Displeasure of the LORD thereby; because he had seen an Example of the divine Vengeance in Uzzah one of the Sons of Abinadab, who had prefum'd rashly and unadvisedly to lay his Hand upon it: fo it was left, as it was bringing along, fomewhat short of where he intended to depofit it, at the House of * Obed-Edom the Gittite.

With Obed-Edom, the Ark remain'd three Months. After which, it was brought with great Solemnity, into that Part of Jerufalem called the City of David; where a Place was prepar'd, and a Tent pitch'd for it: and there it remain'd 'till it was put into the Temple, afterwards built by Solomon. But from thence it was afterwards removed, in the Reign of one of the idolatrous Kings of Judah ; or perhaps fecreted by the Levites:

* One of the Tribe of Levi, fo call'd probably from bis having fojourn'd formerly among the Gittites; for the Levites having no Inheritance of their own, were femetimes oblig'd to feck a Dwelling where they cou'd find it; efpecially when their Brethren of the other Tribes among whom they liv'd, were given up to Idolatry; by which their Office was fuperfeded.

+ Chron. xv. 25. And the CXXXII Pfalm appears plainly to have been compofed upon that Occasion. For

XXXV. 3.

For we find King Jofiah ordering it to 2 Chron. be replaced.

2 Mac. ii.

What is faid to have become of it, after the Babylonish Captivity, may be seen in the Apocryphal Writings: whence we ib. v. 16. may likewise conclude, the Jews never pretended to be in Poffeffion of it after the fecond Temple was plunder'd by Antiochus Epiphanes; whatever they did before.

I

As for the Tabernacle and the other holy Things that belong'd to it, we find that in the Days of Saul, it had been remov'd from Shiloh to Nob, (a City on this 1 Sam. Side Jordan, between the Tribes of xxi. 1. Judab and Benjamin,) not far from Jerufalem; which had been affign'd to the Priefts and Levites for their Habitation; among whom Ahimelech, and his Son Abi- Mark ii. athar were fucceffively High-Priefts.

26.

I

xvi.

39.

xxi. 29.

In the Time of David we find it remov'd to the High-Place that was at Gi- 1 Chron. beon; a City of the Tribe of Benjamin: probably, upon the Occasion of Saul's having order'd Doeg the Edomite to flay all the Priests at Nob: which bloody Commiffion he executed accordingly; on all,

except Abiathar, who efcap'd to David. 2 Chron. And we likewife read of its being ftill there,

i. 3.

in the Beginning of the Reign of Solomon:

after which we meet with no further Account of it.

But here it may be noted, once for all; that tho' the Tabernacle and the Temple were, in fome refpects, very different, yet, as they both meant one and the fame Thing, (the chief Refidence of religious Worship) those two Names are us'd pro1 Sam. mifcuously for each other, in feveral Places of Scripture.

i. 9.

iii. 3.
Jer. x.

20.

SECT. IV.

The HIGH-PLACES.

But, befide the Tabernacle, both before the Building of the Temple, and after, there were Places of Worship call'd HighPlaces; which this People, fometimes took the Liberty to resort to, contrary to God's Deut. xii, express Command, who had faid; ye shall utterly deftroy all the places, wherein the nations, which ye shall poffefs, ferved their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the bills, and under every green Tree. Yefhall

2.

not

not do so unto the LORD your God. But, unto the place which the LORD your God fball choose, out of all your tribes, to put his name there, even unto his habitation fhall ye feek, and thither thou shalt come, &c. For, after they had got Poffeffion of the Land of Canaan, they quickly ran into the reigning Idolatries of the Country; and being fometimes without any Chief, Governour or Judge, every Man did that which was right in his own Eyes.

Indeed, God feems to have been indulgent to them in thofe Times of their blind Stupidity, and to have conniv'd sometimes at their worshipping, (provided they worThip'd Him and not other Gods) upon High-Places, and under green Trees. The Angel of God directs Gideon of the Judg. vi, Tribe of Manaffeb (whom he had appoint- 20. ed to judge Ifrael) to make his Offering and Libation, under an Oak; where afterwards he built an Altar unto the LORD.

vii. 17, ix. 12,

Samuel, the Judge and Prophet, of the Tribe of Levi, built an Altar unto the 1 Sam. LORD in Ramah; which is call'd the High-Place; doubtless, by a fpecial Difpenfation

penfation from God; because, when the Ark was taken by the Philistines, the Tabernacle at Shiloh in all Probability was either neglected, or fecreted by the Priests. For after when it was known to be in 2 Chron. Gibeon, we are told that Solomon and all

i. 3.

iii. 2.

the congregation with him, went to the highplace that was in Gibeon; for there was the Tabernacle of the congregation of God, which Mofes the fervant of the LORD bad made in the wilderness,

And when the Scripture mentions the happy and profperous Times in the Beginning of Solomon's Reign, there is this 1 Kings. Exception made; Only the people facrific'd in High-Places; because there was no house built unto the name of the LORD, until thofe days. And of Solomon it is faid, That be lov'd the LORD, walking in the ftatutes of David his father; only he facrific'd and burnt incenfe in High-Places. And the king went to Gibeon to facrifice there; for that was the great High-Place; a thousand burntofferings did Solomon offer upon that altar. Neither did they altogether forbear this erroneous Practice, after the Temple was built. For Jeroboam, the firft King of