The Outbreak at the Threshing Floor Text: 2 Samuel 6:6-11
Introduction: Well-Intentioned Disobedience
We live in an age that worships good intentions. Our culture has largely decided that sincerity is the highest virtue, and as long as someone "means well," their actions are beyond reproach. This sentimentalism has thoroughly infected the modern church. We have come to believe that God is primarily concerned with the state of our hearts, and that the external forms of our worship are secondary, if not entirely irrelevant. We want a God who is approachable, a God who is our buddy, a God who grades on a curve and gives extra credit for effort.
The story of Uzzah is a bucket of ice water thrown on this kind of thinking. It is a terrifying and necessary corrective. David is bringing the Ark of the Covenant, the very symbol of God's presence, up to his new capital in Jerusalem. The mood is festive. There is music, dancing, and great celebration. It is a national worship service, full of energy and excitement. And in the middle of this celebration, God strikes a man dead. This is not a story that fits well with our modern therapeutic sensibilities. It is raw, it is violent, and it forces us to ask some very hard questions about the nature of God and the nature of true worship.
What we find here is that God is not safe. He is good, but He is not tame. He is holy, and His holiness is a consuming fire. This passage teaches us that God is not honored by our well-intentioned innovations. He is honored by our careful, humble, and exact obedience. The issue is not whether Uzzah had a good motive; the issue is that God had given explicit instructions for how His holy presence was to be handled, and Israel, from the top down, had ignored them. This story is a stark reminder that we do not get to define the terms of our relationship with the living God. He does. And when we forget that, the consequences can be eternally serious.
The Text
Then they came to the threshing floor of Nacon. And Uzzah reached out toward the ark of God and took hold of it, because the oxen nearly upset it. And the anger of Yahweh burned against Uzzah, and God struck him down there for his irreverence; and he died there by the ark of God. And David became angry because of Yahweh’s breaking out against Uzzah; and that place is called Perez-uzzah to this day. So David was afraid of Yahweh that day; and he said, “How can the ark of Yahweh come to me?” And David was unwilling to move the ark of Yahweh into the city of David with him; but David took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. Thus the ark of Yahweh remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months, and Yahweh blessed Obed-edom and all his household.
(2 Samuel 6:6-11 LSB)
The Rash Hand and the Holy Fire (vv. 6-7)
The procession, full of celebration, comes to a sudden and horrific halt.
"Then they came to the threshing floor of Nacon. And Uzzah reached out toward the ark of God and took hold of it, because the oxen nearly upset it. And the anger of Yahweh burned against Uzzah, and God struck him down there for his irreverence; and he died there by the ark of God." (2 Samuel 6:6-7)
Let us be clear about what is happening. The entire mode of transporting the ark is a flagrant violation of God's law. In Numbers 4, God gave very specific instructions. The ark was to be carried by the Kohathite Levites, using poles inserted through rings on the sides. It was never to be touched directly, and it was never to be put on a cart. Where did they get the idea to use a cart? They got it from the Philistines (1 Samuel 6:7). David, in his zeal, is trying to bring God's presence to Jerusalem using a pagan methodology. He is adopting the world's methods for God's business. This is syncretism, and it is always a disaster.
The oxen stumble. This was not an accident; it was a divine warning. God was jostling the cart to test them. Would they recognize their error and repent? Instead, Uzzah reacts instinctively. From a human perspective, his action is entirely understandable. He is trying to protect a holy object. He is trying to help. But in reaching out his hand, he commits the final, fatal act in a long chain of disobedience. He treats the ark of God as a common thing that can be steadied by a human hand. He forgets the infinite gulf between the Creator and the creature.
The text says God struck him for his "irreverence." The word implies presumption, a casualness in the face of the holy. Uzzah's sin was not that his heart was in the wrong place, but that his hand was. He assumed a role that was not his. God had made it clear that no man was to touch the ark on pain of death (Numbers 4:15). God does not need our help, especially when our "help" involves disobeying His direct commands. He is perfectly capable of steadying His own ark. Uzzah's reach was an act of profound unbelief. It assumed that God's holiness was less dangerous than the mud on the ground. God immediately corrected this assumption. The lesson is brutal but clear: God's holiness is more dangerous than any natural threat. It is better for the ark to be in the mud than for a man to touch it illicitly.
The King's Anger and Fear (vv. 8-9)
David's reaction is very instructive. It reveals a heart that is zealous but still untutored in the ways of God's holiness.
