Charles Spurgeon Commentary 1 Chronicles 15:11-13

"And David called for Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and for the Levites, for Uriel, Asaiah, and Joel, Shemaiah, and Eliel, and Amminadab, and said unto them, Ye are the heads of the fathers` [houses] of the Levites: sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of Jehovah, the God of Israel, unto [the place] that I have prepared for it. For because ye [bare it] not at the first, Jehovah our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not according to the ordinance." — 1 Chronicles 15:11-13 (ASV)

They had sought him, but they had not done it after the due order. They had been in too great a hurry; and they had followed their own notions, instead of looking to the written law in which everything was prescribed for them.