The Missing Tabernacle: Why Gibeon Matters in David’s Story and Yours

Soon after I began writing book #3 in King David’s Brides series, Loyal: The Story of Haggith, I was reading the Book of Joshua for my quiet time. When I reached Joshua 9, a new realization dawned. The new-to-me Truth provided David’s heroic journey in Book #3.

Many readers ask how I find the Scriptures that form my biblical novels. Here’s an example of the Holy Spirit’s guidance…

The Tabernacle in Nob, a city near Saul’s palace in Gibeah, was David’s first stop after King Saul sent assassins to David’s home. King Saul murdered all of Nob’s priests and their families in retaliation for the help the high priest (unknowingly) offered to David.

[Saul] also put to the sword Nob, the town of the priests, with its men and women, its children and infants, and its cattle, donkeys and sheep. 1 Samuel 22:19

And the Tabernacle isn’t mentioned again until Solomon’s reign.

I searched my resources and couldn’t find any information on the Tabernacle’s whereabouts between Saul’s attack on Nob and King Solomon’s reign. Did Saul, in his manic state, hide it from the people of Israel? Dunno. But let’s take a peek at the Tabernacle’s history during the time of Joshua…it matters.

The Tabernacle During the Days of Joshua

About 400 years before David reigned as king, Israel stood on the doorstep of God’s Promised Land. Yahweh commanded His people to “completely destroy” all Canaanites so the Israelites wouldn’t be tempted by their idolatry (Deuteronomy 20:17).

In the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded, that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the Lord your God. Deuteronomy 20:13-18 (emphasis added)

Scripture also refers to the Hivites as the Gibeonites.

Let’s look at Gibeon’s, a.k.a. the Hivites, history to discover why Gibeon matters in the Tabernacle’s journey, David’s reign, and our own stories.

The Gibeonites Trick Joshua

As Joshua leads the Israelites and their army into the Promised Land, they obey God’s command, destroying every Canaanite city, one by one. The Gibeonites/Hivites formed a sneaky plan to trick Joshua and Israel’s elders into making a protective covenant with them.

When the people of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, they resorted to a ruse: They went as a delegation whose donkeys were loaded with worn-out sacks and old wineskins, cracked and mended. They put worn and patched sandals on their feet and wore old clothes. All the bread of their food supply was dry and moldy. Then they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and the Israelites, “We have come from a distant country; make a treaty with us…The Israelites sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the Lord.” Joshua 9:3–6, 14

Three days later, when the Israelites discover they’ve been duped, Joshua makes the Gibeonites Israel’s “slaves” and designates the tasks they must perform for as long as Gibeon exists.

That day [Joshua] made the Gibeonites woodcutters and water carriers for the assembly, to provide for the needs of the altar of the Lord at the place the Lord would choose. And that is what they are to this day. Joshua 9:27

Why Does The Gibeonites’ Ancient Deception Matter?

It’s what the Bible doesn’t say that matters. There’s no mention of the Tabernacle from the time Saul murders the priests at Nob until Solomon, at the beginning of his reign, visits the Tabernacle in GIBEON!

The king [Solomon] went to Gibeon to offer sacrifices, for that was the most important high place, and Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon during the night in a dream, and God said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.” 1 Kings 3:4–5 (emphasis added)

In the same city that Joshua’s error made slaves of all Hivites, Yahweh’s presence in the Tabernacle redeems every bad decision–past and present–made by Israel’s leaders. In Gibeon, Solomon believed only God could make a flawed man wise.

And Yahweh still “writes straight lines with crooked sticks.” Hallelujah!

How Is The Tabernacle A Part Of David’s Story If It’s Missing During His Reign?

Because, according to Israel’s knowledge of God at the time, wherever the Tabernacle/Ark went, God’s presence and blessing went with it (read 1 Samuel 5 for the whole story).

