: עֹבֵד אֱדֹם) is a biblical name which in Hebrew means "servant of Edom," and which appears in the books of 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Chronicles.
Eventually, the Philistines realize that they cannot safely keep the Ark, and place it on a cart pulled by two cattle, who return it to the Israelites along with a peace-offering (1 Samuel 6).
Eventually, the Israelite king David decides to bring the ark from the "house of Abinadab" to his new stronghold in Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6:1-2).
The ark is placed on an ox-cart driven by Uzzah and Ahio, Abinadab's sons, in a festive atmosphere (2 Samuel 6:3-5).
When David hears that the LORD has blessed the house of Obed-edom, he decides to move the Ark to Jerusalem as originally planned.
F. Gardiner, in Ellicott's Commentary for Modern Readers, stresses that "this implies neither jealousy nor a wish to deprive his subject (Obed-edom) of a blessing.
Calling to mind the disaster with Uzzah, David provides instructions for the proper handling of the Ark to avoid a repeat of the incident (15:12-13).
[8] "So the singers, Heman, Asaph, and Ethan, [were appointed,] with cymbals of brass to sound aloud; and Zechariah, and Aziel, .
and Maaseiah, and Benaiah, with psalteries set to Alamoth; and Mattithiah, and Eliphalehu, and Mikneiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, and Azaziah, with harps on the Sheminith, to lead" (15:19-21).
So David, and the elders of Israel, and the captains over thousands, went to bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the house of Obed-edom with joy" (15:22-25).
"And he appointed certain of the Levites to minister before the ark of the LORD, and to celebrate and to thank and praise the LORD, the God of Israel: Asaph the chief, and second to him, Zechariah, Jeiel, and Shemiramoth, and Jehiel, and Mattithiah, and Eliab, and Benaiah, and Obed-edom, and Jeiel, with psalteries and with harps; and Asaph with cymbals, sounding aloud; and Benaiah and Jehaziel the priests with trumpets continually, before the ark of the covenant of God" (16:4-6).
[8] 2 Chronicles 25 relates events that it claims occurred during the reign of king Jehoash of Israel and Amaziah of Judah.
"[4] As a result of these differing interpretations, several scholars have proposed that the Chronicler has altered the original description of a Philistine Obed-edom in order to make the character a Levite.
[1][12][13][3][14] Conservative scholars point out that "Gittite" refers simply to the town of Gath, not to the nationality of the individual.