David again gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand.
Parallel Translations
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David again gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand.
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Again, David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand.
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And David again gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand.
Cross-references (4)
Passages linked to 2 Samuel 6:1 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- 1 Chronicles 13:1-4 David consulted with the captains of thousands and of hundreds, even with every leader. David said to all the assembly of Israel, “If it seems good to you, and if it is of Yahweh our God, let’s send word everywhere to our brothers who are left in all the land of Israel, with whom the priests and Levites are in their cities that have pasture lands, that they may gather themselves to us. Also, let’s bring the ark of our God back to us again; for we didn’t seek it in the days of Saul.” All the assembly said that they would do so; for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.
- 1 Kings 8:1 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, with all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers’ households of the children of Israel, to king Solomon in Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of Yahweh’s covenant out of David’s city, which is Zion.
- 1 Chronicles 13:6-14 David went up with all Israel to Baalah, that is, to Kiriath Jearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up from there God Yahweh’s ark that sits above the cherubim, that is called by the Name. They carried God’s ark on a new cart, and brought it out of Abinadab’s house; and Uzza and Ahio drove the cart. David and all Israel played before God with all their might, even with songs, with harps, with stringed instruments, with tambourines, with cymbals, and with trumpets. When they came to Chidon’s threshing floor, Uzza put out his hand to hold the ark; for the oxen stumbled. Yahweh’s anger burned against Uzza, and he struck him, because he put his hand on the ark; and he died there before God. David was displeased, because Yahweh had broken out against Uzza. He called that place Perez Uzza, to this day. David was afraid of God that day, saying, “How can I bring God’s ark home to me?” So David didn’t move the ark with him into David’s city, but carried it aside into Obed-Edom the Gittite’s house. God’s ark remained with the family of Obed-Edom in his house three months; and Yahweh blessed Obed-Edom’s house and all that he had.
- Psalms 132:1-6 Yahweh, remember David and all his affliction, how he swore to Yahweh, and vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob: “Surely I will not come into the structure of my house, nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to my eyes, or slumber to my eyelids; until I find out a place for Yahweh, a dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob.” Behold, we heard of it in Ephrathah. We found it in the field of Jaar:
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Or, chief.
Or, chief.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 2Sa 6:1 Again, David gathered together all [the] chosen…
2Sa 6:1 Again, David gathered together all [the] chosen [men] of Israel, thirty thousand.
Ver. 1. Again, David gathered.] That is the second time {1Ch 13:1; 1Ch 13:5} after that their first consultation about the bringing of the ark to Jerusalem had been interrupted by the invasion of the Philistines. Reformation ever meeteth with opposition. David was no sooner settled in his kingdom, but he thinks of settling religion and God’s sincere service: which popular men should esteem as silver, noblemen as gold, princes prize as pearls, as Aeneas Sylvius was wont to say of learning.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The stoutest and valiantest in his army and land,…
The stoutest and valiantest in his army and land, lest the Philistines should attempt to disturb them in this work.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain We have not heard a word of the ark…
We have not heard a word of the ark since it was lodged in Kirjath-jearim, immediately after its return out of its captivity among the Philistines (Sa1 7:1, Sa1 7:2), except that, once, Saul called for it, Sa1 14:18. That which in former days had made so great a figure is now thrown aside, as a neglected thing, for many years. And, if now the ark was for so many years in a house, let it not seem strange that we find the church so long in the wilderness, Rev 12:14. Perpetual visibility is no mark of the true church. God is graciously present with the souls of his people even when they want the external tokens of his presence. But now that David is settled in the throne the honour of the ark begins to revive, and Israel's care of it to flourish again, wherein also, no doubt, the good people among them had been careful, but they lacked opportunity. See Phi 4:10.
I. Here is honourable mention made of the ark. Because it had not been spoken of a great while, now that it is spoken of observe how it is described (Sa2 6:2): it is the ark of God whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubim, or at which the name, even the name of the Lord of hosts, was called upon, or upon which the name of the Lord of hosts was called, or because of which the name is proclaimed, the name of the Lord of hosts (that is, God was greatly magnified in the miracles done before the ark), or the ark of God, who is called the name (Lev 24:11, Lev 24:16), the name of the Lord of hosts, sitting on the cherubim upon it. Let us learn hence, 1. To think and speak highly of God. He is the name above every name, the Lord of hosts, that has all the creatures in heaven and earth at his command, and receives homage from them all, and yet is pleased to dwell between the cherubim, over the propitiatory or mercy-seat, graciously manifesting himself to his people, reconciled in a Mediator, and ready to do them good. 2. To think and speak honourably of holy ordinances, which are to us, as the ark was to Israel, the tokens of God's presence (Mat 28:2), and the means of our communion with him, Psa 27:4. It is the honour of the ark that it is the ark of God; he is jealous for it, is magnified in it, his name is called upon it. The divine institution puts a beauty and grandeur upon holy ordinances, which otherwise have no form nor comeliness. Christ is our ark. In and by him God manifests his favour and communicates his grace to us, and accepts our adoration and addresses.
