Behold we have heard of it in Ephrata: we have found it in the fields of the wood.

“"Lo, we heard of the same at Ephrata" [Psalm 132:6]. What? A place for the Lord. "We heard of it at Ephrata: and found it in the plains of the forests." Did he hear it where he found it? Or did he hear it in one place, find it in another? Let us therefore enquire what Ephrata is, where he heard it; let us also enquire what mean the plains of the forests, where he found it. Ephrata, a Hebrew word, is rendered in Latin by Speculum, as the translators of Hebrew words in the Scriptures have handed down to us, that we might understand them. They have translated from Hebrew into Greek, and from Greek we have versions into Latin. For there have been who watched in the Scriptures. If therefore Ephrata means a mirror, that house which was found in the woodland plains, was heard of in a mirror. A mirror has an image: all prophecy is an image of things future. The future house of God, therefore, was declared in the image of prophecy. "We have found it in the plains of the forests." What are the "plains of the forests"? Saltus is not here used in its common sense, as a plot of ground of so many hundred acres; saltus properly signifies a spot as yet untilled and woody. For some copies read, in the plains of the wood. What then were the woodland plains, save nations yet untilled? What were they, save regions yet covered with the thorns of idolatry? Thus, though there were thorns of idolatry there, still we find a place for the Lord there, a tabernacle for the God of Jacob. What was declared in the image to the Jews, was manifested in the faith of the Gentiles.”

“we heard it The tidings. in Ephrath In the most esteemed and superior place, like (I Sam. 1:1): “the son of Toku, the son of Zuph, an Ephrathite,” an important person, a palace dweller. Another explanation: We heard it in Ephrath In the Book of Joshua (ch. 15), who came from Ephraim. In all the boundaries he says, “And the border went up...and the border circled,” but here he says, “And the border went up by the valley of the son of Hinnon... Jerusalem.” Jerusalem is [therefore] found to be higher than all the lands, and it is fit for the Temple, as it is said (Deut. 17:8): “and you shall arise and ascend to the place, etc.” This teaches [us] that the Temple is higher than the whole land of Israel. So it is expounded upon in tractate Zevahim (54b). we found it in the fields of the forest In the boundary of Benjamin, who was likened to a beast of the forest, as it is said (Gen. 49:27): “Benjamin is a devouring wolf.””

“Arise, O Lord, into thy rest,.... Which words, and what follow, were used by Solomon at the dedication of the temple; and with which he concluded his prayer, Ch2 6:41; and so may be a request to the Lord, that he would take up his residence in the temple built for him, where he would have a firm and stable place of rest; who, from the time of Israel's coming out of Egypt, had not dwelt in a house; but had walked in a tent or tabernacle from place to place, Sa2 6:6; and that he would take up his abode in his church, the antitype of the temple, and rest in his love there, and cause his people to rest also; see Psa 132:13; thou, and the ark of thy strength; the Targum is, "thou, and the ark in which is thy law.'' This is sometimes called the strength of the Lord; because by it he showed his great strength in destroying the enemies of his people, the Philistines and others; see Psa 78:61. It was a type of Christ, who is the power of God, and the mighty God; and, as man, made strong by the Lord; and, as Mediator, has all strength in him for his people. And so the words may be considered as a request to him, either to arise and enter into his rest in heaven, having done his work of redemption and salvation here on earth, for which he became incarnate; or to grant his presence with his church, and take up his rest there, and give them spiritual peace and rest for their souls.”

