2Sa 6:12-19 | KingComments | STEP | After the ark has been in the house of Obed-edom for three months, David hears what the ark has meant for the family of Obed-edom. In these three months the ark has not been out of David’s thoughts. He is exercised in the school of God and taught in grace. The ark in the house of Obed-edom brings blessing over his house and a testimony of that goes out. If we really put the Lord Jesus at the center, it will mean blessing for ourselves and others will hear of Him. When grace has done its work in David and he hears of the blessing that the ark has brought, it leads him to bring up the ark from there. This time he does it properly, in accordance with God’s Word. David has learned and now lets Levites carry the ark ( ; ) . After six steps, not ’an Uzzah’ dies, but a sacrifice. This means that the ark can only be placed on Zion because of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. David also sacrifices and wears a priest’s shirt. He is here the king-priest. This points forward to what the Lord Jesus will be in the kingdom of peace. The enthusiasm of David will be understood by everyone who carries the things of the LORD upon their hearts. It is about the ark of the LORD that is brought to the place He Himself has chosen for it! It gives great joy to be able to cooperate. We do this by honoring Christ for God the Father as priests – and these are all New Testament believers

‏ 2 Samuel 6:12-19

The Ark Brought into Jerusalem

After the ark has been in the house of Obed-edom for three months, David hears what the ark has meant for the family of Obed-edom. In these three months the ark has not been out of David’s thoughts. He is exercised in the school of God and taught in grace. The ark in the house of Obed-edom brings blessing over his house and a testimony of that goes out. If we really put the Lord Jesus at the center, it will mean blessing for ourselves and others will hear of Him.

When grace has done its work in David and he hears of the blessing that the ark has brought, it leads him to bring up the ark from there. This time he does it properly, in accordance with God’s Word. David has learned and now lets Levites carry the ark (Num 7:9; 1Chr 15:2) . After six steps, not ’an Uzzah’ dies, but a sacrifice. This means that the ark can only be placed on Zion because of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. David also sacrifices and wears a priest’s shirt. He is here the king-priest. This points forward to what the Lord Jesus will be in the kingdom of peace.

The enthusiasm of David will be understood by everyone who carries the things of the LORD upon their hearts. It is about the ark of the LORD that is brought to the place He Himself has chosen for it! It gives great joy to be able to cooperate. We do this by honoring Christ for God the Father as priests – and these are all New Testament believers – in the meetings of the church.

Michal Despises David

In between, the Holy Spirit points to Michal, who is also called here “the daughter of Saul”. David’s wife has no part in her husband’s joy. On the contrary, she despises him in her heart. The reason for this is that she has no interest in the ark, the dwelling place and the resting place of God. For her, the ark is nothing more than a box of gold.

She is in her own familiar environment. From her elevated enclosure she looks down out of the window. It indicates that from her own thinking she judges in haughtiness what is happening outside her own limited circle. She is not accessible to things connected to heaven. The window through which she looks down is probably a narrow window. Her view of what she sees is so narrow. And even though it was a wide window, her field of vision is determined by her pride, making her blind to the glory of the ark and the service that goes with it.

She is a picture of the natural man for whom the things of the Spirit are foolishness (1Cor 2:14). Just as Michal is blind to what overwhelms her husband’s heart, so the world sees nothing attractive in our Beloved, the Lord Jesus Christ. Those who had as limited a view as Michal saw in Christ no more than “the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon” (Mk 6:3) and “the carpenter’s son” (Mt 13:55).

She despises David for not meeting her expectations. She only wants him when he is dressed in beautiful royal clothes. She knows nothing of the sources of true enthusiasm in the service of God.

Offerings and Food

The ark comes to Zion. Zion stands opposite Mount Sinai. Zion stands for grace, Mount Sinai for the law (Heb 12:18-22). On Zion the ark finds its final place. There the people of God dwell with Him of Whom the ark speaks. In the future, Zion will be the center of the earth.

In the New Testament we see the fulfillment of this Old Testament picture, when on the first day of the week the Lord Jesus comes into the midst of the disciples (Jn 20:19). There we see the glory of Him of Whom the ark speaks in the power of the resurrection, after He was in the hands of ‘the Philistines’, the religious leaders of the people.

David is also a distributor of blessing and food, as Melchizedek once was (Gen 14:18-19). When he has made the sacrifices, he blesses “the people in the name of the LORD of hosts”. Here is a man who has his joy in the LORD, for whom God is the great goal, but who also has a heart for God’s people. Not only does he rejoice that he is in the presence of God, but he also wants to lead others there. He thinks of the whole people and gives a rich blessing to all. What a contrast with three months earlier. Then he had no blessing for the people. We are a blessing to others only when we are in the way of the Lord’s will.

It is important that we recognize Christ as the center of our lives, and that we also recognize that this applies to all the true children of God. David distributes “to all the people, to all the multitude of Israel, both to men and women”. Paul also refuses to be sectarian and to be part of a party. He writes to the Corinthians: “Has Christ been divided?” (1Cor 1:13). And he writes to the Philippians: “For God is my witness, how I long for you all” (Phil 1:8).