25 So David, and the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands, went to bring up the ark of the covenant of Yahweh out of the house of Obed-Edom with joy.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
So David and the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands,.... He and the principal men of the nation, and the officers of the army or militia:
went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the house of Obededom with joy; with all demonstrations of it; for which purpose such a band of music was prepared, as before described.
It is good to notice the assistance of Divine Providence, even in things which fall within the compass of our natural powers; if God did not help us, we could not stir a step. If we do our religious duties in any degree aright, we must own it was God that helped us; had we been left to ourselves, we should have been guilty of some fatal errors. And every thing in which we engage, must be done in dependence on the mercy of God through the sacrifice of the Redeemer.
So David, and the elders . . . and captains . . . went--The pious design of David in ordering all his principal ministers and officers to take part in this solemn work and imparting so much pomp and imposing ceremony to the procession, was evidently to inspire the popular mind with a profound veneration for the ark and to give the young especially salutary impressions of religion, which would be renewed by the remembrance that they had been witnesses of the august solemnity in which the king and the highest aristocracy of the land participated, vying with all other classes to do honor to the God of Israel.
narrate the further proceedings connected with the bring of the ark to Jerusalem; cf. 2-Samuel 6:12-19. By the words וגו דויד ויהי the account of the execution of the design is connected with the statements as to the preparations (vv. 2-24): "And so were David who went to bring up the ark."
*More commentary available at chapter level.