דברי הימים ב, פרק ה׳, פסוק ד׳

Bringing the Ark of the Covenant to its permanent home in Solomon's Temple marks a historic high point for the nation. The elders gather to escort the sacred object on its final journey. As the procession unfolds, a historical question arises regarding who actually carries the Ark. While one account attributes this task to the Levites, a parallel record in the Book of Kings states that the Priests carried it.

One approach resolves this by explaining that the group identified as Levites is actually the Priests [מצודת דוד, רד״ק]. Because the Priests are descendants of the tribe of Levi, the broader tribal name is sometimes used to describe them. In fact, ancient sages identified twenty-four instances in the biblical records where Priests are simply called Levites. Following this perspective, it was the Priests who bore the Ark, while the Levites were assigned the separate task of carrying the Tent of Meeting [רד״ק].

Another perspective suggests that the two accounts refer to different groups of people managing distinct stages of the journey [רלב״ג, מלבי״ם]. According to this view, the Levites carried the Ark along the main road. However, once the procession reached the House of God, the Priests took the Ark from the Levites to bring it into its innermost resting place, the Holy of Holies. This division of labor aligns with the tradition of the sages, which notes that bringing the Ark into the Holy of Holies was a rare, specialized duty requiring the Priests themselves to carry it [מלבי״ם]. Ultimately, both historical records are accurate, capturing complementary phases of the same monumental event.