young].
DAVID’S DISPLEASURE.—1Ch_13:11-12
The king greatly agitated, dreaded God’s displeasure might be extended to himself and people if ark further conveyed. Resolved to wait. The word betokens anger and grief, used by Jonah (1Ch_4:1-9).
I. He was afraid of personal danger. He had neglected duty; knew not what might happen; dangerous to bring ark into the city. A guilty conscience makes cowards.
II. He was vexed at the interruption of his plan. People disappointed, his prestige damaged, and his enemies encouraged. We are often tempted to find fault when our religious enterprise is interrupted, when we as leaders are dishonoured, and our purposes broken. Complain of God’s providence when we should accuse ourselves. “Should it be according to thy mind?”
III. He was overcome with superstitious dread. Something about the ark itself he did not understand. He misinterpreted the event. Superstition ever misdirects, scares by expected evil. “It were better to have no opinion of God at all than such an opinion as is unworthy of him, for the one is unbelief, the other is contumely; and certainly superstition is the reproach of the Deity” [Bacon].
THE HOUSE OF OBED-EDOM.—1Ch_13:14
People dismayed, David perplexed, one perfectly calm and ready to welcome the ark. Obed. not a great warrior; for great talents no guarantee for holy life and faithful service (Balaam, Saul, Byron), but a man of sincere heart and upright conduct.
I. The service which he rendered. The ark was carried “aside into the house of Obed-edom.” A most signal service which no one else would undertake. A service for which he was trained, and which he was ready when required to give. Lonely homes are scenes of highest trust and purest character. Not the palace, but the cottage often the residence of God, and the national glory.
II. The spirit in which he performed this service. Uzza slain for rashness, David shrinks in fear, Obed-edom receives ark gladly.
1. In filial fear. In love to God and earnest desire to help his cause.
2. In striking courage. He knew what had been done among the Philistines and the Bethshemites, yet invites the ark to his house. “O the courage,” says Bishop Hall, “of an honest and faithful heart! Nothing can make God otherwise than amiable to him; even his justice is lovely.”
III. The reward which he gained. “The Lord blessed the house.”
1. A personal blessing.
2. A social blessing.
3. An extensive blessing. “All that he had.” None suffer whose guest is the ark of God. Piety is the best friend to prosperity. Happy and attractive the home in which God dwells.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
1Ch_13:9 to 1Ch_13:1. God’s people misinterpret his dealings.
2. How much they lose by this interpretation.
3. How much they gain who receive God simply.
(1) Beware of flying from God or shutting out God.
(2) Let God into the heart and the dwelling [H. Bonar].
1Ch_13:14. Ark in the house. Family devotion, its nature, duty, and results. Howard, the philanthropist, never neglected family prayer, if even but one, and that his domestic servant, declaring that where he had a tent, God should have an altar. “Pour out thy fury upon the heathen that know thee not, and upon the families that call not upon thy name.”
The Ark with Uzza, David, and Obed-edom; or the Ark the cause of judgment, fear, and blessing, according to its treatment.
1Ch_13:14. Blessed. As he will do all those, both small and great, that favour his cause and further his kingdom; for he is a liberal paymaster, and his retributions are more than bountiful. If Abinadab was not so well blessed as Obed-edom, it was haply because he entertained not the ark with like reverence. As men measure to God in preparation, &c., so will God measure to them in blessing [Trapp].
“A Deity believed, will nought avail,
Rewards and punishments make God adored” [Young].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 13
1Ch_13:6-8. Singing. Oh that we might have such joy as that which inspired the men at the battle of Leuthen! They were singing a Christian song as they went into battle. A general said to the king, “Shall I stop these people singing?” “No,” said the king. “Men that can sing like that can fight” [Talmage].
1Ch_13:11. Breach. God would have us read our sins in our judgments, that we might both repent of our sins, and give glory to his justice [Bishop Hall].
1Ch_13:14. Blessed the house. Parents! if you would banish Satan from your households, and with him all the train of sins that bring misery and desolation into many a home, and convert into a wilderness with wild beasts what might be a family paradise, where every human affection bloomed in beauty, grew in grace, and brought forth fruit to God’s glory, seek the constant presence of Jesus Christ, and covet, above all earthly honour or renown, that your family should be like that one of old in Bethany which “Jesus loved.” His presence will be your true prosperity, making your daily mercies true mercies, and your seasons of bereavement seasons of richest blessing and deepest peace [Rev. Nor. Macleod, D.D.].
