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His Last Mistake, June 19
2 Samuel 6:1-11
Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the
oxen shook it. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and
God smote him there for his error.
2 Samuel 6:6, 7
.
The fate of Uzzah was a divine judgment upon the violation of a most explicit
command. Through Moses the Lord had given special instruction concerning
the transportation of the ark. None but the priests, the descendants of Aaron,
were to touch it, or even to look upon it uncovered....
The priests were to cover the ark, and then the Kohathites must lift it by the
staves, which were placed in rings upon each side of the ark and were never
removed. To the Gershonites and Merarites, who had in charge the curtains
and boards and pillars of the tabernacle, Moses gave carts and oxen for the
transportation of that which was committed to them. “But unto the sons of
Kohath he gave none: because the service of the sanctuary belonging unto them
was that they should bear
upon their shoulders
” (
Numbers 7:9
). Thus in the
bringing of the ark from Kirjathjearim there had been a direct and inexcusable
disregard of the Lord’s directions....
The Philistines, who had not a knowledge of God’s law, had placed the ark
upon a cart when they returned it to Israel, and the Lord accepted the effort which
they made. But the Israelites had in their hands a plain statement of the will of
God in all these matters, and their neglect of these instructions was dishonoring
to God. Upon Uzzah rested the greater guilt of presumption. Transgression of
God’s law had lessened his sense of its sacredness, and with unconfessed sins
upon him he had, in face of the divine prohibition, presumed to touch the symbol
of God’s presence. God can accept no partial obedience, no lax way of treating
His commandments. By the judgment upon Uzzah He designed to impress upon
all Israel the importance of giving strict heed to His requirements. Thus the
death of that one man, by leading the people to repentance, might prevent the
necessity of inflicting judgments upon thousands
[177]
35
Ibid., 705, 706
.
182