'Again, David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty
thousand. 2. And David arose, and went with all the people that were
with him from Baale of Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God,
whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts that dwelleth
between the cherubims. 3. And they set the ark of God upon a new cart,
and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah: and
Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart. 4. And they
brought it out of the house of Abinadab which was at Gibeah,
accompanying the ark of God: and Ahio went before the ark. 5. And David
and all the house of Israel played before the Lord on all manner of
instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on
timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals. 6. And when they came to
Nachon's thrashing-floor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God,
and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. 7. And the anger of the
Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error;
and there he died by the ark of God. 8. And David was displeased,
because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah: and he called the name
of the place Perez-uzzah to this day. 9. And David was afraid of the
Lord that day, and said, How shall the ark of the Lord come to me? 10.
So David would not remove the ark of the Lord unto him into the city of
David: but David carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the
Gittite. 11. And the ark of the Lord continued in the house of
Obed-edom the Gittite three months: and the Lord blessed Obed-edom, and
all his household. 12. And it was told king David, saying, The Lord
hath blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that pertaineth unto him,
because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God
from the house of Obed-edom into the city of David with gladness.'-2
SAMUEL vi. 1-12.
I. The first section (verses 1-5) describes the joyful reception and
procession. The parallel account in 1 Chronicles states that Baalah, or
Baale, was Kirjath-jearim. Probably the former was the more ancient
Canaanitish name, and indicates that it had been a Baal sanctuary. If
so, the presence of the ark there was at once a symbol and an omen,
showing Jehovah's conquest over the obscene and bloody gods of the
land, and forecasting His triumph over all the gods of the nations.
Every Baale shall one day be a resting-place of the ark of God. The
solemn designation of the ark, as 'called by the Name, the name of the
Lord of Hosts, that dwelleth between the cherubim,' is significant on
this, its reappearance after so long eclipse, and, by emphasising its
awful sanctity, prepares for the incidents which are to follow. The
manner of the ark's transport was irregular; for the law strictly
enjoined its being carried by the Levites by means of bearing-poles
resting on their shoulders; and the copying of the Philistines' cart,
though a new one was made for the purpose, indicates the desuetude into
which the decencies of worship had fallen in seventy years. In 1
Chronicles, the singular words in verse 5, which describe David as
playing before the Lord on the very unlikely things for such a
purpose,' all manner of instruments of fir wood,' become 'with all
their might: even with songs' which seems much more reasonable. A
slight alteration in three letters and the transposition of two would
bring our text into conformity with I Chronicles, and the conjectural
emendation is tempting. Who ever heard of fir-wood musical instruments?
The specified ones which follow were certainly not made of it, and
songs could scarcely fail to be mentioned.
At all events, we see the glad procession streaming out of the little
city buried among its woods; the cart drawn by meek oxen, and loaded
with the unadorned wooden chest, in the midst; the two sons or
descendants of its faithful custodian honoured to be the teamsters; the
king with the harp which had cheered him in many a sad hour of exile;
and the crowd 'making a joyful noise before the Lord,' which might
sound discord in our ears, as some lifted up shrill songs, some touched
stringed instruments, some beat on timbrels, some rattled metal rods
with movable rings, and some clashed cymbals together. It was a wild
scene, in which there was a dangerous resemblance to the frantic
jubilations of idolatrous worship. No doubt there were true hearts in
that crowd, and none truer than David's. No doubt we have to beware of
applying our Christian standards to these early times, and must let a
good deal that is sensuous and turbid pass, as, no doubt, God let it
pass. But confession of sin in leaving the ark so long forgotten would
have been better than this tumultuous joy; and if there had been more
trembling in it, it would not have passed so soon into wild terror.
Still, on the other hand, that rejoicing crowd does represent, though
in crude form, the effect which the consciousness of God's presence
should ever have. His felt nearness should be, as the Psalmist says,
'the gladness of my joy.' Much of our modern religion is far too
gloomy, and it is thought to be a sign of devotion and
spiritual-mindedness to be sad and of a mortified countenance.
Unquestionably, Christianity brings men into the continual presence of
very solemn truths about themselves and the world which may well sober
them, and make what the world calls mirth incongruous.
'There is no music in the life
That rings with idiot laughter solely.'
But the Man of Sorrows said that His purpose for us was that 'His joy
might remain in us, and that our joy might be full'; and we but
imperfectly apprehend the gospel if we do not feel that its joys 'much
more abound' than its sorrows, and that they even burn brightest, like
the lights on safety-buoys, when drenched by stormy seas.
