Outline of Chapter 13:

         vv.     1–5           David Makes Preparations to Bring the Ark to Jerusalem

         vv.     6–8           The Ark is Moved Amid Great Celebration

         vv.     9–12         Uzzah is Struck Dead for Touching the Ark [Alternative Title: God’s Deadly Holiness]

         vv.    13–14         The Ark is Temporarily Kept in the House of Obed-edom, the Gittite

Charts, Short Doctrines and Maps:

         Introduction         Matthew Henry Outlines 1Chronicles 13

         Introduction         The Ark Chronology

         v.       1              What Form of Government Should a Nation Have?

         v.       1              Why Doesn't the Bible Specify an Ideal Government So That We Will at Least Have Something to Shoot For?

         v.       1              Just What are our Responsibilities Toward our Government?

         v.       1              When Should we Obey God and not Man?

         v.       2              7-Day Week, a Non-Secular View

         v.       5              A Summary of the Doctrine of Lebo-Hamath

         v.       6              A Short Summary of the Ark of God

         v.       6              2Samuel 6:2 Compared to 1Chronicles 13:6

         v.       6              God, the Ark, the Mercy Seat and the Cherubim

         v.       6              The Angelic Conflict

         v.      11              Who is Angry with Whom?

         v.      12              Summary Points: What Did David do Wrong?

         v.      12              Summary Points: Why Do We Know David Read about the Ark in Samuel?

         v.      12              Summary Points: Why Do We Know That David Did Not Study the Mosaic Law?

         v.      14              How Does David Know about Obed-edom’s Prosperity?

         v.      14              Why Does the Author of Chronicles insert David’s Lineage and Successful Battles Against the Philistines in Between the Two Transports of the Ark?

         v.      14              A Complete Translation of 1Chronicles 13

I ntroduction: In Samuel, the moving of the Ark was covered essentially as one chapter, even though David made two attempts to move the Ark. In 2Sam. 6, David moves the Ark, runs into trouble, temporarily sets this project aside, and, 3 months later, successfully moves the Ark. 1Chron. 13 covers only the first attempt and parallels 2Sam. 6:1–11. In 1Chron. 14, we have the increase of David’s family in Jerusalem, as well as his success in warring against the Philistines. Then, in 1Chron. 15–16, we have the second time David moves this Ark (successfully this time) and the celebration which accompanied the move.

Do not think that, because you have already studied 2Sam. 6 that you know enough about this incident and that you can simply breeze your way through Chronicles. You cannot simply skim this chapter and think that you understand what is going on. God the Holy Spirit did not include this second recording of the David’s first attempt to move the Ark for no reason. I personally examined 2Sam. 6, wrote about 150 pages or so; and then went immediately to 1Chron. 13. Now, although I could shortcut some things (as several of the verses are nearly identical), my examination of this book did not end up being a carbon copy of 2Sam. 6. There are things which I got out of my examination of this chapter which I did not get from 2Sam. 6. There are applications which I made in this chapter which I did not get in 2Sam. 6. God the Holy Spirit did not make a mistake by including two nearly identical accounts of this same historical incident. It would be your mistake to study one account, and ignore the other.

Now allow me to go into a little more detail. David first confers with his military leaders, asking them if it seems good to contact the rest of Israel and then bring the Ark into Jerusalem (vv. 1–3). David’s men agree to this, and a process of assembling the rest of Israel begins to take place (vv. 4–5). All of these went with David to Kiriath-jearim, to where the Ark had been kept for the past 50–100 years (v. 6). Uzzah and Ahio, descendants of Abinadab, who was originally entrusted with the Ark, become point men with respect to moving the Ark (v. 7). As the Ark begins its transport to Jerusalem, David and all Israel who have gathered with him celebrate (v. 8). Even though it is clear that many of those involved here are Levites and some are even priests, no one questions David’s way of transporting the Ark. Suddenly, the unthinkable occurs—the oxen pulling the cart appear to stumble, Uzzah reaches out to keep the Ark from falling, and God strikes Uzzah dead right then and there (vv. 9–10). David is both angry and afraid and uncertain as to how to next proceed (vv. 11–12). It is decided to temporarily keep the Ark at the home of Obed-edom, someone who is unknown to us, but who is mentioned several times in Scripture (v. 13). God blesses Obed-edom and his family for the 3 months that they are caretakers of the Ark (v. 14).

