It happened after three days, that the officers went through the midst of the camp;
"The priests the Levites ..." The mention of Levitical priests here was not, as some have supposed, to distinguish between the Levitical priests and other priests who were not Levites.  "It was not until much later, in the times of Jeroboam, that non-Levites were made priests."[14]  The most likely reason for the Levitical priests, and not the Kohathites, being commissioned here to carry the ark (contrary to the normal pattern which assigned the task to the Kohathites), appears to be, as Plummer said, "That it was to emphasize the position of Levi as the sacerdotal tribe, having no part in the war ... This expression occurs forty-five times in the O.T. with the meaning that the priests are from the tribe of Levi."[15]  There were a number of other "special occasions" upon which the priests replaced the Kohathites as bearers of the ark.  Adam Clarke listed these examples: (1) when they compassed Jericho; (2) when they took it to war against the Philistines  (2 Samuel 15:25); (3) when David sent it back to Jerusalem; and (4) when it was taken out of the tabernacle to be deposited in the temple (1 Kings 8:6-11).[16]