⁵So David assembled all Israel together, from Shihor the brook of Egypt even unto the entering in of Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim.
5. from Shihor the brook of Egypt] Shihor was the name of the brook (now wady el-Arish) which divided Palestine from Egypt (Joshua xiii. 3, xv. 4; Jeremiah ii. 18).
the entering in of Hamath] Hamath (now Hama) is on the Orontes, see note on xviii. 5. The entering in of Hamath is to be identified with the Beḳā‘a, a broad valley between Lebanon and Anti-Libanus watered by the Orontes, Bädeker, Palestine⁵, p. 372. It is mentioned as on the northern frontier of Israel in Joshua xiii. 5; 1 Kings viii. 65, and elsewhere.
⁶And David went up, and all Israel, to Baalah, that is, to Kiriath-jearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, the Lord that sitteth[¹] upon the cherubim, which[²] is called by the Name.
[¹] Or, dwelleth between.
[²] Or, where the Name is called on.
6. to Baalah, that is, to Kiriath-jearim] A Gibeonite city, probably Ḳaryet el-‘Enab (“City of Grapes”) some 7 miles north-west of Jerusalem. Compare Joshua xv. 9; in Joshua xv. 60 Kiriath-baal.
sitteth upon the cherubim] Compare Ezekiel i. 26.
which is called by the Name] The God whose is the Ark is here distinguished from the gods of the nations as the God who bears the ineffable Name.
⁷And they carried the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab: and Uzza and Ahio drave the cart.