Uzzah and the Ark

As many who have followed me for a bit, I have fallen into the Psalms, and I can’t get up! (As if I would want to.) The Psalms are a majestic collection of poetry, of heart felt human experiences that constantly challenge me in my own frail attempt to follow the true King. As many of the Psalms are written by David, my study on the Psalms has spurred me on to looking at the life of David, is the main contributor to this book, and to follow the victories and tragedies of the shepherd King of Israel.

Many times in the narrative, we will see the Lord Jesus, imperfectly, yet a reflection of His spirit in a man with weaknesses.

2 Samuel 6:12-15

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.

In our previous post, we saw Uzzah struck down for what seemed to be a healthy concern for the Ark. After all, it seemed he was only trying to protect the Ark from falling correct? We discussed the viewpoint of men and of God in that story, and realized that we too often default to a natural, man centered way of thinking, without considering the One who actually had given directions on how to relate to the Ark.

Yes Uzzah died, but it was an act of mercy from the Lord, and a reestablishment of the Holiness of God for a people who had ignored Him far too long. Consider my ramblings in Life of David – 37.01

For this mornings post, we are dealing with David continuing to retrieve the Ark for his capital city. After the death of Uzzah, it became increasingly apparent this Ark was not to be dealt with in a haphazard, frivolous way, and as time was needed to recover from this tragedy, and to consider options to retrieve the Ark without further deaths, David stored the Ark in the house of Obed-edom, the Gittite.

What? Who in tarnation is Obed-Edom? And what is a Gittite? Obed-edom was a Philistine, a man from the very same city as Goliath, David’s first arch enemy.

Ok, so the Israelites saw the Ark strike out at Uzzah, and then had Obed-Edom, a Philistine, store the Ark. That must have taken some serious negotiating, but Obed-edom took the Ark, and experienced three months of blessing! But Obed-edom was a dirty gentile, an enemy of the nation of Israel, and had no claim to the covenant! But he was blessed, and all the country side heard of it.

David also heard of it and was ready to try again, but this time with knowledge! David had men, presumably priests of the line of Kohath as commanded in the Law, carry the Ark, transporting the Ark to Jerusalem. A sacrifice was offered up after the first 6 steps of the priests. No death. Nothing tragic. Things appeared to be acceptable to God regarding the Ark, and it appeared David would have success!

We see in this instance a bit of the character of David, the desire and single heartedness of David in relation to his worship of God. He wore a linen ephod, not the kings robes, signifying a simplicity before the Lord on David’s part. He was not in full regal cloth, but a simple covering, signifying his standing before the Lord.

He also danced with fervor before the Ark, acknowledging the mercy of God in the work of bringing the Ark to Jerusalem. As a matter of fact, the entire nation joined in the celebration.

The nation was on the right path again, and God was being honored. Good times were coming to the nation, and the king would continue to be established in his kingdom. Yes – nothing could go wrong now! Every step of the Kohathite priest’s coming closer to Jerusalem meant more and more power for the king. Even as the Ark was approaching, the excitement was growing, but I need to ask a final question.

Why did the Ark need to be in Jerusalem?

Had there been instruction from Moses, or any prophet of God, as to the resting place for the Ark. I have always assumed it was to be in Jerusalem, but have had no success in finding that direction in the Word. Was God, in the representation of the Ark, happy to be with His people in the countryside? If Obed-edom taught us anything, it seems God was pleased to reside with a dirty gentile Philistine. Amazing! Do we sense that God “just couldn’t wait” to settle into Jerusalem? Who was driving this transporting of the Ark? God or David?

It seems that as a people of God, we want to control God, and want to isolate Him to a location, even to a building. Of course, for the Israelites, this was a temptation too easy to accept, since the Ark rightfully was the focus point for the nation of Israel to relate to. Yes, the Ark was central in the worship of God for the nation, yet for hundreds of years it had been in the wilderness, and prior to that, had been used as a lucky talisman to win a battle against the Philistines. That didn’t turn out to well!

David was seeking to honor God in his life as the king, and in doing so, the nation would be lifted to heights it had never experienced. But the nation may never quite get past the thought that the Ark was God.

We too may fall into the same trap of thinking that God is somehow restricted to a region, even a building. We tend to behave better when in certain buildings, thinking that God “resides” there. Let us remember that God is the God who is always present, with us in the darkest of days, with us as we go to work and with us as we lay our head down at night. With us as we remember Him, and with us as we forget Him.

The God whom the Israelites worshipped was a God who communicated to them through the Ark at specific times, and was represented by the Ark for times of worship, but their God was much more than the golden box that was called the Ark. And understanding the human hearts penchant for idol worship, the Ark was never intended to be an object to be worshipped!

The Ark represented a God that was far greater than they (or we) can understand. Even today, as believers who confess the omnipresence of our God, we tend to restrict Him to a building down the road, a building with chairs and a pulpit.

Let’s not get confused. The building is nothing. It is God who we are to worship, even as we go to work, or lay our head down for the night.

He is God, and we adore Him.

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