2
Samuel chapter 6 reminds us of God’s nature and the reaction people
have toward Him. God is perfectly righteous and He is perfectly
merciful. We must never lose our reverence for Him even as we
rejoice in His blessings. The chapter begins, “David
again brought together out of Israel chosen men, thirty thousand in
all...
to bring up from there the ark of God“.
David’s heart is for God and he desires to have God in the center
of Israel. The
process continues, “They
set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of
Abinadab… Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new
cart“.
Remember, Exodus
25:12-15 specified
the ark is to be carried on poles by the Levites only. Like it or
not, when we go against God’s will, there are consequences.
Meanwhile
David is enjoying the moment, “David
and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might
before the Lord, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines,
sistrums and cymbals“.
The only thing I can imagine that might be close is sports fans
celebrating a championship with total exuberance.
Then
something happened, “Uzzah
reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen
stumbled… because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him
down and he died there beside the ark of God.”
God is too holy to touch! Numbers
4:15 says, “they
shall not touch any holy thing lest they die“.
Remember to these boys, the ark was at their home all the time.
What a powerful warning to those of us with children that God should
never become ORDINARY. Reading God’s Word and prayer and even
worship can be treated carelessly and our children can take it for
granted. Immediately
everything changed. “David
was angry because the Lord’s wrath had broken out… David was afraid
of the Lord that day.”
It is interesting to note how each person reacts to God’s
discipline from here on. David took the ark “to
the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. The ark of the Lord remained in
the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, and the Lord
blessed him and his entire household.”
Obed-Edom was a Levite and perhaps knew how to honor the things of
God.
“The
Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has,
because of the ark of God… So David went down and brought up the
ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with
rejoicing… he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. David,
wearing a linen ephod, danced before the Lord with all his might“.
1 Chronicles 15 provides the details of the priest’s involvement.
David did not take on the role of Priest.
“Michal
[David’s
wife]
daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David
leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.”
She did not recognize God as God Almighty and she saw David removing
his royal robes in worship as degrading. She said to him, “How
the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the
sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would“.
But David now understood his position. He was completely humbled
before God. “I
will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified
than this, and I will be humbled in my own eyes“.
When we see the holiness of God, how much more do we appreciate the
access we have through faith in Christ. Hebrew 4:16 exclaims, “Let
us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain
mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”