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2 Samuel 6; 1 Chronicles 15
For the accomplishment of this object, it was necessary that the ark should be removed thither from Kirjath-Jearim, where it had so long remained. David was careful to take measures that this removal should be accomplished with such high and solemn state as befitted the occasion, and as marked his own sense of its importance. Thirty thousand men, chosen out of all Israel to represent the tribes, were present, together with numerous musicians, and David himself was there playing upon his harp. It seems surprising that, instead of the proper and ancient mode of removing the ark, by its being borne on the shoulders of the Levites, Note: The Levites were not allowed to touch, the ark, but after the priests had covered it up, the Levites might carry it by the staves. The priests could also, of course, carry it, and did so at times. but it was not their regular duty. the same mode was adopted as that followed in a former day by the Philistines, who had not the same means of correct information. It was placed on a new cart, which was drawn by oxen. They had not proceeded far, not farther than to Nachon’s threshing-floor, than the ark received a jolt that endangered its overthrow; on which Uzzah, in whose charge it had been, and still was, during its removal, hastily put forth his hand to steady it, and immediately fell dead on the spot. This seems a hard judgment upon him for a well-meant and natural movement. David himself seems to have felt it to be such at the moment, and till he had leisure to reflect upon it. He was, indeed, so greatly distressed and alarmed, that he for the time abandoned his intention, and caused the ark to be deposited in the nearest house, which happened to be that of Obed-Edom the Gittite—that is, of Gath, and the lately exulting thousands dispersed themselves, sad and downcast, to their homes.
We have already explained our impression Note: See Thirty-First Week—Monday. as to the essential necessity, that, for his own honor, for the welfare of his people, and for the integrity of the institutions he had committed to them, the Lord should rigidly exact a proper and ordained reverence for the sacred symbols. If at all necessary, there was never an occasion in which it could be more so than on this great public solemnity; and when, moreover, the due ordinances of Divine worship were about to be reestablished and enforced with greater state and honor, than had been known since the twelve tribes, in their innumerable hosts, encamped around the tabernacle in the wilderness. Now, Uzzal being a Levite, ought to have known that it was altogether irregular, and against the ritual law, to remove the ark in this manner, which the entire absence of carriage roads rendered peculiarly unbecoming. It is very likely that the responsibility of this matter had been left by the king to him—as having been so long in charge of the ark, he might naturally be supposed to have made himself particularly acquainted with the observances connected with it. The priests and other Levites had been long separated from the ark, and not having had charge of it for two generations, might be supposed to have less carefully acquainted themselves with what belonged to the occasion. It is also probable, that they were not consulted, nor knew of the arrangements made by Uzzah, until they came with David to take part in the procession. There might then be a natural hesitation in objecting, even on the part of the few who knew or suspected the irregularity of the proceeding. We may, therefore, regard this irregularity as part of the error for which this man was punished—a very essential part of it also—for had not this irregularity been allowed, the accident which followed could not have taken place.
There is reason to suspect that Uzzah had allowed his mind to regard the ark in too familiar a point of view, during the years it had been in his charge in a private house, and was not suitably impressed with the reverence exacted by a symbol, with which the Divine presence was so closely connected. From the example of one who had been so long in charge of it, this familiarity would gather strength, if not at once and decisively checked, and becoming reverence to the ark of the Lord enforced. Such familiarity he indicated by laying his hand upon the ark to steady it when the oxen stumbled. By the ritual ordinances, it was forbidden to the simple Levite to touch the ark under pain of death—and Uzzah was only a Levite. He either knew this, or he did not know it. If he did not know it, he was punishable for his ignorance of a restriction so important; and which belonged so directly to his official duties; if he did know it, he was punishable for his irreverent disobedience of so stringent an injunction.
