We all know someone who is a stickler for order. You are reading something written by one right now, actually. I prefer things to be done in the way they ought to be done. It makes life easier and more predictable to handle. Others prefer to go with the flow. Like dumping their bikes on the floor in front of my workbench. In most things, a happy medium is a better approach. One day, perhaps, my garage/workshop might be as orderly as I’d like.
Note I said most things. Not all. One of those things where it is important to get things right is how we approach and worship God. God is holy, we are not, and he gets to decide the rules, not us. For all David’s greatness, he failed to remember that rule. Uzzah paid the price when he came into contact with God’s lethal holiness. God’s holiness is no less lethal today. We must worship God as he deserves, for God is no less holy today than in David’s day.
2 Samuel 5 showed the various ways in which God kept his promises to his people. One of God’s promises in Scripture is to be present with his people. From Moses’ time, this promise revolved around the Ark of the Covenant.
From its return from the Philistine lands (1 Samuel), the Ark had remained in Kiriath-jearim, also known as Baale-judah (v.1). Now that Israel had conquered Jerusalem it was time to bring the Ark up to the capital. This was not a quiet affair, but a military parade led by King David himself (v.1).
That something is about to go terribly wrong is shadowed by the text. It reminds us that the Ark “is called by the name of the LORD of hosts who sits enthroned on the cherubim” (v.2). Not a suitcase, then. Far from it. As David later called it, the Ark was “the footstool” of God (1 Chron. 28:2).
The Ark was incredibly holy. It dwelt in the Most Holy Place of the tabernacle. The High Priest cleansed it on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16:14-15). Leviticus describes it as the “mercy seat”, where God’s mercy is given to his people. The Ark contained the copies of the Mosaic Covenant (Ex. 25:16).
There were strict rules about how to treat the Ark. When it was moved, it had to be covered, and carried on poles resting on the shoulder (in special rungs built into it) by specific Levites (Num. 4, 7:9). You could not touch it, or you would die. God’s extreme holiness made the Ark very holy. Sinners touching the Ark profaned it. That holiness was lethal.
Which makes what happens next inevitable. The Ark is put on a cart, driven by oxen with riders from the host’s house (vv.3-4). Everyone is dancing and celebrating the great occasion (v.5). The oxen are spooked or stumble in a pothole, and suddenly the Ark looks like it might leap from the cart to the ground (v.6).
Can’t have that! Thankfully Uzzah leaps to the rescue, placing a firm hand on the Ark to secure the load (v.6)…and dies. “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” (v.7)
How should Israel have responded? With repentance and trembling. And yet? “David was angry because the LORD had broken out against Uzzah” and named the place for the event (v.8).
Then, after the initial flash of anger, David feared the God who broke out against Uzzah (v.9), just as he broke out against the Philistines (2 Sam 5:20). So instead of bringing the Ark up to Jerusalem nice and close to himself, he redirected the parcel to Obed-edom the Gittite (v.10).
Funnily enough, David may not have wanted God close anymore after he had seen God’s lethal holiness, but Obed-edom, who received the Ark into his house, was blessed by God during its stay there (v.11).
Uzzah meant well. David certainly meant well. Yet well meaning intentions do not survive contact with God’s lethal holiness. God is not a tame house deity who only blesses and shows favour. God is righteous and holy.
We must respect God’s commands. We must act as God requires us to act, especially when it comes to serving him. Especially when God has made it clear – showing his kindness to us by making clear his requirements.
Nor is God’s lethal holiness an Old Testament thing. Ananias and Sapphira certainly met his lethal holiness (Acts 5). We eat and drink judgement to ourselves if we take communion unworthily (1 Cor. 11:29). It is a fearful thing to fall into the living God’s hands (Heb. 10:26-31).
That same lethal holiness would smite us were it not for Christ’s sacrifice to cleanse us from our sins. Let us give thanks to God for his mercy. And treat God’s lethal holiness with the respect he deserves.
