1 Samuel 7:1

And the men of Kirjathjearim came and fetched up the ark of the Lord,.... From Bethshemesh, which was near unto them, as Josephus (g) says; they made no difficulty of fetching it, but gladly received

And the men of Kirjath-je'arim came, and fetched up the ark of the LORD, and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the LORD. Brought it into the house of Abinadab.

1 SAMUEL CHAPTER 7 The ark is placed in Kirjath-jearim; Eleazar’ s son is sanctified to keep it, ,2. Samuel exhorts them to repent, and put away their idols; they obey him. A fast at Mizpeh, . The Philistines intend to set upon the Israelites, who are afraid, . Samuel offereth and prayeth for Israel: God heareth; terrifieth the Philistines with thunder, and they are smitten; are subdued; and the cities which they had taken from the Israelites are recovered, . Samuel visiteth all the cities of Israel, and returns to Ramah; there builds an altar to the Lord, . The men of Kirjath-jearim gladly embraced the motion, as wisely considering that their great calamity was not to be charged upon the ark, but upon themselves, and their own carelessness, irreverence, and presumption, in looking into the ark. This place is elsewhere called Baalah, and Kirjath-baal, as is evident from ,60 18:14 ,7. Fetched up the ark, i.e. caused it to be brought up, to wit, by the priests appointed to that work, whom they could easily procure, and undoubtedly would do it, especially having been so lately warned of the great danger of violating God’ s commands in those matters. In Scripture use, men are commonly said to do that which they order or cause others to do. They chose the house of Abinadab in the hill, because it was both a strong place, where it would be most safe; and a high place, and therefore visible at some distance, and to many persons, which was convenient for them, who were at that time to direct their prayers and faces towards the ark, ,30,35 Psalms 28:2 138:2 . And for the same reason David afterwards placed it in the hill of Zion. Some translate the word in Gibeah. But that was in the tribe of Benjamin, , whereas this Kirjath-jearim was in the tribe of Judah, ,7. Sanctified Eleazar; not that they made him either Levite or priest, as some would have it; for in Israel persons were not made, but born such; and since the institution of Levites and priests, none were made such that were born of other tribes or families: but that they devoted or set him apart (as this verb sometimes signifies) wholly to attend upon this work. They chose the son rather than his father, because he was younger and stronger, and probably freed from domestic cares, which might divert him from or disturb him in his work; or because he was more eminent for prudence or piety. To keep the ark of the Lord; to keep the place where it was clean and neat, and to guard it, that none might approach or touch it but such as God required or allowed to do so.

1 Samuel 7:1 And the men of Kirjathjearim came, and fetched up the ark of the LORD, and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the LORD.Ver. 1. And the men of Kirjathjearim came.] Notwithstanding the recent slaughter at Bethshemesh; Aliorum perditio horum erat cautio: they had seen their neighbours shipwrecked, and would look better therefore to their own tackling. And brought it into the house of Abinadab.] Who was a Levite, saith Josephus, and a good man, Civitatis suae integerrimus, as one saith of Phocion, the Athenian. In the hill.] Which hill, saith Beda, overlooked and commanded the whole town, and was therefore a fit place for the ark, which was quasi arx totius Israelis, the beauty and bulwark of all Israel. As for Shiloh, either it was destroyed when the ark was taken, or else abhorred by God for the filthiness there committed by those profane priests, the two sons of Eli. To keep the ark of the Lord.] Which was properly the office of the high priest’ s son.

(1) The ark of the Lord.—Kirjath-jearim, the home of the Ark for nearly fifty years, was probably selected as the resting-place of the sacred emblem as being the nearest large city to Beth-shemesh then in the hands of the Israelites. It was neither a priestly nor a Levitical city, but it no doubt had preserved something of its ancient character of sanctity even among the children of Israel. In old days before the Hebrew invasion, it was a notable “high place,” and a seat of worship of Baal. This was also, no doubt, taken into account when it was resolved to locate the Ark there. The words “in the hill” remind us that the old “high place” was still marked, and was from its sacred associations looked on as a fitting temporary resting-place for the sacred treasure of Israel. Eleazar—It is most likely that this Abinadab was a Levite. The names Eleazar and Uzzah, and Ahio of the same family (2 Samuel 6:3), are Levitical appellations. Samuel—who, though he is not named in this transaction, was, no doubt, the director—would, of course, have endeavoured to find a man of the tribe of Levi for the sacred trust. “This Eleazar was constituted not priest, but watchman at the grave of the Ark by its corpse, till the future joyful resurrection.”—Hengstenberg, quoted in Lange. Here the Ark remained until King David brought it from “the house on the hill,” in the city of woods, first to the home of Obed-edom, and then to his own royal Zion. (2 Samuel 6. See too Psalms 132:6.)

CHAPTER VII The men of Kirjah-jearim bring the ark from Beth-shemesh, and consecrate Eleazar, the son of Abinadab, to keep it; and there it continued twenty years, 1, 2. Samuel reproves and exhorts the people, and gathers them together at Mizpeh, where they fast and pray, and confess their sins, 3-6. The Philistines go up against them; the Israelites cry unto the Lord for help; Samuel offers sacrifices; and the Lord confounds the Philistines with thunder; Israel discomfits and pursues them to Beth-car, 7-11. Samuel erects a stone for a memorial, and calls it Eben-ezer, 12. The Philistines are totally subdued, and Israel recovers all its lost cities, 13, 14. Samuel acts as an itinerant judge in Israel, 15-17. NOTES ON CHAP. VII Verse 1. Fetched up the ark] When these people received the message of the Beth-shemites, they probably consulted Samuel, with whom was the counsel of the Lord, and he had encouraged them to go and bring it up, else they might have expected such destruction as happened to the Beth-shemites. Sanctified Eleazar] Perhaps this sanctifying signifies no more than setting this man apart, simply to take care of the ark.

Ch. 1 Samuel 7:1. into the house of Abinadab in the hill] On the hill, some eminence in or near the town. In 2 Samuel 6:4-5, the E. V. wrongly takes the same word as a proper name, “in Gibeah.” Abinadab was probably (as Josephus says) a Levite: for the Israelites would scarcely have ventured to violate the law by entrusting the Ark to a layman after the late judgment. sanctified Eleazar] Consecrated him and set him apart for the special duty. “Nothing is said of Eleazar’s consecration as priest … He was constituted not priest, bat watchman at the grave of the Ark, by its corpse, until its future joyful resurrection.” The words of Psa 132:6, “We found it in the fields of the wood,” refer to this sojourn of the Ark at Kirjath-jearim. The word translated “wood” is jaar, which is the singular of jearim.

This verse belongs more properly to 1 Sam. 6. Abinadab and his sons were probably of the house of Levi.

1. This verse belongs to the narrative of the sixth chapter, and should not have been separated from it.