This is a question asked by a sceptic looking for contradictions in the Bible. He said that according to 2 Samuel 5 and 6, the Ark of the Covenant was moved to Jerusalem after David defeated the Philistines, while 1 Chronicles chapters 13 and 14 seem to say it was moved before. The critic proudly added this to his collection of Bible “contradictions”, but made a mistake. If he’d continued reading to 1 Chronicles 15, he would have seen that David definitely brought the Ark into Jerusalem after defeating the Philistines. We do see why he would call this a contradiction, but let’s first look at what the Bible says and then explain.
See what it says in the book of Samuel (condensed):
[25]And David did so, as the Lord commanded him; and he drove back the Philistines from Geba as far as Gezer… [2] And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale Judah to bring up from there the ark of God… [3] So they set the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab… [7] Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God… [9] David was afraid of the Lord that day; and he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” [10] So David would not move the ark of the Lord with him into the City of David; but David took it aside into the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. [11] The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite three months… [12] … So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with gladness. (2 Samuel 5:25; 6:2-3, 7, 9-12)
In Chronicles it says:
[6] And David and all Israel went up to Baalah… to bring up from there the ark of God the Lord… [7] So they carried the ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab… [10] Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzza, and He struck him because he put his hand to the ark; and he died there before God… [12] David was afraid of God that day… [13] So David would not move the ark with him into the City of David, but took it aside into the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. [14] The ark of God remained with the family of Obed-Edom in his house three months… [16] So David did as God commanded him, and they drove back the army of the Philistines from Gibeon as far as Gezer. [1] David … prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched a tent for it. [25] So David, the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord from the house of Obed-Edom with joy. (1 Chronicles 13:6-7, 12-14; 14:16; 15:1, 25)
As you can see, the Israelites moved the Ark of the Covenant twice. The first time, they moved it from Baalah, prior to the defeat of the Philistines, as we see in 2 Samuel 5 and 6 and 1 Chronicles 14. The prophet Samuel narrates David’s victory over the Philistines first, and then he tells us about both times when the Ark was moved. However, in 1 Chronicles, the order is as follows: the Ark was first moved from Baalah; then David defeated the Philistines; and finally, the Ark was moved from the House of Obed-Edom.
Therefore, the two accounts are not contradictory at all. Here, we have simply one prophet choosing to give us the complete history of the Ark at once (rather than referring to it later) and another presenting the history chronologically. In both cases, the timing of events is the same.
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