Commentaria in I Paralipomenon
Chapter 13. Synopsis of the Chapter
David, bringing back the ark from Cariathiarim, plays and dances before it. Oza, touching the ark, is slain. The ark, turned aside to the house of Obededom, blesses it.
1. And David consulted with the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and with all the princes, 2. and said to all the assembly of Israel: If it please you, and if the word which I speak proceed from the Lord our God, let us send to our other brethren into all the countries of Israel, and to the priests and Levites that dwell in the suburbs of the cities, that they may be gathered together to us, 3. and let us bring the ark of our God back to us: for we sought it not in the days of Saul. 4. And all the multitude answered that it should be so: for the word pleased all the people. 5. So David gathered together all Israel, from Sihor of Egypt, until thou enter into Emath, to bring the ark of God from Cariathiarim. 6. And David went up, and all the men of Israel, to the hill of Cariathiarim, which is in Juda, to bring up from thence the ark of the Lord God sitting upon the cherubims, where his name is called upon. 7. And they carried the ark of God upon a new cart, out of the house of Abinadab: and Oza and his brother drove the cart. 8. And David and all Israel played before God with all their might, with songs, and with harps, and psalteries, and timbrels, and cymbals, and trumpets. 9. And when they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Oza put forth his hand to hold up the ark: for the ox being wanton had made it lean a little aside. 10. And the Lord was angry with Oza, and struck him, because he had touched the ark: and he died there before the Lord. 11. And David was grieved, because the Lord had divided Oza: and he called that place, The Division of Oza, to this day. 12. And David was afraid of God at that time, saying: How can I bring in the ark of God to me? 13. And therefore he brought it not to himself, that is, into the city of David, but carried it aside into the house of Obededom the Gethite. 14. So the ark of God remained in the house of Obededom three months: and the Lord blessed his house, and all that he had.
chor, that is, black, is the name of the Nile, because its water, being muddy and turbid, seems to be black. Hence it is called by the Greeks melas, that is, black; but because the Nile is far from Judea, it is better to understand Sihor as the brook near Rhinocolura, which is the southern boundary of Juda, and elsewhere is called “the torrent of Egypt,” of which I spoke on Numbers 34:5.
it is written: “Oza and Ahio,” but Ahio in Hebrew is the same as his brother, and truly this Ahio was the brother of Oza: for both were sons of Abinadab, as is said there.
Chidon—was called by another name Nachon, as Hiram sends to David wood and craftsmen to build him a house. David multiplies wives and sons, and, verse 9, smites the Philistines in the valley of Raphaim, and again, verse 14, when God came to his aid over against the pear trees.