Chapter Six

The transfer of the Ark of the Covenant from Kiriath-jearim to Jerusalem.

2 Samuel 6:2. And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale-judah to bring up from there the Ark of God, on which is called the name of the Lord of hosts, who sits on the cherubim. Baale-judah—the same as Kiriath-jearim in the tribe of Judah. “To bring up from there the Ark of God.” See (1 Sam 6:21). “The name of the Lord of hosts, who sits on the cherubim.” See (Exod 25:10-22).

2 Samuel 6:5. And David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord on harps and lyres and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. “Played before the Lord on all kinds of instruments”—to express and heighten their religious feeling. Harps and lyres—stringed instruments; castanets and cymbals—percussion instruments of metal, tambourine—something like our drum.

2 Samuel 6:7. But the Lord became angry with Uzzah, and God struck him down there for his irreverence, and he died there by the Ark of God. Regarding the question of why, precisely, Uzzah was punished, Blessed Theodoret answers: “Some say that he was punished for his recklessness, as one who presumed to offer aid to the Ark, which, serving as a protection to all the people, had no need of help from others. Josephus, however, says that Uzzah suffered punishment because, not being a Levite, he dared to touch the Ark; but this is clearly false, because Uzzah was the son of Aminadab, to whom the Bethshemites entrusted the Ark that was sent back by the foreigners (1 Sam 7:1; 2 Sam 6:3-4); and Aminadab was of the tribe of Levi (1 Chr 6:16-22). Moreover, he was not punished for recklessness, because when the cart tilted, it was necessary to support it with his hand. On the contrary, Uzzah was punished for another sin. God commanded the priests to carry the Ark on their shoulders (Num 4:1-20); but they, contrary to the law, were carrying it on a cart. The foreigners deceived them into this, [in that] the Ark, sent back in this manner by foreigners, caused harm to no one. But they should have known that the foreigners did not know the law and did not have priests to carry the Ark according to the law” (Blessed Theodoret, Commentary on 2 Samuel, question 19). Moreover, as some believe, Uzzah seized the Ark of the Lord not with the proper reverence toward it.

2 Samuel 6:9. And David was afraid of the Lord that day and said, “How can the Ark of the Lord come to me? “To me”—into the city of David (cf. 2 Sam 5:7).

2 Samuel 6:12. And it was told King David, “The Lord has blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that he has, because of the Ark of God.” Then David went and brought up the Ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing. “Having made Jerusalem the political center of the country, David found it necessary to make it also the religious center through the transfer of the Ark of the Covenant to it. This was required, on the one hand, in order to exalt the significance of the city of David in the eyes of the people, and on the other hand, even more so that under the personal observation of the king he might give the public worship the proper order and solemn setting, and thereby revive the religious spirit of the people, which had clearly fallen in recent times (1 Chr 13:3)” (Y. Bogorodsky, “Hebrew Kings”, p. 152).

2 Samuel 6:14. And David danced before the Lord with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod. “David danced before the Lord with all his might”—from the fullness of his religious exultation. “And David was girded with a linen ephod.” See note to (1 Sam 2:18).

2 Samuel 6:16. And as the Ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart. Michal—daughter of Saul and wife of David. See (1 Sam 18:20-23; 2 Sam 3:12-16). “And she despised him in her heart.” The daughter of Saul was not able to understand, let alone share, the religious exultation in which the king and prophet David found himself at that moment.

2 Samuel 6:17. And they brought in the Ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. Regarding the establishment of the Davidic Jerusalem Tent, see (1 Chr 15:1). Abiathar was appointed high priest of the newly established tent (1 Sam 22:20-23); while Zadok presided over the old dismantled tent at Gibeon (1 Chr 16:39). Thus the Hebrews came to have two high priests and two places of worship, contrary to the prescription from Sinai. But David did not dare either to transfer the old tent to Jerusalem or to dismantle it as unnecessary, because he feared to set against himself the inhabitants of Gibeon and the whole tribe of Benjamin, who were already not well disposed toward David, and certainly treasured the presence of this sanctuary with them as a monument of their honorable position among the tribes in the time of Saul. There needed to be the splendor of the Jerusalem worship created gradually by David, and the overwhelming magnificence of the Temple of Solomon, in order for the Benjamites and other tribes that sympathized with them to forget, for a time, their rivalry and reconcile themselves to the destruction of the old tent. Under Solomon the old, Gibeon tent was dismantled and together with David’s were stored for safekeeping in the rooms attached to the Temple” (Y. Bogorodsky, “Hebrew Kings”, p. 155–156).

2 Samuel 6:21. And David said to Michal, “Before the Lord, [I will dance. And blessed is the Lord,] who chose me instead of your father and all his house, establishing me as a leader over the people of the Lord, over Israel; before the Lord I will play and dance; 2 Samuel 6:22. and I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in my own eyes; but by the handmaidens of whom you have spoken, I shall be held in honor. The religious exultation of David, incomprehensible to the cold nature of the highborn Michal, is entirely comprehensible and praiseworthy in the eyes of the mass of simple, spontaneous people.

2 Samuel 6:23. And Michal the daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death. The religious inertness of Michal could not but cause alienation from her on the part of David. Michal’s barrenness was as it were a punishment from above.