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 1Ch 13:6
1Ch 13:6
I. Among the more general lessons of this passage (1) we may notice that periods of reformation, after past neglect, are those in which we need more than ordinary caution, lest we mar the work which is designed to promote God’s glory. (2) We may learn that all religious reformation which is the work of man can scarcely fail to be blemished and disfigured more or less by human infirmities; but that the effects of those infirmities are not to be acquiesced in, but to be confessed and corrected, if ever we would hope to obtain the Divine approval, or even to escape the Divine chastisement. (3) We may learn not to give over and abandon our good intentions because we have been checked and hindered in our efforts after amendment, but still to hold on and persevere in our exertions, only taking heed to profit by the instruction which the experience of past failure was designed to give. (4) Above all, we may learn, and take to ourselves the warning, that "God will be sanctified in all them that come nigh Him;" sanctified, that is, by obedience to His holy laws.
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II. More particularly we notice: (1) Every Christian has his place in that great procession which is occupied in conveying the ark of the covenant (see Rev 11:19) up to its final resting-place in Mount Zion; but every Christian has not the same place. In the things of God the distinctions which He has Himself ordained must be strictly kept. (2) It is not enough that we do whatever we do with a good intention unless what is done is also good, good in itself and good in us. Uzzah intended well, but he did not on that account escape the fatal punishment of his forbidden act, whether it proceeded from presumption, from ignorance, or from inadvertency. (3) The constant caution and watchfulness which we all require in consequence of our necessary familiarity with sacred things. The ark having remained so long in his father’s house was probably the cause of Uzzah’s fault. He had ceased to regard it with due reverence. But let us not forget that the same emblem of the Divine presence which brought sudden and awful death to the family of Abinadab brought abundant and abiding blessing to the house of Obed-edom.
Bishop Wordsworth, Guardian, Oct. 1st, 1884.
References: 13:8-15:25.—Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes, p. 96.
1Ch 13:12
There were two ways of answering this question: "How shall I bring the ark of God home to me?" There were two ways in which the work might be attempted: a wrong way and a right way. And it is so in other things. The great lesson from the text is that God may be sought and yet not be found, because the seeking is not in the way or "order" which He hath revealed as agreeable to Himself.
I. The right way of seeking God must be the way that God Himself has been pleased to reveal. But there is a twofold revelation: a revelation which God makes of Himself by and through conscience, and a revelation which is contained in the Bible. (1) If you would radically get quit of an evil habit, the "due order" of proceeding is to observe how that habit has been formed and to apply yourselves to the cultivation, by a similar process, of an opposite habit. This is the "due order" in labouring at the reformation which conscience demands. (2) The "due order" of the theology of the Gospel is not first repentance and then appeal to Christ. The "due order" is that, stirred by the remonstrances of conscience, by the pleadings of God’s Spirit, we flee straightway to Christ and entreat of Him to make us penitent, and then to give us pardon.
II. He who has revelation in his hand, and either rejects or resists its sayings in regard of the alone mode of salvation, has nothing to expect but that, as it was with David and his people, the Lord God will break in in anger upon him, because in the matter of his endeavouring to "bring home to him the ark of the Lord" he has failed to proceed after the "due order."
H. Melvill, Penny Pulpit, No. 2308.
References: 1Ch 15:13.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. vi., No. 307. 1Ch 16:4.—Ibid., vol. xxii., No. 1308.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The Removal of the Ark from Kirjath-jearim
The Removal of the Ark from Kirjath-jearim
This chapter merely expands 2Sa_6:1-11, with some unimportant differences.
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3. We enquired not at it] perhaps, better, 'we did not seek it,' i.e. to convey it to a place of honour: cp. 1Ch_15:13.
5. Shihor of Egypt] usually employed to designate the Nile (Isa_23:3; Jer_2:18), but here applied to the 'brook of Egypt' (Jos_15:4), the modern El Arish, a small stream on the borders of Egypt flowing into the Mediterranean. The entering of Hemath] i.e. the defile between Lebanon and Hermon, forming the approach to Hamath from the S.
6. Whose name is called on it] better, 'who is called by the Name,' this serving as a substitute for a more explicit mention of the divine name which is disguised in Jehovah.
11. Made a breach] RV' had broken forth.' Perez-uzza] i.e. the Breach of Uzza.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 3. The Ark Removed from Kirjath-jearim
3. The Ark Removed from Kirjath-jearim
CHAPTER 13
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1. The consultation about the ark (1Ch 13:1-5)
2. The attempt and the failure (1Ch 13:6-14)
The first thing after the coronation which concerned David was the ark. This reveals the fact that the king had the things of the Lord upon his heart. He at once consulted with the captains about bringing the ark from Kirjath-jearim. The ark is mentioned forty-six times in the two books of Chronicles. (The titles are the following: ark, 15 times; the ark of God, 12 times; the ark of the Covenant of the LORD, 11 times; the ark of the LORD, 4 times; the ark of the Covenant of God, of Thy Strength, of our God and Thy holy ark, each once.)
