“Bad Decisions” Part 3
David
2 Samuel 6:1-7
Again David gathered all the choice men of Israel, thirty thousand. 2 And David
arose and went with all the people who were
with him from Baale Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, whose name is
called by the Name, the Lord of Hosts, who dwells between the cherubim. 3 So they set the ark of
God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill; and Uzzah and Ahio,
the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart. 4 And they brought it
out of the house of Abinadab, which was
on the hill, accompanying the ark of God; and Ahio went before the ark. 5 Then
David and all the house of Israel played music
before the Lord on all kinds of instruments
of fir wood, on harps, on stringed instruments, on tambourines, on
sistrums, and on cymbals.
6 And when they came to Nachon’s threshing floor, Uzzah
put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold
of it, for the oxen stumbled. 7 Then the anger of the Lord was
aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God.
When David became
king, the Philistines decided to attack Israel and end his reign. After God gave David victory over the
Philistines, his next order of business was to retrieve the ark of God from the
house of Abinadab where the ark was being held.
He decided to allow Uzzah and Ahio, who were sons of Abinadab, to drive
the cart that was transporting the ark.
At one point during the journey, the oxen stumbled and it appeared that
the ark might fall. So Uzzah grabbed the
ark to secure it and he immediately died.
Now why would God, who is supposed to be a good and loving God, kill
someone for attempting to do a good deed?
Well, in Numbers 4, God lays out the specific order for how His things were
to be transported. He gave instructions
that the Kohath family of the tribe of Levi, were permitted to carry the
ark. But the only ones permitted to
actually touch the ark were Aaron’s sons.
God was specific and He was serious about these duties and He did not
care about good intentions. His
instructions were, unless you have been authorized; do not touch My holy
things!
Although David
intended to do a good deed by returning the Ark of the Covenant to Israel; his
method for transporting it was improper.
His failure to follow the instructions that God had already provided
proved to be a deadly error. While there
were almost 400 years between the time when Moses died and David was born, the
rules that were mandated through Moses still applied to David. In like manner, it would benefit us to follow
God’s prescribed way for living our lives.
For example, in matters of marriage, God’s instructions are that
believers are restricted from marrying unbelievers. The price for disobeying God’s instructions
in this matter or in any other can be costly!
