Up until this point of time in Israel’s history, the ark had been moving around in lots of different places and it had not yet been a reality that Israel had secure borders so that the ark could remain in one place only.1 Additionally, the Lord does not require a temple to be present among his people. The Lord is also greater than a temple and he can not be confined to a temple (1 Kings 8:27).2 For these two reasons there has been no command to build a permanent structure.
7 Partout où j'ai marché avec tous les enfants d'Israël, ai-je dit un mot à l'une des tribus d'Israël à qui j'avais ordonné de paître mon peuple d'Israël, ai-je dit: Pourquoi ne me bâtissez-vous pas une maison de cèdre?