"And David became angry because of Yahweh’s breaking out against Uzzah; and that place is called Perez-uzzah to this day. So David was afraid of Yahweh that day; and he said, 'How can the ark of Yahweh come to me?'" (2 Samuel 6:8-9)
First, David gets angry. Why? Because God did not behave the way David expected Him to. David had orchestrated this grand event. He had the right music, the right crowd, the right destination. He thought he had everything planned out. And then God ruins the party. David's anger is the anger of a man who thinks God owes him something. It is the anger of a man who feels that God has been unfair. We are all prone to this. We serve God, we do what we think is right, and then something goes terribly wrong, and our first reaction is to get angry with God. This reveals that our service was not as selfless as we thought. We were serving God with an invoice in our back pocket, and when He doesn't pay up according to our terms, we feel cheated.
But David's anger quickly gives way to something else: fear. "So David was afraid of Yahweh that day." This is the beginning of wisdom. His anger was a sinful reaction, but his fear was a righteous one. He has just witnessed the raw, untamable holiness of God firsthand. The Lord is not a mascot to be paraded around. He is the sovereign ruler of the universe. David realizes he is out of his depth. He has been treating a lion like a house cat, and he has just seen the claws.
His question, "How can the ark of Yahweh come to me?" is the cry of a man who has finally understood his own creatureliness. It is the same sentiment expressed by Peter after the miraculous catch of fish: "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!" (Luke 5:8). This is not a craven, unbelieving fear that runs away from God. It is a holy awe that recognizes the chasm between God's perfection and our sinfulness. David's project is halted, not because he has given up, but because he knows he must go back to the instruction manual. He cannot proceed on his own terms. This fear is the necessary prerequisite for true worship.
Blessing Through Proximity (vv. 10-11)
The ark, which was a source of death for Uzzah, now becomes a source of immense blessing for another household.
"And David was unwilling to move the ark of Yahweh into the city of David with him; but David took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. Thus the ark of Yahweh remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months, and Yahweh blessed Obed-edom and all his household." (2 Samuel 6:10-11)
David, in his fear, parks the ark at the nearest available place, the house of a man named Obed-edom. This man is a Gittite, which likely means he was from Gath, a Philistine city. It is a stunning irony. David was trying to bring the ark to Israel using a Philistine method, which resulted in death. Now the ark is entrusted to a man with a Philistine background, and it results in blessing. God's grace is not bound by our ethnic or geographical lines.
For three months, the symbol of God's fiery presence rests in this man's home. And what is the result? Catastrophe? Judgment? No. Overwhelming blessing. "Yahweh blessed Obed-edom and all his household." The same presence that killed Uzzah now brings life, fertility, and prosperity to Obed-edom. What is the difference? The difference is not in God. God did not change. The difference is in the approach. We can surmise that Obed-edom did not treat the ark casually. He received it with the fear and reverence that David was just beginning to learn. He lived with the holy fire in his living room, and he did so on God's terms.
This is a beautiful picture of the two-sided nature of God's holiness. For those who approach Him with presumption and disobedience, His presence is a consuming fire. For those who approach Him with humble reverence and faith, that same presence is a source of life and endless blessing. God's presence is not neutral. It always accomplishes something. It either hardens or it softens. It either kills or it makes alive. The news of this blessing will soon get back to David, prompting him to finally consult the Scriptures, get the Levites, get the poles, and bring the ark to Jerusalem in the right way, with the right kind of fear, which is a joyful fear.
Conclusion: Approaching the Holy One
This story is in the Bible to teach us how to approach God. We cannot come to Him casually. We cannot come to Him on our own terms, with our own bright ideas. We must come to Him the way He has prescribed.
The good news of the gospel is not that God has lowered His standard of holiness. He has not. The good news is that He has provided a way for us to approach His holiness without being consumed. The Ark of the Covenant was a wooden box overlaid with gold, containing the law. It was a shadow. The reality is Jesus Christ. In Him, the fullness of deity dwells bodily (Colossians 2:9). He is the presence of God among us.
And how do we approach Him? We cannot steady Him with our good works. We cannot touch Him with our self-righteousness. Any attempt to do so is the sin of Uzzah, and it leads to death. We must approach Him through the way He has provided, which is His own blood. The author of Hebrews tells us that we can now "have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus" (Hebrews 10:19). Christ is our great High Priest, our pole-bearer, who carries us into the presence of the Father.
This does not mean we become casual. It means our fear is transformed. We no longer have the terrified fear of David at Perez-uzzah. Rather, we have the joyful, reverent fear of David dancing before the Lord. We have the blessed confidence of Obed-edom. We can have God in our house, not because we are worthy, but because Christ is. Therefore, let us draw near, not with irreverence, but with reverence and godly fear, for our God is still a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:28-29). But for those in Christ, that fire does not destroy; it purifies, warms, and blesses.