“Heard of it in Ephrata. When I was young, and lived in Bethlehem, otherwise called Ephrata, I heard of God’s tabernacle and ark, and had a devout desire of seeking it; and accordingly I found it, at Cariathiarim, the city of the woods: where it was, till it was removed to Jerusalem. See 1 Paralipomenon xiii. (Challoner) — Or it was revealed to David, that the temple should be built in that part of Jerusalem, which looked towards Bethlehem, and is surrounded with woods. All the plan was laid before him, 1 Paralipomenon xxviii. (Worthington) — But it is not probable that Jerusalem should be thus described, and there is no proof that the threshing-floor of Ornan was woody. It seems rather, that the psalmist alludes to the ark, first at Silo, secondly in the country of Ephraim, or the Ephratheans, (Psalm lxxvii. 60, 67., and Judges xii. 5.) for 328 years, and afterwards at Cariathiarim, for other 70. The captives may also recount its different stations, and pray that it may be restored; though it seems never to have been placed in the second temple. — It, ( eam ) the tabernacle, which in Hebrew is feminine. (Calmet) — Yet as the text has tabernacles, or “dwellings,” mishcanoth, (ver. 5.) and as the Mosaical tabernacle was kept at Silo or Gabaon, and was not with the ark at Cariathiarim, we may perhaps suppose, that the psalmist alludes to the ark, (Haydock) or to the thing indefinitely, (Berthier) where the glory of the Lord was displayed. St. Jerome and Houbigant have “him,” the God of Jacob. (Haydock) — The Fathers explain it of Jesus Christ, (Theodoret) who was born at Bethlehem, (Worthington) and was prefigured by the temple, (Calmet) styled “the fields of wood.” Hebrew sede yahar, to intimate the great extend and quantity of wood used in it; though (Haydock) Cariathiarim, “the city of the woods,” may be meant. (Calmet)”

