It is evident from a number of
biblical passages that the ark was to the Israelites what the divine statues
were to the other nations. Whereas the Philistines took along their “idols” (ᴄăṣabbîm)
when they marched out to the battlefield (2 Sam 5:21), the Israelites brought
the ark (1 Sam 4:1–11). Having been captured, the ark was placed in the temple
of Ashdod next to the image of Dagon (1 Sam 5:2–4).27 Yahweh and ark are not
coterminous (cf. 1 Sam 3:2–18; 4:5–11); neither are the divinity and its image
in the world surrounding Israel. Like the divine image in other Near Eastern
civilizations, the ark served as the focal point of the divine presence. In
passages where the ark plays a role, the expression “before Yahweh” is
equivalent to “before the ark of Yahweh” (e. g., Judg 20:26–27; Josh 6:6, 8; 1
Sam 6:14–15; 2 Sam 6:4–5, 13–14, 17; 1 Chr 16:1, 4, 6, 37). The presence of
“the ark of the covenant of the Lord of all the earth” (Josh 3:11) is
tantamount to the presence of “the living God among you” (Josh 3:10).
If the ark served as the
effective symbol of God’s presence, it is not farfetched to assume that it
played a role in divination. In divination people do not “inquire of the ephod”
(*šāᴐal bāᴐēpôd), but they inquire of Yahweh or
God (šāᴐal bayhwh/bāᴐĕlohîm, 1 Sam 30:8; cf.
22:15); this supposes that God is present.
Since the ark materializes God’s
presence, so to speak, it might [217] be expected that it was used for
divinatory purposes as well. In support of this hypothesis, the account of the
oracular consultation in Judg 20:27–28 might be quoted.
And the Israelites inquired of
Yahweh (for the ark of the covenant of God was there in those days; and
Phinehas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron stood before him in those days),
saying, “Shall we yet again go out to do battle against the Benjaminites, our
brothers, or shall we cease?” And Yahweh said, “Go up; for tomorrow I will give
them into your hand.”
The editorial notice about the
presence of the ark is reminiscent of 1 Sam 14:18 (“For the ark of God was with
the Israelites on that day”). It has been added because the oracular inquiry
took place in Bethel (Judg 20:26), a place elsewhere not associated with the
ark. The precise point at which the gloss has been inserted deserves to be
noted: it is the oracular inquiry which made a reference to the ark seem
necessary to the editor. In his mind, the two were apparently linked. The
evidence thus suggests that the ark was a more likely instrument of divination
than the ephod; in 1 Sam 23:9 and 30:7, the “ark” would better fit the context
than the “ephod.” (Karl Van Der Toorn, “David and the Ark,” in God in
Context: Selected Essays on Society and Religion in the Early Middle East [Forschungen
zum Alten Testament 123; Tübingen:
Mohr Siebeck, 2018], 28-29)
