round the walls of Jericho. Superstitiously borne into
battle, as if it were a mere magic palladium, by men whose hearts were
not right with God, the presence which they had invoked became their
ruin, and Israel was shattered, and "the ark of God taken," on the fatal
field of Aphek. It had been carried in triumph through Philistine
cities, and sent back in dismay. It had been welcomed with gladness by
the villagers of Bethshemesh, who lifted their eyes from their harvest
work, and saw it borne up the glen from the Philistine plain. Their rude
curiosity was signally punished, "and the men of Bethshemesh said, Who
is able to stand before this holy Lord God, and to whom shall He go up
from us?" It had been removed to the forest seclusion of Kirjath-jearim
(the city of the woods), and there bestowed in the house of Abinadab
"upon the hill," where it lay neglected and forgotten for about seventy
years. During Saul's reign they "inquired not at it," and, indeed, the
whole worship of Jehovah seems to have been decaying. David set himself
to reorganize the public service of God, arranged a staff of priests and
Levites, with disciplined choir and orchestra (1 Chron. xv.), and then
proceeded with representatives of the whole nation to bring up the ark
from its woodland hiding-place. But again death turned gladness into
dread, and Uzzah's fate silenced the joyous songs, "and David was afraid
of the Lord that day, and said, How shall the ark of God come unto me?"
The dangerous honour fell on the house of Obed-edom; and only after the
blessing which followed its three months' stay there, did he venture to
carry out his purpose. The story of the actual removal of the ark to the
city of David with glad ceremonial need not be repeated here; nor the
mocking gibes of Michal who had once loved him so fondly. Probably she
bitterly resented her violent separation from the household joys that
had grown up about her in her second home; probably the woman who had
had teraphim among her furniture cared nothing for the ark of God;
probably, as she grew older, her character had hardened in its lines,
and become like her father's in its measureless pride, and in its
half-dread, half-hatred of David--and all these motives together pour
their venom into her sarcasm. Taunts provoke taunts; the husband feels
that the wife is in heart a partisan of the fallen house of her father,
and a despiser of the Lord and of His worship; her words hiss with
scorn, h