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II. Here is an honourable attendance given to the ark upon the removal of it. Now, at length, it is enquired after, David made the motion (Ch1 13:1-3), and the heads of the congregation agreed to it, Sa2 6:4. All the chosen men of Israel are called together to grace the solemnity, to pay their respect to the ark, and to testify their joy in its restoration. The nobility and gentry, elders and officers, came to the number of 30,000 (Sa2 6:1), and the generality of the common people besides (Ch1 13:5); for, some think, it was done at one of the three great festivals. This would make a noble cavalcade, and would help to inspire the young people of the nation, who perhaps had scarcely heard of the ark, with a great veneration for it, for this was certainly a treasure of inestimable value which the king himself and all the great men waited upon, and were a guard to.
III. Here are great expressions of joy upon the removal of the ark, Sa2 6:5. David himself, and all that were with him that were musically inclined, made use of such instruments as they had to excite and express their rejoicing upon this occasion. It might well put them into a transport of joy to see the ark rise out of obscurity and move towards a public station. It is better to have the ark in a house than not at all, better in a house than a captive in Dagon's temple; but it is very desirable to have it in a tent pitched on purpose for it, where the resort to it may be more free and open. As secret worship is better the more secret it is, so public worship is better the more public it is; and we have reason to rejoice when restraints are taken off, and the ark of God finds welcome in the city of David, and has not only the protection and support, but the countenance and encouragement, of the civil powers; for joy of this they played before the Lord. Note, Public joy must always be as before the Lord, with an eye to him and terminating in him, and must not degenerate into that which is carnal and sensual. Dr. Lightfoot supposes that, upon this occasion, David penned the 68th Psalm, because it begins with that ancient prayer of Moses at the removing of the ark, Let God arise, and let his enemies be scattered; and notice is taken there (v. 25) of the singers and players on instruments that attended, and (v. 27) of the princes of several of the tribes; and perhaps those words in the last verse, O God, thou art terrible out of thy holy places, were added upon occasion of the death of Uzzah.
IV. Here is an error that they were guilty of in this matter, that they carried the ark in a cart or carriage, whereas the priests should have carried it upon their shoulders, Sa2 6:3. The Kohathites that had the charge of the ark had no wagons assigned them, because their service was to bear it upon their shoulders, Num 7:9. The ark was no such heavy burden but that they might, among them, have carried it as far as Mount Sion upon their shoulders, they needed not to put it in a cart like a common thing. It was no excuse for them that the Philistines had done so and were not punished for it; they knew no better, nor had they any priests or Levites with them to undertake the carrying of it; better carry it in a cart than that any of Dagon's priests should carry it. Philistines may cart the ark with impunity; but, if Israelites do so, they do it at their peril. And it mended the matter very little that it was a new cart; old or new, it was not what God had appointed. I wonder how so wise and good a man as David was, that conversed so much with the law of God, came to be guilty of such an oversight. We will charitably hope that it was because he was so extremely intent upon the substance of the service that he forgot to take care of this circumstance.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Again, David gathered together all the chosen men of…
Again, David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. Which was done by the advice of his officers, Ch1 13:1; the word "again" refers either to the gathering of them when they made him king in Hebron, as the Jewish writers generally observe; but then they gathered themselves, and not David: or rather to his gathering them to fight the Philistines a little while ago; and as they were the choice and young men that were gathered for war, as being the fittest, so now to fetch up the ark with dancing and singing, and to protect it; the Septuagint version says they were about seventy thousand; but the Targum, Syriac, and Arabic versions, have thirty thousand, agreeably to the Hebrew text.
; the word "again" refers either to the gathering of them when they made him king in Hebron, as the Jewish writers generally observe; but then they gathered themselves, and not David: or rather to his gathering them to fight the Philistines a little while ago; and as they were the choice and young men that were gathered for war, as being the fittest, so now to fetch up the ark with dancing and singing, and to protect it; the Septuagint version says they were about seventy thousand; but the Targum, Syriac, and Arabic versions, have thirty thousand, agreeably to the Hebrew text.
