Today we'll be combining 2 Samuel 6 with 1 Chronicles 15 to get a more complete picture of how the ark was brought to Jerusalem after it had been in the house of Obed-Edom for three months.
"Then David summoned Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel and Amminadab the Levites. He said to them, 'You are the heads of the Levitical families; you and your fellow Levites are to consecrate yourselves and bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it. It was because you, the Levites, did not bring it up the first time that the Lord our God broke out in anger against us. We did not inquire of Him about how to do it in the prescribed way.' So the priests and Levites consecrated themselves in order to bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel. And the Levites carried the ark of God with the poles on their shoulders, as Moses commanded in accordance with the word of the Lord." (1 Chronicles 15:11-15) The Kohathite division of the Levites are the ones who would have carried the ark by its poles.
"David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their fellow Levites as musicians to make a joyful sound with musical instruments: lyres, harps and cymbals." (1 Chronicles 15:16) Verses 17-24 contain a list of the musicians and singers and we will skip over this long list and pick back up at verse 25. "So David and the elders and the commanders of units of a thousand went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the house of Obed-Edom, with rejoicing. Because God had helped the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord, seven bulls and seven rams were sacrificed." (1 Chronicles 15:25-26) In addition to these sacrifices made at some point in the journey in thankfulness to the Lord for helping the Levites undertake the very solemn and very scary task of carrying the ark, David made a sacrifice after the men had taken their first six steps with the ark. "When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf." (2 Samuel 6:13)
The author's next statement about David's clothing has been misinterpreted often. One of the main reasons for this is that in the final portion of our chapter, which we'll study tomorrow, David's first wife Michal will scold him about what he wore while he was retrieving the ark. Some scholars have interpreted her words to mean David was almost naked. But we have to look to the parallel account in 1 Chronicles 15 to get a better understanding of what David was wearing. 2 Samuel 6:14-15 says, "Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets." 1 Chronicles 15:26-27 says, "Now David was clothed in a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, and as were the musicians, and Kenaniah, who was in charge of the singing of the choirs. David also wore a linen ephod." An ephod was an apron-type garment worn by the priests when they served in the house of God. I don't know if any of you have ever worn an apron while cooking or doing housework, but when we think of the ephod as an apron-type garment we want to picture a full apron---the kind that has an upper portion to cover the chest and the kind that has straps that go over the shoulders. If David had been wearing nothing but an ephod, he certainly would have been shockingly immodest, but the passage from 1 Chronicles 15 makes it very clear that David wasn't wearing an ephod only; he was wearing a long white linen robe underneath it, as were the priests and all the musicians. Their appearance was probably similar to a church choir all dressed in white robes. David and these other men are covered head to toe; they are not immodestly dressed in public. There is no way they would dishonor the Lord or themselves by retrieving the ark half-dressed. There is no way any respectable man of their culture would go in public half-dressed even if he wasn't performing a religious ritual. Tomorrow we'll discuss why his wife Michal finds fault with his clothing and his dancing.
"So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouts, with the sounding of rams' horns and trumpets, and of cymbals, and the playing of lyres and harps." (1 Chronicles 15:28) David has a place ready for it similar to the tabernacle that once housed it in the wilderness. "After David had constructed buildings for himself in the City of David, he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it." (1 Chronicles 15:1)
Once the ark is in place, David will go to his own home in a celebratory mood to bless his family in the name of the Lord and to lavish gifts upon them. As often happens when we've just experienced a spiritual high, an event occurs that could easily have sent David into a spiritual low. The devil hates it when we rejoice in the Lord because the joy of the Lord is our strength. (Nehemiah 8:10) If Satan can steal our joy from us he can hurt our testimony for the Lord or keep us from testifying to the Lord's goodness altogether. One of the ways he likes to steal our joy is by enticing others to say discouraging words to us. He will use someone who isn't as close to the Lord as we are or someone who isn't even a believer to say critical things to us about the Lord or about our love and service toward the Lord. In tomorrow's passage we'll see that David doesn't even get a foot inside the door of his home before someone lets loose on him in anger and scorn. He sets an example for us in how to handle such an attack in a dignified and godly manner.
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