2 Sam
6:1-9 (ESV) 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 making merry 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
burst forth 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?"
NOTE: God's response
seems harsh but there is much to learn from this passage. First, Uzzah, as a
Levite (very probable from the context), should have known better. Num 4:15
makes it clear that only the Priests could touch the holy things and anyone
else would die. There were specific rules for moving the Ark, it had to be
carried, not put on a wagon with ox pulling it, as the Philistines had done.
Why the Israelites chose the Philistine method versus God's word is lost on me.
Their fear of God and reverence for his holiness was lacking. The death of
Uzzah, warned by scripture, clearly changes everything, especially David's
attitude toward God. Even the idea of bringing up the ark seems to come out of
nowhere. There is no indication that God wanted it moved. David probably had
good reasons for bringing it up to Jerusalem, but there is no indication that
he sought God's leading. He does place importance to the event by bringing up
30,000 men for an event that only took a few dozen, possibly a hundred Levites
(to include Priests) at most, but it was not researched, and he does not appear
to have sought counsel. The result is another one of David's internal failures.
He does well in battle, but decisions and choices within the kingdom do not
always go well. One possibility is that in battle, David relied upon others,
his commanders and the soldiers--David knew that he could not win wars by
himself. But as king, he seems to make decisions by himself, without the input
of godly counsel. He lacks wisdom in ruling, but exercises it well in battle.
Maybe that is why Solomon asked for wisdom in ruling--for all of his father's
strength, and his great heart, he did not use counsel well. Solomon's son
Rehoboam would use another approach--he would look for counsel from multiple
sources but then pick the one he wanted to hear, not the one that was actually
the wisest choice. As a result, Rehoboam would split the kingdom into two. The
application is to seek wise counsel and not to try to make decisions by ourselves.
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