1 Chronicles 16:39

TABERNACLE AND ARK; AT THIS TIME; SEPARATED

"And Zadok the priest, and his brethren the priests, before the tabernacle of Jehovah in the high place that was at Gibeon, to offer burnt-offerings unto Jehovah upon the altar of burnt-offerings continually morning and evening, even according to all that is written in the law of Jehovah, which he commanded unto Israel; and with them Haman and Jeduthun, and the rest that were chosen, who were mentioned by name, to give thanks to Jehovah, because his lovingkindness endureth forever; and with the Haman and Jeduthun with trumpets and cymbals for those that should sound aloud, and with instruments for the songs of God; and the sons of Jeduthun to be at the gate. And all the people departed every man to his house: and David returned to bless his house."

"It is here brought into prominence that the ark and the tabernacle were in two separate places. The great ordinary sacrifices, including the morning and evening sacrifices as commanded in Exodus 38:2, were now resumed in the tabernacle, `according to all that is written in the law of the Lord.'"[6]

The significance of what David accomplished here is great indeed; and the Chronicler has provided in 1 Chronicles 15:39, "An explanation of where the tabernacle had been after it was removed from Nob."[7]

"During the times of the Judges, the tabernacle had been at Shiloh (Joshua 18:1); during the reign of Saul, it was at Nob (1 Samuel 21); and it was later at Gibeon (1 Chronicles 16:39); and later Solomon laid it up in the temple (1 Kings 8:4)."[8]

Of course, the ark belonged in the tabernacle, in the Holy of Holies; and, although David was here unable to bring about the restoration of their true relation to each other, he did set in motion the events that would eventually lead to their being together when the temple was erected by Solomon to replace the tabernacle. The purpose of the Chronicler in what is written in these chapters is clear enough. He is telling us how the true worship of God eventually came to be reestablished according to God's original instructions in the Pentateuch. This, of course, is precisely why radical critics pretend to find so much fault with Chronicles.