The tabernacle of David was the tent David set up in Jerusalem to house the Ark of the Covenant. After David conquered Jerusalem and made it his capital, he wanted to bring the Ark there. The Ark had been in Kiriath-jearim for many years after being captured by the Philistines and eventually returned to Israel.
David constructed a tent, like the Tabernacle Moses had built in the wilderness, to house the Ark in Jerusalem. The Tabernacle Moses built had moved around with the Israelites as they journeyed to the Promised Land. Now that Israel was established in the land, David wanted a more permanent place for the Ark as a sign of God’s presence with His people.
Several key passages in the Bible describe David’s tabernacle:
2 Samuel 6:17 “And they brought in the ark of the LORD, and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it. And David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.”
1 Chronicles 15:1 “David built houses for himself in the city of David. And he prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it.”
1 Chronicles 16:1 “And they brought the ark of God and set it inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and they offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before God.”
So David’s tabernacle was a tent in Jerusalem used for a time to house the Ark of the Covenant. The presence of the Ark represented God’s presence dwelling among His people.
The Origins and History of David’s Tabernacle
After David was established as king in Jerusalem, he desired to bring the Ark of the Covenant there. The Ark had been the focal point of worship during Israel’s wilderness wanderings as they carried it with them wherever they traveled. Having the Ark in Jerusalem demonstrated God’s presence and approval of David’s new capital city.
However, there was a problem – there was no place ready to house the Ark. So David had a tent erected to shelter the Ark until he could build a temple. This tent was patterned after the wilderness Tabernacle and became known as the tabernacle of David.
The first attempt to bring the Ark to Jerusalem ended badly when Uzzah was struck dead for touching the Ark while helping transport it (2 Samuel 6:6-7). David was afraid to move the Ark after this and left it behind.
Three months later, David tried again but with more careful precautions in place for handling the Ark according to God’s law (1 Chronicles 15:13-15). This time they successfully brought it to Jerusalem and placed it inside the tabernacle David had prepared (2 Samuel 6:17).
The Ark would reside in David’s tabernacle in Jerusalem for the remainder of his reign. Though David had wanted to build a permanent temple, God told him that his son Solomon would have the privilege of doing that once Israel was firmly established in the land (2 Samuel 7:12-13).
Though originally intended to be temporary, the tabernacle of David remained in Jerusalem for around 40 years until Solomon finally built the first temple. The tent allowed the Ark to be situated in the heart of the kingdom as a sign of God’s presence and blessing until the time for a temple came.
The Furnishings and Layout of the Tabernacle
The tabernacle of David was patterned after the wilderness Tabernacle design God had revealed to Moses on Mount Sinai. The layout likely consisted of an outer courtyard and two inner rooms or chambers within the tent.
Based on parallels with the wilderness Tabernacle, the tabernacle of David probably contained the following key elements:
– An outer courtyard surrounded by linen curtains with an entrance on the east side. The courtyard probably contained a bronze altar for sacrifices and a bronze basin for ritual cleansing (1 Chronicles 16:40).
– An outer chamber or “Holy Place” containing a golden lampstand, a table for the bread of the Presence, and an altar of incense.
– An inner room or “Most Holy Place” containing the Ark of the Covenant as the earthly throne of God’s presence. The Ark was sheltered by two golden cherubim with outstretched wings.
– The various courts and chambers were divided by curtains similar to the wilderness Tabernacle. Only the Levitical priests could enter the Holy Place to perform their duties. Only the High Priest could enter the Most Holy Place once a year on the Day of Atonement.
The splendor of the original wilderness Tabernacle was difficult to reproduce once Israel was settled in cities, so David’s tabernacle was probably simpler. However, the basic layout enabled them to perform the essential daily and seasonal rituals commanded by God, focused around the Ark at the center.
The Purposes and Functions of David’s Tabernacle
David’s tabernacle served several key religious and political purposes during his reign:
1. To Fulfill God’s Commands for Worship
Setting up the tabernacle enabled the regular offering of sacrifices, burning incense, keeping the lamp lit, and displaying the consecrated bread before the Lord as commanded in the Law of Moses. The Ark and the tabernacle were essential for acceptable worship.
