2 Samuel 6:1-15 English Standard Version Uzzah and the Ark 6 David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. 2 And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale-judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the LORD of hosts who sits enthroned on the cherubim. 3 And they carried the ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart, 4 with the ark of God, and Ahio went before the ark. 5 And David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the LORD, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. 6 And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. 7 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God. 8 And David was angry because the LORD had broken out against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzzah to this day. 9 And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and he said, “How can the ark of the LORD come to me?” 10 So David was not willing to take the ark of the LORD into the city of David. But David took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. 11 And the ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months, and the LORD blessed Obed-edom and all his household. 12 And it was told King David, “The LORD has blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing. 13 And when those who bore the ark of the LORD had gone six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal. 14 And David danced before the LORD with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod. 15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting and with the sound of the horn. You may want to take a moment to look back at 1 Samuel 4:1-7:2 for context on what's going on here. The LORD had allowed the Philistines to capture the Ark of the Covenant (also called the Ark of the Testimony), and after they passed it caused plagues to break out in each city-state and they passes it around to all the clans, the Philistines eventually put it on a cart and let the LORD lead to oxen in where it was supposed to go so that it was taken back to the land of Israel. It ends up in the house of Abinadab on the hill, and they consecrated his son Eleazar to have charge of the ark of the LORD. Now David is king over all of Israel and he wants the Ark to be returned to its rightful place in the Tabernacle. However, note that no one seemed to have cared to look at the proper way for the Ark to be transported, and they are using the same means to transport it as the Philistines did.
The Israelites were so happy with themselves, thinking they were doing what God wanted (notice no one asked God about this beforehand either), but they were doing it in their own strength, their own way, according to their own wisdom, and that is going to cost a well-meaning man his life. The oxen pulling the cart stumbled, so one of the men named Uzzah who was escorting the cart carrying the Ark reached out his hand to make sure the Ark did not fall off the cart. However, as soon as he touched the Ark of the LORD, he died, for no one was to touch it--not even the priests, for they were to carry it on poles so that they made no direct contact with the Ark of the LORD. What had been a time of dancing and music and celebration turned to emotions of grief and anger and fear. David was not willing to take the Ark any further than where the oxen stumbled, for he had planned to take it all the way to Jerusalem to be with him there in the capital city (see verse 10). Instead, he turned aside to the house of Obed-edom, the Gittite. Just like with the last place that the Ark was allowed to rest, the house of Obed-edom was blessed for the entire time that it was allowed to stay there. For three months no one came to take the Ark from that house to try to bring it back to the Tabernacle. Eventually though, word got to David that the LORD had blessed all the house of Obed-edom. This time, it seems David did his homework and he had men carrying the Ark instead of a team of oxen carrying it on a cart, and he brought many clean animals to make sacrifices along the way so that every six steps that the men carrying the Ark took, David would stop and offer a sacrifice to the LORD. The time of worship and celebration was not interrupted that day, because they followed the LORD's instructions. David danced before the LORD that day with all his might, and as he danced he didn't even want to be encumbered by the linen ephod that he had been wearing (David was wearing priestly garments since he was the one making the sacrifices, though he was not of the house of Levi). In the midst of his worship he shed this outer garment (he was not naked and completely exposed as his wife Michal will accuse him of, but he probably stripped down to his his tunic that was an undergarment that still fully covered him, but back at that time, that was probably seen by someone from a royal family like Michal's as unseemly). However, we should not read this as David stripping down naked to dance before the LORD because that would be sinful and not acceptable to the LORD (see verses like Exodus 20:26, Leviticus 18 and 20, and even Genesis 9:22-23). It seems apparent in these verses that even close relatives like sons and daughters were not to look upon another's nakedness, so then it definitely would be wrong to expose yourself to people not related to you. No, David did not take off all his clothes. David's wife in the next passage is going to fell embarrassed by what David did and will make it all about her when David was trying to worship before the LORD unencumbered (and it doesn't appear that any of the people that were part of the procession felt embarrassed by what David did, only Michal who was watching from a window--a strange place for her to be given what was going on if you ask me). Comments are closed.
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Daniel WestfallI will mostly use this space for recording my "journal" from my daily devotions as I hope to encourage others to read the Bible along with me and to leave a legacy for others. Archives
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