1 Chronicleschapter 15
29 verses · Ezra, by tradition · 450 to 400 BC · History
Key verse
And David was clothed with a robe of fine linen, and all the Levites that bare the ark, and the singers, and Chenaniah the master of the song with the singers: David also had upon him an ephod of linen.
It stands in The ark comes up with shouting, and Michal despises, verses 25 to 29.
The chapter
Chapter summary
The ark is brought a second time, and this time by the book. David prepares a place and a tent, and states the reason for the first disaster plainly: 'none ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites… for Jehovah chose them to carry the ark.' The priests and Levites sanctify themselves and bear it upon their shoulders with the staves, as Moses commanded. Then the music is organized in detail. Chenaniah over the song, singers with psalteries set to Alamoth and harps set to the Sheminith, cymbals of brass, seven priests with trumpets. David dances clothed in a robe of fine linen; Michal, watching from a window, despises him in her heart.
Context
History · Ezra · 1 Chronicles overview
The world behind this chapter
1 Chronicles 15The history
1 Chronicles names no author, and it names its own sources at 29:29, the histories of Samuel the seer, Nathan the prophet and Gad the seer. The Babylonian Talmud at tractate Bava Batra 15a assigns the book to Ezra the scribe, and C. F. Keil follows that tradition. Sara Japhet, H. G. M. Williamson and Gary Knoppers hold instead that an anonymous writer of the Persian period compiled it. The second attempt falls about 1003 BC, three months after the first, the interval 13:14 records, and runs from Obed-edom's house up to the tent David pitched in Jerusalem. A first hearer knew that purifying themselves meant washing, changing clothes and abstaining beforehand, which was a set process. He knew the poles went on the shoulders as Moses commanded, which is the point the first attempt had failed on. The music is set out like an orchestra chart, with bronze cymbals for the leaders, harps tuned one way, lyres tuned another and priests blowing trumpets by name. Two of those tuning terms have never been explained, and translators have left them as they stand. Chenaniah is set over the carrying or the song, since one Hebrew word covers the lifting of a load and the lifting of the voice, and both fit a man instructing Levites in a procession. The linen robe and ephod David wears is a priest's plain working garment, and seven bulls and seven rams were offered when God helped the carriers.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
What it meant to them
The men who led the singing in the second temple traced their assignments, their instruments and their sections to this chapter. It was their charter and it doubled as their rulebook. It also told the story of a second chance, the same king and the same ark and the same road, done this time as God said. Failure in worship was answered here by correction.
Sources cited
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
- C. F. Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Chronicles , 1872
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
- This site's published dossier for 1 Chronicles
Where the chapter sits
1 Chronicles 15 falls in David's reign: temple-framed (chapters 10–29). Saul's death framed as judgment; David's consolidation; the ark brought to Jerusalem; the Davidic covenant (ch. 17); the military victories; the census and the threshing-floor site (ch. 21); temple preparation; Solomon's charge; David's doxology.
Before it: Genealogies from Adam to Saul, chapters 1–9.
The whole shape of 1 Chronicles→The structure of this chapter
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. None but the Levites may carry the ark
1. (vv. 1-3)
1 Chronicles 15:1
“And pitched for it a tent - The old “tent” or “tabernacle” was still in existence at Gibeon 1Ch 16:39; 2Ch 1:3; but the ark had long been separated from it, and David probably thought that something newer and more magnificent was requisite. He therefore allowed the former tabernacle to keep its place, and had another made and erected.”