2. To House and Protect the Ark of the Covenant
The Ark was the most sacred object in Israelite religion as the earthly throne and presence of the invisible God. Housing the Ark was the tabernacle’s primary purpose, providing a safe dwelling for it in the heart of the kingdom.
3. To Facilitate Inquiry of God’s Will
The Ark’s presence in David’s tabernacle allowed direct inquiry of God’s will before the Ark by appointed priests or prophets, such as when David inquired whether to pursue the Philistines in battle (2 Samuel 5:19-25).
4. To Centralize Worship in Jerusalem
Keeping the Ark in Jerusalem centralized national worship in David’s capital and linked the authority of his throne with service to God.
5. To Show God’s Favor Upon David’s Rule
Possessing the Ark demonstrated God’s election of David and approval of Jerusalem as His chosen city, seat of the Davidic dynasty.
6. To Unify the Kingdom Under David’s Rule
Housing the Ark and implementing tabernacle worship according to the Law helped unify the fractious tribes around a common faith and loyalty to Yahweh and His chosen leader, David.
The Priests and Levites in the Tabernacle
David appointed priests and Levites to serve in the tabernacle, assisting the High Priest Zadok. When the Ark was first brought into Jerusalem, David appointed musical Levites to provide song and praise.
1 Chronicles 15 describes how the Levites were assigned specific duties:
– “To lift up the ark of the LORD” (v2)
– Playing cymbals, harps and lyres as musicians (v16, 19-21)
– To invoke, to thank, and to praise the LORD (v16)
– Blowing trumpets before the Ark (v24)
It appears from 1 Chronicles 16 that when the Ark was permanently situated in the tabernacle, the Levites continued ministering through music and appointed singers. But the priests after the order of Aaron offered the sacrifices on the altar (v39-40).
The Kohathites were probably in charge of the most sacred furnishings around the inner sanctuary, just as in Moses’ tabernacle (Numbers 4:4-20). The three clans of Levi carried out their duties day and night according to the Law and David’s instructions (1 Chronicles 16:37, 40).
The Davidic Covenant and the Tabernacle
A key passage about the tabernacle of David is 2 Samuel 7 where God makes an everlasting covenant with David – a covenant that is ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
After David proposed to build God a permanent temple, God promised instead that He would establish David’s kingdom forever through his offspring (v12-13). God says:
“When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever” (2 Samuel 7:12-13).
This points forward to Jesus Christ, the son of David whose eternal kingdom would be established (Luke 1:32-33). God’s promise to dwell in a “house” forever is ultimately fulfilled in Christ and the church as the new temple of God’s presence (John 2:19-21, 1 Peter 2:4-5).
The tabernacle prepared by David was only temporary until the true, eternal house and throne of David’s greater Son was established – Jesus Christ. Through Him, the promise to David finds its ultimate fulfillment.
The Ark’s Disappearance and Later History
The Ark of the Covenant disappears from record after the days of David and Solomon. There are no records of what happened to it when the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in 586 B.C.
Some have speculated that the Ark was either destroyed or hidden away for safekeeping around this time. But there is no solid biblical or historical evidence. The Ark is not mentioned among the sacred treasures taken from the temple according to 2 Kings 24:13.
The second temple built after the Babylonian captivity apparently lacked the Ark in its inner sanctuary. The Holy of Holies contained no furniture at all according to the Jewish historian Josephus, being an empty room.
With no Ark, the top of the stone tablets of the Law were temporarily put in its place in the second temple until the temple’s destruction in A.D. 70 (2 Maccabees 2:4-8). The loss of the Ark contributed to a shift toward synagogue worship without animal sacrifices.
The disappearance of the Ark contributed to future Jewish hopes that God would restore its presence in a renewed temple when the Messiah comes to reign. But Christians understand Christ Himself as fulfilling the true role of the Ark as Immanuel, “God with Us” (Matthew 1:23).
