The Ark of the Covenant
Matt 5:17
was a gold-plated wooden box that
God told Moses
to make in The wilderness.
On top was a lid with two cherubim-facing each other
and made of pure gold.
Two tables of stone sat inside the box, with
God’s law written on them.
The ark represented
the presence of God and was a place
where God met with his people.
As the most holy of the articles of worship,
it sat in the
innermost room of the tabernacle.
However, the Israelites packed up the
entire tabernacle –
including the Ark of the Covenant –
when they
travelled in the wilderness.
God gave special rules about moving the
Ark of the Covenant –
they had to be very careful.
King David moves the ark
King David wanted
the Ark of the Covenant of God
near him,
so he arranged to bring it into Jerusalem
as part of a
huge national celebration.
The ark was traveling smoothly on a cart
when suddenly
the oxen pulling the cart
stumbled and the ark
wobbled.
Tragically, the driver of the cart – a man
called Uzzah –
put out his hand to steady it, and God struck him dead.
David cancelled the celebration and moved the ark into the
nearby house of Obed-edom.
Since I wrote that story, several people have asked me questions
about this man, Obed-edom.
These questions have revolved around who Obed-edom was,
his nationality and possible genealogy.
The reasoning
behind the questions seems to be that
David
would not be likely
to put the Ark of the Covenant
in the care of a man
who was not even an Israelite.
This question is discussed further in the post Obed-edom the Gittite,
however, part of that investigation
involved the issue of exactly who was
permitted to carry the ark.
So what are we told about it?
Let’s look at examples to see
who actually carried
the
Ark of the Covenant before God.
When Israel
crossed the Jordan into
Canaan,
it was the priests who carried the ark.
As the people walked around Jericho so many times
before the walls
fell down,
it was the priests who carried the ark.
When the people were gathered on Mt Ebal and Mt Gerizim,
the priests carried the ark.
Deuteronomy 31:9 also describes
the priests as Levites who carried the ark
(cf Deuteronomy 31:25, which only says “Levites” – but of course,
all priests were Levites).
We conclude that it wasn’t just any Kohathites who could
carry the ark:
it had to be carried by priests.
When David first arranged for moving the
Ark of the Covenant
into Jerusalem,
it was carried on a cart.
This was wrong –
as
David acknowledged
when he
tried again later.
The second time,
he said that none but the Levites were to
carry the ark.
Does that mean just any Levites? 1 Chronicles 15:11-12
tells us that David called
Zadok and Abiathar the priests and other
leaders of the Levites
and told them to
arrange for the carrying of the ark,
noting that God had broken out
against them
and killed Uzzah because
they had not
done it correctly the first time.
1 Chronicles 15:14-15 tells us that the priests and
Levites
consecrated themselves and the Levites
carried the ark of God with the poles as
Moses had commanded.
So who did carry the ark?
Was it the priests or some other
Levites?
From the commands in
Numbers and Deuteronomy
and the examples in
Joshua,
I expect that the priests carried the ark
while the Levites
praised God as they walked.
However, we also find one more hint in 1 Kings 2:26.
Solomon was king by then,
and dismissed Abiathar from his position as priest
for supporting Adonijah in
claiming the kingship.
In this verse, Solomon mentions that Abiathar
had carried
the ark of God before David.
In fact, he may have
carried the ark from Obed-edom’s house to the place
David had prepared for it:
at the very least,
we know he was involved
in the planning.
The final example occurs well after the death of Obed-edom,
but shows that
David had thoroughly learn his lesson.
Solomon built a temple for God on Mount Moriah and was
moving the
Ark of the Covenant
from the City of David
into the temple.
2 Chronicles 5:4 says that
Levites carried the ark,
while 2 Chronicles 5:5 says
Levitical priests brought it up.
Once again, priests were Levites, so the first statement isn’t wrong,
it’s just that the second is more specific.
2 Chronicles 5:7repeats that the priests carried the ark
and placed it in the
inner sanctuary of the temple.
Based on the evidence of God’s commands and the examples we have,
I conclude that the intention from start to end was for the
priests to carry the Ark of the Covenant.
Priests were Levites.
They were also Kohathites, and
Kohathites carried most of the holy items
from the tabernacle.
The Ark of the Covenant
was the most holy of all the holy items in the
tabernacle.
The Kohathites who were not priests could carry other holy items,
but not the ark.
Only priests could carry the Ark of the Covenant.