2 Samuel 6:1-23
1 David again brought together all the able young men of Israel—thirty thousand. 2 He and all his men went to Baalah in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name, the name of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim on the ark. 3 They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart 4 with the ark of God on it, and Ahio was walking in front of it. 5 David and all Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord, with castanets, harps, lyres, timbrels, sistrums and cymbals.
6 When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. 7 The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God.
8 Then David was angry because the Lord’s wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah.
9 David was afraid of the Lord that day and said, “How can the ark of the Lord ever come to me?” 10 He was not willing to take the ark of the Lord to be with him in the City of David. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. 11 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.
12 Now King David was told, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.” So David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. 13 When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. 14 Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, 15 while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.
16 As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal 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.
17 They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord. 18 After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord Almighty. 19 Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes.
20 When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!”
21 David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. 22 I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”
23 And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.
Why did God strike Uzzah dead for steadying the Ark? That doesn’t really make sense to us, does it? Even David was upset that God killed him and he called the place, “outbreak against Uzzah.” Wasn’t Uzzah just trying to keep it from falling? To understand why God would kill him for this seemingly benign action, we need to remember what God said about the Ark. He had established very specific rules concerning the Ark and how to transport it even. God expressly said that no one was to look inside the Ark or touch it. And when transporting it, it was supposed to be carried on poles by the Levites. It was not supposed to be transported on a cart.
Also, the Ark had been kept at Uzzah’s house. Maybe he had gotten so used to it being there that he didn’t respect it anymore. Or maybe he felt like it belonged to him now and that’s why he steadied it. Whatever passed through his thoughts as he reached out to keep it from falling, he obviously felt that it would fall if he didn’t help it. The thing is, by doing that, was he implying that the Ark would fall without his help? Was he assuming that God needed his help? They already were breaking God’s rules about how to carry the Ark, and now he broke God’s rules about touching it. We don’t know what he was thinking, but the Lord certainly did, and He killed him for it. God is serious in His commands to us. Verse seven tells us, “The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down…”. The Lord considered Uzzah’s actions to be irreverent.
I can’t help but think that irreverence is something that has infected the Church today. Irreverence can be showing disrespect or mocking something, or being too casual and flippant in our attitude toward something. It is failing to give honor to something that should be honored. I think a lot of Christians show a lot of irreverence toward God and His Word. All the time I hear Christians take the name of the Lord in vain. Other Christians use the “omg” abbreviation like it’s no big deal. Even if in their minds they are saying oh my gosh, other people do not read it with gosh but with God. Other Christians have no problems making fun of the Bible. A lot of churches are extremely casual in the way they preach and worship God. I think as a whole, our society has taken too casual of a stance with our worship of God and a lot of pastors seem to take pride in their irreverent behavior. They want to be cool and relatable. They cuss, crack jokes and are sarcastic. Are they showing honor to God? Are they respecting God when they make fun of and mock Christianity?
1 Chronicles also recounts this event. It tells us some more information that 2 Samuel leaves out. I have really come to appreciate Chronicles. Like the synoptic gospels, getting to read another account of this time in history is so valuable. It helps us get a bigger picture of what really happened. I know both texts tell us that, “The ark of God remained with the family of Obed-Edom in his house for three months, and the Lord blessed his household and everything he had,” but when I read just 2 Samuel chapter 6, the time just kind of squashed together, but reading in 1 Chronicles we see what else happened during those three months between Uzzah’s death and when David transported the ark again. David fought the Philistines again, for one thing. 1 Chronicles 14:16 says, “David did as God commanded him, and they struck down the Philistine army, all the way from Gibeon to Gezer.”
