Judges 20:27

27. The ark… was there in those days When and why it was brought there, and how many days it continued there, the sacred writer does not tell us, and we must be content to remain uninformed. Some understand, as our translators seem to have done, that the adverb there refers to Shiloh, and that Beth-el in the Hebrew text of Judges 20:26; Judges 20:18 should be rendered house of God, meaning the tabernacle at Shiloh; but the tabernacle is never called Beth-el. Hengstenberg and Keil suppose that the ark was brought only temporarily to Beth-el, and to serve some special design on this occasion; but the phrase in those days is hardly consistent with such an explanation. Compare the same phrase in Judges 18:1; Judges 19:1; Judges 21:25, and frequently. And if the ark had been brought from Shiloh merely for this occasion, it is not clear why it was not brought to Mizpeh rather than to Beth-el. More plausible is the supposition, that as Beth-el was a sacred place in Israelitish history, the ark was sometimes brought there, accompanied by the high priest, and abode there for many days at a time, in honour of the holy spot which Jacob regarded as the gate of heaven. Genesis 28:17. Hence, after Shiloh’s desolation, it naturally became a central seat of worship. See 1 Samuel 10:3, note.