Half a century without the Ark of God

Half a century without the Ark of God

In 1 Samuel 6, the Philistines returned the Ark of the Covenant by a cart towed by two calves.  These calves took the Ark to Beth Shemesh and the people of Kiriath Jearim took the Ark to the house of Abinadab where it remained for twenty years. (1 Sam 7:2)

According to Acts 13:21, Saul reigned for around 40 years.  According to 1 Chronicles 29:7, David reigned for forty years with seven of that ruling only Judah.  After David combined the kingdoms, he tried to bring the Ark to the city of Jerusalem.  (1 Chron 13)

Now since the Ark was returned by the Philistines before Saul’s reign, it had been out of the Tabernacle for the entire four decades.  As was clearly stated, the Ark was also not in the Tabernacle for the seven years of David’s reign over Judah.  This is a combined minimum of 47 years that the Ark had not been in the Tabernacle.  The Ark had been a minimum of 27 years in Beth Shemesh, before it spent twenty years in Abinadab’s house. There is little wonder that they did not know how to handle it.  The Ark was returned by the Philistines at least a decade before David was even born. (2 Sam 5:4) 

Did Saul consult the Ark?

A textual issue arises about this issue.  1 Chronicles 13:3 says the following.

“Let’s move the ark of our God back here, for we did not seek his will throughout Saul’s reign.”  NET

However, 1 Samuel 14:18 says in the KJV version,

And Saul said unto Ahiah, “Bring hither the ark of God. For the ark of God was at that time with the children of Israel.”

Perhaps this could be something similar to what I wrote about last time.  Saul inquired of the Lord, but he did not seek the Lord's guidance.  Maybe Saul brought the Ark, but did not seek the Ark.  Still, like many many things in 1 & 2 Samuel there is a textual issue.  The NET Bible puts it this way. 

19tc Heb “the ark of God.” It seems unlikely that Saul would call for the ark, which was several miles away in Kiriath-jearim (see 1 Sam 7:2). The LXX and an Old Latin ms have “ephod” here, a reading which harmonizes better with v. 3 and fits better with the verb “bring near” (see 1 Sam 23:9; 30:7) and with the expression “withdraw your hand” in v.19. This reading is followed in the present translation (cf. NAB, TEV, NLT).

The LXX which is older than the Masoretic texts substitutes “ephod” instead of “ark of God.  Essentially the older manuscripts lean towards the older version.  While Ark is possible for the current reading, the best reading is probably the LXX.  Saul most likely did not call for the Ark, but he called for the ephod.