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2 Samuel 6:2
sa2 6:2
sa2 6:2
sa2 6:2And David arose, and went with all the people that were with him,.... The thirty thousand chosen men gathered together, and as many else as chose to go:
from Baale of Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God; that is, they first went to this place, as in Ch1 13:6; in order to fetch the ark from thence, as here expressed, and then they came from thence with it; this place is the same that is called Baalah and Kirjathbaal, a city in the tribe of Judah; hence Judah is added to it, and the same with Kirjathjearim, Jos 15:9; the place where it was brought to when fetched from Bethshemesh, Sa1 7:1; and had been here now near fifty years; nor was it any where else during this time, only once at Gibeah of Saul with him, Sa1 14:18;
whose name he called by the name of the Lord of hosts, that dwelleth between the cherubim; not the ark, but the Lord, whose is the ark; his name is called by the name of Jehovah, the infinite, incomprehensible, eternal, and immutable Being, the Lord of armies above and below; whose habitation was between the cherubim that overshadowed the mercy seat, which was above the ark; all this is said, not only to express the greatness and majesty of God, but for the honour of the ark, which belonged to him.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain The ark is brought from the house of Abinadab,…
The ark is brought from the house of Abinadab, ver. 1-5. Its progress stopped by the death of Uzzah, ver. 6-11. It is brought into the city of David with solemn rejoicings, ver. 12-19. David answers the reproof of Michal, ver. 20-23.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain David goes with thirty thousand men to being the…
CHAPTER VI
David goes with thirty thousand men to being the ark from
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Kiriath-jearim to Jerusalem, 1-5.
The ox stumbling, Uzzah, who drove the cart on which the ark
was placed, put forth his hand to save it from falling: the
Lord was displeased, and smote him so that he died, 6, 7.
David, being alarmed, carries the ark to the house of
Obed-edom, 8-10.
Here it remained three months; and God prospered Obed-edom, in
whose house it was deposited, 11.
David, hearing of this, brings the ark, with sacrifices and
solemn rejoicings, to Jerusalem, 12-15.
Michal, seeing David dance before the ark, despises him, 16.
He offers burnt-offerings and peace offerings, and deals among
all the people, men and women, a cake of bread, a good piece
of flesh, and a flagon of wine each, 17-19.
Michal coming to meet him, and seeing him dance extravagantly
before the ark, reproaches him for his conduct: he vindicates
himself, reproves her, and she dies childless, 20-23.
NOTES ON CHAP. VI
Verse 1. Thirty thousand.] This is supposed to have been a new levy; and thus he augmented his army by 30,000 fresh troops. The Septuagint has 70,000.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain 2Sa 6:1. Again David gathered the chosen men of…
2Sa 6:1. Again David gathered the chosen men of Israel — Having defeated the Philistines, and enjoyed some peace, he thought it a seasonable time to fetch up the ark, and settle it in an honourable place; and for that purpose summoned the principal persons in Israel to attend. For he was sensible that purity and sincerity in the worship of God was the best, and, indeed, only sure stay of his own power and of his people’s prosperity. And to settle the worship of God, in all its solemnity, was now his object.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Again - It should be, “and David again gathered,”…
Again - It should be, “and David again gathered,” etc., i. e. after the previous gathering, either for his election to the kingdom 2Sa 5:1-3 or for the Philistine war 2Sa 5:17-25, he assembled them again for the peaceful purpose of bringing up the ark to Mount Zion (see marginal reference). The whole narrative indicates the progressive consolidation of David’s power, and the settlement of his monarchy on strong foundations.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Again, after he had been anointed. David consulted his…
Again, after he had been anointed. David consulted his officers, &c., (1 Paralipomenon xiii. 1.) and called a numerous assembly of the priests and people to meet him at Cariathiarim. --- Thousand, in arms, to protect the rest, (Calmet) who might probably amount to 300,000. (Haydock) --- This number Capel and Grotius would substitute for the one here mentioned. Some copies of the Septuagint read 70,000. In the former assembly, there were 340, or 359, (Calmet) or 60 thousand, chap. v. 1. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain III. Solemn transfer of the Ark of Mount Zion…
III. Solemn transfer of the Ark of Mount Zion and establishment of regular divine service
2Sa_6:1-23
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1Again David [And David again1] gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. 2And David arose and went with all the people that were with him from Baale of Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims [which is called by the name of Jehovah of hosts who sitteth on the cherubim].2 3And they set [transported] the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah [on the hill]; and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave [led] the new cart. 4And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab which was at Gibeah [on the hill] [om. And … Gibeah]3 accompanying [with] the ark of God, and Ahio went before the ark. 5And David and all the house of Israel played before the Lord [Jehovah] on all manner of instruments made of firwood [with all their might, with songs]4 even [and] on harps [lyres] and on psalteries and on timbrels and on cornets [sistra] and on cymbals.