But it may be urged, the ark might have fallen if he had not steadied it. We think not so. He thought so, and that also was another of his errors, in supposing that God was not able to protect and insure from falling his own ark, before which Dagon had fallen. But supposing that it had been overturned, would not Uzzah have been as liable to punishment for suffering that, as for taking forbidden means of preventing it? Surely not. He might have been punishable for adopting a mode of conveyance which exposed the ark to such an accident, but not for omitting what he was forbidden to do, in order to prevent that accident.
This is not all that might be said to show that there was a painful necessity that this judgment should be inflicted. When the act, light as it seems, is considered in all its consequences, and when we reflect what an encouragement the impunity of this offence might have been for the introduction of other innovations, it is not to be wondered at that the Lord should manifest his displeasure at this offence, by inflicting the punishment he had denounced against it, thus discouraging any future attempts to make alterations in the theocratic institutions which he had established.
In time David came to view this matter in its proper light, and having, three months after, heard that the household of Obed-Edom had been greatly blessed since the ark had been deposited with him, he was encouraged to resume his design. This time everything was conducted in a proper manner.—“None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites,” said David, “for them hath the Lord chosen to carry the ark of God; and to minister unto him forever.” And so again, in directing the chief Levites to prepare themselves for this service, he said, “Because ye did it not at the first, the Lord our God made a breach upon us, because we sought him not after the due order.” The marred solemnity of the former ceremonial was magnificently exceeded by this. The concourse was greater, the musicians in greater and better organized force, and the king himself divested of his royal raiment, and wearing a linen ephod, such as the Levites wore, headed with his harp the sacred choir, accompanied by those movements of the body which are called “dancing” in the East.
The ark was placed in a tent which David had prepared to receive it, and burnt-offerings and peace-offerings were then largely offered, for the first time in Jerusalem. When these religious solemnities were performed, the king “blessed the people in the name of the Lord;” and then himself superintended the distribution to the assembled thousands of the bountiful fare he had provided for them. Every one, man and woman, receiving a “loaf of bread, a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine.” He then went home “to bless his own house also.” But there a discordant element had found entrance. Saul’s daughter Michal had witnessed the proceedings from a window, and when she saw that David had laid aside his royal state altogether, that he might take an active part in the proceedings, “she despised him in her heart.”
In the East, women have not much the gift of concealing their sentiments; and Michal hid not hers. David kindled at her sarcasms; he detected the affected superiority of the “king’s daughter,” and the artificial exaltations of royalty in the words she uttered; and with grave and solemn warmth he said: “It was before the Lord, who chose me before thy father, and before all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel; therefore will I play before the Lord, and will yet be more vile than this, and will be base in my own sight.” He thus plainly gave her to understand that it was possible she took too much upon her—that it was not to her, or to the influence of her house, that he owed his crown, but to the simple gift of Jehovah, whose he was, and whom he served. This sort of spirit evinced by Michal on this occasion, was punished by her having no children, through whom, as it might have happened, the line of Saul would again attain to sovereign power. Whether this result is to be interpreted as a special judgment from God, or is to be referred to the displeasure which this unseemly altercation left on the mind of David, we are not informed.
It has been questioned why David provided a new tent for the ark at Jerusalem, when the old tabernacle (together with the altar of burnt-offerings) was not far off at Gibeon, and might easily have been brought to Jerusalem. It is conjectured that the once-splendid hangings of the wilderness tent had become old and faded, and David hence deemed a new one more becoming. But it is incredible that the hangings of a tent, open to the air, had so long remained in use. They had probably been more than once renewed. It is, therefore, more probable that since David had now two high-priests, neither of whom he could depose—the one, Abiathar, who had been attached to his person from the commencement of his troubles, and the other, Zadok, who had been set up by Saul, and who was really of the elder line—the king found it expedient to keep up the establishment at Gibeon, to afford the latter the opportunity of exercising his functions without interfering with the other, who superintended the new establishment at Jerusalem. This state of matters remained during all the reigns of David. The king, probably, could not remove Zadok, had he been so minded, without displeasing the ten tribes, who had been accustomed to his ministrations. But he had probably no wish to do so, as we soon find Zadok very high in his favor and esteem.