Bible Studies

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2 Samuel 5: 25; 6: 6-7, 10 (Cp. 1 Chronicles 15: 25)
And David did so, as the LORD commanded him; and he drove back the Philistines from Gibeon as far as Gezer (Cp. 1 Chronicles 14: 16). And when they came to Nachon’s threshing floor [in Gibeon??], Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. Then the anger of the LORD was was aroused against Uzzah and God struck him there for his error [irreverence]; and he died there by the ark of God. So David would not move the ark of the LORD with him into the city of David [Jerusalem]; but David took it aside into the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite [in Gibeon, too??].

1 Kings 3: 3-5a
And Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of his father David, “except” that he sacrificed and burned incense at the [pagan] high places (Cp. Leviticus 26: 30; Numbers 33: 52). Now the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place [for pagan worship in the region??].

NOTE: Why was this "except" included when it delineates Solomon walking in the [godly] statutes of his father King David and sacrificing at the [pagan] "high places" of Gibeon. Perhaps the youthful and inexperienced young ruler didn't know any better and thought that wherever the Ark of God was located nearby, then it sanctified the entire place or region, even pagan worship sites.

1 Kings 3: 15
Solomon came to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Covenant and offered burnt and peace offerings

NOTE: Solomon sacrificed at the high places of Gibeon (1 Kings 3: 3-5a) because the most holiest symbol of Jewish worship, the Ark of God was probably located somwehere in the area, at the threshing floor of Obed-Edom (1 Chronicles 15: 25-26, 29: 16: 1). Fifteen verses later, the Ark of the Covenant was now in Jerusalem and Solomon stood before it and made sacrificial offerings to God.

1 Kings 8: 1, 4
Now Solomon assembled the elders of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, the chief fathers of the children of Israel, to King Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring the Ark of the Covenant of the LORD from the City of David, which is Zion. Then they brought up the ark of the LORD, the Tabernacle of Meeting, and all the holy furnishings that were in the tabernacle. The priests and the Levites brought them up [to Mount Moriah??] (Cp. 2 Chronicles 5: 2-5).

NOTE: From now on in the Biblical record the tabernacle of meeting, the Ark of the Covenant, and all the holy furnishings [including the altar of burnt offering??] are situated at Jerusalem.

1 Chronicles 15: 1, 25
David built houses for himself in the City of David [Jerusalem]; and he prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched a tent for it. So David, the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD from the house of Obed-Edom [in Gibeon??] with joy.

*1 Chronicles 21: 29*
For the tabernacle of the LORD and the altar of the burnt offering, which Moses had made in the wilderness, were at that time at the high place in Gibeon [why??].

NOTE: It seems in these narratives that the tabernacle [excluding the ark of God??] and the altar of burnt offering were located in Gibeon at this time, but according to 1 Chronicles 15: 25-26, 29: 16: 1, the ark of God was transported from the threshing floor of Obed-Edom to the city of David [Jerusalem] and placed inside the tabernacle that David had erected for it. Even before that time it is also quite plausible that the ark of God was still located in Kirjath Jearim; one of the four cities of the Gibeonites (Cp. Joshua 9: 17) where the ark remained for twenty years (Cp. 1 Samuel 7: 2).

2 Chronicles 3: 1
Now Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David, at the place that David had prepared on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite [in Jerusalem; Cp. 1 Chronicles 21: 15-17].

NOTE: Abraham offered his son Isaac as a burnt offering on one of the mountains in the land of Moriah (Cp. Genesis 22: 1-2), so was the House [Temple] that Solomon dedicated to God, the same mountain where the threshing floor of Ornan was located (Cp. 1 Chronicles 21: 15b), and where God had appeared to David?


Robert Randle
776 Commerce St. #B-11
Tacoma, WA 98402
July 29, 2010
[email protected]

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