Bethel all had associations with the covenant between God and the people. In order to accomplish his plans, the king had to associate the kingship with the covenant of God.

When Jerusalem was confirmed as a possession of David, he left its religious establishment in tact, assuming the pre-Israelite office of priest-king of the city "after the order of Melchizedek." Accordingly, rulers of the House of David at their accession, and in annual festivities that marked the beginning of each year, were proclaimed as sons of God. The annual feast of the covenant was now succeeded by the feast of the king, who now embodied a new covenant between the people and God, as a living symbol of the original covenant between God and Abraham.

King David sought to continue the ancient traditions which formed the identity of the People in Covenant with God, which knew no such restriction as birth from a female Israelite: The children of men were admitted equally with the offspring of women to the community of the nation. David interpreted the institution of kingship in religious terms, radically transforming the culture of the Israelite nation. Kingship became the focus of a profound reconception of Israel's religious faith, with a subsequent impact on the symbolism and worship of the Judaeo-Christian civilization.

The ark was one of the most sacred objects in the lives of the Israelite people, standing for the presence of God. One of its titles was "the ark of the covenant," which was a reference to its central role in sacred covenant-consecrating ceremonies in which God made a solemn agreement with a confederation of tribes called "the people of God." This sacred agreement or covenant between the God of Abraham and his descendants was based on the great acts of rescue and salvation performed by God on Israel's behalf, and was an agreement between God and the whole community. When King David brought the ark to Jerusalem it became the sign of a "new covenant," an agreement between God and the king to safeguard the nation. The king as "the Anointed of the Lord" became a sacral institution to the people under David, which established the city of the king, Jerusalem, as the nation's religious capital.

God's salvation of Israel from the Philistines through the instrument of the House of David became the central motif of the new covenant with the people. The covenant God made with David said that his throne would be established through his sons and their sons forever. The ark of the covenant, once

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