6And when they came to Nachon’s5 threshing-floor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it. 7And the anger of the Lord [Jehovah] was kindled against Uzzah, and God smote him there for his error;6 and there he died [he died there] by the ark of God. 8And David was displeased because the Lord [Jehovah] had made a breach upon Uzzah; and he called the name of the [that] place7 Perez-uzzah to this day. 9And David was afraid of the Lord [Jehovah] that day, and said, How shall the ark of the Lord 10[Jehovah] come to me? So David would not remove the ark of the Lord [Jehovah] unto him into8 the city of David, but David carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. 11And the ark of the Lord [Jehovah] continued in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months; and the Lord [Jehovah] blessed Obed-edom9 and all his household.
12And it was told king David, saying, The Lord [Jehovah] hath blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the ark of God. So [And] David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom 13into the city of David with gladness. And10 it was so [it came to pass] that when they that bare the ark of the Lord [Jehovah] had gone six paces, he sacrificed oxen and fatlings. 14And David danced before the Lord [Jehovah] with all his 15might; and David was girded with a linen ephod. So [And] David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark11 of the Lord [Jehovah] with shouting and with the [om. the] sound of the [om. the] trumpet.
16And as the ark of the Lord [Jehovah] came into the city of David, Michal, Saul’s daughter, looked through a [the] window, and saw king David leaping and dancing before the Lord [Jehovah]; and she despised him in her heart. 17And they brought in the ark of the Lord [Jehovah] and set it in his [its] place in the midst of the tabernacle that David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt-offerings12 and peace-offerings12 before the Lord [Jehovah]. 18And as soon as David had made [And David made] an end of offering [ins. the] burnt-offerings and [ins. the] peace-offerings, [ins. and] he blessed the people in the name13 of the Lord [Jehovah] of hosts. 19And he dealt among [dealt out to] all the people, even among [to] the whole multitude of Israel, as well to the women as [ins. to the] men, to every one a cake of bread and a good [om. good] piece of flesh14 and a flagon of wine [a raisin-cake]; so [and] all the people departed every one to his house.
20And David returned to bless his household. And Michal, the daughter of Saul, came out to meet David, and said, How glorious was [om. was] the king of Israel [ins. made himself] to-day, who uncovered himself to-day in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly15 uncovereth himself! 21And David said unto Michal, It was [om. it was] before the Lord [Jehovah] which [who] chose me before thy father and before all his house, to appoint me ruler [prince] over the people of the Lord [Jehovah], over Israel—therefore will I play 22[yea, I have played] before the Lord [Jehovah]. And I will yet be more [be yet more] vile than thus, and will be base in mine own sight; and of the maid-servants 23which [whom] thou hast spoken of, of them shall I be had in honor. Therefore [And] Michal the daughter of Saul had no child16 unto the day of her death.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
[Parallel with 2 Samuel 6 is 1 Chr. 13, 15., 16—Tr.]
2Sa_6:1. Assembly of all the chosen men in Israel.—“David assembled.”17 Thenius renders: “and David increased again all the chosen men;” but against this is that nothing has been before said of the numbers of the army (as the “again” would then imply), and that such a completely isolated statement of the augmentation of the standing army would be very strange, [and further this rendering would not agree with the expression “all the chosen men.”—Tr.].—The ancient VSS. all have: “assembled.”—The expression “all the chosen men” can be understood (as in Jdg_20:15; 1Sa_24:3) only of the military men chosen expressly for service of war, not of a chosen body identical (according to 1Ch_13:1-5) with the captains of thousands, etc., that is, with the representation of the nation in stocks and families (Keil), for the term “chosen” (כָחוּר) could not be so employed. And for this reason the word “again” cannot refer to the non-military assembly of the Elders in 2Sa_5:1; 2Sa_5:3, against which further is, that David did not convoke that body, while it is here said that “David again gathered,” and that that assembly lay too far back of the two gatherings of the military population for the Philistine wars described just before [ch. 5]. Rather the “again” refers to this latter assemblage of the military men, which is obviously presupposed in the immediately preceding narrative. Thus 2Sa_6:1 by the “again” and the “all the chosen men” connects itself immediately with what precedes, while it introduces what follows: for why should David not have brought up the ark with an army of thirty thousand men (against Thenius)? The exhibition of such military pomp accorded perfectly with the importance of the ark for the whole people, whose elite in these “hearts of oak” [Germ. kernel- or core-warriors] (Ew. Gr. § 290 c) the more appropriately took the first place in the solemn procession, since it was their victory over the Philistines that made the transference of the ark possible. Besides, a military escort might be necessary to guard against a new attack of the enemy.—We learn from this “that David already in a certain sort maintained a standing army” (Then.).—The Sept. has seventy instead of thirty thousand, supposing, no doubt, that the whole military force of all Israel was here assembled, a supposition that is excluded by the phrase “chosen men.” [The consultation of David with the leaders in 1 Chronicles 13, and the assembling of “all Israel” (that is, probably, through its representatives) is not inconsistent with the statement here. The Chronicler brings out prominently details of organization, especially religious, “Samuel” gives the simplest historical narration.—Tr.]
