Removing Stumbling Blocks: Thoughts on Uzzah dying because he touched the Ark of the Covenant

The "Removing Stumbling Blocks" series is meant to help people understand difficult passages in the Bible. This paper will focus on the historical event when King David brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. His first attempt resulted in the death of Uzzah one of his personal bodyguards and one of the 30 might men of Israel at the time. However, 3 months later David succeeds in bringing the Ark to Jerusalem because he learned something he didn't know before about relating to God.

The portions of the Old Testament that cover this event are 2 Samuel 6 and I Chronicles 13 & 15. The text says that during David's first attempt to bring the Ark of God into Jerusalem the oxen carrying the Ark in a cart drawn behind them stumbled and Uzzah stretched out his hand to steady the Ark. Instantly he died because he touched the Ark. I Chron. 13:11-12 say that David had the reaction that many of us would have. David was first angry with God because Uzzah had died. Then secondly David became afraid of God saying, "How can I ever bring the ark of God to me?"

At once the accusation against God's goodness springs out of our hearts, "God why did you do that? Uzzah was only trying to protect YOUR ark! Since the oxen stumbled it might have fallen out of the cart and become damaged! Why kill your servant for trying to do what seemed right?"

These are very important questions because they are deep in our hearts when we quickly read the history and don't search for deeper meaning. These sorts of unanswered questions plague our belief that God is good from the deep recesses of our minds and hearts. Now let me be clear - we cannot wait to believe in God or trust that He is good until everything is explained. There is enough revealed in the Bible about God's goodness and trustworthiness to trust Him right here and now. But going back and getting greater understanding on troubling passages can actually cause our faith and trust in God to significantly deepen!

If you only read 2 Samuel 6 that is about all you would be left with of the story. However there are always cross references in the Bible. The hungry will always search out a matter further and God will bring answers - sometimes immediately sometimes much much later. Read the parallel account in I Chron. 13 & 15. In verses 2 and 12-13 of I Chron 15 you find some significant information.

"Then David said, "No one but the Levites may carry the ark of God, because the LORD chose them to carry the ark of the LORD and to minister before him forever." I Chron. 15:2

"He said to them, 'You are the heads of the Levitical families; you and your fellow Levites are to consecrate yourselves and bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel, to the place I have prepared for it. It was because you, the Levites, did not bring it up the first time that the LORD our God broke out in anger against us. We did not inquire of him about how to do it in the prescribed way.' " I Chron. 15:12-13

Now you need to remember one thing. The Ark of God was not just a common object in Israel. It was a holy piece of the Tabernacle of Moses. And it wasn't just one of the objects in the Tabernacle of Moses either. It was THE focal point of the whole Tabernacle! It was upon the Ark that the two Golden Cherubim looked down on the mercy seat. Moses or the High Priest would take the blood of the sacrifice once a year and pour it out on the mercy seat to atone for the sin of the Israelites. The Ark of God represented the very Presence of God (YHWH - Yahweh).

Now with that in mind consider that neither David nor the Priests had spend any effort or time to read the Books of Moses (the portion of the Bible they had then: Exodus and Leviticus) to find out how to respect God and find out how He told them to move the ark. Consider what David and the priest did. In front of all Israel and the other peoples they put the Ark of God on a cart pulled by two Oxen. This way of moving the Ark was never described in the Books of Moses. Where did they get that from? That was the way the Philistines (the enemies of Israel who worshiped the false god Dagon) returned the ark to Israel a chapter or two earlier. David and the Priests of Israel copied the pagan people of the land in relating to God! They treated the One and Only God like all the other false demonic gods of the pagan lands!

Do you start to get the picture here? This whole thing is not about Uzzah personally. Uzzah died because the Leadership of Israel treated God with contempt...they didn't even inquire how to transport the most holy object in the history of Israel. They just tried to hustle the Ark of God up to Jerusalem and do it their own way! They are casual with God during a public event where all Israel is watching. How the Leadership relates to God directly affects how each person will relate to God in their hearts and during the rest of their lives.

What David and the Priests found out later when they decided they better look at what God said in the Books of Moses was this: God has specifically ordained the Levites to carry the Ark of God on their shoulders with poles after they had consecrated themselves in the prescribed manner. David and the Priests found out that they weren't in charge but that they needed to respond to God. He was the initiator not them. When God comes in power and is manifestly present it is time for us to follow not to control or lead. We need to respond to God at this point rather than try to dictate to God what we want Him to do! This is the difference between humility and arrogance towards God.

Conclusion

God didn't kill Uzzah because he touched the Ark. God was dealing with Leadership issues of complacency, contempt and a lack of responsiveness towards God. This was a public event not a private personal event. God was dealing with the Leadership of a nation. And that nation was supposed to be a witness to the One true God among all the nations of the world! How would the Gentiles be saved unless God's Holy and Trustworthy Name was evident in the life of Israel. The salvation of the Gentiles during that time was at stake along with the Israelites. This was not about 1 person dying but the Name of God being treated with honor so that others could be saved. If God's Name is treated with contempt or complacency why would anyone come to Him to be saved? They would run to the other false gods of the time who could not save them at all and therefore be lost forever. There was a lot more a stake than we realize.