At this point, quite frankly, I am puzzled as to why Chronicles inserts David’s genealogy followed by his wars against the Philistines in between the two moves. You cannot father 13 sons and fight two successful wars in 3 months time (1Chron. 13:14), so 1Chron. 14 was not placed there chronologically. You may want to keep this in mind as we examine 1Chron. 13, knowing that it will be followed by what appears to be a completely different topic.

Application: Some of us have the mistaken notice that life is a zero-sum game. In order for you to gain, your next door neighbor must lose. Liberals are so upset when the United States citizens use so many resources and are so greatly blessed. They don’t seem to mind it if a liberal champion of theirs has a butt-load of money, but when the CEO of some nasty oil company has a butt-load of money, and when everyone in the conservative movement (in their eyes) are driving around in gas-guzzling vehicles; it’s just too much. What about all the poverty in Africa and Asia? But life is not a zero-sum game. God has blessed me greatly; but I don’t get up in the morning and spend the first couple hours of my day keeping the Black man down so that I can continue to be prosperous. That’s silly. If technology has shown us anything it is, man is going to determine how to harness greater agricultural yields, more production with less effort, and new energy sources will be tapped when they become economically viable. However, key is blessing, and, we do not manufacture our own blessing, no matter how much stuff we produce. God manufactures our blessing. Therefore, when a country has a preponderance of believers—especially growing and maturing believers—then God is going to bless that country with great prosperity. England of a couple centuries ago and the United States today are illustrations of this. So God did not withhold blessing from David in order to pour it out on Obed-edom; and this is what 1Chron. 14 is all about.

With respect to authorship, it is clear that Chronicles was based in part on the manuscript of Samuel; or that both books were produced from a similar set of original manuscripts. In the book of Samuel, even though the history was recorded close to the time that Samuel, Saul and David lived; it is clear that the original historical narratives had to have a variety of authors (the detail of Jonathan’s attack on the Philistine camp and the details of what happened when the Ark was in Philistia suggest first-hand accounts of those incidents). Although it is very likely that Samuel, and later David, assembled the final text of Samuel, it is still likely that they functioned partially as editors and partially as authors.

The book of Chronicles was written long after these events, and possibly assembled by one man. However, the text is so close to Samuel in some places that we must reasonably assume that Samuel was a primary text from which Chronicles was taken, or that they drew from the same manuscripts. It would be impossible for any man to have observed all that occurs in Chronicles as it takes place over such a long span of time. However, in this chapter, when we lay it down side-by-side Samuel, it will be obvious that there is no way that these texts were independently produced.

Since there is much more information in Chronicles on the movement of the Ark, the author of Chronicles had to have more to draw from than simply the text of Samuel. He simply did not make things up.

To remind you, Samuel and Kings approach the history of Israel from a human standpoint (to some degree) whereas Chronicles appears to have more of a divine viewpoint approach. That is, in case you miss some of the spiritual aspects of Samuel, Chronicles, at times, puts them right in your face. This in no way disparages the human authorship of these books; nor does it imply that God dictated Chronicles to some author (as He dictated much of the Pentateuch to Moses).

Let me give you an example: today, there are Muslims in almost all nations, their population is steadily growing and outpacing the growth rate of the indigenous people for the most part, and violence is breaking out throughout the world, its source being found in the more radical elements of these Muslims. That would be a current (January 2007) appraisal of some world events from human viewpoint. Divine viewpoint would be that these Muslims are evil, they are anti-God, and that these outbreaks as well as their infiltrating of most nations is a Satanic attempt to counterfeit the end times, where the Jews will be found scattered throughout every nation. Although the book of Chronicles might not be quite this straightforward, what is included and what is excluded in its historical narrative definitely reveals more of a divine perspective.

