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Ephraimitish territory (Kühnöl, Gesenius, Maurer, Tholuck, and others). The meaning would then be: we had heard that the sacred Ark was in Shiloh, but we found it not there, but in Kirjath-Jearim. And we can easily understand why the poet has mentioned the two places just in this way. Ephrāth, according to its etymon, is fruitful fields, with which are contrasted the fields of the wood - the sacred Ark had fallen from its original, more worthy abode, as it were, into the wilderness. But is it probable, more especially in view of Mic 5:1, that in a connection in which the memory of David is the ruling idea, Ephrathah signifies the land of Ephraim? No, Ephrathah is the name of the district in which Kirjath-Jearim lay. Caleb had, for instance, by Ephrath, his third wife, a son named Hûr (Chûr), 1Ch 2:19, This Hûr, the first-born of Ephrathah, is the father of the population of Bethlehem (1Ch 4:4), and Shobal, a son of this Hûr, is father of the population of Kirjath-Jearim (1Ch 2:50). Kirjath-Jearim is therefore, so to speak, the daughter of Bethlehem. This was called Ephrathah in ancient times, and this name of Bethlehem became the name of its district (Mic 5:1). Kirjath-Jearim belonged to Caleb-Ephrathah (1Ch 2:24), as the northern part of this district seems to have been called in distinction from Negeb-Caleb (1Sa 30:14).
But משׁכּנותיו in Psa 132:7 is now neither a designation of the house of Abinadab in Kirjath-Jearim, for the expression would be too grand, and in relation to Psa 132:5 even confusing, nor a designation of the Salomonic Temple-building, for the expression standing thus by itself is not enough alone to designate it. What is meant will therefore be the tent-temple erected by David for the Ark when removed to Zion (2Sa 7:2, יריעה). The church arouses itself to enter this, and to prostrate itself in adoration towards (vid., Psa 99:5) the footstool of Jahve, i.e., the Ark; and to what purpose? The ark of the covenant is now to have a place more worthy of it; the מנוּחה, i.e., the בּית מנוּחה, 1Ch 28:2, in which David's endeavours have through Solomon reached their goal, is erected: let Jahve and the Ark of His sovereign power, that may not be touched (see the examples of its inviolable character in 1Sa 5:1-12, 1 Sam 6, 2Sa 6:6.), now enter this fixed abode! Let His priests who are to serve Him there clothe themselves in “righteousness,”