Day 46: 2 Samuel 6:1–11

David feared the Lord that day and said, “How can the ark of the Lord ever come to me?” (v. 9).

David set out with thirty thousand men to bring the ark of God to Jerusalem. Unfortunately, we learn something in verse 3 that can only spell disaster: “They set the ark of God on a new cart” (v. 3).

According to the regulations for kings of Israel, they were to personally hand-copy the Law of God so that they would know every line. How then could David have set out to transport the ark in a wagon? God was extremely specific about every detail of the construction and treatment of the ark. According to Exodus 25:10–16 plus Numbers 4:5 and 4:15, the ark was to be transported only by the priests using poles through the rings on the ark. The poles were to be carried on their shoulders. God masterfully designed the transportation of His glory to literally rest on the shoulders of His revering priests, not on the backs of beasts.

David’s actions not only disregarded the Lord’s instructions, they included a greater insult. Do you remember when the Philistines captured the ark? After they had suffered seven months of devastation, the Philistines loaded the ark on a cart pulled by two cows. Now David imitated the actions of the Philistines rather than obey the commands of God.

Sure enough, while “David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord” (v. 5), at the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out to stabilize the ark, and God struck him dead (vv. 6–7).

Imagine becoming emotionally geared for a great celebration only to greet disaster instead. Uzzah’s death would have been shocking under the most somber of circumstances, but can you imagine the shock in the midst of such celebration? David must have felt as if he jumped off an emotional cliff.

Surely all of us have experienced an unexpected, uninvited emotional dive. I have a friend who was left standing at the altar on her wedding day. I have another friend who was told he was being considered for a promotion, but when his boss called him into his office, he was laid off instead. Still others have joyfully expected a baby and miscarried. Devastation is always heartbreaking. Devastation that should have been celebration is almost more than we can take.

In times like these, we find out whether we have based our faith on who God is or on what He does. Because His ways are higher than our ways, we cannot always comprehend what God is doing or why He makes certain decisions. But when we sift His apparent activity through the standard of who He is, the fog begins to clear.

God is not telling us He is harsh in 2 Samuel 6. He’s telling us He is holy. The words represent a big difference, although sometimes our limited understanding leads us to confuse them.

We have difficulty understanding how sacred the ark of the covenant was because we have the advantage of living after the incarnation of Christ. Think with me about the meaning of the ark. The awesomeness, the holiness, the majesty of God dwelled right there, between the cherubim on that sacred ark! Until God was incarnate among men many centuries later in the person of Jesus Christ, the ark was the sacred center of God’s glory and presence. To treat the ark inappropriately was to treat God inappropriately, not just because of what it was but because of who God is. Based on who God is, I believe we can draw some conclusions about what He was doing when He killed Uzzah.

1. God was setting ground rules for a new regime. He was ushering in a new kingdom with a new king He had chosen to represent His heart. God had dealt with the disrespect of man through many judges as well as the reign of a selfish king. With a new day dawning, God was demanding a new reverence.

2. God wanted His children to be different from the world. The Philistines might transport the ark on an oxcart, but God’s people would not. How careful we must be not to think that God is less holy because others seem to get away with irreverence! We are sometimes tempted to measure our respect for God by the lack of respect surrounding us. The godless, however, are not our standard. God is. Through the pen of King David, God told us to “praise him according to his excellent greatness,” not according to public opinion (Ps. 150:2 kjv).

3. God wanted His kingdom to be established on His Word. The Israelites failed to consult God’s designated commands for the ark’s transportation. At the time David’s kingdom was established, David certainly had access to the “Books of Moses,” the first five books of the Bible.

4. God was teaching the relationship between blessing and reverence. After the death of Uzzah, David left the ark at the home of Obed-Edom. God greatly blessed that household. In the process, God demonstrated the relationship between reverence and blessing. God desires His presence and His glory to be a blessing, but reverence for Him is the necessary channel.