Today, I am reading and commenting on  2 Samuel 4-7.

Upon being made king over all of Israel, and no longer just king of Judah, King David moved his capital to Jerusalem.  Of course to do so he had to first conquer Jerusalem, which had held out against the Israelites since the time of Joshua.  The other aspect of this passage, and really the entire account of David’s military career, is the way in which it both credits his military brilliance and his reliance on God’s guidance.  When the Philistines attacked him, the passage tells us that he inquired of God on how he should respond and then again when the Philistines attacked a second time.  In both cases, the writer gives me the impression that King  David made good tactical and strategic decisions because he sought and followed God’s guidance.

I want to write about King David’s two efforts to move the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem.  The first time, King David gave up on bringing the Ark to Jerusalem when one of his allies was killed because he touched the Ark while trying to keep it from falling off of the cart they were transporting it on.  David became frightened and angry when this happened.  So, King David left the Ark in the care of a Philistine who had allied himself with David.  When King David was told a few months later that the man he left it with, and everything he had, had been blessed, David moved the Ark the rest of the way to Jerusalem.  This bit has always confused me, but I realized today what it tells us.  David was afraid that Uzzah had been killed because God was angry that he, David, was moving the Ark to Jerusalem.  He left the Ark with Obed-Edom as a test.  If things went badly, King David would have known to return the Ark to where it had been.  Since things went well, David chose to move the Ark the rest of the way into Jerusalem.  However, in the meantime, King David had learned that the Ark should be carried, not carted.  Using this new information King David moved the Ark into Jerusalem.

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