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
1 Chronicles 15:1
“The old tabernacle, which Moses had constructed in the wilderness and which had hitherto served the purpose of a sacred covering, was to be left at Gibeon, either because of the unwillingness of the inhabitants to part with such a venerable relic, or because there was no use for it in Jerusalem, where a more solid and sumptuous edifice was contemplated.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 Chronicles 15:2
“None ought to carry the ark - but the Levites - It was their business; and he should have thought of this sooner, and then the unfortunate breach on Uzza would have been prevented; see 1Ch 15:13.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 15:2
“This rule was express, and yet David himself forgot it, and put the ark upon a cart. Note, Even those that are very knowing in the word of God, yet have it not always so ready to them as were to be wished when they have occasion to use it. Wise and good men may be guilty of an oversight, which, as soon as they are aware of, they will correct.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 Chronicles 15:3
“And David gathered all Israel together to Jerusalem,.... The chief and heads of the people: to bring up the ark of the Lord; from the house of Obededom, where it had been three months, and for the sake of which his house was blessed, and which David heard of; and this encouraged him to take this step to fetch it from thence: unto his place, which he had prepared for it; 1Ch 15:1.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 15:3
“All Israel - Chosen men probably, like the 30,000 of 2Sa 6:1. See 1Ch 15:25.”
and pitched for it a tent: This chapter follows the disaster of chapter 13, and David begins by building himself houses in the city of David and preparing a tent for the ark, a first step taken before the theology behind it is even stated. He then states the corrected doctrine himself, unprompted: none ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites, for the LORD chose them to carry it and to minister to him for ever. Only after that correction does he gather all Israel to bring the ark up, the summons following the doctrine rather than repeating the presumption that failed in chapter 13. Chronicles alone preserves David's confession in these terms; the parallel in 2 Samuel 6 has no equivalent to this verse.
2. (vv. 4-10)
1 Chronicles 15:4
“And David assembled the children of Aaron, and the Levites.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 15:4
“The children of Aaron - i. e., the priests.”
1 Chronicles 15:5
“The sons of Kohath - The order of the sons of Levi according to primogeniture is, Gershom, Kohath, Merari Gen 46:11; Exo 6:16. But the Kohathites, of whom came the priestly family of the Aaronites, had precedence in all respects. To them especially was committed the attendance upon the ark and the bearing of it. Of the six Levitical families mentioned 1Ch 15:5-10 one only was descended from Gershom, one from Merari, and four (Uriel, Elizaphan, Hebron, and Uzziel) from Kohath.”
assembled the children of Aaron: Six Levitical houses are mustered by name and number: three hundred and eighty-two men in all, under Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel and Amminadab. Kohath's line leads the list and supplies four of the six family heads, since the ark itself was a Kohathite charge under Numbers 4, while Gershom and Merari each supply one. The roster preserves the very families whose failure caused the breach in chapter 13, naming the men entrusted with the correction alongside the men who had first attempted the task.
3. (vv. 11-12)
1 Chronicles 15:11
“And David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests,.... See 2Sa 8:17. and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, and Joel, Shemaiah, and Eliel, and Amminadab; the six chiefs before mentioned.”
1 Chronicles 15:12
“And he said unto them, ye are the chief of the fathers of the Levites,.... Of the families of the Levites, heads of their fathers' houses: sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren; respectively under each, whose numbers are before given, by washing their bodies and clothes, and abstaining from their wives: that you may bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel unto the place that I have prepared for it; 2Sa 6:17.”
called for Zadok and Abiathar: David summons the two priests and the six family heads just numbered, and charges them to sanctify themselves before the ark is touched again. Nothing like this charge to sanctify is recorded before the ark went out on the cart in chapter 13; the ceremonial cleansing named here is new to this second attempt. The men addressed are called the chief of the fathers of the Levites, the same standing the roster of verses 4 through 10 has just established, so the command falls on named men rather than an anonymous class.
4. (v. 13)
1 Chronicles 15:13
“For because ye did it not at the first,.... Did not sanctify themselves, as the supplement in our version directs; but rather the sense is, ye were not there at first, when the ark was brought from Kirjathjearim as far as the house of Obededom, as they should have been; they were not then employed, as was their business, and therefore the Lord our God made a breach upon us; by smiting Uzzah with death, who was no Levite, and touched the ark, which is called his "error", and for which God smote him, 2Sa 6:7 on which place Lud.”
2 more voices on this verse
1 Chronicles 15:13
“The “due order” was that the ark should be borne on the shoulders of Kohathite Levites - not that it should be placed upon a cart, drawn by oxen, and rudely shaken.”
