Psalm 132 · a question people ask
Where do the books of Samuel and Chronicles tell of David's oath?
They don't. 2 Samuel and 1 Chronicles tell of the ark coming into David's city (2 Samuel 6:12-17; 1 Chronicles 15:1-3, 16:1), and of David wanting to build for it: "See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but God’s ark dwells within curtains" (2 Samuel 7:2). 1 Chronicles says David "prepared a place for God’s ark, and pitched a tent for it" (1 Chronicles 15:1), and in Hebrew that place is the word of "until I find out a place for the LORD" (132:5). Later David says, "it was in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the LORD’s covenant, and for the footstool of our God" (1 Chronicles 28:2). But none of the four books, 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Chronicles, has David swearing an oath about the ark (their WEB text was searched for swore, sworn, swear, vow and oath). The psalm gives the oath as David's words (132:3-5) and doesn't say when he swore it. These notes don't either.
The verses
“how he swore to the LORD, and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob: “Surely I will not come into the structure of my house, nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to my eyes, or slumber to my eyelids, until I find out a place for the LORD, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.””
“the king said to Nathan the prophet, “See now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but God’s ark dwells within curtains.””
“David made himself houses in David’s city; and he prepared a place for God’s ark, and pitched a tent for it. Then David said, “No one ought to carry God’s ark but the Levites. For the LORD has chosen them to carry God’s ark, and to minister to him forever.” David assembled all Israel at Jerusalem, to bring up the LORD’s ark to its place, which he had prepared for it.”
“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.”