One amazing thing about the Old Testament is the rich stories found in its pages. There are small stories woven in the whole Bible, to be sure, because it’s really one big story about the redemption of the world through a holy and powerful God who is second to none. As Living Hope Church has begun studying 2 Samuel, we have returned to the story of David, the Shepherd-King, one of the stories in God’s large narrative about his covenant people.
A few weeks ago we arrived at 2 Samuel 6, when the ark was brought to Jerusalem. An old artifact, significant to Israel, is coming to a new city and a new king. Unlike the old king, Saul, who cared very little about the ark or the God who resided over it, David takes initiative to bring it back. He appoints 30,000 people, himself among them, to form a caravan to go and get the ark back from the house of Abinadab.
David has appointed the chosen men of Israel, a new cart has been made, and the ark begins its journey to Jerusalem. But what starts out as a joyful celebration quickly goes off the rails (literally!) when the oxen pulling the ark stumble. Uzzah puts out his hand and “took hold of the ark,” which starts to fall off the cart. Like a flash of lightning, God’s anger is kindled, and he kills Uzzah. David is angry at and afraid of God.
At first, it’s easy to understand David’s anger: Lord, why would you react so strongly for such a small touch? Weren’t we celebrating before you? Weren’t we trying to honor you and protect this ark you instructed your people to build? We also don’t have to reach too far to understand where David’s fear came from: God would do this because Uzzah did that? I would be afraid, too.
Yet, when we try to understand the ‘why’ behind God’s actions, we also see the God who always judges justly (Gen. 18:26). Has Israel forgotten the great God whose power resides in this ark? Has she forgotten that only one (the High Priest) can go into the ark’s presence, once a year, to make a sacrifice? Have the circumstances been forgotten on how the ark came to reside in the house of Abinadab – how Saul and the Israelites sought to use the ark to harness its power for their own gain (1 Samuel 4-7)? This ark is not just a golden box to be transported. God Himself has put his presence over it. And Uzzah thought he could just reach out and take hold of it? Does Uzzah think God needs his help?
People of God, though we have no ark of the covenant today to be our center of worship, let this story remind us God is not to be taken lightly. How easy it is to make light of him, the “big guy upstairs,” the one who just gives us a long list of rules to follow to make life less fun. No! This God will not be mocked. He demands to be taken seriously. Because great power is in his hands, to do everything that pleases him (Ps. 135:6; Job 23:13).
After Uzzah’s death and David’s hesitance, the ark goes to stay for three months at a man named Obed-edom. And during those three months, God richly blesses his household – the Bible doesn’t say specifically how, but it is clear that the ark’s presence is a gift. It’s not a gift Obed-edom earns through anything he does; the only thing necessary is for Obed-edom to allow the ark to come into his house.
What a beautiful picture of the Gospel. There’s no work to accomplish for us, only that we allow God’s presence room. His power, and not our work, is the fulcrum and culmination of blessing. When the Holy Spirit comes into a person’s heart, God’s blessings are abundant.
If we are tempted to stay in a place of fear, wondering if God is just one sin away from treating us as he does Uzzah, let’s go to another story in Mark 5:21-34.
This is a clear foil for the great power and mercy concentrated in God the Father and his Son. Jesus, as he’s teaching by the sea, is sought out by a ruler of the synagogue (Jairus) whose daughter is on the verge of death. On his way to Jairus’s house, a woman who’s suffered seeks Jesus out for healing. She thinks to herself, “All I have to do is touch his garments and I will be healed.”
In contrast to Uzzah, this woman’s touch is not to steady the ark, or to serve God in a prideful way. She only wants to be healed. Her illness has made her so desperate that she would risk going into a crowd of people to seek a powerful healer. A great need propels her to seek out the power of God.
And where Uzzah’s simple touch leads to death, her simple touch has a completely different result. Mark tells us that immediately she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease (Mk. 5:29). Uzzah’s touch brought death; hers brought restoration. What Abinadab’s household, David, and the crowd of 30,000 Israelite men found out after a deadly blow this woman instinctively understood because of her great faith: there is power found where God dwells. Just like Obed-edom, the presence of the ark led to his household flourishing; when this unnamed, lowly woman grabbed hold of Jesus’s robe, her body was given long-sought relief. Can you give a similar testimony like this in your own life?
Friends, if you find yourself afraid of God because he is powerful, then ask yourself what your heart posture is toward him. His power is right to be feared; we ought to be cautious. But just like that woman found out – his heart towards those who are humble is rich in mercy. What does Mark tell us? The woman came “in fear and trembling,” but what she found in Jesus was someone who listened to her, who did not just heal her but called her “daughter” and bade her leave in peace. When messengers came to a fearful David to tell him of Obed-edom’s household being blessed because of the ark, his heart responds. He goes to get the ark “with rejoicing” (2 Sam. 6:12). And this time, he retrieves the ark as God originally instructed.
May we do likewise, church. May we seek God because of his great mercy and not avoid him out of fear. And may we do so in the way that is pleasing to him, through obedience and reverence.
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