Be it noted that the ark never returned to the tabernacle. It found no resting place again until Solomon built the temple. Thus there was no resumption of proper priestly services until the reigns of both Saul and David had run their course.
Israel's loss was judgment to the foe. The Philistines in their pride of heart carried the ark into the temple of their fish-god Dagon. In their benighted minds Dagon had triumphed over the Lord. But the God of Israel soon vindicated His majesty, and made His presence felt. First, Dagon fell before the ark; and then, on being set up again, it was broken before it. Moreover, God plagued the inhabitants of the temple-city, Ashdod, so that they were glad to pass the ark on to Gath. Gath also suffered, so that it was removed thence to Ekron. Ekron's cry of dismay led to the suggestion to return the ark to Israel, their mode of procedure—the use of two milch kine with their calves tied up at home—making it abundantly clear that it was no mere epidemic that had broken out amongst the Philistines, but that the Lord's hand had come down upon them.
Again the Lord's hand went forth in judgment, this time upon His own people, for their irreverence in peering into the sacred vessel. Accordingly the ark of God had to move on again, and for many years it abode in the house of the pious Abinadab in Kirjathjearim, to the great blessing of his household (1 Sam. 7:1-21And the men of Kirjath-jearim came, and fetched up the ark of the Lord, and brought it into the house of Abinadab in the hill, and sanctified Eleazar his son to keep the ark of the Lord. 2And it came to pass, while the ark abode in Kirjath-jearim, that the time was long; for it was twenty years: and all the house of Israel lamented after the Lord. (1 Samuel 7:1‑2)). These people felt they had God with them of a truth, although they did not confound the symbol with the reality.