The Capture of Jerusalem and the Bringing Up of the Ark

Hebron was the capital of a single tribe. David needed a city belonging to no one, and chose the Jebusite stronghold of Zion. Its defenders were so confident that, the text says, they manned the walls with "the blind and the lame." David announced that whoever struck first would command the army; Joab went up through the water shaft, and the city fell. It became the City of David, and Hiram of Tyre sent cedars and craftsmen to build him a palace.

The second step was to bring the Ark back to the centre of national life. For twenty years it had stood in a private house at Kiriath-jearim. David placed it on a new cart — and at the threshing floor of Nachon the oxen stumbled; Uzzah put out his hand to steady it and died. Frightened, David left the Ark at the house of Obed-edom for three months, and that household was blessed.

The second attempt was done properly: Levites carried it on their shoulders, with a sacrifice every six paces. David, girded in a linen ephod, danced before it with all his strength. Michal, Saul's daughter, watched from a window and despised him. David answered: before the Lord, who chose me instead of your father, I will make myself lower still. Jerusalem was now capital, political and spiritual at once.