Obed-Edom
Encyclopedia
'OBED-EDOM' HEBREW: "Worshiper of Edom" / servant of Edom
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Edom
Edom or Idumea was a historical region of the Southern Levant located south of Judea and the Dead Sea. It is mentioned in biblical records as a 1st millennium BC Iron Age kingdom of Edom, and in classical antiquity the cognate name Idumea was used to refer to a smaller area in the same region...
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- "The Gittite" (probably so called because he was a native of Gath-rimmon), a LeviteLeviteIn Jewish tradition, a Levite is a member of the Hebrew tribe of Levi. When Joshua led the Israelites into the land of Canaan, the Levites were the only Israelite tribe that received cities but were not allowed to be landowners "because the Lord the God of Israel himself is their inheritance"...
of the family of the KorhitesKorhitesThe Korhites in the Bible were a Levitical family descended from Korah ....
,. He had taken up residence in Judah, perhaps as a convert to the religion of David, who had many followers among the Gittites. This could explain David's willingness to entrust a foreigner with the custody of the ark of the covenantArk of the CovenantThe Ark of the Covenant , also known as the Ark of the Testimony, is a chest described in Book of Exodus as solely containing the Tablets of Stone on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed...
. For when DavidDavidDavid was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...
was bringing up the ark "from the house of AbinadabAbinadabAbinadab may refer to:# A man of Kirjath-jearim widely identified as a Levite , in whose house the ark of the covenant was deposited after having been brought back from the land of the Philistines . It remained there twenty years, until it was at length removed by David . It has been argued that...
, that was in GibeahGibeahGibeah is a biblical site identified by archaeologists as a hill in Jerusalem, on the outskirts of the Pisgat Ze'ev neighborhood, known as Tell el-Ful.-Etymology:...
" (probably some hill or eminence near Kiriath-jearimKiriath-JearimKiriath-Jearim "city of woods" - was a city in the Land of Israel mentioned 18 times in the Hebrew Bible. It was also referenced by the names Kiriath-Ba'al, Ba'alah and Ba'ale-Judah....
), and had reached Nachon's threshing-floor, he became afraid after Uzzah, one of the two oxcart drivers transporting the ark, touched it to prevent it from falling, was immediately struck dead. So David carried it aside into the house of Obed-edomObed-Edom'OBED-EDOM' HEBREW: "Worshiper of Edom" / servant of Edom.# "The Gittite" , a Levite of the family of the Korhites,. He had taken up residence in Judah, perhaps as a convert to the religion of David, who had many followers among the Gittites...
. There it remained for three months and was to him and his house the occasion of great blessing. David then removed it with great rejoicing to Jerusalem, and set it in the midst of the Tabernacle he had pitched for it. - A Merarite LeviteLeviteIn Jewish tradition, a Levite is a member of the Hebrew tribe of Levi. When Joshua led the Israelites into the land of Canaan, the Levites were the only Israelite tribe that received cities but were not allowed to be landowners "because the Lord the God of Israel himself is their inheritance"...
, a temple porter, who with his eight sons guarded the southern gate. - Became one of the "singers with instruments" appointed by the Levites on David's instruction,1Chronicles 15:16,21.
- One who had charge of the Temple in JerusalemTemple in JerusalemThe Temple in Jerusalem or Holy Temple , refers to one of a series of structures which were historically located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem, the current site of the Dome of the Rock. Historically, these successive temples stood at this location and functioned as the centre of...
's treasures.