To be or not to be...That is the Question of Sacrality

In the novel Jerusalem: One City Three Faiths by Karen Armstrong, the Ark of the Covenant was meant to be the piece that brings together the people of the northern kingdom in trusting David for honoring a sacred tradition they upheld (Armstrong 41). It also made Jerusalem one of the holy cities since it held an artifact of spiritual significance. Reading over the chapter, I found it peculiar that Jerusalem was not even remotely considered to be as sacred of a place as it is today. By having the presence of an object that Yahweh supposedly touched, the Yahwists became inclined to accept its new location as a place to practice their faith. It is mentioned in the chapter City of David in Jerusalem: One City Three Faiths novel and the novel The Sacred And The Profane by Mircea Eliade, that a sacred object cannot be determined of its final destination and that it is up to the holy figure (God) to establish said location for the people to worship. A sacred object is “revealed” amongst the ordinary objects making it sacred (Eliade 12). By moving the Ark of the Covenant, does David negate the holy symbolism of the object? When first attempting to move the Ark, one of David’s attendants, Uzzah, was fatally injured, perhaps indicating the sacredness of the location as well as the object. This is in reference to the belief that “if Yahweh came to live in Zion it would be because he-and he alone-had chosen to do so” (Armstrong 41). What then made David decide that bringing the Ark was worth the spiritual consequences of rejecting its predestined location? When he did manage to bring the Ark to Jerusalem, David decided to dance in front of it as a sign of respect for the deity. Is this a form of asking for forgiveness rather than permission, and if so, was this the accepted method for people to resolve their issues? Moving the sacred object can be interpreted as a political tactic to bring diverse people together under a common belief. It is also for the purpose of convenience, in that the sacred object is forced to move rather than the people move to the object. With that in mind, did the people really honor the sacred objects with fear and respect for their deity?