The Power and Presence of God Wasn’t Made for Ox Carts
[5] And David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the LORD, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. [6] And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. [7] And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God. [8] And David was angry because the LORD had broken out against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzzah to this day. [9] And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and he said, “How can the ark of the LORD come to me?” [10] So David was not willing to take the ark of the LORD into the city of David. But David took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. [11] And the ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months, and the LORD blessed Obed-edom and all his household.
2 Samuel 6:6–11 ESV
God never wanted people to worship oxen. Oxen are animals like birds, monkeys, deer, etc and were never meant to represent God or carry His image into the world. Mankind was made to carry God’s image. The Levites, specifically, out of all of the God’s tribes within Israel were the ones that were supposed to carry the Ark of the Covenant. It was God’s presence among men, and God wanted them to carry it to forecast the fact that one day all people would carry the presence of God on themselves.
So Uzzah died. Uzzah likely owned the oxen, or the cart, or had some kind of connection to that part otherwise he wouldn’t have been so close. The Ark of the Covenant isn’t something that the Israelites just moved around whenever somebody wanted it out of their living space.
At this point, David gained a new realization about being the King. Not only did his war exploits affect all of the people, but the way he treated God would also affect all of the people. Until this point, David has asked God about this war or that battle, but God has never done something like this around David. This isn’t about war and conquest, this is about God’s holiness and His Law.
David gives up on bringing the ark to Jerusalem and stores it for 3 months at Obed-edom’s house. During this time David was able to consider what it meant to be king for a little bit, and what it meant to be King of Israel. When they would make their second attempt at bringing the ark, they did some things the same and some things different. They still had tambourines. They still had songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. But one thing they added: a sacrifice.
Before they thought that bringing the ”ark of God, which is called by the name of the LORD of hosts who sits enthroned on the cherubim,” could be brought with just a party and fanfare. It can not. The Lord’s presence is a life and death situation. It is not just an excuse to get out the tambourine. So now, with the cost of an ox and the labor and seriousness of death, the Ark is brought to Jerusalem. With that twofold seriousness, of life (extreme party) and of death (a sacrificed ox and a buried Uzzah) the Presence of God can properly enter.
Salvation is a great cause for celebration, but it does us well and matures our faith to consider by Whom that salvation came. Pray for a bit today and this weekend about Jesus who died for our sins and was raised from the dead and invites us to the divine party of eternity.