King David was a man after God’s own heart. His love for the Word of God is displayed in the psalms he authored. His faithfulness in obeying and honoring the Lord was his purpose and goal in all things. Though he was in no way perfect – as there is only One who was perfect – he still serves as an example of living in godliness and the pursuit of holiness.
In 1 Chronicles 13 today we read about the attempt to bring the ark to Jerusalem. David’s desire to bring the ark to Jerusalem shows his commitment to the Lord. The ark had not been a priority during the days of Saul. So, after consulting the commanders of all of Israel, they decided to pack up and go retrieve it. We see in the beginning verses of Chapter 13 that,
All the assembly agreed to do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.
2 Chronicles 13:4
They traveled to Keriath-jearim, loaded the ark onto a cart pulled by oxen and set off toward Jerusalem. David and all of Israel were celebrating with all their might (13:8). Uzzah and Ahio were the ones driving the cart of oxen when the unthinkable happened. One of the oxen stumbled, so Uzzah reacted by putting out his hand to steady the ark (13:9). The anger of the LORD was kindled, he struck down Uzzah, David got scared and abandoned the mission, leaving the ark with Obed-edom where it remained for three more months (13:10-14)
Why? Why would God strike down poor Uzzah for simply doing what he felt was the right thing to do? Isn’t that unjust of God?
First, we have to revisit the scenario. This is the Ark of the Covenant that they were retrieving. Remember – that item that was kept in the Most Holy Place of the tabernacle? That no one was allowed to touch lest they die? (Numbers 4:15). This is the item that when it was constructed, was made with four rings of gold, two on each side which were to hold the poles for the purpose of carrying it (Exodus 25:12-14). This is the item which only certain priests were allowed to carry. This same item had just been loaded up on a cart of oxen. Sound familiar? It’s the same way the Philistines loaded up it and sent it back to the Israelites in 1 Samuel 6.
The ark was representative of the presence of the Lord himself. How it was treated was symbolic of how the Lord was treated. The holiness of God is not a light, trifle thing. The actions of this mission showed a lack of reverence for the holiness of the LORD. Uzzah’s actions showed more fear of the object possibly hitting the ground than the holiness of God that it represented. We see in these verses and the account of the same incident in 2 Samuel 6, that the oxen stumbled, and he reached out to his hand and took hold of the ark. He didn’t heroically save it from hitting the ground as it was tumbling out. He presumed and took action – and it cost him his life.
The holiness of God is a serious matter – so serious that no man in his own sinful state can stand before God in his holiness and live. God doesn’t make exceptions for the irreverence of his holiness. It is the very essence of who he is. And though we who are in Christ are declared holy and blameless before him (Ephesians 1:4), it does not mean that it lessens the holy nature of God. We who know Christ should have even more reverence for his holiness and what that means because we know that we have been saved from his holy wrath.
The late R.C. Sproul wrote a book called The Holiness of God which I highly recommend, and he did a teaching series on Ligonier about it as well. You can watch the series HERE.
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