Obed-Edom

Obed-edom (meaning servant of Edom) was a Gittite — a man from Gath — in whose house the ark of the covenant rested for three months after the death of Uzzah had halted its transfer to Jerusalem. During those three months the LORD blessed the household of Obed-edom and everything he had (2 Samuel 6:11; 1 Chronicles 13:14), a fact that prompted David to resume the ark's transfer. The blessing on Obed-edom's household became a sign of the ark's potency and, by implication, the cost of approaching it wrongly (as Uzzah had) versus hosting it with reverence.

A Levite named Obed-edom son of Jeduthun was appointed as a doorkeeper of the ark (1 Chronicles 15:18, 24) and later as a musician and gatekeeper of the temple treasuries (1 Chronicles 26:4–8). His descendants, a numerous family of porters, occupied a prominent place in the temple's administrative structure.