(6) From this point our narrative coincides with that of 2Samuel 6:2-11. The original text was plainly the same, whether the chronicler drew directly from the Book of Samuel, or from another source. Such differences as appear consist of abridgments, paraphrases, and corrections.

All Israel.--Samuel, "All the people that were with him."

To Baalah.--Joshua 15:60, "Kirjath-baal, which is Kirjath-jearim." "Baa?s town" was doubtless the original name. "Town of woods" describes the position of the place. Our text appears more correct than that of Samuel, which has, "And David rose and went, and all the people that were with him, from BaaleJudah." The Targum, LXX., and Syriac, translate that which the Authorised Version gives as a proper name, "The people that were with him of the cities lords men of Judah." If this be right, perhaps "Baalah" has fallen out of the text of Samuel owing to its resemblance to the word baale. lords. Kirjathjearim is the modern 'Erma, four miles east of Ain Shems (Bethshemesh).--Palestine Exploration Fund Quarterly Statement, October, 1881.

The Lord, that dwelleth between the cherubims.--Rather, Jehovah, who sitteth upon the cherubim (comp. Psalm 16:11; Psalm 80:2; Isaiah 37:16).

Whose name is called on it.--The Hebrew is, "who (or which) is called Name." The Israelites in later days avoided all mention of the Divine name of Jehovah, and substituted hashsh?m "the Name" (comp. Leviticus 24:16, and the Third Commandment). A comparison with 2Samuel 6:2, however, suggests that a word meaning "upon it" ('?law), has fallen out. In that case the literal rendering will be, upon which (i.e., the Ark) the Name (of Jehovah) is called= which is called by the name (of Jehovah). The Ark was often called "the Ark of Jehovah" (1Chronicles 15:3). The Hebrew and Targum of Samuel favour this. Some MSS. of Chron. read "there" (sh?m) instead of "name" (sh?m). This, gives the meaning, who is invoked there (at the Ark). Comp. the LXX. ?? ???????? ????? ?????.

Verse 6. - To Baalah, that is, to Kirjath-jearim (see Joshua 15:9-11; 1 Samuel 4:7; 2 Samuel 6:2; where the name is spelt with a final yod instead of he). A third name of this same place, Kirjath-baal, is found in Joshua 15:60; Joshua 18:14. Probably the present 'Arms, a ruin (i.q. Kirjath-arim, Ezra 2:25) on the brink of the valley of Sorek, may be the place (see Conder's 'Bible Handbook,' p. 419, 2nd edit.). We read in Joshua 9:17-27 how the men of Kirjath-jearim had been made by Joshua "hewers of wood and drawers of water for the congregation, and for the altar of the Lord." Hither to this Kirjath-jearim the ark had been conveyed from Bethshemesh (1 Samuel 7:1, 2), and here it "abode" long time, "for it was twenty years." Perhaps the word "abode" in this passage may be equivalent to abode unmoved (1 Samuel 14.18, 19). For though the chronology from the death of Eli, through the remainder of Samuel's career and of Saul's, seems almost hopelessly uncertain, yet it would appear certain that the interval exceeded twenty years, to the time that David now takes in hand to bring home, as it were, the ark. The ark of God, the Lord. Though the Authorized Version of this passage is better and cleverer than that of the parallel (2 Samuel 6:2), yet it is left somewhat obscure. The comma should follow the name God. Jehovah sitting upon the cherubim then follows as a clause in apposition, while the last three words (as the name is called, rather than whose name) state that clause to contain "the Name of the Lord" (Deuteronomy 10:8; Deuteronomy 31:9; 1 Samuel 4:4; 1 Samuel 5:3; 1 Samuel 6:8). Bertheau, following Thenius, proposes to change the Hebrew ֵשם into שָׁם. But there are abundant objections to this.

13:6-14 Let the sin of Uzza warn all to take heed of presumption, rashness, and irreverence, in dealing with holy things; and let none think that a good design will justify a bad action. Let the punishment of Uzza teach us not to dare to trifle with God in our approaches to him; yet let us, through Christ, come boldly to the throne of grace. If the gospel be to some a savour of death unto death, as the ark was to Uzza, yet let us receive it in the love of it, and it will be to us a savour of life unto life.So David gathered all Israel together,.... The principal of them, even 30,000 select men, 2 Samuel 6:1.

from Shihor of Egypt; or the Nile of Egypt, as the Targum and other Jewish writers, called Shihor from the blackness of its water, see Jeremiah 2:18 though some think the river Rhinocurura is meant, which both lay to the south of the land of Israel:

even unto the entering of Hamath; which the Targum interprets of Antiochia, which lay to the north of the land; so that this collection of the people was made from south to north, the extreme borders of the land:

to bring the ark of God from Kirjathjearim; where it then was, and had been a long time, see 1 Samuel 7:1, from hence to the end of the chapter the account is the same with 2 Samuel 6:1, see the notes there; what little variations there are, are there observed. See Gill on 2 Samuel 6:1, 2 Samuel 6:2, 2 Samuel 6:3, 2 Samuel 6:4, 2 Samuel 6:5, 2 Samuel 6:6, 2 Samuel 6:7, 2 Samuel 6:8, 2 Samuel 6:9, 2 Samuel 6:10, 2 Samuel 6:11