HOW LONG WAS THE ARK OF THE COVENANT AT ABINADAB'S HOUSE?

How long was the ark at Abinadab's house?

Those of you who, like myself, loved the first Indiana Jones movie will realize that there is a great deal of confusion concerning whatever happened to the Ark of the Covenant after it disappeared from Jerusalem sometime after or just before the city was taken. It turns out that there is equal uncertainty regarding its location before it was moved to Jerusalem.

The above question appeared on the internet in what is meant to represent a contradiction within the biblical narratives. The person who posed it cites two sets of passages in Scripture that are supposedly in conflict with one another: I Samuel 7:1-2; 10:24 versus II Samuel 6:2-3.

The first thing to note is that there is no connection whatsoever between I Samuel 10:24 and the ark, and so I can only suppose that this is a typographical error by the author of this “contradiction.” But to be fair, I will throw in another verse for good measure, I Samuel 14:18, as another possibility pointing to an error in one of the statements relating to the ark's location.

Actually, the only place where a time figure is placed on the ark's residence is in I Samuel 7:1-2, which states, “And the men of Kiriath-jearim came and took up the ark of the covenant, and brought it to the house of Abinadab on the hill...From the day that the ark was lodged at Kiriath-jearim, a long time passed, some twenty years, and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD.”

At this point in the story, there a few things that need to be mentioned. In the first place, some more liberal Bible critics such as McCarter feel that the phrase “after twenty years” was a late insertion into the text and does not represent a historical fact. However, we do not have to go that far in our opinion in order to pose another problem with taking “twenty years” as a literal number. For example, S.L. McKenzie gives a more idiomatic explanation of this time period, namely that it represents roughly half a generation (since a generation is usually reckoned in Jewish thinking as the round number “40 years.”).

But a more serious consideration comes into play here as well. Note that I Samuel 7:1-2 leaves it somewhat ambiguous as to what that “twenty years” refers to. McCarter expresses an opinion also indicated in Today's English Version and possibly in the Living Bible as well. That interpretation takes the time designation as a summary of the total time that the ark resided with Abinadab. According to that understanding, the twenty years would include all the time that Samuel was the religious leader of the country, all of Saul's reign, and up to the time that King David had it moved to Jerusalem.

However, there is a much more common understanding of that passage, reflected in a wide variety of English translations including NEB, RSV, NIV, and JB. In these versions, the following verse, I Sam. 7:3, begins with “Then.” Thus, their interpretation indicates that the twenty years includes only the period between the return of the ark by the Philistines and the beginning of the spiritual reform under Samuel which starts in I Samuel 7:3. It does not say anything regarding where the ark resided during the reign of Saul or the early reign of David.

Whichever of the two opinions one wishes to believer, the next time in the text that we are told of the ark's location is in I Samuel 14:18. There we are told that on the eve of battle, King Saul had the ark transported (from some unstated location) to Saul's camp. But, of course, this fact poses no contradiction to the statement in I Samuel 7:1-2 that it resided in Kiriath-jearin for “twenty years” since (a) that time period may have only included the time prior to Samuel's reform or (b) it was only a temporary move during the time of the battle.

Elaborating on that second point, Tsumura states, “But the most obvious difficulty is that the ark was presumably in Kiriath-jearin. However, there is no reason why the ark could not have been brought from Kiriath-hearin for this campaign and then taken back, just as it was brought from Shiloh in ch. 4.” In a similar manner, Tsumura points out that the ark might have dwelt at Nob for a while also since it was a city of priests (see I Samuel 21:1; 22:19).

Adding to the uncertainties is another factor brought up by several scholars: The Septuagint (LXX) actually reads in I Sam. 14:18 that it was the priest's garment, the ephod, that Saul asked for, not the ark at all. McCarter says, “With most critics we read the text reflected by LXX.”

As a final passage relating to the ark's dwelling, we come to II Samuel 6:2-3 where at last the ark comes to Jerusalem during David's reign. The only problem is that they fetch it not from Keriath-jearim, but from Baale-judah instead. Of course, this only poses a problem for those who interpret the twenty years of I Samuel 7:1-2 as referring to the whole time the ark was away from Jerusalem after its return by the Philistines, not for those in the majority who feel that the text indicates only the time up to Samuel's revival.

But even for those who insist that the ark resided with Abinadab for twenty years until it was moved to Jerusalem (other than short periods of time when it was brought out for special occasions), there is no contradiction whatsoever. The reason is quite simple: Baale-judah and Kiriath-jearin are one and the same town. This fact is made clear in Joshua 15:9-10. For that reason, the Hebrew scroll fragment of II Samuel 14:18 found among the Dead Sea writings from Qumran reads, “to Baalah, that is, Keriath-jearin.”