King Saul and his sons are now dead and the kingship belongs to David. In the midst of the celebrations, one man is killed by God for seeking to “help” the transition of the Ark from one place to the center of Jerusalem. What gives here? Why did God treat Uzzah in this way? The OT clearly tells us that the Ark is holy and thus no one, priest, king or person should touch it. It is God’s presence and to touch it is to seek to touch God. How often do we reach out and seek to touch God in our voices, our actions, and our desire to be more holy than we are? But, this is not God’s way. His way is for us to do as Moses did, remove one’s shoes for this is holy ground. From this very illuminating picture we see David humbling himself and teaching a lesson about holiness to his people. God’s blessing came on Israel when the people had a proper attitude toward Him, which their proper attitude toward the ark symbolized (6:12-19)
The last sentence in this set of chapters is that David’s sons were priests. Will they be like Eli’s sons or more like David? Stay tuned to learn more from our readings day after day.