1 Chronicles 15:13
"We did not go about our work considerately; and therefore we sped so ill." Note, It is not enough that we do that which is good, but we must do it well--not enough that we seek God in a due ordinance, but we must seek after him, in a due order.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
made a breach upon us: David states the diagnosis himself: the death of Uzza was a breach because the Levites did not carry the ark at the first, and its root cause was that we sought him not after the due order. Due order is the standard the doctrine of verse 2 already named, and here it becomes Chronicles' own verdict on the whole failed attempt of chapter 13, read alongside the fuller narrative in 2 Samuel 6. The commentators generally read the fault as procedural rather than Uzza's touch alone: the cart itself, and the absence of the Levites commanded to carry the ark on their shoulders, broke the due order before Uzza ever put out his hand.
5. (vv. 14-15)
1 Chronicles 15:14
“So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves,.... As they were ordered, and in the manner they should: to bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel; for though it was chiefly the work of the Levites, yet the priests might do it, and sometimes did, see Jos 3:13.”
1 Chronicles 15:15
“And the children of the Levites bare the ark of God upon their shoulders, with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded, according to the word of the Lord. Not only bare it on their shoulders, but with the staves in it, which rested on their shoulders, see Num 7:9, the reason of this command, that the ark should be carried on men's shoulders, and not in any carriage, according to Maimonides (h), was both for the honour of it, and lest its form and structure should be any ways damaged. (h) Moreh Nevochim, par. 3. c. 45. p. 479.”
2 more voices on this verse
1 Chronicles 15:15
“Upon their shoulders - That is the staves which went through the rings rested on their shoulders, but the ark itself rested on the staves like a sedan on its poles. As Moses commanded - See Num 4:5, Num 4:15.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 Chronicles 15:15
“Note, Many that are very remiss in their duty, if they were but faithfully told of it, would reform and do better. The breach upon Uzza made the priests more careful to sanctify themselves, that is, to cleanse themselves from all ceremonial pollution and to compose themselves for the solemn service of God, so as to strike a reverence upon the people.”
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
sanctified themselves to bring up: The correction is carried out to the letter: the priests and Levites sanctify themselves, and then the Levites bear the ark on their shoulders with the staves still in the rings, exactly as Moses commanded in Numbers 4 and 7. Chronicles names the standard by its source, as Moses commanded according to the word of the LORD, measuring the obedience against the law rather than against custom. No cart and no oxen appear anywhere in this telling, and no second Uzza falls; the correction is total, and the text lets that silence make its own point.
B. Singers, harps, and trumpets appointed
1. (vv. 16-19)
1 Chronicles 15:16
“David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint . . . the singers with instruments--These eminent Levites were instructed to train the musicians and singers who were under them, for the solemn procession. The performers were ranged in three choirs or bands, and the names of the principal leaders are given (1Ch 15:17, 18, 21), with the instruments respectively used by each.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 15:16
“The singers - Singing had long been recognized as appropriate to religious ceremonies Exo 15:21; Jdg 5:1; 1Ch 13:8; but this is the first occasion on which we find the duty of conducting musical services expressly laid on the Levites. Henceforth, the services of the tabernacle and the temple were regularly choral, and a considerable section of the Levites was trained in musical knowledge, and set apart to conduct this portion of the national worship.”
1 Chronicles 15:17
“So the Levites appointed Heman the son of Joel,.... The grandson of Samuel the prophet, 1Ch 6:33. and of his brethren, Asaph the son of Berechiah; a famous singer, often mentioned in the Psalms, 1Ch 6:39. and of the sons of Merari their brethren, Ethan the son of Kushaiah; the same with the son of Kishi, 1Ch 6:44, these were the chief of the singers.”
1 Chronicles 15:18
“And with them their brethren of the second degree,.... Who were next unto them, both in office and skill in singing: the fourteen following, Zechariah, Ben, and Jaaziel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Unni, Eliab, and Benaiah, and Maaseiah, and Mattithiah, and Elipheleh, and Mikneiah, and Obededom, and Jeiel, the porters; who, when they were not employed in singing, were doorkeepers of the sanctuary; either they had been porters at the tabernacle in Gibeon, or were so after the ark was placed in the tabernacle David prepared for it.”
