Psalm 132 · a question people ask
"We heard of it in Ephrathah. We found it in the field of Jaar" (132:6). Where are these, and what is it?
The psalm doesn't say. The verses before speak of "a place for the LORD, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob" (132:5), and the verses after of "his dwelling place" (132:7) and "the ark of your strength" (132:8), but 132:6 doesn't name what was heard of and found. Other verses put the name Ephrath or Ephrathah with Bethlehem: "on the way to Ephrath (also called Bethlehem)" (Genesis 35:19), and "treat you worthily in Ephrathah, and be famous in Bethlehem" (Ruth 4:11). The books that tell of the ark say it stayed at Kiriath Jearim: "From the day that the ark stayed in Kiriath Jearim, the time was long" (1 Samuel 7:2), and David went "to bring God’s ark from Kiriath Jearim" (1 Chronicles 13:5). The psalm names neither Bethlehem nor Kiriath Jearim, and the WEB has "the field of Jaar" only here. These notes don't say which places the psalm means, and don't put either name on the map.
The verses
“until I find out a place for the LORD, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.” Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah. We found it in the field of Jaar. “We will go into his dwelling place. We will worship at his footstool.” Arise, LORD, into your resting place, you, and the ark of your strength.”
“Rachel died, and was buried on the way to Ephrath (also called Bethlehem).”
“All the people who were in the gate, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May the LORD make the woman who has come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, which both built the house of Israel; and treat you worthily in Ephrathah, and be famous in Bethlehem.”
“The men of Kiriath Jearim came and took the LORD’s ark, and brought it into Abinadab’s house on the hill, and consecrated Eleazar his son to keep the LORD’s ark. From the day that the ark stayed in Kiriath Jearim, the time was long—for it was twenty years; and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD.”