2Sa_6:2-10. David’s march to fetch the ark from Kirjath-jearim.
2Sa_6:2. And David went with all the people that were with him.—These are not the above-named thirty thousand chosen warriors, but, besides them, the representatives of the whole nation gathered to the festival, as described in 1Ch_13:1-14, where nothing is said of a military body, while here in our passage the preliminary conference with the heads of families is passed over, and only a summary statement made in reference to the accompaniment of the ark by the people. The expression “from Baale” is strange, since nothing has before been said of David’s going thither. But we cannot make the Prep. (מִן) = “to” (Dathe), nor regard the phrase as definitive of the preceding “all the people,” as do the ancient VSS. (Sept. “of the rulers of Judah,” Vulg. “of the men of Judah,” and so Luther “of the citizens of Judah”)—the latter view is untenable because the designation of place presupposed in the expression “from thence” would then be wanting. From what follows “Baale-Judah” can be nothing but the place Kirjath-jearim (comp. 1Ch_13:6) whither the ark was carried according to 1Sa_6:21; 1Sa_7:1, = Kirjath-baal, Jos_15:60; Jos_18:14; Baalah, Jos_15:9; 1Ch_13:6. This original Canaanitish name continued along with the Israelitish. See Jos_18:14, “Kirjath-baal, that is, Kirjath-jearim, the city of the children of Judah;” to this last name answers here Baale-Judah, whereby this city is distinguished from others of like name, Baal or Baalah in Simeon (Jos_19:8; 1Ch_4:33) and in Dan (Jos_19:44). It lay on the border between Judah and Benjamin, westward on the border of the latter tribe and about eight miles west of Jerusalem [identified by Rob. with the modern Kuryet el-Enab or Abu Gosh, on the road from Jerusalem to Jaffa.—Tr.].—Since, now, the Prep. “from” cannot well be taken (with Keil) to be an ancient clerical error, we may either suppose that the writer here gives a very condensed narrative, not mentioning David’s march to Baalah, because he took it for granted in relating what was to him the chief matter, the bringing of the ark thence (Kimchi, Maurer), or, if such a condensation seems too hard, we must suppose a lacuna in the text. Thenius thinks it probable that it originally read “to Kirjath-jearim of the citizens of Judah,” = “children of Judah,” Jos_18:14 (קִריִת יעָרַים בּ׳) and the two first words except the last letter (מ) have fallen out. This, as explaining how the Prep. (מִן) came into the text, seems better than the conjecture of Lud. Capell. (Crit. Sac. I. 9, § 8), who supplies the words of 1Ch_13:6 “to Baalah, to Kirjath-jearim, which is to Judah,” or that of Bertheau (and Ewald) “Baalah, it (הִיא), is K., which is to Judah.” [It seems a difficulty in the way of Thenius’ ingenious restoration that the word בַּעַל in the sense of “citizen, inhabitant” is found only with names of cities, not of countries. This, if correct, will also set aside Well-hausen’s explanation of the Prep. (מִן), that it arose from a misunderstanding of, בַּעֲלֵ, which was taken = “citizens or inhabitants.” Perhaps the מ is clerical error for ל, the two letters being not very unlike in their ancient forms.—Tr.]. To bring up thence the ark of God.—The rest of the verse is descriptive of the “ark of God,” but opinions vary as to the exact sense. The rendering (connecting אֲשֶׁר with עָלָיו): “on which (ark) the name, the name of Jehovah … is called” (Keil) or “called on” (De Wette), has against it that “there is no example of so many words between the Rel. and its complement” (Then.), and the strangeness of this repetition of the “name” [which is written twice in the Heb.—Tr.]. The translation: “which (ark) is called the name” (Kimchi, and also Bunsen: which is called by name [whose name is called] …), is untenable because the ark itself is never so called; equally insufficient is Keil’s explanation of his translation: “over which the name of Jehovah is named,” that is, above which Jehovah reveals His glory, for the verb “is called or named” must be referred not to Jehovah, but to the human naming” of Jehovah’s name. Also to Ewald’s view, who refers the Relative to “God,” and translates “He was named with the name” (Gr. § 284 c) the twice-recurring “name” is an objection. It is better, therefore, to render (with Cler., Maur., Then., Berth.): “where the name of the Lord of hosts … is invoked” (reading שָׁם for שֵׁם). Usually indeed the verb “call” is followed by the Prep. בְּ (in, on) when it means “invoke,” but it is found without this Prep., Psa_99:6, and Lam_3:55; and though there was no invocation of the Lord’s name at the ark itself (since none was permitted to approach it), yet the place where it stood was doubtless a place of divine worship.18 “Who is enthroned on the Cherubim,” that is, is present with His ruling power in the midst of His people; the expression is never used except in relation to the ark; see on 1Sa_4:4. “Who is enthroned on the Cherubim above it19 (the ark).” [On the text of this verse see “Text. and Gram.—Tr.].
