1 David consulted with the captains of thousands and of hundreds, even with every leader. 2 David said to all the assembly of Israel, "If it seems good to you, and if it is of Yahweh our God, let us send abroad 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 suburbs, that they may gather themselves to us; 3 and let us bring again the ark of our God to us. For we didn't seek it in the days of Saul." 4 All the assembly said that they would do so; for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people. 5 So David assembled all Israel together, from the Shihor (the brook) of Egypt even to the entrance of Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath Jearim. 6 David went up, and all Israel, to Baalah, (that is), to Kiriath Jearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God Yahweh that sits (above) the cherubim, that is called by the Name. 7 They carried the ark of God on a new cart, (and brought it) out of the house of Abinadab: and Uzza and Ahio drove the cart. 8 David and all Israel played before God with all their might, even with songs, and with harps, and with stringed instruments, and with tambourines, and with cymbals, and with trumpets. 9 When they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzza put forth his hand to hold the ark; for the oxen stumbled. 10 The anger of Yahweh was kindled against Uzza, and he struck him, because he put forth his hand to the ark; and there he died before God. 11 David was displeased, because Yahweh had broken forth on Uzza; and he called that place Perez Uzza, to this day. 12 David was afraid of God that day, saying, "How shall I bring the ark of God home to me?" 13 So David didn't move the ark to him into the city of David, but carried it aside into the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. 14 The ark of God remained with the family of Obed-Edom in his house three months: and Yahweh blessed the house of Obed-Edom, and all that he had.
Compare 2-Samuel 6:1-11 and notes.
David consults with his officers, and resolves to bring back the ark from the house of Abinadab, 1-Chronicles 13:1-4. 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, 1-Chronicles 13:5-10. David is displeased, and orders the ark to be carried to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite, 1-Chronicles 13:11-13. The ark abides there three months, and the Lord blesses Obed-edom, 1-Chronicles 13:14.
INTRODUCTION TO 1 CHRONICLES 13
The contents of this chapter are the same with 2-Samuel 6:1, only David's consultation with the principal men of Israel concerning the affair herein transacted is premised in the first four verses of this.
(1-Chronicles 13:1-5) David consults about the ark.
(1-Chronicles 13:6-14) The removal of the ark.
The Removal of the Ark from Kirjath-Jearim. David's Building, His Wives and Children, and His Victories over the Philistines.The Bringing of the Ark into the City of David, and the Arrangement of the Worship in Mount Zion
1-Chronicles 13-16
All these facts are described in the second book of Samuel, for the most part in the same words. There, however, the contents of our chapter 14, David's building, wives and children, and victories over the Philistines, immediately follow, in 1-Chronicles 5:11-25, the account of the conquest of the citadel of Zion (1-Chronicles 11:4-8); and then in 2 Sam 6 the removal of the ark from Kirjath-jearim, and the bringing of it, after an interval of three months, to Jerusalem, are narrated consecutively, but much more shortly than in the Chronicle. The author of the books of Samuel confined himself to a mere narration of the transfer of the ark to Jerusalem, as one of the first acts of David tending to the raising of the Israelitish kingship, and has consequently, in his estimation of the matter, only taken account of its importance politically to David as king. The author of our Chronicle, on the contrary, has had mainly in view the religious significance of this design of David to restore the Levitic cultus prescribed in the Mosaic law; and in order to impress that upon the reader, he not only gives a detailed account of the part which the Levites took in the solemn transfer of the ark of God (1 Chron 15), but he sets forth minutely the arrangements which David made, after the ark had been brought into the capital of the kingdom, for the restoration of a permanent worship about that sanctuary (1 Chron 16). Both the narratives are taken from an original document which related the matter more at length; and from it the author of 2 Samuel has excerpted only what was important for his purpose, while the author of the Chronicle gives a more detailed account. The opinion held by de Wette and others, that the narrative in the Chronicle is merely an expansion by the author of the Chronicle, or by the author of the original document followed by our chronicler, of the account in 2 Sam 6, for the purpose of glorifying the Levitic cultus, is shown to be incorrect and untenable by the multitude of historical statements peculiar to 1 Chron 15 and 16, which could not possibly have been invented.
*More commentary available by clicking individual verses.