1 Chronicles 15:19
“So the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan,.... The three principal of them: these were appointed to sound with cymbals of brass; for as there were three sorts of musical instruments, 1Ch 15:16 these three chief singers had one of those instruments appropriated to them, one of which were the cymbals of brass, to which the apostle alludes, 1Co 13:1.”
to be the singers with: David orders a choir for the first time in this book, and three of the names appointed here carry forward into the Psalter's own titles: Heman, Asaph and Ethan head the psalms later ascribed to their houses, Asaph's across Psalms 50 and 73 to 83, Heman's at Psalm 88, Ethan's at Psalm 89. Fourteen more Levites of the second degree fill out the choir under them, several of whom also serve as porters when they are not singing. The three principals sound cymbals of brass, the instrument that keeps time for everything else, and John Gill notes it as the detail Paul draws on for the noisy cymbal of 1 Corinthians 13:1.
2. (vv. 20-21)
1 Chronicles 15:20
“With psalteries on Alamoth - Some suppose that the word signifies virgins, or women singers, the persons mentioned here being appointed to accompany them with psalteries, and preside over them. The Vulgate says arcana cantabant, they sang secret things or mysteries; probably prophetic hymns.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 Chronicles 15:21
“And Mattithiah, and Elipheleh, and Mikneiah, and Obededom, and Jeiel, and Azaziah,.... These six were appointed to sound: with harps on the Sheminith to excel; which Sheminith some take to be an harp with eight strings, or the beginning of a song, or a musical tone, the bass; see the title of Psa 6:1.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 15:21
“Harps on the Sheminith - “Sheminith” properly means “the eighth,” and has been compared with the modern musical term “octave.” Further, “Sheminith” and “Alamoth” are regarded as contrasted, and the harps of Mattithiah and his companions are supposed to have been pitched an octave below the psalteries of Zechariah and his brethren. The word translated “to excel,” is taken as meaning “to lead,” and Mattithiah, etc., as leaders of the singers.”
with psalteries on Alamoth: Two more groups of singers are assigned two technical terms, Alamoth and Sheminith, whose precise meaning had already passed out of use by the time the commentators wrote. Proposed readings include a pitch register, a known tune, or women's voices for Alamoth, and an eighth or an octave below it for Sheminith. Neither term is explained in the text and no reading commands certainty; the roster simply preserves that David organized the choir into parts distinct enough to need names, whatever those names once meant.
3. (v. 22)
1 Chronicles 15:22
“And Chenaniah chief of the Levites was for song,.... But the chief for the song were Heman, Asaph, and Ethan; rather for the burden, as the Targum; for the lifting up and bearing the ark: he instructed about the song; or about the taking up and bearing the burden, the ark; directing when to take it up, and how far to go with it, and then rest: because he was skilful; a wise and prudent man in all things, and so proper to direct in this business.”
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 15:22
“Chenaniah - he instructed about the song - This appears to have been the master singer; he gave the key and the time, for he presided במשא bemassa, in the elevation, probably meaning what is called pitching the tune, for he was skillful in music, and powerful in his voice, and well qualified to lead the band: be might have been precentor.”
Adam Clarke· Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
chief of the Levites, was: Chenaniah stands over the whole choir as master of the song, appointed for his skill rather than his descent; he is counted among neither the sons of Kohath, Merari nor Gershom named earlier in the chapter. Some readings, following the Targum, take for song to mean for the burden, the lifting and carrying of the ark itself, so that Chenaniah directed the procession's movement as much as its music. Both readings are held by the commentators without a settled choice between them.
4. (vv. 23-24)
1 Chronicles 15:23
“And Berechiah, and Elkanah, were doorkeepers for the ark,.... Either while it was at Kirjathjearim, and at Obededom's house; or rather after it was put in the tabernacle David had prepared for it; though it may be best of all to understand it, that those, as it was carrying, went before it, to keep the people from pressing to it, and gazing on it.”
