Having introduced the six specially appointed Levites (1 Chronicles 15:4–10), David next summons and addresses the priests and the six named Levitical leaders as a group. Zadok and Abiathar (1 Chronicles 15:11) were the two high priests during David’s kingship, the former serving at Gibeon (1 Chronicles 16:39). The priests alone were allowed to handle the ark (Numbers 4:5–6, Numbers 4:15) and the Levites alone could carry it. 1 Chronicles 15:2–15 can be divided into two parts. Each of these parts addresses in their first half consecration (1 Chronicles 15:12, 1 Chronicles 15:14) and the second half obedience to the command given (1 Chronicles 15:13, 1 Chronicles 15:15). In short, this is the heart of David’s response to the catastrophe of 1 Chronicles 13:1–14: holiness and obedience.
The paragraph starts with David
(1 Chronicles 15:1–2) but ends, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the Lord
(1 Chronicles 15:15). Previously in Chronicles, all that Moses…had commanded
had related to the priestly sacrifices (1 Chronicles 6:49), and according to the word of the Lord
to David’s enthronement (1 Chronicles 11:3, 1 Chronicles 11:10; 1 Chronicles 12:23).1 Now kingship and worship and David and Moses are brought together according to the word of the Lord.
Moses had commanded
the Levitical carrying of the ark on poles (1 Chronicles 15:15). Now it is David who commanded
as he commissioned the chiefs of the Levites
to appoint the singers and musicians (1 Chronicles 15:16).2 This is a significant development since the Pentateuch is silent regarding a structure for music, except for the priests who were to blow the trumpets (1 Chronicles 15:24; Numbers 10:10–18).
The next stage in preparations involves the consecration/sanctification of the Levites (1 Chronicles 15:12, 1 Chronicles 15:14); literally, the Levites were commanded to make yourselves holy.
All the sons of Levi were already separated unto God for this work (Numbers 3:5–6; Deuteronomy 10:8), but for this special activity these priests and Levites were now called to make themselves holy.
The word consecrate
(1 Chronicles 15:12, 1 Chronicles 15:14) means to set things or persons apart from impurity and profane use and dedicate them to the service of God in holiness. Chronicles records the similar consecration of the Levitical priesthood during the reigns of Solomon (2 Chronicles 5:11), Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 29:5), and Josiah (2 Chronicles 35:6).3 In every instance, God’s favour subsequently rested upon Israel.4 Consecration involved separation from all forms of impurity (Leviticus 16:19; 2 Samuel 11:4) and included ritual washing and abstinence from sexual relations (Exodus 19:14–15). Elsewhere we learn that priests and Levites are to avoid contact with corpses (Leviticus 21:1–4) and are subject to more stringent requirements concerning marriage (Leviticus 21:13–15).5 Leviticus 21:14 declares that they carried out the requirements to the letter, with almost identical wording to the instructions stated in Leviticus 21:12, thus emphasizing the point. It was the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel
that demanded attention to detail.
Mosaic legislation threatened that God would break out
against the Israelites if the ritual purity of the demarcated Mount Sinai zone was violated (Exodus 19:24). This same term is used of the Lord’s breaking out against Uzza (1 Chronicles 13:11). The Chronicler makes it clear that any procedure that does not first take God’s holiness into account will lead to disaster, as was seen in the aborted first attempt to transfer the ark (1 Chronicles 15:13). It should be noted, however, that David does not blame Uzzah for the calamity; rather, he puts it down to we did not seek him according to the rule
(1 Chronicles 15:13). The problem was not Uzzah’s alone but also the leadership who was accountable for the life and worship of Israel. Again, the issue of seeking the Lord comes up as a fixed theme in Chronicles. Seeking God must be at the very centre of Israel’s worship and service. If God had been sought at the very start, the outcome could have been very different. Sadly, as many Christians too have discovered, this is something learned only in the school of hard knocks and bitter experience.
So, David and the religious leaders of Israel abide by the clear instructions of the law, calling the priests to shoulder the ark on poles when transporting it (1 Chronicles 15:15; Exodus 25:12–15; Numbers 7:9). The necessity of obedience to God’s written revelation is a constant theme throughout the Chronicles since God’s blessing is directly bound up in Israel’s observance of the Mosaic law (Deuteronomy 28:1–68).
11 David appela les sacrificateurs Tsadok et Abiathar, et les Lévites Uriel, Asaja, Joël, Schemaeja, Eliel et Amminadab.