1 Chronicles 16 · a question people ask
Why was the ark in Jerusalem while the tabernacle was at Gibeon?
The chapter says where each was, not why. The ark was set "in the middle of the tent that David had pitched for it" (16:1), in David's city (15:1, 15:29), and Asaph and his brothers ministered there (16:37). Zadok and the priests were "before the LORD’s tabernacle in the high place that was at Gibeon" (16:39), offering on "the altar of burnt offering" (16:40). Later the book says the same: "For the LORD’s tabernacle, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering, were at that time in the high place at Gibeon" (21:29). 2 Chronicles says it again when Solomon goes to Gibeon, "for God’s Tent of Meeting was there", and "David had brought God’s ark up from Kiriath Jearim to the place that David had prepared for it; for he had pitched a tent for it at Jerusalem" (2 Chronicles 1:3-4). None of these verses gives a reason, and these notes don't supply one.
The verses
“They brought in God’s ark, and set it in the middle of the tent that David had pitched for it; and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God.”
“David made himself houses in David’s city; and he prepared a place for God’s ark, and pitched a tent for it.”
“So he left Asaph and his brothers there before the ark of the LORD’s covenant, to minister before the ark continually, as every day’s work required; and Obed-Edom with their sixty-eight relatives; Obed-Edom also the son of Jeduthun and Hosah to be doorkeepers; and Zadok the priest and his brothers the priests, before the LORD’s tabernacle in the high place that was at Gibeon, to offer burnt offerings to the LORD on the altar of burnt offering continually morning and evening, even according to all that is written in the LORD’s law, which he commanded to Israel;”
“For the LORD’s tabernacle, which Moses made in the wilderness, and the altar of burnt offering, were at that time in the high place at Gibeon.”