636
Patriarchs and Prophets
the Lord ... on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets,
and on cymbals.” It had been long since Israel had witnessed such a
scene of triumph. With solemn gladness the vast procession wound its
way along the hills and valleys toward the Holy City.
But “when they came to Nachon’s threshing floor, 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 rashness; [
marginal reading
] and there he died by
the ark of God.” A sudden terror fell upon the rejoicing throng. David
was astonished and greatly alarmed, and in his heart he questioned
the justice of God. He had been seeking to honor the ark as the
symbol of the divine presence. Why, then, had that fearful judgment
been sent to turn the season of gladness into an occasion of grief and
mourning? Feeling that it would be unsafe to have the ark near him,
David determined to let it remain where it was. A place was found for
it nearby, at the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.
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 divine direction was, “The sons of Kohath
shall come to bear it: but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they
die.”
Numbers 4:15
. 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 Kirjath-jearim there had been a direct and
inexcusable disregard of the Lord’s directions.
David and his people had assembled to perform a sacred work, and
they had engaged in it with glad and willing hearts; but the Lord could
[706]
not accept the service, because it was not performed in accordance
with His 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