Then we see David, now having learned from the death of Uzzah, moving the ark of God again, but in the proper way that God wanted it to be moved. 1 Chronicles 15:2-4 tells us, “David said, ‘No one but the Levites may carry the ark of God, because the Lord chose them to carry the ark of the Lord and to minister before him forever.’ David assembled all Israel in Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the Lord to the place he had prepared for it. He called together the descendants of Aaron and the Levites…”
Also, David said to the heads of the Levitical families, “’It was because you, the Levites, did not bring it up the first time that the Lord our God broke out in anger against us. We did not inquire of him about how to do it in the prescribed way.’ So the priests and Levites consecrated themselves in order to bring up the ark of the Lord, the God of Israel. And the Levites carried the ark of God with the poles on their shoulders, as Moses had commanded in accordance with the word of the Lord” (1 Chronicles 15:13-15).
2 Samuel didn’t tell us that part, that David made sure to follow God’s original instructions on how to transport the ark. The first time he had the ark brought, remember, he had it placed on a cart, which is what the Philistines had done when they took possession of the ark. 2 Samuel does tell us, “When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf.” After taking only six steps, they stopped and sacrificed. Then, after the ark arrived, they sacrificed again. This second time, David wanted to make sure that he did everything properly.
1 Chronicles 15:27-29 also gives us more detail saying, “Now David was clothed in a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, and as were the musicians, and Kenaniah, who was in charge of the singing of the choirs. David also wore a linen ephod. So all Israel brought up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with shouts, with the sounding of rams’ horns and trumpets, and of cymbals, and the playing of lyres and harps. As the ark of the covenant of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David dancing and celebrating, she despised him in her heart.”
Michal felt that David’s actions were unbecoming of a king, and it embarrassed her. Why didn’t the Lord find David’s actions irreverent? After all, how is leaping and dancing before the Lord showing reverence? We might look at what David did, dancing with all his might, as an act of irreverence. Michal, his wife, certainly considered it irreverent. Why did God consider Uzzah’s actions irreverent and wrong, but not find David’s exuberant dancing irreverent? David had removed his royal garments, his royal robes, and was instead wearing an ephod. Some people insist he was naked as he danced only wearing the ephod, but from 1 Chronicles we see he wasn’t naked. Michal says that he was “exposed” or “half-naked” because he was much more exposed than a king would ever normally be in public.
Shouldn’t respect for the Lord mean we are somber and serious, formal and stiff? How can we leap about and show respect? While our current society seems to relish irreverence in worship today, in the past, some denominations have been rigidly formal and severe in their worship services, so as to avoid irreverence and show respect to God, but they mistook solemnity for piety. David’s dancing in praise to the Lord was not irreverent. It was genuine and birthed from a place of celebration. God could see into David’s heart and saw that David was worshiping Him sincerely. That tells me we don’t have to be somber and formal in our worship of the Lord, we just need to be genuine. The attitude of our heart is more important than the style of worship.
Something else I want to point out is that Michal was not a part of the procession. Both texts tell us she was watching from a window as the ark entered the city. She did not join in the worship. I think that indicates her general lack of worship of God. Nowhere does Scripture tell us she followed or worshiped God. It makes sense then that David’s exuberant worship made her upset. It wasn’t just that her husband, the king, was embarrassing her, but perhaps it bothered her that he was being so overt in his worship of God. If she did not worship God, then, of course, the worship of God bothered her. That is how it has always been and how it is today. When we are bold in our worship of the Lord, rather than being apathetic about it, unbelievers tend to despise it. They make fun of it and even get angry about it. They want to put a stop to it. I really like David’s response to Michal. He tells her, “I will celebrate before the Lord. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes” (2 Samuel 6:21-22). I think that is a good rebuttal to those that despise our Christianity. What if we had the boldness of David?
I think there are a lot of lessons within this chapter for all of us today. The first being: we should have a healthy fear of God. We know that after Uzzah’s death, “David was afraid of the Lord that day” (2 Samuel 6:9). That tells us that David had gained a healthy respect for the Lord. He saw where he went wrong and that he must respect the Lord and treat Him and the ark with reverence. And that is why he then followed God’s instructions and, the second time, transported the ark correctly. Do we respect and honor God? If we embrace a spirit of irreverence, we risk dishonoring God. If we don’t respect and honor God’s word, how will we take His instructions seriously? We should not get so casual in our attitude to God and His word that we let ourselves become relaxed about sin. Our society is very relaxed in our attitudes toward sin. Things that Christians would have said were obvious sins not so long ago, are now not only tolerated, they are celebrated. As irreverence to God grows, so does our acceptance of sin. If we disrespect God, we will not be careful to obey His commands. And if we continue to disobey His commands, we will arrive at a place where we do not repent because we do not even see the sin anymore. As Hebrews 10:26 states, “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left.” If we are not convicted, how can we repent?
