Significance of the Ark Within Curtains
A. Maclaren, D. D. 2 Samuel 7:1-17 And it came to pass, when the king sat in his house, and the LORD had given him rest round about from all his enemies;… Was not that long continuance in the humble tabernacle intended to make plain the contrast between this God and the gods who were enshrined in the massive structures that Israel had seen in Egypt? Was it not a lesson, even in the days when Israel needed some accommodation to its weakness in the shape of symbolical and ceremonial worship, that He "dwelleth not in temples made with hands?" Was it not an early gleam of the perfect day — a protest as strong as could then be made against localising the Divine presence and creating "sacred places?" The degree of religious development in Israel could not yet dispense with all localising, but the minimum of it was attained by the dwelling of the ark in the tabernacle; and there was a danger, which experience proved to be only too real, that a gorgeous temple should become the tomb of religion rather than the dwelling-place of God. (A. Maclaren, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And it came to pass, when the king sat in his house, and the LORD had given him rest round about from all his enemies; WEB: It happened, when the king lived in his house, and Yahweh had given him rest from all his enemies all around,