So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said, “Send the ark of the god of Israel away; let it go back to its own place, or it will kill us and our people.” For death had filled the city with panic; God’s hand was very heavy on it. 1 Samuel 5:11

If Saul stole or hid the Tabernacle, why didn’t God’s presence and blessing return to him a generation after the Ark caused havoc among the Philistines? Perhaps because the Ark of His Presence was no longer inside the Tabernacle (1 Samuel 6:21). For more of the Ark’s story, read Connilyn Cossette’s series, The King’s Men, which explores Saul’s reign. I endorsed Book #3 in her series, Splendor of the Land, which released 8/5/25.

How Does The Missing Tabernacle Affect David And His Brides?

The Brides of King David series is so much more than a story about David getting married SIX TIMES! It’s David’s story through the eyes of the women who gave David his first six sons!

When the 3rd book in the series begins (Loyal: The Story of Haggith), Saul and his sons have been killed in their war with the Philistines. And the location of the Tabernacle dies with them.

We know little from Scripture about Haggith’s personal information, except that she’s the mother of Prince Adonijah, who later tries to steal Solomon’s rightful throne.

Now Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith, put himself forward and said, “I will be king.” So he got chariots and horses ready, with fifty men to run ahead of him. (His father had never rebuked him by asking, “Why do you behave as you do?” He was also very handsome and was born next after Absalom.) 1 Kings 1:5–6

Loyal: The Story of Haggith combines biblical truth, historical facts, and creative fiction. The creative fiction uses the following verse to describe her (fictional) family. She’s the daughter of Jehoiada, Hebron’s chief priest, and the sister of Benaiah, who later becomes one of David’s famed Mighty Men.

Benaiah son of Jehoiada was over the Kerethites and Pelethites; and David’s sons were priests. 2 Samuel 8:18

The Tabernacle In Character Development

I know writing techniques might not interest some of you, but look at the red arc below: Main Character Arc.

Before I can write, I need to understand how each character will grow and change from the first page to the last. In Book #3, LOYAL, the main characters are David and Haggith. Here’s a peek into how their story changes them both.

David’s character arc begins with his earnest search for the missing Tabernacle and ends with his greater certainty that God is everywhere.

Haggith’s character arc unveils a heart that worships God’s Law more than the Law Giver and how she falls in love with Yahweh.

Both David and Haggith must face their individual struggles before they can marry and become one flesh. Both will follow the rising chaos of the red arc to be changed by Yahweh’s plan for their lives.

How Are David’s And Haggith’s Arc Similar To Your Life’s Arc Affected By Growth?

Our God can still redeem bad decisions. Like Joshua’s prayerless vow of safety to the Gibeonites, David’s sinful marriages to multiple wives can be redeemed. David made MANY bad decisions before and after he ruled over Israel in the new capital of Jerusalem, the City of David. The four books in the King David’s Wives series tell a single story. The crux of their message, when read together, is shown in the Gibeonite’s story: No earthly mistake/sin is too big to overcome God’s sovereign plan.

Some folks might consider Solomon’s prayer IN GIBEON as mere irony. But I see that encounter as Yahweh’s sovereign plan coming to pass DESPITE human, poor choices.

Is Your Sin Too Terrible To Receive God’s Forgiveness?

Our mistakes will never ruin God’s offer of grace and forgiveness when we truly believe He’s working out His sovereign plan.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (emphasis added)

Through God’s never-ending love and grace, ALL who personally believe and accept Jesus’s death, resurrection, and ascension will have their sins washed away and will be with Him for eternity. The Perfect Lamb offers us a greater redemption than even the Gibeonites received!

About This Month’s Release of NOBLE: The Story of Maakah…

Noble is Book #2 of the King David’s Brides series. Maakah’s name is mentioned before Haggith’s in 2 Samuel 3:2-5. I’m using these four verses to explore David’s SIX Hebron brides whom he married before and during his seven-year reign in Hebron. All four books in this series combine to tell the story of David’s early years, using a spotlight on each of these six brides who formed the foundation of his household.

I hope you’ll pre-order Noble while it’s 40% off a paperback at Baker Book House (BBH). CLICK HERE to pre-order Noble before the BBH special deal ends at midnight, August 18, 2025.

CLICK HERE to find out more about Noble and read a sneak peek chapter!

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