2 Samuel 6 · a question people ask

David sacrificed, wore a linen ephod and blessed the people. Was he doing a priest's work?

In the text

Here is what the chapter says. After six paces "he sacrificed an ox and a fattened calf" (6:13); "David was clothed in a linen ephod" (6:14); "David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD" (6:17); and "he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of Armies" (6:18). The chapter names no priest or Levite, and it doesn't say whose hands made the offerings. The boy Samuel wore a linen ephod, "being a child, clothed with a linen ephod" (1 Samuel 2:18), and so did the priests of Nob, "eighty-five people who wore a linen ephod" (1 Samuel 22:18). Chronicles, telling this day, names the priests and Levites: "So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel" (1 Chronicles 15:14). It says "David had an ephod of linen on him" (1 Chronicles 15:27), and when the ark was in the tent, "they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God" (1 Chronicles 16:1). Kings speaks of Solomon in the same way: "The king, and all Israel with him, offered sacrifice before the LORD" (1 Kings 8:62). This chapter doesn't say whether David did any of this in a priest's place, and this answer doesn't go past these verses.

The verses

“When those who bore the LORD’s ark had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened calf. David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was clothed in a linen ephod.”
2 Samuel 6:13-14 · World English Bible
“They brought in the LORD’s ark, and set it in its place in the middle of the tent that David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD. When David had finished offering the burnt offering and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of Armies.”
2 Samuel 6:17-18 · World English Bible
“But Samuel ministered before the LORD, being a child, clothed with a linen ephod.”
1 Samuel 2:18 · World English Bible
“The king said to Doeg, “Turn and attack the priests!” Doeg the Edomite turned, and he attacked the priests, and he killed on that day eighty-five people who wore a linen ephod.”
1 Samuel 22:18 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 2 Samuel 6

2 Samuel 6: With all his might

The chapter's scenes with Michal use the three Hebrew words of 1 Samuel 2:30, "those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me will be cursed": Michal despised David (6:16), spoke of how "glorious" he was (6:20), and he answered that he would be "yet more undignified" and that the maids would "honor" him (6:22).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions