David brings the ark to Jerusalem
6
📚David again gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand, 2 📚and David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baalah of Judah 📖 to bring up from there the ark of God 📖, the name of which is called by the name of the LORD of hosts that dwells between the cherubim. 3 📚And they set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were leading the new cart.6:3 God had given instructions as to how the ark was to be carried (Num 4:4-6, 15; 7:9). David used the same method used by the Philistines (1 Sam 6:7-8). The result was disastrous. God’s work must be done in God’s way to obtain God’s blessing.⚜
4 📚And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab which was at Gibeah with the ark of God, and Ahio was walking in front of the ark. 5 📚And David and all the house of Israel played before the LORD on all kinds of instruments made of fir wood 📖 and on harps and on lyres and on tambourines and on castanets and on cymbals.
6:5 Compare Ps 150.⚜
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, because the oxen were shaking it. 7 📚And the anger of the LORD burned against Uzzah, and God struck him 📖 there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God.
8 📚And David was displeased, because the LORD broke out against Uzzah, and he called the name of the place Perez Uzzah, its name to this day.
6:8 David was angry and perplexed at God’s dealings (this temptation comes to all of us at times). Joy (v 5) was turned to gloom. He had wanted to honor God but he had not done it in God’s way. He later admitted that he had not inquired of the Lord about it (1 Chron 15:13). The way of obedience may be harder, but it is the only way God will accept. Perez Uzzah means “breaking out against Uzzah”.⚜
9 📚And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and said, “How will the ark of the LORD come to me?” 10 📚So David would not move the ark of the LORD to him in the city of David, but David carried it aside into the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. 11 📚And the ark of the LORD stayed in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, and the LORD blessed Obed-Edom and all his household.
The Ark Brought to Jerusalem
12 📚And it was told King David, saying, “The LORD has blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God”. So David went and joyfully brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom into the city of David 📖.
6:9-12 David was afraid that wherever the ark went there would be danger and trouble. God’s blessing the household of Obed-Edom showed him this was not so. So David went and got the ark. He had now realized his error in method and used God’s way. See 1 Chron 15:1-2, 11-15.⚜
13 📚And it was like this: when those who were carrying the ark of the LORD had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and another fat animal, 14 📚and David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was wearing a linen ephod. 15 📚So David, and all the house of Israel, brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet.
6:14-15 Obedience to God’s instruction brought restored joy.⚜
16 📚And as the ark of the LORD came into the city of David, Saul’s daughter Michal 📖 looked through a window and saw King David leaping and dancing in the presence of the LORD, and she despised him in her heart.
17 📚And they brought in the ark of the LORD and set it in its place, in the middle of the tent that David had pitched for it. And David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings 📖 before the LORD. 18 📚And as soon as David had finished offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts. 19 📚And he gave out to each one among all the people, among the whole multitude of Israel, to the women as well as to the men, a cake of bread and a good piece of meat and a raisin cake. So all the people departed, each one to his house.
20 📚Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, “How glorious was the king of Israel today, who uncovered 📖 himself today in the eyes of his servants’ maids, as one of the worthless fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!”
21 📚And David said to Michal, “It was in the presence of the LORD, who chose me instead of your father and instead of all his household, to appoint me ruler over the people of the LORD, over Israel. Therefore I will celebrate before the LORD 📖. 22 📚And I will be still more insignificant than this and will be lowered in my own eyes, but I will be held in honour by the maidservants of whom you have spoken”.
23 📚Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.