2Sa_6:3 sq. “Set it on the cart.”20 A “new cart” must be taken, because the sacred vessel was not permitted to come in contact with anything already desecrated by common use, comp. 1Sa_6:7. “And brought it out;” according to the above translation (“set”) there is no need of rendering this verb as Pluperf. “had brought” (Then.).—Carrying the ark on a cart was contrary to the legal requirement (Num_7:9), according to which it was always to be borne by the Levites. “The Hebrews here probably imitated a Phœnician or Philistine custom. The Phœnicians, namely, seem to have had sacred carts, on which they carried about their gods (Münter, Relig. der Karthager, p. 120), and the oxen were sacred to Baal (p. 15).” (Stähl., David p. 39). See 1Sa_6:7. Out of the house of Abinadab on the hill, comp. 1Sa_7:1 sq. According to this passage Abinadab’s son Eleazar was entrusted with the oversight of the ark; here we find “Uzza and Ahio” mentioned as Abinadab’s sons, and as driving the cart in charge of the ark. The ark had been about seventy years in Abinadab’s house, twenty years up to the victory of Ebenezer (1Sa_7:1 sq.), forty years under Samuel and Saul, and about ten years under David. Thus the statement that Uzza and Ahio led the ark may (as Keil remarks) be explained without difficulty. “Either these two sons were born about or after the time that the ark was deposited in his house, or the word ‘sons’ is used in the wider sense of ‘grandsons,’ as is often the case” (Keil).—Text-criticism of 2Sa_6:4. By the mistake of a transcriber, whose eye wandered at the words נהֲֹגִים אֵת־ה׳ back to חֲדָשָׂה אֶל־ע׳, the words from הד׳ to בַּנִכְעָה were repeated, and are to be omitted. Only thus is the omission of the Art. in the second חד׳ to be explained. [That is, omit the “new” at the close of 2Sa_6:3, and in 2Sa_6:4 omit the first clause ending with “Gibeah.” Some read 2Sa_6:4 thus: “and Uzza went with the ark of God, and Ahio (or, his brother) went before the ark,” which gives a good sense. The whole verse is omitted in Chron. See “Text. and Gram.”—Tr.]
2Sa_6:5. Whilst Ahio went before the ark, and Uzza went alongside it (2Sa_6:6)—perhaps in 2Sa_6:4 the words “and Uzza went” have fallen out before “with the ark of God” (De Wette, Then., Buns.)—the whole procession, David at the head, moves forward with music, song and dance. The whole house of Israel, see 2Sa_6:1-2. Before the Lord, whose presence was symbolized by the ark itself. “Sporting,” that is, playing (see Jdg_16:25) and dancing (see 2Sa_6:14). The Heb. word (צַחֵק ,שַׂחֵק) is the general expression for dancing in its connection with vocal and instrumental music, 1Sa_18:7; 1Sa_21:11; 1Ch_13:8; 1Ch_15:29; Jer_30:19; Jer_31:4; Pro_8:30 sq.—The words of the Heb. text “with all manner of cypress-woods” make no sense; for what signifies the mention of the material, of which the instruments were afterwards made? The Sept. and Vulg. (ἐν ὀργάνοις ἡρμοσμένοις) “with fitted instruments,” in omnibus lignis fabrefactis “with all manufactured woods”) presuppose indeed this reading; but the Sept. has also another reading “with might and with songs,” to which answer the corresponding words in Chron. (2Sa_6:8): “with all their might and with songs.” [This reading of Chron. is now generally adopted here, though not by the Jewish expositors Philippson and Cahen, who retain the text of “Samuel.”—Tr.] With the expression “with all might” comp. 2Sa_6:14 : “and David danced with all (his) might.” On the connection of song with festive dance and instrumental music see on 1Sa_18:6-7. The timbrel (tabret, hand-drum תּוֹף) or Aduffe [Arab, and Pers. duff or diff, Span. adufe] was used by the virgins to give the time in dancing.—The menana [incorrectly “cornet” in Eng. A. V.] is an instrument that gave forth a melodious tone when shaken to musical time (from, נוּעַ “to shake”), the sistrum (σεῖστρον) of the ancients.—“Cymbals,” smaller or larger metal-plates, which when struck together gave a clear sound.21 Chron. has “trumpets” in place of “sistra;” the two accounts are doubtless mutually complementary (Keil). [On these instruments see the Bib.-Dicts.—Tr.]
