In this video listen to 1 Samuel Chapter 21, read by David Alley, followed by comments and prayer.

In 1 Samuel Chapter 21 David goes to Nob to get help from the priests. The tabernacle was in Nob, but not the ark of the covenant which was in Kiriath Jearim for a long period of time as recorded in 1 Samuel 7. When Shiloh was destroyed at the first battle of Ebenezer, while the town was destroyed it seems the actual tabernacle and its other furnishings were saved.

This may have been because they had warning about the coming Philistines and the priests there acted quickly. In any case, we have a period of time where there is no ark in the tabernacle. It was at least twenty years in Kiriath Jearim, plus at most thirty-three years in Jerusalem with David, and then almost eleven years with Solomon before the temple was finished. So it seems ...