I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Chronicles 13-16.

    I am not sure how much of this I will be writing about. However, first I will comment on the obvious that just about everyone who comments on this passage comments on. When David first attempted to move the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, he put on quite a big celebration. He had a new cart built to transport the Ark and gathered all of the leaders of Israel. This was probably a bigger celebration than his coronation, considering that it appears that he was acknowledged as king by the various groups of Israelites over a period of time. Then, just before they got to Jerusalem, one of the Levites guiding the cart the Ark was on touched it and was killed immediately and impressively. This would have been viewed as a bad sign about David’s kingship by everyone, including David. So, David immediately arranged for the Ark to stay at that location.

    Shortly after the abortive attempt to move the Ark to Jerusalem, the Philistines mustered their armies to remind the Israelites who was in charge in the area. David decisively defeated them in the first battle and the Philistines withdrew. A short time later the Philistines returned and once again David defeated them, although he used different tactics this second time. What makes these two battles significant is that they were evidence that God had not abandoned David. During this same time period, David asked his advisers to figure out what had gone wrong. He spent some time turning Jerusalem into not just the place he ruled from but into a capital city. He had some land in the city consecrated for the worship of God. Then David once again attempted to move the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. This time he was successful.

    When David began his preparations for the second attempt to bring the Ark to Jerusalem he said something very significant. He told the religious leaders that the reason things went wrong the first time was because they (including himself) had not asked God how they should go about moving the Ark. I want to point out that David learned this lesson from his two battles with the Philistines. Just as with his plans for moving the Ark the first time, David thought he knew what tactics to use against the Philistines. But he asked God what tactics he should use anyway. When he first went to move the Ark, he skipped that step. That is an important lesson for us. We need to ask God for guidance and direction, even, maybe even especially, when we “know” what to do.