1 Chronicles 15:24
“And Shebaniah, and Jehoshaphat, and Nethaneel, and Amasai, and Zechariah, and Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, did blow with the trumpets before the ark of God,.... With the silver trumpets; one use of which was to blow with when the camps and ark of the Lord moved, Num 10:5. and Obededom and Jehiah were doorkeepers for the ark; they went behind it, as the others before it, for the same purpose, as it was bringing up.”
And Berechiah and Elkanah: Two pairs of doorkeepers guard the ark on its return: Berechiah and Elkanah here, and Obed-edom and Jehiah added in the next verse, alongside seven priests who sound trumpets before the ark. This Obed-edom is the same man in whose house the ark rested three months and whose household the LORD blessed for it, and here he moves from host to escort. The trumpets belong specifically to the priests, the instrument Numbers 10 assigns them for moving the camp and the ark, kept distinct from the Levites' harps and cymbals appointed earlier in the chapter.
C. The ark comes up with shouting, and Michal despises
1. (vv. 25-26)
1 Chronicles 15:25
“So David and the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands,.... He and the principal men of the nation, and the officers of the army or militia: went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the house of Obededom with joy; with all demonstrations of it; for which purpose such a band of music was prepared, as before described.”
1 Chronicles 15:26
“And it came to pass, when God helped the Levites that bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord,.... Not merely granted them bodily strength to carry it, which did not require a great deal; but helped them to carry it with cheerfulness, and without fear, and so as to commit no error, nor in any respect provoke his displeasure, as when it was brought before from Kirjathjearim: that they offered seven bullocks and seven rams; by way of thanksgiving, besides what David offered; and this was done by the way, see 2Sa 6:13.”
the captains over thousands, went: David goes in person this time, together with the elders of Israel and the captains over thousands, to fetch the ark from the house where it had rested three months. Verse 26 marks the difference from chapter 13 plainly: God helped the Levites that bore the ark, and the procession answers with a thanksgiving sacrifice of seven bullocks and seven rams rather than a sudden death. Chronicles reads the earlier disaster and this success as one story told across two attempts, the same men and the same ark, with only the method changed.
2. (v. 27)
1 Chronicles 15:27
“Fine linen” (byssus) is here first spoken of as used for dress. It seems to have been reserved for nobles of the highest rank Est 8:15, for kings, and for priests 2Ch 5:12. David’s robe was probably worn, like that of the high priest, immediately under the ephod, and may, like that, have reached the feet.
1 more voice on this verse
1 Chronicles 15:27
“Linen - With a linen ephod. This circumstance is repeated, because it was an unusual thing for one, who was no Levite, to wear a Levitical garment.”
John Wesley· Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
clothed with a robe of: David dresses like the men who carry and sing, in fine linen, and adds a linen ephod besides, a priestly garment worn by a king who held no priestly office. Fine linen is first used for dress anywhere in Scripture at this verse, later reserved in the text for nobility, royalty and priests; the commentators read David's choice as a deliberate lowering of his own robes into the company of the Levites he is honoring. Chenaniah, named master of the song here, is dressed and numbered among the singers rather than set above them.
3. (vv. 28-29)
1 Chronicles 15:28
“Thus all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouting,.... See 2Sa 6:15.”
1 Chronicles 15:29
“David dancing and playing--His movements would be slow and solemn, suitable to the grave and solemn character of the music. Though his royal robes were laid aside, he was attired like the other officials, showing a becoming humility in the immediate presence of God.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown· Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
with shouting, and with sound: The whole procession sounds together at last: cornet, trumpets, cymbals, psalteries and harps, every instrument named across the chapter joined in one noise as the ark reaches the city. Chronicles keeps Michal's contempt even though it drops her exchange with David and the rest of her story from 2 Samuel 6: the daughter of Saul watches from a window, sees king David dancing, and despises him in her heart, and the sentence is left exactly there. The book that omits David's sin with Bathsheba and the whole Absalom rebellion still finds room for this one line against him, stated and not developed further.
This page carries no textual note on 1 Chronicles 15. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil, The Books of the Chronicles and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.