1 Kings 8:3

The priests. In 2 Chron. 5:4 we are told that “the Levites took up the ark.” All priests were Levites (Joshua 3:3), but not all the descendants of Levi were priests. The bearing of the ark on its journeys was properly the responsibility of the Levites of the family of Kohath (Num. 3:31; 4:15; 1 Chron. 15:2-15). But the Kohathites could bear the ark only after it had been prepared for its journey by Aaron and his sons (Num. 4:5, 15). At the passage of the Jordan and the circuit of Jericho it was the priests who bore the ark (Joshua 3:6-17; 6:6). On the occasion of the transfer of the ark to its permanent home in the holy of holies in Solomon’s Temple, this important responsibility was probably committed to certain leaders among the priests (see 1 Chron. 15:11, 12).