The Teachings of Uzzah

I’m a step ahead of Jeremy today but I’m posting my sermon now because this was what I was writing instead of my blog this week If you’re up for the read, see Read More. Otherwise the video will be up in the next week or so. Blessings! S

The Teachings of Uzzah
Sue Redman – September 13, 2008

It is approximately 1010 BC and we’re on set with King David at Kirjath-jearim in Israel. It isn’t all that long since the Elders of Israel met with David at Hebron and anointed him king, so now David is king of both Judah and Israel. Since this time David and his men have conquered the Jebusites and made Jerusalem their capital city, and today David has gathered another 30,000 men, this time to move the ark of God from Kirjath-jearim to Jerusalem where he intends to build a temple.

30,000 men to move the ark? Why would David need 30,000 men? David intends to make this “a scene of great rejoicing and imposing display,” and the people have responded gladly to the call. The ark of God has long been the token of God’s presence amongst this nation and it is only fitting that their capital should be honored with such a token. 1.

The ark of God was built at God’s command and it was from the cover of the ark that God spoke to Moses, their previous leader. So sacred was this ark that even Moses’ brother Aaron had been forbidden to enter it, except for once a year when he was called to perform ceremonial duties. Even the family of Kohath, of the tribe of Levi, who had been given the responsibility of carrying the ark, was not permitted to look upon it, let alone touch it. When transporting the ark, it was always covered and it was carried on poles. This ark had gone before the Israelites and before their army on many occasions. When borne by the priests into the Jordan River, the waters had parted so the people could cross over. When borne by seven priests sounding seven trumpets in a seven-day procession around the wall of Jericho, the city had been taken with a shout.

As the High Priest and the priests, the princes and the leading men of the tribes of Israel start to assemble at Kirjath-jearim, David is aglow with holy zeal. He watches as the Levites carry the covered ark out of the house of Abinadab . . . on an ox cart? Where are the poles? I guess a cart makes more sense. It would definitely make it easier to carry and much quicker. As Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drive the cart forward, David and his men follow, dancing before the Lord with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. It has been a long time since Israel has witnessed such a triumphant scene. With great shouts and songs of rejoicing the vast procession wind their way along the
hills and valleys toward the holy city. 2.

It is not until they reach Nachon’s threshing floor that something goes horribly wrong. Here on the hardest and most level of ground the oxen “shake” and Uzzah who reaches out to steady the ark is struck dead. Terror falls over the throng and David becomes first angry, then afraid. Wasn’t he trying to honor God by honoring the ark, the symbol of God’s presence? Why then had such a fearful judgment fallen upon them? Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to have the ark so close. He’d leave it with Obed-edom the Gittite who lived nearby.

David is not the only one who has been confused by what happened that day. This story has not only confused many Christians but it has been reason enough for some to leave Christianity and others to outrightly reject it. Why would God strike someone down for the smallest infringement against an obscure law? Someone who looked like they were just trying to help? If someone had to die, why wasn’t it David, or the oxen?

I’m sure many a wanna-be-theologian and even the dinky-dis have tried to reconcile the seeming discrepancies with 2 Samuel 6. Romans 15:4 and 1 Corinthians 10:11 tell us stories like this are recorded in the Bible for our instruction, so we can learn from them, and I’m sure many a pastor has wrestled with what his or her church needs to learn from this story; what do they need to know so they don’t make the same mistake?

For want of time this morning I’m not going to examine the specific laws with you on how the ark was supposed to be carried, or explore the nuances in the Hebrew, or share arguments that maintain Uzzah’s innocence. All these things are worthy of examination yes, but for our purposes, all I want to demonstrate is that God is who He says He is and He does what He says He will do, and if we take Him at His word, the irony is that we need not be afraid of judgment. If we take God at His word, we can be confident of His grace.

In Numbers 4:15 God explicitly told Moses that if anyone carrying the ark touched the ark or “the holy things” they would die. It was apparently that simple. Right from the start God had been very clear about what was important to Him:

“For in the day that I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt,” God said, “I did not speak to them or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. But this command I gave them, ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk only in the way that I command you, so that it may be well with you.’” (Jeremiah 7:22-23)

So it may be what? So it may be well with you. That was God’s concern. That was always God’s concern. The reason God wanted His people to obey Him was so they could experience His love and goodness. If they disobeyed the laws of His universe, He knew they would experience unnecessary pain, badness, and to try to prevent this from happening God sometimes went so far as to give fearful warnings, like any parent would I guess (Exodus 20:20).

In this context we needn’t be surprised that Uzzah was struck down. God had said that anyone who touched the ark would die, so if we were to take God at His word we might expect this to happen. But let me tell you something else we might expect to happen. Lamentations 3:31 tells us God does not willingly afflict or grieve anyone, and 2 Peter 3:9 says God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance. If we take God at His word, yes Uzzah had to die, but if we take God at His word we can be sure God would have wanted it any other way.

A couple of months ago, and I think it was a Tuesday afternoon, I wanted to do something my conscience was telling me not to do, but for the life of me I couldn’t see why God would have a problem with it. It was something I’d started thinking might not be okay some time before but I’d resisted accepting it because when I looked at it through my everyday glasses, or through most every other Christian I know’s everyday glasses, it seemed miniscular, something legalists might be concerned with, and I’m a grace based pastor through and through.

After deliberating for some time that afternoon I finally decided I must have got my wires crossed, that in my zealousness to be everything God could ever want me to be, I must have subconsciously imposed a perfectionistic ideal on my life and I needed to put an end to it. And so I did. Or at least I tried.

It was later that night when I was talking to God and had totally forgotten about the events of the day that I asked God if there was anything He needed to tell me or anything I needed to do, and that was when the words “1 John 1:9” came into my head. Having no idea what “1 John 1:9” said, I opened my Bible and discovered it to be the verse that says, “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and wipe the slate clean.

I have to say this verse hit me on a number of levels that night. First of all I am ever amazed that it is possible to encounter the living God. That just rocks my socks. Second, the fact that I was convicted while reading this verse that it directly applied to the events of that afternoon confirmed that it had been God speaking to me through my conscience, and I find that just as amazing. Third, and most importantly for today’s sermon, I cannot tell you how overwhelmed I was by the way God confronted my sin. I already knew God was merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, that’s what He had told Moses on Mt Sinai (Exodus 34:6). I already knew I could approach His throne of grace with boldness in Jesus’ name (Hebrews 4:16), but to have the Holy Spirit, God’s own Spirit, personally apply His word to my life and tell me God is faithful and just, that if I confessed my sin He would forgive me, this totally blew me away. Fear? Condemnation? Hardly. Joy! Love! I seriously cannot tell you how loved I felt that night.

There is no denying that obedience is more important to God than sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22) and as God is writing His law on my heart I am only beginning to understand what this means. There is no denying that there are consequences for sin and I am only sorry Uzzah and so many others have died and we can learn from their mistakes. God is who He says He is and He does what He says He will do, and that’s why we can believe without a doubt that,

“. . . God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.” (John 3:16-17)

God’s number one aim in life is to do everything He can for us to be able to live forever with Him and each other. “If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”