The Ark Comes to Jerusalem

When the Philistines learned that David had been made king of the Hebrews, they made war on him at Jerusalem. They seized the valley called the Valley of the Giants, a place not far from the city, and pitched their camp there. But the king of the Jews, who never allowed himself to do anything without prophecy and the command of God, and without relying on God as his security for the time to come, told the high priest to foretell to him what the will of God was, and what the outcome of this battle would be. When the high priest foretold that he would gain the victory and the dominion, he led out his army against the Philistines; and when battle was joined, he came at the enemy himself from behind, fell on them suddenly, killed some of them and put the rest to flight. And let no one suppose that it was a small army of the Philistines that came against the Hebrews, guessing from the suddenness of their defeat and from their having done nothing noble or worth recording that they were sluggish and cowardly. Let him know rather that all Syria and Phoenicia, with many other nations besides them, and warlike nations too, came to their help and took part in this war. This was the only reason why, though they had been beaten so often and had lost so many tens of thousands of their men, they still came against the Hebrews with greater armies. Indeed, after they had failed in their purpose so often in these battles, they came against David with an army three times as large as before, and pitched their camp on the same ground as before. So the king of Israel asked God again about the outcome of the battle. The high priest prophesied to him that he should keep his army in the groves called the Groves of Weeping, which were not far from the enemy’s camp, and that he should not move or begin to fight until the trees of the grove moved without any wind blowing; but as soon as these trees moved, and the time God had foretold to him had come, he should go out without delay to win a victory already prepared for him and plain to see. And the ranks of the enemy’s army did not stand against him, but gave way at the first charge. He followed close on them, killing them as he went, and pursued them as far as the city of Gezer, which is the border of their country. After this he plundered their camp, where he found great riches, and he destroyed their gods. [a]

When the battle had turned out like this, David thought it right, after consulting with the elders, the rulers and the commanders of thousands, to send for those of his countrymen who were in the prime of life, out of the whole land, and also for the priests and the Levites, so that they might go to Kiriath-jearim, bring the ark of God up from that city, and carry it to Jerusalem. There they would keep it, and offer before it the sacrifices and other honors with which God used to be pleased; for if they had done this in the reign of Saul, they would not have suffered any great misfortunes at all. So when the whole body of the people had come together, as they had resolved to do, the king came to the ark. The priests carried it out of the house of Abinadab, set it on a new cart, and let their brothers and their sons draw it, together with the oxen. Before it went the king, and the whole multitude of the people with him, singing hymns to God and using every kind of song customary among them, with a variety of musical instruments, with dancing and the singing of psalms, and with the sound of trumpets and cymbals; and so they were bringing the ark to Jerusalem. But when they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, as the place is called, Uzzah was killed by the anger of God. For when the oxen shook the ark, he stretched out his hand, meaning to hold it steady; and because he was not a priest and yet touched the ark, God struck him dead. At this both the king and the people were distressed at the death of Uzzah, and the place where he died is still called the Breach of Uzzah to this day. So David was afraid. Supposing that if he took the ark in with him into the city, he might suffer as Uzzah had suffered, who died in the way just described merely for putting out his hand to the ark, he did not take it in with him into the city. Instead he took it aside to a place belonging to a righteous man named Obed-edom, who was a Levite by family, and left the ark with him; and it stayed there three whole months. This increased the house of Obed-edom and brought it many blessings. And when the king heard what had happened to Obed-edom, how from a poor man in a low condition he had become exceedingly prosperous, and the envy of all who saw his house or asked about it, he took courage; and, hoping that no misfortune would come to him by it, he moved the ark to his own house. The priests carried it, while seven companies of singers, whom the king had set in that order, went in front of it, and he himself played the harp and joined in the music; so much so that when his wife Michal, the daughter of Saul, who was our first king, saw him doing this, she laughed at him. When they had brought in the ark, they placed it under the tent that David had pitched for it, and he offered whole burnt offerings and peace offerings and feasted the whole multitude, giving to the women, the men and the infants alike a loaf of bread and a cake, and another cake baked in a pan, with a portion of the sacrifice. When he had feasted the people in this way, he sent them away, and he himself went back to his own house. [f]

But when Michal his wife, the daughter of Saul, came and stood beside him, she wished him every other happiness, and prayed that whatever else he desired, as far as was possible, might be given him by God, and that God might be gracious to him. Yet she blamed him that so great a king as he was should dance in an unseemly way and, in his dancing, uncover himself among the servants and the maidservants. But he replied that he was not ashamed to do what was acceptable to God, who had preferred him to her father and to all others, and that he would play often and dance, without any regard for what the maidservants or she herself thought of it. So this Michal, who was David’s wife, had no children. However, when she was afterward married to the man to whom Saul her father had given her (for at this time David had taken her away from him and had her himself), she bore five children. But I will speak of those matters in the proper place. [m]

Now when the king saw that his affairs were growing better almost every day, by the will of God, he thought he would offend God if, while he himself lived in houses made of cedar, of great height and with the finest architectural work in them, he were to neglect the ark while it lay in a tent. He wanted to build a temple to God, as Moses had foretold that such a temple would be built. When he had talked these things over with Nathan the prophet, and had been encouraged by him to do whatever he had in mind, since he had God with him and as his helper in all things, he was all the readier to set about that building. But God appeared to Nathan that very night and commanded him to tell David that he took his purpose and his desires kindly, since no one before him had thought of building him a temple, and David had conceived this plan; but God would not allow him to build that temple, because he had waged many wars and was defiled with the slaughter of his enemies. However, after his death, in his old age and when he had lived a long life, a temple would be built by a son of his, who would take the kingdom after him and would be called Solomon. God promised to provide for him as a father provides for his son, by preserving the kingdom for his son’s descendants and handing it on to them; but he would still punish him, if he sinned, with diseases and barrenness of the land. When David learned this from the prophet, he was overjoyed to know that the dominion would surely continue to his descendants, and that his house would be splendid and very famous. He came to the ark, fell on his face, and began to worship God and to thank him for all his benefits: both for those he had already given him, in raising him from a low state and from a shepherd’s work to so great a dignity of dominion and glory, and for those he had promised to his descendants, and besides these, for the providence he had shown over the Hebrews in winning them the liberty they enjoyed. When he had said this, and had sung a hymn of praise to God, he went his way. [n]