II. The second section contains the dread vindication of the sanctity
of the ark, which changed joy into terror, and silenced the songs. At
some bad place in the rocky and steep track, the oxen stumbled or were
restive. The spot is called in Samuel 'the threshing-floor of Nachon,'
but in Chronicles the owner is named 'Chidon.' As the former word means
'a stroke' and the latter 'destruction,' they are probably not to be
taken as proper names, but as applied to the place after this event.
The name given by David, however--Perez-uzzah--proved the more
permanent 'to this day.' Uzzah, who was driving while his brother went
in front to pilot the way, naturally stretched out his hand to steady
his freight, just as if it had been a sack of corn; and, as if he had
touched an electric wire, fell dead, as the story graphically says, 'by
the ark of God.' What confusion and panic would agitate the joyous
singers, and how their songs would die on their lips!
What harm was there in Uzzah's action? It was most natural, and, in one
point of view, commendable. Any careful waggoner would have done the
same with any valuable article he had in charge. Yes; that was just the
point of his error and sin, that he saw no difference between the ark
and any other valuable article. His intention to help was right enough;
but there was profound insensibility to the awful sacredness of the
ark, on which even its Levitical bearers were forbidden to lay hands.
All his life Uzzah had been accustomed to its presence. It had been one
of the familiar pieces of furniture in Abinadab's house, and, no doubt,
familiarity had had its usual effect. Do none of us ministers,
teachers, and others, to whom the gospel and the worship and ordinances
of the Church have been familiar from infancy, treat them in the same
fashion? Many a hand is laid on the ark, sometimes to keep it from
falling, with more criminal carelessness of its sacredness than Uzzah
showed. Note, too, how swiftly an irreverent habit of treating holy
things grows. The first error was in breaking the commanded order for
removal of the ark by the Levites. Once in the cart, the rest follows.
The smallest breach in the feeling of awe and reverence will soon lead
to more complete profanation. There is nothing more delicate than the
sense of awe. Trifled with ever so little, it speedily disappears.
There is far too little of it in our modern religion. Perfect love
casts out fear and deepens awe which hath not torment.
Was not the punishment in excess of the sin? We must remember the
times, the long neglect of the ark, the decay of religion in Saul's
reign, the critical character of the moment as the beginning of a new
era, when it was all-important to print deep the impression of
sanctity, and the rude material which had to be dealt with; and we must
not forget that God, in His punishments, does not adopt men's ideas of
death as such a very dreadful thing. Many since have followed in
David's wake, and been 'displeased, because the Lord broke forth upon
Uzzah'; but he and they have been wrong. He ought to have known better,
and to have understood the lesson of the solemn corpse that lay there
by the ark; instead of which he gives way to mere terror, and was
'afraid of the Lord.' David afraid of the Lord! What had become of the
rapturous love and strong trust which ring clear through his psalms? Is
this the man who called God his rock and fortress and deliverer, his
buckler and the horn of his salvation and his high tower, and poured
out his soul in burning words, which glow yet through all the centuries
and the darkness of earth? It was ill for David to fall thus below
himself, but well for us that the eclipse of his faith and love should
be recorded, to hearten us, when the like emotions fall asleep in our
souls. His consciousness of impurity was wholesome and sound, but his
cowering before the ark, as if it were the seat of arbitrary anger,
which might flame out destruction for no discernible reason, was a
woful darkening of his loving insight into the heart of God.
III. The last section (verses 10-12) gives us the blessings on the
house of Obed-edom and the glad removal of the ark to Jerusalem.
Obed-edom is called a 'Gittite,' or man of Gath; but he does not appear
to have been a Philistine immigrant, but a native of another Gath, a
Levitical city, and himself a Levite. There is an Obededom in the lists
of David's Levites in Chronicles who is probably the same man. He did
not fear to receive the ark, and, worthily received, the presence which
had been a source of disaster and death to idolaters, to profanely
curious pryers into its secret, and to presumptuous irreverence, became
a fountain of unbroken blessing. This twofold effect of the same
presence is but a symbol of a solemn law which runs through all life,
and is especially manifest in the effects of Christ's work upon men.
Everything has two handles, and it depends on ourselves by which of
them we lay hold of it, and whether we shall receive a shock that
kills, or blessings. The same circumstances of poverty, or wealth, or
sorrow, or temptation, make one man better and another worse. The same
presence of God will be to one man a joy; to another, a terror. 'What
maketh heaven, that maketh hell.' The same gospel received is the
fountain of life, purity, peace; and, rejected or neglected, is the
source of harm and death. Jesus Christ is 'set for the fall and rising
again of many.' Either He is the savour of life unto life, the rock on
which we build, or He is the savour of death unto death, the stone on
which we stumble and break our limbs.