Psalm 132 - an unfinished journey to God's true home

1 Lord, remember David

And all his afflictions;

2 How he swore to the Lord,

And vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob:

3 “Surely I will not go into the chamber of my house,

Or go up to the comfort of my bed;

4 I will not give sleep to my eyes

Or slumber to my eyelids,

5 Until I find a place for the Lord,

A dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob.”

6 Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah;

We found it in the fields of the woods.

7 Let us go into His tabernacle;

Let us worship at His footstool.

8 Arise, O Lord, to Your resting place,

You and the ark of Your strength.

9 Let Your priests be clothed with righteousness,

And let Your saints shout for joy.

10 For Your servant David’s sake,

Do not turn away the face of Your Anointed.

11 The Lord has sworn in truth to David;

He will not turn from it:

“I will set upon your throne the fruit of your body.

12 If your sons will keep My covenant

And My testimony which I shall teach them,

Their sons also shall sit upon your throne forevermore.”

13 For the Lord has chosen Zion;

He has desired it for His dwelling place:

14 “This is My resting place forever;

Here I will dwell, for I have desired it.

15 I will abundantly bless her provision;

I will satisfy her poor with bread.

16 I will also clothe her priests with salvation,

And her saints shall shout aloud for joy.

17 There I will make the horn of David grow;

I will prepare a lamp for My Anointed.

18 His enemies I will clothe with shame,

But upon Himself His crown shall flourish.”

It's the whole point of their pilgrimage - to go to the Temple - the place Solomon (rather then David) built as "A dwelling place for the Mighty One of Jacob."  In other words, a permanent home for the Ark of the Covenant, symbol of the presence of God among God's people.  David had fretted about it and this psalm remembers some of that story - maybe it was a teaching tool to help the travelling kids understand what they were doing and the significance of Jerusalem and the Temple.

The Ark was first housed in the tabernacle at Shiloh (Joshua 18:1). It stayed there through much of the period of the judges.  But during a battle with the Philistines at Ebenezer (1 Samuel 4), Israel made a desperate move: they brought the ark from Shiloh to the battlefield, thinking it would guarantee victory.  It didn’t. Israel lost, the ark was captured, and Shiloh’s significance faded.

The Philistines took the ark to Ashdod, placing it in the temple of their god Dagon.  The statue of Dagon fell before the ark — twice.  Plagues broke out among the people.  In panic, the Philistines sent the ark on a tour to Gath and Ekron, but each city suffered the same afflictions.  After seven months, they decided to send it back to Israel (1 Samuel 6), putting it on a new cart pulled by two cows and sending it toward the Israelite border without human guidance.

The cows headed to Beth Shemesh. The people rejoiced and offered sacrifices, but some looked into the ark — a direct violation of God’s commands — and many died.  This created fear, and they asked, “Who is able to stand before the holy Lord God? And to whom shall it go up from us?” (1 Samuel 6:20).  From Beth Shemesh, messengers went to Kiriath-jearim — a town on the border of Judah and Benjamin, whose name means “City of Forests.”  Men of the town brought the ark to the house of Abinadab on the hill.  His son Eleazar was consecrated to guard it (1 Samuel 7:1).

The ark remained in Kiriath-jearim for about 20 years:  There was no central sanctuary at the time; Shiloh had been destroyed or abandoned after the Philistine victory.  Israel was spiritually fractured; national worship was not well organised.  Kiriath-jearim was a safe, elevated location away from Philistine threat.  It seems to have become a temporary but respected resting place until David made Jerusalem his capital and brought the ark there (2 Samuel 6).

When Psalm 132:6 recalls “we found it in the fields of the woods,” it’s remembering this time when God’s presence was real but hidden, honoured but not yet in its final home. For pilgrims, it’s a metaphor for seeking out and carrying the presence of God from obscurity into the heart of communal life.

In some ways, the pilgrims are re-enacting the journey of the Ark to Jerusalem where they will praise God at the heart of their community life.  But it is also a psalm asking a question for every generation.  Where will God find a home?  It's a rhetorical question, but our own answer, even as pilgrims heading to a Temple im a city, should be that God will find a home in our hearts and in the everyday living of our lives.

The ark’s final fate is a mystery. Scripture last mentions it in the days of King Josiah; after that, it vanishes from the record. Whether destroyed, hidden, or carried away, it never returned to the rebuilt temple after the Babylonian exile. The Holy of Holies stood empty — and yet worship continued.

Perhaps this is its last lesson: God’s presence was never meant to be contained in a single object or locked away in a single room. Without the ark to point to, the people learned to meet God in the rhythms of prayer, in the hearing of the law, and in the shared life of the community.

For us, the disappearance of the ark is a gift. We do not need to travel to one place to find God. The question for every pilgrim is no longer “Where is the ark?” but “Where is God dwelling now?” And the answer can be as close as our own hearts, our own homes, and the everyday moments in which we walk with God.

Prayer

God who creates and builds;

who fashions and shapes;

who plants and nourishes —

find Your home in us.

May our hearts be open,

our lives ready to carry Your presence

from the hidden places into the centre of our communities.

Let Your dwelling be not just in our sacred buildings

but in every act of faithfulness and love.

Amen.