Handle With Care

The story of Uzzah has always bothered me.

It seems so extreme.

On the surface, it appears that if you or I had been assigned the care of the Ark of the God, stopping it from falling off a wagon would have seemed the natural thing to do.

Instinctive, even.

But when the oxen stumbled and the wagon rocked and Uzzah “reached out his hand to steady the Ark of God…the Lord’s anger was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him dead because of this” (2 Samuel 6:7).

The Ark of the Covenant was the one piece of furniture from the Tabernacle most closely associated with the presence of God. The glory of the Lord, in the form of a cloud, frequently rested between the wings of the cherubim that were stretched over the mercy seat of the Ark.

Back in the time of the Judges, the Philistines captured the ark in a battle where the army of Israel had been defeated. By this time in Israel’s sad history, the Ark had become nothing more than a good luck charm.

But the Philistines soon found that it was too hot to handle.

The swift judgement of God on their god and cities became evident wherever they took God’s Ark.

So, the Philistines  put it on a wagon, hitched to two milk cows, and sent it back to Israel.

Carrying the Ark of God on a wagon was the Philistine’s idea.

When the Ark arrived by wagon at Beth Shemesh, in Israel, some gawkers tried to pry the lid off and peer inside the Ark and “the Lord killed seventy men” on the spot (1 Samuel 6:19).

God doesn’t play around when it comes to His holy presence.

The people of Beth Shemesh cried out, “Who is able to stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God?” (1 Samuel 6:20).

Even as the people of God, we’re not immune from the judgment of God for treating His presence as an idle curiosity.

So, while Uzzah’s action in steadying the Ark may seem instinctive and the judgment excessive, there is some history here that Uzzah would have been familiar with…that should have caused him to handle the Ark with the fear of the Lord.

In fact, as a Levite Uzzah should have been more than familiar with Numbers 7. This is where the divisions of Levites received their instructions on how the curtains and furnishings of the Tabernacle were to be carried when God was moving them.

The Gershonite and Merarite divisions received wagons and oxen to transport everything connected with the Tabernacle EXCEPT the furnishings.

“Moses gave none of the wagons or oxen to the Kohathite division, since they were required to carry the sacred objects of the Tabernacle on their shoulders” (Numbers 7:9).

On their shoulders!

In close proximity!

Intimate!

Personally engaged!

Feeling the weight of glory!

Never on a wagon!!

We don’t know whether Uzzah knew this and put the Ark on the wagon anyway or whether he was careless enough, in his duties as a Levite, that he neglected directives in the Word of God as to how the Ark of God was to be carried.

Either way, it proved to be a fatal mistake.