Interestingly enough, one commentator, Eugene Merrill, places the movement of the Ark near the end of David’s reign. Since the book of Samuel is generally is chonological order, I doubt this perspective; unfortunately, Merrill makes this assertion for reasons far too complex to rehearse here. I would have been interested to hear Merrill’s reasoning on this topic. On the other hand, Merrill puts the date of moving the Ark at 1004 b.c., which is at the beginning of David’s reign, so perhaps his reasoning would make little or no sense.

David Makes Preparations to Bring the Ark to Jerusalem

2Samuel 6:1

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Latin Vulgate                          David consulted with the captains of thousands, and of hundreds, and with all the commanders.

Masoretic Text                       And so consults David with commanders of the thousands and the hundreds to every prince.

Peshitta                                  And David consulted with the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, and with all the leaders and governors of Israel.

Septuagint                              And David took counsel with the captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, even [with] every commander.

Significant differences:           No significant differences.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       Some time later, David talked with his army commanders,...

GNB (TEV)                            King David consulted with all the officers in command of units of a thousand men and units of a hundred men.

NLT                                        David consulted with all his officials, including the generals and captains of his army.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

God’s Word™                         David consulted with every officer who commanded a regiment or battalion.

HCSB                                     David consulted with all his leaders, the commanders of hundreds and of thousands.

NIV                                         David conferred with each of his officers, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

ESV                                       David consulted with the commanders of thousands and of hundreds, with every leader.

Young's Updated LT              And David consults with the heads of the thousands, and of the hundreds, every leader,...

What is the gist of this verse? David is thinking about moving the Ark to Jerusalem (this is not stated in this verse), so he consults his military leaders [instead of God].

Translation: Then David took counsel with the commanders of thousands and [with the commanders] of hundreds,... David intends to move the Ark of God to Jerusalem, but, rather than call for the High Priest to advise him in this matter, rather than consult the Scriptures on moving the Ark, David checks with his military commanders. The book of Samuel and the book of Chronicles are in a rough chronological order (Chronicles less so than Samuel). My guess is, David had been recently spending a lot of time with his military—possibly in his campaigns against the Philistines—and that, either after the first or second defeat of the Philistines, David thinks about moving the Ark. Now, he has spent many months with these commanders, the idea of bringing the Ark to Jerusalem has come to him, and the people he is with are those he would naturally speak to.

In fact, here is the scenario as I see it. David is reading up on the history of the wars between Israel and Palestine; and he reads about the Ark of God being hauled into battle and how it is eventually returned to Israel; and he decides that this Ark needs to be brought into Jerusalem. David was probably not completely aware of the function of the Ark in Tabernacle worship because David probably saw very little Tabernacle worship in his lifetime (when he was young, this was the time of Saul, and Saul was not all that concerned with spiritual things). So, David probably did not understand all of the relationships of the furniture in Tabernacle worship. However, in reading about the previous Philistine wars, he realized that this Ark was an important asset to Israel (even though it did not do the Israelites any good in battle against the Philistines).

What has happened here is, David has this wonderful idea, and he shares it with those who are around him, which are soldiers. Now, these are great and brave men, but they are not going to be experts in the field of spiritual mechanics. So, when he proposes to do this, of course they are going to agree to it. They know some fundamental principles about the Ark; but it is apparent that no one went back to the Law to examine exactly how the Ark is to be moved.

Now, you may think that all of this is complete conjecture, and, to some degree it is. However, what method will David use to move the Ark? David uses the same method that the Philistines used when they moved the Ark back to Israel. They got a new cart, put the Ark in the new cart, and sent the cattle in motion. David is going to, in part, copy the Philistines. This is reasonable evidence that David came upon this idea to move the Ark by reading of the previous wars between Israel and the Philistines.

