2Sa 6:3-9 | KingComments | STEP | It is possible to do good things in a wrong way. This is what is happening here. David’s wish to bring the ark to Jerusalem is good, but the way he does this isn’t. The ark must be borne. In a spiritual sense this means that the bearers must feel the weight of the glory of the LORD. It is about a service being performed to the Lord in the way He Himself indicates. We must feel the importance of it. For God to accept a service, it must be in accordance with His Word. David works here in a Philistine way. He uses their method to transport the ark ( ). He imitates the Philistines and makes a new chart for it. It speaks of the work of man, of a way of serving God that appeals to man. Here we see that the danger of the Philistines does not only come from outside, but is also in one’s own heart. The dangers of the flesh and sin are in our own heart. To fight the Philistines, in the previous chapter he asked the LORD twice for His guidance. Now that it’s about the ark, we don’t read about it. David goes to work without asking the LORD. Maybe it is because it is obvious that he wants to bring the ark to Jerusalem. This can only be good, can’t it? It indeed is good, but the method must also be good, and that is not the case here. If anywhere the guidance of God and the directions of His grace are needed, it is in His own service and the worship brought to Him. We can compare this to giving or organizing Bible lectures. Those are good things, aren’t they? But is it not important then to ask the Lord if and how He wants it? It is about knowing that we are in His way. If we do not do it in dependence on the Lord, it goes wrong.

‏ 2 Samuel 6:3-9

The Ark Transported on a New Cart

It is possible to do good things in a wrong way. This is what is happening here. David’s wish to bring the ark to Jerusalem is good, but the way he does this isn’t. The ark must be borne. In a spiritual sense this means that the bearers must feel the weight of the glory of the LORD. It is about a service being performed to the Lord in the way He Himself indicates. We must feel the importance of it. For God to accept a service, it must be in accordance with His Word.

David works here in a Philistine way. He uses their method to transport the ark (1Sam 6:7-12). He imitates the Philistines and makes a new chart for it. It speaks of the work of man, of a way of serving God that appeals to man. Here we see that the danger of the Philistines does not only come from outside, but is also in one’s own heart. The dangers of the flesh and sin are in our own heart.

To fight the Philistines, in the previous chapter he asked the LORD twice for His guidance. Now that it’s about the ark, we don’t read about it. David goes to work without asking the LORD. Maybe it is because it is obvious that he wants to bring the ark to Jerusalem. This can only be good, can’t it? It indeed is good, but the method must also be good, and that is not the case here. If anywhere the guidance of God and the directions of His grace are needed, it is in His own service and the worship brought to Him.

We can compare this to giving or organizing Bible lectures. Those are good things, aren’t they? But is it not important then to ask the Lord if and how He wants it? It is about knowing that we are in His way. If we do not do it in dependence on the Lord, it goes wrong.

The Death of Uzzah

What should have been a feast ends in a disaster. David has arranged everything with the best intentions, but this does not prevent an accident happening with the ark. Uzzah wants to prevent the ark from falling and does so by reaching out his hand toward the ark to stop it. However, this well-intentioned act is punished with death by God.

God does not want us to support His service with our hands. His Divine glory, of which the ark is the symbol, cannot be touched by our hands. That touch only results in a tarnish of the ark. God watches over His honor. The ark is a picture of the Lord Jesus. God wants us to treat Him with respect, to treat Him as He indicates. He is the center of true service to God.

God will never allow us, humans, to arrange service to Him according to our own thoughts. If we are going to fill in this service ourselves, it will certainly end up wrong. Only if we really give Him the guidance in our lives and meeting together things will go well.

For example, when it comes to worship, the Lord Jesus says that the Father seeks worshipers. At the same time, He indicates how God should be worshiped (Jn 4:23-24). He does not do this by means of rules, men with the best intentions have prescribed. God has given His Word and His Spirit. In His Word we can read how to worship Him in spirit and truth. Where obedience to His Word is found under the guidance of His Spirit, a service can take place that is to His glory.

The oxen that pull the cart on which the ark stands are no better than the shoulders of priests. They nearly upset. God has led the cows of the Philistines (1Sam 6:7 ; 12). He did so because the Philistines do not know better. God’s people, however, must know better. What God tolerates to some degree with the Philistines, He doesn’t tolerate with His own. Uzzah tries to save the ark from a fall and forgets God’s rule not to touch the ark. God punishes heavily!

Here in the picture it is about not keeping enough distance between the Lord Jesus and us. Appropriate respect is not undermined by confidentiality. Although Uzzah doesn’t look into the ark, he does something that speaks of tarnishing the glory of the Lord Jesus. Then God must intervene.

David is not only sad, but also angry, and even rebellious. He thinks he’s doing so well and now he’s being punished so heavily! The disaster is not over the Philistines (1Sam 5:6), but over David. However, David must learn that it is not God, but himself who is the cause of this disaster. It is often the case that we blame God for the events we have caused ourselves.

David’s lack of obedience to what God has said costs someone else, Uzzah, his life. Thus, our disobedience can have harmful consequences for others. This does not justify Uzzah. He too was responsible for knowing the will of God. His well-intentioned attempt to save the ark was contrary to God’s Word and God must punish it. God cannot give up anything of His holiness.

The Ark in the House of Obed-edom

The next reaction is fear. Sin always brings fear, “but perfect love casts out fear” (1Jn 4:18). David does not walk in the light of God’s love, but in the light of his good intentions. Therefore this act of God discourages him. He gets scared and gives up his plan. He takes the ark aside to the house of Obed-edom.

Obed-edom will undoubtedly have known what suffering the ark caused among the Philistines, who had kept the ark imprisoned (1Sam 5:1-12). He will also have known of the men of Beth-shemesh who looked into it and some of whom were killed (1Sam 6:19). He certainly heard and perhaps saw that Uzzah was killed because he touched the ark. He also noticed that David has become too afraid to continue to occupy himself with the ark. Nevertheless, he took the ark into his house with joy. Without fear he opens his door for it. He does so because he knows that the ark is “an aroma from death to death” (2Cor 2:16a) only for those who deal wrongly with it.

In the house of Obed-edom we see how God meant the ark to be: not to be a curse, but to be a blessing. The same hand that punished the hubris of Uzzah, rewards the hospitality of Obed-edom. For him, the ark becomes “an aroma from life to life” (2Cor 2:16b). If the Lord Jesus is central to our family, the blessing comes. The stay of the ark with Obed-edom shows that it is possible, if the leaders and the whole people fail, still personally and as a family to experience the blessing of God’s presence. Whosoever deals with the ark in the right way, is blessed by God.

No one has ever had a reason, and no one will ever have a reason to say that it is in vain to serve God. The example of Obed-edom is an encouragement for heads of families to honor the service of God in their families. Serving God and the interests of His kingdom with their homes and their goods is the means to bring a blessing on everything they have. The family of Obed-edom shares in the blessing. It is good living in a family that houses the ark. All who belong to it will experience the blessing of it.

Later we see that Obed-edom gets a special service as gatekeeper at the temple (1Chr 26:4-8). He is a Levite, but born in a city of the Philistines. His name means ‘servant of Edom’, that is to say servant of the flesh, the sinful nature, someone who lives in the lusts of the flesh (Eph 2:3). But in him we also see what God can do in such a person and what His grace can make of him.