I'll be preaching on 2 Samuel 6:1-19 this Sunday. At first glance it seems like a harsh text. Okay, it really is a harsh text, who am I kidding? It's a harsh text but one that needs to be reviewed.
In this text we read the story of King David bringing the ark of the covenant back to Israel after it had been captured by the Philistines. This was a joyous occasion with much fanfare -- and rightly so. The merry mood ended when one of the oxen pulling the cart with the ark on it stumbled, and Uzzah grabbed the ark to steady it. God struck Uzzah dead.
David was mad at God. Neither he nor his people could understand why God was angry. After all, weren't they bringing the ark of the covenant home? Shouldn't God be glad that they are making a joyful noise unto Him?
I think David probably had good intentions. I give him the benefit of the doubt, anyway, at least until I find something that would show otherwise. The problem is that David and his people failed to look closely at God's word. In Exodus 24:14 God tells Moses that the Ark of the Covenant is to be carried by poles inserted into gold rings along each side of the ark.
I am no biblical scholar, so I honestly don't know what had been put in writing and made widely available at the time, but I imagine God's word was passed along orally at this time. I know that I occasionally have some well educated pastors stumble on my blog, so I'd love to get extra insight as to how enlightened in the scriptures David might have been.
So the big question is: What does this text have to say to us? My initial thought is that it stresses the importance of keeping "it" holy. What I mean by "it," I'm not sure. I think for one, we should keep our worship holy. Just because we have good intentions doesn't make our approach to worshiping God pleasing to God.
So what do you think, am I way off base?