In the alternative, one of the commanders could have said, “Here is how the Ark was returned to us.” However, if David is with these military types and is warring against the Philistines, and if he is studying the history of their previous wars (perhaps to gain some insight into tactics and strategies that he might employ), it fits very well together that David comes upon the Ark in his reading, and also makes a mental note of how the Ark is moved.

Application: The worst approach to spirituality is to read the Bible and copy what you read. Okay, it is even worse to copy people that you see as spiritually great (i.e., they are very nice to you and they seem to be really, really holy). You don’t go through the book of Acts, observe what is being done, and then copy that. The Book of Acts gives us a history of early evangelism, early missionary activity, the establishment of the first churches, and the function of the early gifts which God gave to the church. It is not a book of mandates or mechanics. Paul’s epistles are where we go for mandates and mechanics. If we observe Peter doing this or that in Acts, we might copy him, and we might not. It depends. However, when Paul (or James or Peter or John) give us a mandate in the epistles, then we should always follow that mandate. David is going to approach a spiritual matter by copying what he reads—that is the wrong method!

Translation: ...to every prince. This final phrase seems a little confusing, grammatically speaking. My only explanation is, David spoke to every commander that he could find, and that is essentially the meaning of this last part of v. 1.

McGee voices an opinion which is against gathering a large group together in order to make a decision: As I see it, there is a serious problem developing in many churches today because there are too many men who want to have their finger in the pie. That is, they (especially the boards of churches_ want to make the decisions. The problems arise because many of those men are not spiritually equipped to make decisions. Many times their wrong decisions hurt the cause of Christ.

Application: As I write this, we are in the midst of a war in Iraq, and the newly elected Congress is making sounds as though they should have a say in the function of this war. These are men who, in the recent past, called for more troops to be taken into Iraq; and, now that Bush proposes to take more troops into Iraq, they are throwing fits as though Bush is doing exactly the wrong thing (it is January 2007 as I write this). Exactly what we don’t need is the changing public opinion guiding this war; nor do we need the war run by the 585 members of Congress (not sure if I have that number right). I even have some friends who are beside themselves because Bush does not consult them on how we should run the war. We have one Commander-in-Chief, and that man, Democrat or Republican, handles the war. You and I don’t get a say, other than via letters, opinions, demonstrations, etc. However, we do not get to vote on the war directly. We cannot assume that a heart-felt letter sent to the president is going to change things.

Application: David is asking exactly the wrong people about this. He is consulting those in his military about what he should do concerning the Ark of God. How the hell should they know? At what point did they develop a sixth sense to guide David in spiritual matters? This is the wrong approach. It does not work in war; and, generally speaking, it does not work in the spiritual life.

If David needed to consult anyone, it would be the High Priest, Abiathar. He should have consulted him and the Ephod of God, or assigned him the project of determining what should be done with regards to the Ark. You choose the correct person for the job, if you are going to delegate; you don’t consult every Tom, Dick and Harry.

It appears as though some sort of a hierarchy had developed throughout the land, the structure of which is not clear to us; however, there were prominent men in every city and every territory that this phrase refers to. What David does here, which is a new thing, is he consults with not only the high-ranking members of his military, but with these high-ranking members of Israel. It is also possible that these are simply men who rose to high positions within David’s government, which has had 7½ years to grow and gel. But notice that, regardless of whom to every prince refers, David’s style is much different than Saul’s. Saul governed by making decrees and then enforcing these decrees; David governs by consulting a large group of men before choosing a course of action (at least, in this example).

This does not mean that anyone who rules with an autocratic style is wrong and anyone who rules as the leader of a group is right. There are many flavors of these two styles, and the popular one today seems to be a leader who pretends to rule a group democratically or appears to solicit imput, but is thoroughly autocratic. I often encountered this in public education. It was unpopular to be autocratic, so leaders, principals, and department heads pretended to elicit information and input from their inferiors and then pretty much did what they were planning to do in the first place. An alternative style to this is setting up broad, popular policies, and then completely ignoring these policies (also something which I ran into in education).