“In Psa 132:6 begins the language of the church, which in this Psalm reminds Jahve of His promises and comforts itself with them. Olshausen regards this Psa 132:6 as altogether inexplicable. The interpretation nevertheless has some safe starting-points. (1) Since the subject spoken of is the founding of a fixed sanctuary, and one worthy of Jahve, the suffix of שׁמענוּה (with Chateph as in Hos 8:2, Ew. ֗60, a) and מצאנוּה refers to the Ark of the covenant, which is fem. also in other instances (Sa1 4:17; Ch2 8:11). (2) The Ark of the covenant, fetched up out of Shiloh by the Israelites to the battle at Ebenezer, fell into the hands of the victors, and remained, having been again given up by them, for twenty years in Kirjath-Jearim (Sa1 7:1.), until David removed it out of this Judaean district to Zion (Sa2 6:2-4; cf. Ch2 1:4). What is then more natural than that שׂדי־יער is a poetical appellation of Kirjath-Jearim (cf. "the field of Zoan" in Psa 78:12)? Kirjath-Jearim has, as a general thing, very varying names. It is also called Kirjath-ha-jearim in Jer 26:20 (Kirjath-'arim in Ezr 2:25, cf. Jos 18:28), Kirjath-ba'al in Jos 16:1-10 :50, Ba'alah in Jos 15:9; Ch1 13:6 (cf. Har-ha-ba'alah, Jos 15:11, with Har-Jearim in Jos 15:10), and, as it seems, even Ba'al Jehudah in Sa2 6:2. Why should it not also have been called Ja'ar side by side with Kirjath-Jearim, and more especially if the mountainous district, to which the mention of a hill and mountain of Jearim points, was, as the name "city of the wood" implies, at the same time a wooded district? We therefore fall in with Khnl's (1799) rendering: we found it in the meadows of Jaar, and with his remark: "Jaar is a shortened name of the city of Kirjath-Jearim." The question now further arises as to what Ephrathah is intended to mean. This is an ancient name of Bethlehem; but the Ark of the covenant never was in Bethlehem. Accordingly Hengstenberg interprets, "We knew of it in Bethlehem (where David had spent his youth) only by hearsay, no one had seen it; we found it in Kirjath-Jearim, yonder in the wooded environs of the city, where it was as it were buried in darkness and solitude." So even Anton Hulsius (1650): Ipse David loquitur, qui dicit illam ipsam arcam, de qua quum adhuc Bethlehemi versaretur inaudivisset, postea a se (vel majroibus suis ipso adhuc minorenni) inventam fuisse in campis Jaar. But (1) the supposition that David's words are continued here does not harmonize with the way in which they are introduced in Psa 132:2, according to which they cannot possibly extend beyond the vow that follows. (2) If the church is speaking, one does not see why Bethlehem is mentioned in particular as the place of the hearsay. (3) We heard it in Ephrathah cannot well mean anything else than, per antiptosin (as in Gen 1:4, but without כּי), we heard that it was in Ephrathah. But the Ark was before Kirjath-Jearim in Shiloh. The former lay in the tribe of Judah close to the western borders of Benjamin, the latter in the midst of the tribe of Ephraim. Now since אפרתי quite as often means an Ephraimite as it does a Bethlehemite, it may be asked whether Ephrathah is not intended of the Ephraimitish territory (Khnl, Gesenius, Maurer, Tholuck, and others). The meaning would then be: we had heard that the sacred Ark was in Shiloh, but we found it not there, but in Kirjath-Jearim. And we can easily understand why the poet has mentioned the two places just in this way. Ephrāth, according to its etymon, is fruitful fields, with which are contrasted the fields of the wood - the sacred Ark had fallen from its original, more worthy abode, as it were, into the wilderness. But is it probable, more especially in view of Mic 5:1, that in a connection in which the memory of David is the ruling idea, Ephrathah signifies the land of Ephraim? No, Ephrathah is the name of the district in which Kirjath-Jearim lay. Caleb had, for instance, by Ephrath, his third wife, a son named Hr (Chr), Ch1 2:19, This Hr, the first-born of Ephrathah, is the father of the population of Bethlehem (Ch1 4:4), and Shobal, a son of this Hr, is father of the population of Kirjath-Jearim (Ch1 2:50). Kirjath-Jearim is therefore, so to speak, the daughter of Bethlehem. This was called Ephrathah in ancient times, and this name of Bethlehem became the name of its district (Mic 5:1). Kirjath-Jearim belonged to Caleb-Ephrathah (Ch1 2:24), as the northern part of this district seems to have been called in distinction from Negeb-Caleb (Sa1 30:14). But משׁכּנותיו in Psa 132:7 is now neither a designation of the house of Abinadab in Kirjath-Jearim, for the expression would be too grand, and in relation to Psa 132:5 even confusing, nor a designation of the Salomonic Temple-building, for the expression standing thus by itself is not enough alone to designate it. What is meant will therefore be the tent-temple erected by David for the Ark when removed to Zion (Sa2 7:2, יריעה). The church arouses itself to enter this, and to prostrate itself in adoration towards (vid., Psa 99:5) the footstool of Jahve, i.e., the Ark; and to what purpose? The ark of the covenant is now to have a place more worthy of it; the מנוּחה, i.e., the בּית מנוּחה, Ch1 28:2, in which David's endeavours have through Solomon reached their goal, is erected: let Jahve and the Ark of His sovereign power, that may not be touched (see the examples of its inviolable character in Sa1 5:1-12, 1 Sam 6, Sa2 6:6.), now enter this fixed abode! Let His priests who are to serve Him there clothe themselves in "righteousness," i.e., in conduct that is according to His will and pleasure; let His saints, who shall there seek and find mercy, shout for joy! More especially, however, let Jahve for David's sake, His servant, to whose restless longing this place of rest owes its origin, not turn back the face of His anointed one, i.e., not reject his face which there turns towards Him in the attitude of prayer (cf. Psa 84:10). The chronicler has understood Psa 132:10 as an intercession on behalf of Solomon, and the situation into which we are introduced by Psa 132:6-8 seems to require this. It is, however, possible that a more recent poet here, in Psa 132:7-8, reproduces words taken from the heart of the church in Solomon's time, and blends petitions of the church of the present with them. The subject all through is the church, which is ever identical although changing in the persons of its members. The Israel that brought the sacred Ark out of Kirjath-Jearim to Zion and accompanied it thence to the Temple-hill, and now worships in the sanctuary raised by David's zeal for the glory of Jahve, is one and the same. The prayer for the priests, for all the saints, and more especially for the reigning king, that then resounded at the dedication of the Temple, is continued so long as the history of Israel lasts, even in a time when Israel has no king, but has all the stronger longing for the fulfilment of the Messianic promise.”