Return Of The Ark and Establishment of David’s Kingdom

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1. In Exodus 25, God instructs Moses on how the Ark is to be transported…carried by Levitical priests on poles that are guided through rings attached to the sides of the Ark. Apparently, knowledge of these procedures eluded them.  Sadly, they choose to move the Ark on a cart and when it looked like it would fall, “Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the Ark…the Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah, and he struck him down because he had put his hand on the Ark. So he died there before God” (1 Chronicles 13:9-10). Later, David read the fine print and asked the Levites to move the Ark to the tent he had setup, “and the Levites carried the ark of God with the poles on their shoulders, as Moses had commanded in accordance with the word of the Lord” (15:15).

   While we’re in chapter 15, it’s interesting to note David’s over-the-top performance during the transporting of the ark. David was dancing and celebrating, wearing “a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who were carrying the ark” (15:27). So David associates himself with the priests by wearing garments they wear. It’s an interesting observation. Michal, daughter of Saul was watching and not too impressed, “she despised him in her heart” (15:29). In 2 Samuel, we have more details, but Michal was bitter and ended up having no children, some kind of  punishment no doubt for her offense.

   Back to chapter 14.  Part of David’s rise to the throne includes defeating the Philistines and notably to burn their idols in fire (14:12). David asks for God’s approval and instruction and was successful, “so David’s fame spread throughout every land, and the Lord made all the nations fear him” (14:17).

   Chapter 16 includes some details for worshipping and presenting offerings before God now that the ark is in its tent. David is very involved in all of these details. He appoints “Asaph and his associates to give praise to the Lord” (16:7), words that read like one of the Psalms, in 16:8-36, ending with “Then all the people said “Amen” and “Praise the Lord.”

   The NIV Study Bible notes place a lot of emphasis on how the writing of Chronicles casts David in a desirable light. Having had the ability to look back over history and to see that David’s goodness outweighed his errors, the writing chooses to emphasize the positive while skipping over the negative. After all, we have Samuel and Kings to fill in the gap! It’s mainly interesting because I’m studying “Reasonable Faith” (William Lane Craig), specifically on chapter 5, “The Problem of Historical Knowledge,” so it’s interesting to see how the writing are selective. That’s not to say they are wrong, just from a different perspective. For example, as Craig provides, imagine two people are watching a baseball game. The first is an enthusiastic baseball fan, one who loves the game and is excited to witness the events. The other knows nothing about baseball, but happens to be in the park during the game. A batter steps up to the plate and hits a home run. (Even knowing the term presupposes inside information, but that’s a whole different story.) The first person gets animated with excitement while the second person observes the ball went over the fence, perhaps they’ve lost their ball. When the history is recorded, the first person will have much to say about the event while the second will say very little. Both would be accurate. A challenge to understand history.

   In these chapters we see David cast in a favorable light and are reminded that despite his shortcomings, even his outrageous behavior of the past, David truly worshipped God and led others to do the same. Lord help me to learn the positive lessons and draw people to you!

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