Articles
Treated as Holy III
It is an unfortunate trend in modern churches to only remember or speak of the Uriah and Bathsheba incident when considering David’s mistakes. There are several other occasions in which this very godly king made poor decisions that often cost other people their lives. The running theme throughout them all, however, is that when David failed the worst, it was because he failed to seek God’s input before acting.
Perhaps the best example of that trend is in the unmitigated disaster that was the unauthorized moving of the ark of the covenant. We read in both II Samuel 6 and I Chronicles 13 that David’s zeal in having the ark brought to Jerusalem was not tempered with instruction, and thus led to a deadly mistake. Therefore, this account is often used to present the idea that when we do not follow God’s authorized methods, people die.
David’s choice in moving the ark in an unauthorized manner came after he “consulted with the captains of the thousands and the hundreds, even with every leader” but not with God. (I Chronicles 13:1) Predictably, the popular king unveiled his plan, and, “the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.” (I Chronicles 13:4) However, the method chosen was that they, “placed the ark of God on a new cart” (II Samuel 6:3) which was nowhere in the Law, but was done by the Philistines (I Samuel 6:4-9). During the transport of the ark in this manner, “Uzza put out his hand to hold the ark, because the oxen nearly upset” the ark, and he was struck dead immediately (I Chronicles 13:9).
While David was certainly somewhat responsible for Uzza’s death, it is not as if God is so unjust as to punish the innocent instead of the guilty (cf. Genesis 18:23-26). No, indeed. In fact, the passage clearly records that “God struck him down there for his irreverence; and he died there by the ark of God.” (II Samuel 6:7) Some versions render Uzza’s sin as “his error” but the word seems to be more closely connected with the idea of negligence (cf. II Chronicles 29:11). David was certainly wrong for putting Uzza in a position where he could reach out and touch the ark, but Uzza did not demonstrate the proper respect for God’s holiness.
It is important to know that Uzza was the son of the man Abinadab who had sheltered the ark from the time of Samuel until David had come and taken it from there. Israel had been given very strong warnings about the importance of respecting the ark (Numbers 3:5-10, 31-32, 38), and the consequence for failing that (I Samuel 6:19-21). It was not David alone who had failed in the account, but also Uzza who had not treated God as holy.
The incorrect moving of the ark was certainly David’s failure as king, but that did not excuse the man Uzza from the responsibility to treat God as holy, or respect His strong warnings. The same may apply to us, that leaders may not revere God or worship Him as He has commanded, but we are not ever given license to think lightly of the God we serve.
