all Israel together, from Shihor the brook of Egypt even unto the entering in of Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim. 6And David went up, and all Israel, to Baalah, that is, to Kiriath-jearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, the LORD that [1]sitteth upon the cherubim, [2]which is called by the Name. 7And they carried the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab: and Uzza and Ahio drave the cart. 8And David and all Israel played before God with all their might: even with songs, and with harps, and with psalteries, and with timbrels, and with
5. from Shihor the brook of Egypt] Shihor was the name of the brook (now wady el-Arish) which divided Palestine from Egypt (Josh. xiii. 3, xv. 4; Jer. ii. 18).
the entering in of Hamath] Hamath (now Hama) is on the Orontes, see note on xviii. 5. The entering in of Hamath is to be identified with the Beḳā'a, a broad valley between Lebanon and Anti-Libanus watered by the Orontes, Bädeker, Pal.5, p. 372. It is mentioned as on the northern frontier of Israel in Josh. xiii. 5; 1 Kin. viii. 65, and elsewhere.
6. to Baalah, that is, to Kiriath-jearim] A Gibeonite city, probably Ḳaryet el-'Enab ("City of Grapes") some 7 miles N.W. of Jerusalem. Cp. Josh. xv. 9; in Josh. xv. 60 Kiriath-baal.
sitteth upon the cherubim] Cp. Ezek. i. 26.
which is called by the Name] The God whose is the Ark is here distinguished from the gods of the nations as the God who bears the ineffable Name.
7. a new cart] A new cart was chosen as one which had not been profaned by common work. So (Judg. xvi. 11, 12) new ropes "wherewith no work hath been done" were used in the attempt to bind the consecrated man, Samson. So also (Mark xi. 2, 7) our Lord rode into Jerusalem on a colt "whereon no man ever yet sat."
the house of Abinadab] Cp. 1 Sam. vii. 1, 2; also 2 Sam. vi. 3. Here the Ark had been since the Philistines restored it to Israelite territory.
8. played] The Heb. word means to sport, to dance (cp. xv. 29).
with all their might: even with songs] A better reading than that of 2 Sam. vi. 5, with all manner of instruments made of fir wood.
psalteries] The instrument here meant (Heb. nēbhel) "is generally identified at the present day with an instrument called the santir still in use among the Arabs. This consists of a long box with a flat bottom covered with a somewhat convex sounding-board over which the strings are stretched." (Nowack, Hebräische Archäologie, I. 275.) The "harp"
