1 Chronicles 15 · a question people ask
Is the Obed-Edom among the Levites the man whose house the ark stayed in?
The chapter names Obed-Edom four times. He is among the Levites' "brothers of the second rank", whose list ends "Obed-Edom, and Jeiel, the doorkeepers" (15:18); he plays "with harps" (15:21); "Obed-Edom and Jehiah were doorkeepers for the ark" (15:24); and David and the elders went "to bring the ark of the LORD’s covenant up out of the house of Obed-Edom" (15:25). Chapter 13 calls that house "Obed-Edom the Gittite’s house" (13:13), and says, "the LORD blessed Obed-Edom’s house and all that he had" (13:14). Later the book lists Obed-Edom's sons among the doorkeepers, "for God blessed him" (26:5), and in one verse names "Obed-Edom with their sixty-eight relatives; Obed-Edom also the son of Jeduthun" (16:38). Brown-Driver-Briggs lists "the Gittite who harboured the ark" and "one of the chief Levitical singers and doorkeepers" as separate uses of the name. The Bible doesn't say in so many words whether they are one man, and this answer doesn't either.
The verses
“and with them their brothers of the second rank: Zechariah, Ben, Jaaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehiel, Unni, Eliab, Benaiah, Maaseiah, Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, and Jeiel, the doorkeepers.”
“and Mattithiah, Eliphelehu, Mikneiah, Obed-Edom, Jeiel, and Azaziah, with harps tuned to the eight-stringed lyre, to lead.”
“Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasai, Zechariah, Benaiah, and Eliezer, the priests, blew the trumpets before God’s ark; and Obed-Edom and Jehiah were doorkeepers for the ark. So David, the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands went to bring the ark of the LORD’s covenant up out of the house of Obed-Edom with joy.”
“So David didn’t move the ark with him into David’s city, but carried it aside into Obed-Edom the Gittite’s house. God’s ark remained with the family of Obed-Edom in his house three months; and the LORD blessed Obed-Edom’s house and all that he had.”