1 Chronicles 10-14 CSB
When they came to Chidon’s threshing floor, Uzzah reached out to hold the ark because the oxen had stumbled. Then the Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah, and he struck him dead because he had reached out to the ark. So he died there in the presence of God. David was angry because of the Lord’s outburst against Uzzah, so he named that place Outburst Against Uzzah, as it is still named today. David feared God that day and said, “How can I ever bring the ark of God to me?” So David did not bring the ark of God home to the city of David; instead, he diverted it to the house of Obed-Edom of Gath. The ark of God remained with Obed-Edom’s family in his house for three months, and the Lord blessed his family and all that he had. (13:9-14)
After David becomes King, he begins to look around and make a list of things that need to be done. He has a long list of projects from securing the borders, to building a palace, to someday building a temple. Yet, one of the most important projects on his heart was to get the Ark of the Covenant back in Israel where it belonged. It had gone missing years back and now had turned up back in Israel. For decades it had sat abandoned in the house of Abinadab, but now it needed to be brought back to Jerusalem to take a prominent place in the religious life of God’s people. David’s desire was right and his motives were pure; he wanted the Ark restored to the people of God.
Yet, as we can see, doing the right thing is not always the issue. David went to great pains to do this in the best way that he could imagine. He gathered all of the military leadership together and cast vision for returning the Ark. He brought a new cart and a had a great procession with all the pomp and circumstance that he could imagine; after all, nothing but the best for the Ark of God. Then in a tragic turn of events, the oxen stumble, the cart tips, the Ark shifts, and almost falls. With the best motives in the world, Uzzah reaches out to innocently steady the Ark and is struck down by God. In disbelief, David abandon’s the project (putting it in the house of Obed-Edom) and goes home angry with God for His apparent heartlessness.
However, the rest of the story is found in chapter 15. After time to consider what happened, David does what he should have done from the beginning. He consults the word of God. He realizes that the Levites are who should move the ark, not the military elite. He realizes that there is a prescribed way to carry it and to handle it, and most of all, he realizes what happened to Uzzah was his responsibility. David learned something that many of us have failed to learn; when we do what God wants we have to do it in His way. How we do the things of God and why we do them are just as important as what we do. When David did God’s work in God’s way, the bible says that “the Lord helped the Levites who were carrying the ark.” (15:26) How many mistakes could we avoid if we just studied God’s word first, and did the right thing in His way and not in ours?