The Ark in the Psalms and Worship
The Ark figured prominently in temple worship and several psalms allude to it:
Psalm 24 may have been composed for a ceremony accompanying the Ark’s entrance into Jerusalem led by King David. It poetically depicts God’s glory entering the city:
“Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in his holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob.” (Psalm 24:3-6)
Psalm 80:1 refers to God enthroned above the Ark between the cherubim: “Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, you who lead Joseph like a flock. You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth.”
Psalm 132 rehearses the sacred history of the Ark, asking for God to remember David’s zeal and commitment to providing a resting place for the Ark in Jerusalem.
The Ark was essential for worship in the tabernacle of David and oriented the people toward the presence of God in their midst. Its later loss left a hole in their collective memory filled only by future messianic hopes.
David Seeks to Restore Moses’ Tabernacle at Gibeon
Along with setting up his own tabernacle for the Ark in Jerusalem, David also sought to restore the original Mosaic tabernacle set up at Gibeon (1 Chronicles 16:39-40). This tabernacle had remained there since Joshua’s time when the Tent of Meeting was stationed there after the conquest of Canaan (2 Chronicles 1:3-4).
This tabernacle and bronze altar were used for sacrifices because the original Ark and furnishings were in David’s new tabernacle in Jerusalem. The priests Zadok and Abiathar and their fellow priests served before the tabernacle at Gibeon performing the various offerings (1 Chronicles 16:39-42).
But David went specially to his own tabernacle to inquire of God since that was where the Ark resided (2 Samuel 21:1, 1 Chronicles 16:39-40). So while Moses’ ancient tabernacle continued at Gibeon, it was David’s tabernacle in Jerusalem that took precedence in the nation’s worship.
The Destruction of David’s Tabernacle
The tabernacle of David met a tragic end in 971 B.C. when the king of Egypt, Shishak I, invaded Jerusalem and looted the temple treasuries.
1 Kings 14:25-26 describes this invasion and plundering of David’s tabernacle: “In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt marched up against Jerusalem. He took away the treasures of the house of the LORD and the treasures of the king’s house. He took away everything.”
According to archaeologists, Shishak left a record of this military campaign etched on the walls of the great temple of Amun at Karnak, Egypt. An outer wall relief shows 156 bound captives representing towns Shishak claimed to have conquered including Megiddo and Taanach in Israel.
Inside the temple is a list of cities and states plundered by Shishak with various Hebrew names archaeologists have identified, including an inscription: “took from there 200,000 shekels of silver.”
So the glory days of David’s tabernacle came to an end with a foreign invasion allowed by God as judgment against Solomon’s wayward son Rehoboam. The treasures were plundered including many originally built for the wilderness Tabernacle.
The Temporary Nature of David’s Tabernacle
David’s desire to build a temple for the Ark was a godly goal. But God directed him instead to erect a simple tent as had housed the Ark since the time of Moses. This showed that David’s kingdom was not yet firmly established enough for a permanent building.
But more profoundly, it showed the temporary, provisional nature of the entire Old Covenant economy. The Law’s system of animal sacrifices could never make human hearts perfect or cleanse sin in the eyes of God (Hebrews 7:19, 10:1-4). It always pointed forward to the full and final redemption achieved through Christ (Hebrews 9:11-14).
At best, the tabernacle system could illustrate human need and require its temporary restraint by God’s mercy. It foreshadowed the ultimate dwelling of God with men achieved only through Jesus. He alone was Immanuel, the presence of God with us, in a far greater way than a temple of stone and gold ever could (John 2:19-21).
Through His death and resurrection, Jesus opened the way into God’s presence that the tabernacle veil prefigured (Hebrews 10:19-20). All the furniture inside the earthly tabernacle found its spiritual fulfillment in Him. Our access is now immediate through Christ, the true temple.
The tabernacle of David finds its fulfillment in David’s greater Son. His throne and kingdom are truly everlasting, ruling eternally in the heavenly temple not made with human hands.