In Chronicles David’s gracious words are recorded, which he addressed to the assembly of Israel, “if it seem good unto you and that it be of the LORD our God ... let us bring again the ark of our God to us; for we inquired not at it in the days of Saul.” The whole scene manifests a true religious enthusiasm and deep concern to follow the ways of Jehovah. David and all Israel went up to Kirjath-jearim and carried the ark upon a new cart. David and all Israel played before God with all their might, even with songs and with harps and with psalteries, with cymbals and trumpets. But in all this great and human rejoicing, David did not conform to Jehovah’s ways. According to God’s laws covering the handling of the ark, only the Levites were to touch it. They were to carry it on their shoulders and not to place it in a cart (Num 4:5; Num 4:15). All this had been violated. The divine displeasure was fully manifested when Uzza put forth his hands to hold the ark, because the oxen had stumbled. Uzza was stricken with sudden death. He forgot that the ark was the emblem of Jehovah’s presence in the midst of His people. See annotations on 2 Samuel 6.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 The Ark Brought from Kirjath-Jearim. —
The Ark Brought from Kirjath-Jearim. —
v. 1. And David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds, and with every leader, this item supplementing the account in 2Sa 6:1-11, where only the total number is given as having been thirty thousand.
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v. 2. And David said unto all the congregation of Israel, in its representatives, if it seem good unto you and that it be of the Lord, our God, let us send abroad unto our brethren everywhere, literally, "let us break through and send," that is, let us use all diligence, putting aside every show of hesitation, joining with all the other true believers, that are left in all the land of Israel, and with them also to the priests and Levites which are in their cities and suburbs, living in obscurity in the various cities allotted to them, that they may gather themselves unto us.
v. 3. and let us bring again the ark of our God to us, which, after having been returned by the Philistines to Bethshemesh, had been brought up as far as Kirjath-jearim, 1Sa 7:1, for we enquired not at it in the days of Saul. The worship of Jehovah had, in general, been neglected during the reign of Saul, the ark having been away from the Sanctuary for so many years. The more serious believers had offered their sacrifices at Gibeon, but without considering that the ark was the chief part of the Tabernacle. David, clear-sighted as usual, realized that the presence of the ark in his capital, where he intended to locate the Sanctuary, would be of great help in maintaining the worship of Jehovah in the nation.
v. 4. And all the congregation said that they would do so, they were inspired by the fervent piety of the king; for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people, it met with their full approval and promise of cooperation.
v. 5. So David gathered all Israel together, from Shihor of Egypt, the small stream forming the boundary between Palestine and Egypt, even unto the entering of Hemath, in the extreme north, in the mountain ranges of Syria, to bring the ark of God from Kirjathjearim.
v. 6. And David went up and all Israel, the great multitudes that had responded to his summons, to Baalah, that is, to Kirjath-jearim, which belonged to Judah, a town in its western part, to bring up thence the ark of God the Lord, that dwelleth between the cherubim, for it was above the mercy-seat that the glory of Jehovah appeared to Moses and to His servants, Exo 25:22, whose name is called on it; for religious worship includes the act of calling on His name.
v. 7. And they carried the ark of God in a new cart out of the house of Abinadab, which lay on a hill near the city; and Uzza and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the cart.
v. 8. And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, and with singing, with songs of rejoicing, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, tambourines, and with cymbals, and with trumpets, those of the Sanctuary probably being in use. Such feasts of rejoicing in honor of the Lord are well-pleasing to Him; but all sinful elements must be carefully kept away.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v1 the commanders of thousands and of hundreds
the commanders of thousands and of hundreds
Possible meanings are 1) these numbers represent the exact amount of soldiers that these commanders led. AT: "the commanders of 1,000 soldiers and the commanders of 100 soldiers" or 2) the words translated as "thousands" and "hundreds" do not represent exact numbers, but are the names of larger and smaller military divisions. AT: "the commanders of large military divisions and the commanders of smaller military divisions" (See: Numbers)
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all the assembly of Israel
This refers to all of the Israelites who were assembled in this place. AT: "all of the Israelites who were assembled there" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
if this comes from Yahweh our God
This idiom means that this action is something that Yahweh approves. AT: "if this is something that Yahweh our God approves" (See: Idiom)
Let them be told to join us
This can be stated in active form. AT: "Let messengers tell them to join us" or "Let them join us" (See: Active or Passive)
they seemed right in the eyes of all the people
Here the word "eyes" represents seeing, and seeing represents thoughts or judgment. AT: "all the people considered these things to be right" (See: Metaphor)
translationWords
David
commander
assembly
Israel
Yahweh
God
send
messenger
brother
priest
Levi
ark of the covenant
will of God
Saul (OT)
reign
people group
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v1 13:1–17:27 These chapters chronicle the transformation of Jerusalem into…
13:1–17:27 These chapters chronicle the transformation of Jerusalem into the political and religious center of Israel, beginning with David’s disastrous attempt to transfer the Ark of God from Kiriath-jearim to Jerusalem (13:1-14; cp. 2 Sam 6:2-11).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.