Bringing back the Sacred Chest
13
1 One day David talked with all his army officers. Some of them were commanders of 100 soldiers and some were commanders of 1,000 soldiers. 2 Then he summoned the other Israeli leaders and said to them, “If it seems to you to be a good thing for us to do, and if it is what Yahweh our God wants, let's send a message to our fellow Israelis in all the areas of our country, including the priests and the other descendants of Levi who are living among them in their towns and in the nearby pasturelands, to come and join us, 3 because we want to bring the Sacred Chest of our God back to us. While Saul was the king, we did not go to God's presence to ask him what we should do.” 4 All the people agreed with David, because they all thought that it was the right thing to do.5 So David gathered all the Israeli people, from the Shihor River in Egypt to the town of Lebo-Hamath in the north, and told them that he wanted them to help bring the Sacred Chest of God back to Jerusalem from the city of Kiriath-Jearim. 6 David went with all the Israeli people to the town of Baalah, which is another name for Kiriath-Jearim, to get the Sacred Chest. The people believed that God ruled from between the statues of winged creatures that were above the lid of the Sacred Chest, and the Sacred Chest belongs to Yahweh.
7 The people put the Sacred Chest on a new cart and carried it from Abinadab's house. Uzzah and Ahio were guiding the oxen that were pulling the cart. 8 David and all the Israeli people were celebrating in God's presence. They were singing with all their strength, and playing lyres, harps, tambourines, and cymbals, and blowing trumpets.
9 But when David's men came to the place where Kidon threshed grain, the oxen stumbled. So Uzzah reached out with his hand to prevent the Sacred Chest from falling off the cart. 10 Yahweh immediately became very angry with Uzzah, and he caused Uzzah to suddenly die there because he had put his hand on the Sacred Chest, and Yahweh had commanded that only the descendants of Levi should touch any part of the Sacred Chest.
11 David was angry because Yahweh had punished Uzzah. And now that place where Uzzah died is called 'The Punishment of Uzzah.'
12 That day, David was afraid of God. He said to himself, "I am afraid to bring God's Sacred Chest to my city.” 13 So the men with David did not take the Sacred chest to Jerusalem. Instead, they took it to the house of Obed-Edom, who was from the city of Gath. 14 The Sacred Chest stayed with Obed-Edom's family in his house for three months. And during that time Yahweh blessed Obed-Edom's family and everything that he owned.