2Sa_6:6. And when they came to a fixed threshing-floor.—Nachon (נָכוֹן) is not to be taken (with many expositors [and Eng. A. V.]) as a proper name, since it never so occurs; nor is it = “threshing-floor of the blow” (נָכָה Mov., Keil), for the word is always found as a Pass. Partcp. (Niph.), and cannot be derived from the Qal [simple Active] of the verb “smite” (נכה), which never occurs; besides, in that case, as Böttcher rightly remarks, “the name would not be connected with Perez (2Sa_6:8).” Nachon (from כוּן) = “a fixed threshing-floor, which did not change its place like the summer floor (Dan_2:35), and therefore probably had a roof and a stock of fodder” (Böttch.). Chron. has “threshing-floor of destruction” (Kidon, כִּיד = כִּידוֹן Job_21:10, destruction, properly blow, plaga = Ar. caid), a designation that probably has its origin in the succeeding narrative. Later the name Perez-uzza came into use instead of these appellations. It is not necessary to insert in the Heb. the words “his hand” (יָדוֹ) after the verb “put forth,” for the verb is found alone in Psa_22:17; for example, comp. with Psa_18:17; Oba_1:13. [Bib.-Com.: the word reach is so used in Eng. without a following hand.—Tr.]. Uzza reached out to the ark of God and took hold of it, namely, to keep it from falling over or down; for the oxen shook, jostled it (שָׁמְטוּ); according to the usual signification of the verb,—not “ran away” (Ges. Dietr.), or “had gotten loose” (De Wette), nor “had thrown it down” (Böttch., Then.), since according to the narrative Uzza wished to save it from falling by laying hold of it. Ewald: “they jostled the ark so that it seemed about to fall off.” [The Acc. Pron., not expressed in the Heb., is easily supplied from the connection.—Tr.]
2Sa_6:7. “God smote him for the error.” [Erdmann thus agrees in this translation with Eng. A. V., Abarb., Philipps., Keil, Chald.; the difficulty is stated in “Text. and Gram.” Some render “for his rashness,” some “unawares,” and others adopt the reading in 1Ch_13:10. Consult Kennicott’s “Dissertation,” p. 456, Levy’s Chald. Dict. s. v. שְׁלִי, Wellhausen’s “Text Samuelis.”—Tr.]. The error consisted in touching the ark, which as the symbol of God’s presence (1Sa_4:7), none could look at (Num_4:20; 1Sa_6:19), much less lay hold of, without peril of life. For transportation, therefore, it was first covered up by the Levites to whom it was committed (especially the Kohathites, Num_7:9), and that with faces covered (Num_4:15; Num_4:20), and carried on staves which constantly projected (Exo_25:14-15).—Instead of this brief statement of the offence, Chron. has the descriptive periphrasis: “because he had put out his hand to the ark,” which is followed by Syr. and Arab. A suddenly fatal apoplectic stroke was the natural means of the manifestation of the divine anger at Uzza’s violation of the majesty of the holy God symbolized in the ark of the covenant.
2Sa_6:8. “And David was angry that the Lord had made a breach (or inflicted a stroke) on Uzza;” not “was amazed (confounded),” for the verb is always used of anger, the angry person being introduced with the Prep. לְ [= to], 2Sa_19:43; 1Sa_15:11; Gen_18:30; Gen_18:32; Gen_31:36. The cause of his anger or angry excitement is not the deed of Uzza, but the deed of God, the slaying of Uzza, in so far as he was obliged to look on himself as the cause of this punishment through his non-observance of the legal prescription concerning the transportation of the ark; for the ark was to be borne, not ridden, and touching it was forbidden on pain of death (Num_4:15). “To this day” this name had continued the only one in use in commemoration of this occurrence, [that is, up to the writer’s time, which was at some considerable remove from the event referred to.—Tr.].
2Sa_6:9. While David is angry at this justly-incurred misfortune, his heart is filled with fear of the Lord. How shall the ark of the Lord come to me?—This question indicates the ground and object of David’s fear of the Lord; in view of what had happened on the touching of the ark, he feels himself guilty before the Lord and unworthy of His presence; he fears to be similarly stricken, if he now bring the ark to him into Zion.
