David: Ignorance and obedience

April 20, 2022 (Wednesday)

 

King David was a shrewd (wise) politician. One of the things he did to solidify his power was to bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. He started with what might feel like an invasion: “Then David again gathered all the elite troops in Israel, 30,000 in all.” [2 Samuel 6:1 NLT] Of course, this was actually an honor guard. Still, these were dangerous times and David intended to move the most valuable object in human history… to this point.

 

With this elite army, “He led them to Baalah of Judah to bring back the Ark of God, which bears the name of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, who is enthroned between the cherubim.” [2 Samuel 6:2 NLT] The Ark of the Covenant was built during the Exodus, around 400 years before David’s reign. Please note of all the names God chose to identify with the Ark, it was a military one.

 

It was a simple plan: "They placed the Ark of God on a new cart." [NLT 2 Samuel 6:3a] The trouble was that this violated the specific instructions to move the ark (see Numbers 4). I don’t know if you have noticed this or not, but when we do not follow God’s instructions, things tend to not go well. That day, tragedy struck."... the oxen stumbled, and Uzzah reached out his hand and steadied the Ark of God." [NLT 2 Samuel 6:6b]That seems innocent enough. To preserve the Ark, when the oxen stumbled, Uzzah steadied it.

 

Anger becomes the dominating emotion in this story. What should have been a joyous celebration became an exercise in anger and an occasion for a funeral. “Then the Lord’s anger was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him dead because of this. So Uzzah died right there beside the Ark of God.” [2 Samuel 6:7 NLT]

 

In ignorance, “David was angry because the Lord’s anger had burst out against Uzzah.” [2 Samuel 6:8a NLT] It seems that David was angry at God, but it was his own ignorance that created this situation. Possibly after a bit of thought, David’s reaction was the one he should have had BEFORE moving the Ark. “David was now afraid of the Lord…” [2 Samuel 6:9a NLT]

 

David’s next move shows his lack of understanding. “So David decided not to move the Ark of the Lord into the City of David. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-edom of Gath.” [2 Samuel 6:10: NLT] Think about it: David put the most sacred object of the Jewish faith in the house of the Philistine (Gath was a Philistine city). God’s response to this? “…and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and his entire household.” [2 Samuel 6:11b NLT] Effectively, embarrassing David.

 

Eventually, David gets it right. His error, born of ignorance, gets someone killed, and he is humiliated. The moral of the story is: get it right the first time. It’s called "obedience." It saves a lot of grief.