1 Chronicles 13:13

13:6-14 Let the sin of Uzza warn all to take heed of presumption, rashness, and irreverence, in dealing with holy things; and let none think that a good design will justify a bad action. Let the punishment of Uzza teach us not to dare to trifle with God in our approaches to him; yet let us, through Christ, come boldly to the throne of grace. If the gospel be to some a savour of death unto death, as the ark was to Uzza, yet let us receive it in the love of it, and it will be to us a savour of life unto life.

So David gathered all Israel together,.... The principal of them, even 30,000 select men, 2 Samuel 6:1 . from Shihor of Egypt; or the Nile of Egypt, as the Targum and other Jewish writers, called Shihor from the blackness of its water, see Jeremiah 2:18 though some think the river Rhinocurura is meant, which both lay to the south of the land of Israel: even unto the entering of Hamath; which the Targum interprets of Antiochia, which lay to the north of the land; so that this collection of the people was made from south to north, the extreme borders of the land: to bring the ark of God from Kirjathjearim; where it then was, and had been a long time, see 1 Samuel 7:1, from hence to the end of the chapter the account is the same with 2 Samuel 6:1, see the notes there; what little variations there are, are there observed. See Gill on 2 Samuel 6:1, 2 Samuel 6:2, 2 Samuel 6:3, 2 Samuel 6:4, 2 Samuel 6:5, 2 Samuel 6:6, 2 Samuel 6:7, 2 Samuel 6:8, 2 Samuel 6:9, 2 Samuel 6:10, 2 Samuel 6:11

Verse 13. - Obed-edom the Gittite . That Obed-edom is called "the Gittite," i.e. of Gath-rimmon, a Levite city of Dan ( Joshua 21:24 ), might probably indicate that there was another Obed-edom, from whom to distinguish him. Such a one would appear readily to offer in the name of Obed-edom, son of Jeduthun, a "Merarite Levite" (ch. 15:18-24; 16:5, 38; 26:4-15). But the difficulty occurs that an expression in this last quotation seems to identify him with the Obed-edom of 2 Samuel 6:11 ; and the last sentence of our next verse. If they are one and the same, it has been suggested that marriage might account for the Merarite living in a Kohathite city (see 'Speaker's Commentary' on 2 Samuel 6:10 ). 1 Chronicles 13:13

13 . David brought not ] R.V. David removed not . Obed-edom the Gittite ] As Gittite means man of Gath, Obed-edom was doubtless of Philistine origin; perhaps he attached himself to David during David’s sojourn among the Philistines. In 1 Chronicles 15:18 ; 1 Chronicles 15:24 ; 1 Chronicles 16:38 an Obed-edom is mentioned who was a Levite and a porter (doorkeeper) for the ark, but the Chronicler does not identify him with the Gittite of the same name.

(13) Brought not . . . home. —A different verb from that in 1Chronicles 13:12 . Literally, And David caused not the ark to turn aside unto himself. Slightly abridged. (See Samuel.) Obed-edom the Gittite.—As, according to 1Chronicles 26:1-4, Obed-edom was a Korhitic Levite, the term “Gittite” is generally assumed to mean native of Gathrimmon, a Levitical township (Joshua 21:24) belonging to the great clan of Kohath, which was charged with the carriage of the Ark, and of which Obed-edom was a member (Numbers 4:15).

As the whole assembly approved of David's design (כּן לעשׂות, it is to do so equals so much we do), David collected the whole of Israel to carry it out. "The whole of Israel," from the southern frontier of Canaan to the northern; but of course all are not said to have been present, but there were numerous representatives from every part, - according to 2 Samuel 6:1 , a chosen number of 30,000 men. The מצרים שׁיחור, which is named as the southern frontier, is not the Nile, although it also is called שׁחר ( Isaiah 23:3 and Jeremiah 2:18 ), and the name "the black river" also suits it (see Del. on Isaiah, loc. cit.); but is the שׁיחור before, i.e., eastward from Egypt (מצרים על־פּני אשׁר), i.e., the brook of Egypt, מצרים נחל, the Rhinocorura, now el Arish, which in all accurate statements of the frontiers is spoken of as the southern, in contrast to the neighbourhood of Hamath, which was the northern boundary: see on Numbers 34:5 . For the designation of the northern frontier, חמת לבוא, see on Numbers 34:8 . Kirjath-jearim, the Canaanitish Baalah, was known among the Israelites by the name Baale Jehudah or Kirjath-baal, as distinguished from other cities named after Baal, and is now the still considerable village Kureyeh el Enab; see on Joshua 9:17 . In this fact we find the explanation of י אל ק בּעלתה, 1 Chronicles 13:6 : to Baalah, to Kirjath-jearim of Judah.

The ark had been brought thither when the Philistines sent it back to Beth-shemesh, and had been set down in the house of Abinadab, where it remained for about seventy years; see 1 Samuel 6 and 1 Samuel 7:1-2 , and the remarks on 2 Samuel 6:3 . שׁם נקרא אשׁר is not to be translated "which is named name," which gives no proper sense. Translating it so, Bertheau would alter שׁם into שׁם, according to an arbitrary conjecture of Thenius on 2 Samuel 6:2 , "who there (by the ark) is invoked." But were שׁם the true reading, it could not refer to the ark, but only to the preceding משּׁם, since in the whole Old Testament the idea that by or at the resting-place of the ark Jahve was invoked (which שׁם אשׁר would signify) nowhere occurs, since no one could venture to approach the ark. If שׁם referred to משּׁם, it would signify that Jahve was invoked at Kirjath-baal, that there a place of worship had been erected by the ark; but of that the history says nothing, and it would, moreover, be contrary to the statement that the ark was not visited in the days of Saul. We must consequently reject the proposal to alter שׁם into שׁם as useless and unsuitable, and seek for another explanation: we must take אשׁר in the sense of ὡς, which it sometimes has; cf. Ew. 333, a.: "as he is called by name," where שׁם does not refer only to יהוה, but also to the additional clause הכּרוּבים יושׁב, and the meaning is that Jahve is invoked as He who is enthroned above the cherubim; cf.