And they set the ark of God upon a new cart,.... Which was a great mistake, since it ought not to have been put upon a cart, old or new; it was to be borne upon men's shoulders, and carried by Levites only, and those of the family of Kohath, to whom no wagons were given, when others had them, for the above reason, Nu 7:9; it is strange that so many priests and Levites, and of the people of Israel gathered together on that account, and David also, so well versed in the law of God, should not refer to it; perhaps they were led by the example of the Philistines, who put it in a new cart, and set it forward towards Bethshemesh, and were not punished for it; but it should have been considered they were an ignorant Heathen people, and who had no proper persons among them to bear it, and so might be dispensed with.
This mistake was afterwards seen by David, and rectified, 1Ch 15:2; wherefore there is no reason to charge the text with an error or escape, and that the word "Kirjathjearim" is wanting, and to be supplied, as Spinosa suggests:and brought it out, or "after they had brought it out" ,of the house of Abinadab that [was] in Gibeah; or which was on the hill in Kirjathjearim, 1Sa 7:1;and Uzzah and Ahio the sons of Abinadab drew the new cart; perhaps not only Abinadab himself was dead, but Eleazar also, his eldest son, who was sanctified to keep the ark, as in 1Sa 7:1; and these might be his younger sons who at this time had the care of it, and it may be especially Uzzah.
Tractat. Theol. Politic. c. 9. p. 176.