Second, we can learn from David’s failure. The first time David transported the ark of the covenant, he made a mistake. He was following the example of the Philistines and the way they transported the ark on a cart. He wasn’t following God’s instructions. This is instructional for our lives. If we want to follow God, we first need to know what God’s commands are to us. We should be careful to follow God’s commands and not just follow what other people have done in the past. If David had followed God’s instructions from the beginning, then Uzzah most likely would not have died. The best way to know God’s commands is by reading the Bible. His word is unchanging. If we do things the way the world does things, we will find ourselves disobeying God’s laws. The world operates within a very different set of standards. Lying, cheating, revenge and selfishness are no big deals to most people if it means it gets them ahead. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “the end justifies the means.” That is counter culture to God’s kingdom. Just because the world okays certain behaviors does not give us the right to do the same thing. We must be careful to do what the Lord has told us to do. And we must know God’s word so we can obey Him. As 2 Thessalonians 1: 8 warns, “He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.”
Thankfully, David was convicted, saw his error, and then transported the ark correctly, making sacrifices along the way. This is a comfort to us, because when we fail to follow God’s instructions, if we repent and change, the Lord will forgive us, too.
Third, we should ask ourselves: are we willing, like David was, to make ourselves a fool for Christ? Are we willing to “expose ourselves” in society? Are we willing to let others know we worship God? Are we willing to become even more undignified in the eyes of the world? Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:18, “For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.” We risk being mocked by the world when we become vocal about our love for Jesus. To the world, our love of God makes little sense. People won’t understand if we don’t watch all the garbage tv shows and movies that everybody else seems to love. People will think we are weird and strange when we choose to be moral in dating relationships. People will be angry and nasty to us when we disagree with their politics. We risk being attacked when we keep God’s commandments and call out sin. Do we love the Lord enough to take that risk?
Did you know that we have an advantage that David did not have? David did not have the Holy Spirit living inside of him like we do. The Holy Spirit would “come upon” him, but it differed from today. If we have been saved, we have the Holy Spirit within us to help us. Jesus promised us in John 14:26, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” The Holy Spirit does exactly that; He helps us remember God’s Word, and He convicts our hearts when we disobey.
Hopefully, we will follow the Holy Spirit’s promptings, and listen to Him when He convicts us when we get off track. If it is already too late and we disobeyed, then we can repent, although that doesn’t always erase the consequences of our sin. The goal is to listen to the Holy Spirit first, before we do something that is disobedient.
If we respect God, then we will take the time to learn His ways, follow His commands, and we will not fear what the world thinks of us. As Psalm 1:1-3 says, “Blessed is the one who does not walk in step with the wicked or stand in the way that sinners take or sit in the company of mockers, but whose delight is in the law of the Lord, and who meditates on his law day and night. That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither — whatever they do prospers.” That tells me we can trust God that as we learn His commands and mediate on His law, and we follow His commands and don’t walk in step with the wicked, then we will rejoice at the ways He blesses us.
Psalm 19:8 says, “The precepts of the Lord are right, giving joy to the heart. The commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes.” I like how the ERV translates this verse: “The Lord’s laws are right. They make people happy. The Lord’s commands are good. They show people the right way to live.”
May we be people who learn, follow and rejoice in the law of God.
Pray: Heavenly Father, we praise Your name! We thank You for loving us so much that You forgive us when we fail to follow all Your ways. Help to follow You. Please help us keep Your commandments. Help us be unconcerned with what the world thinks about us. Please fill us with boldness to be unafraid to worship You. Help us be “undignified” for You. We love You and in Jesus’ name we pray, amen.
Comments