2Sa_6:10. The procession was broken up, and the effort to bring the ark to Zion abandoned; he carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.—Obed-edom, a Levite of the stock of the Korahites, which was a branch of the family of Kohath (Exo_6:16; Exo_6:18; Exo_6:21), a “son of Jeduthun” (1Ch_16:38), appears afterwards as a porter in Jerusalem, and also acts as musician in the transference of the ark (1Ch_15:18; 1Ch_15:21; 1Ch_15:24; 1Ch_16:5). He is called “Gittite” not from a former protracted residence in the Philistine city Gath (Vatabl.), but from Gath-Rimmon, the Levitical city in Dan. (Cler.), Jos_21:24; Jos_19:45, where he was no doubt born. Since he was of the Korahites, who were porters during the march through the wilderness, we can the more readily understand how the ark was carried to him. [If Jeduthun is the same as Ethan (comp. 1Ch_15:17; 1Ch_15:19 with 1Ch_16:41-42; 1Ch_25:1; 1Ch_25:3; 1Ch_25:6; 2Ch_35:15) then Obed-edom, the son of Jeduthun, was a Merarite. There may, however, have been several of the name. 1Ch_25:15 is supposed by some to establish the identity of our Obed-edom with the Jeduthunite, though this cannot be said to be certain. If the two are the same, it is suggested that, “though a Merarite by birth, marriage with a Kohathite would account for his dwelling in a Kohathite city.” The question can hardly be certainly decided. His name is peculiar, apparently = “serving (servant of) Edom.” It is suggested (Wellh.) that Edom is here the name of a god, to which the objection is that there is no trace elsewhere of such a deity, the name occurring only as a gentilic one, and in connection with Esau. It having been shown by Erdmann that the man Obed-edom was a Levite, it may be surmised either that he was a foreigner adopted by marriage into the tribe of Levi, or, more probably, that he, or some ancestor of his, had once been in servitude to the Edomites.—See Bib.-Com. in loco.—Tr.]
2Sa_6:11-19. [1Ch_13:14; 1 Chronicles 15, 16]. Transference of the Ark from the house of Obed-edom to the City of David.
2Sa_6:11 sq. Three months the Ark remained in the house of Obed-edom.—After the words “with the house of Obed-edom,” Chron. has “in its house,” “in order to maintain the dignity of the sacred vessel” (Then.). The blessing on Obed-edom’s house and possessions (comp. Jos. Ant. 7, 4, 2)22 “for the ark of God’s sake,” that is, by reason of God’s gracious presence in His majesty and glory, forms the contrast to that other revelation of God’s anger [against Uzza] and to David’s fear of misfortune and destruction from the presence of the ark, and now becomes the occasion of David’s resolution to bring the ark to himself to Mount Zion. After the words (2Sa_6:12): “because of the ark of God” the Vulg. has: “and David said, I will go and bring back the ark with blessing into my house,” which is an explanation of what precedes in reference to Obed-edom’s experience of blessing, as motive for bringing back the ark. [Well-hausen: “This addition in the Vulgate of 1590, which pragmatically connects the two facts which in the masoretic texts are merely collocated, does not belong to Jerome—see Vercellone in loco. It is found also in several Greek MSS. Against Thenius.”—Tr.]. Chron. (2Sa_15:1) connects this narrative with the preceding (the palace-building, 2Sa_14:1 sq.) by the remark that David, while building houses in Jerusalem, prepared a place for the ark of God and pitched a tent for it. And David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom (which was not necessarily near Perez-Uzza, but lay perhaps on the outskirts of the Lower City) into the city of David “with gladness,” in glad procession, with festive joy, comp. Gen_31:27; Neh_12:43.
2Sa_6:13. Since bearers of the ark are spoken of, it appears that David now observed the prescription of the Law. In 1Ch_25:2 sq. David declares that no one should bear the ark but the Levites, because they were thereto chosen by God. The former procedure is thus expressly recognized as illegal (comp. Num_1:40; Num_4:15; Num_6:9; Num_10:17). In Chron. we then find (2Sa_6:2-13) the king’s consultation with the priests and Levites about the legal performance of the solemn act of bringing up the ark, and (2Sa_6:14 sq.) David’s further regulations concerning the singing and instrumental music in the procession.—And when the bearers of the ark of the Lord had made six steps, he sacrificed (caused to be sacrificed) an ox and a fat calf.—De Wette renders wrongly: “And it came to pass, as often as they went six steps, he sacrificed;” the Heb. would not allow this rendering (it must then be וְהָיָה ... וְזָבַח, Böttch.), and what a monstrous representation: such an offering every six steps! The meaning is that David, having arranged and started the procession, introduced and consecrated it with a sacrifice. “It was a thank-offering for the happy beginning and a petition for the prosperous continuation of the undertaking” (Böttch.). The halt after six steps is therefore not a “surprising fact” (Then.), nor need we suppose that the bearers stood “a long time” with the ark on their shoulders. The offering of seven bullocks and seven rams, which according to Chron. (1Ch_15:26) was made by the Levites, was not the same with this, but a concluding thank-offering for the happy completion of the undertaking with the Lord’s help (comp. 2Sa_6:12). [So also Patrick and Keil regard the sacrifice in 1Ch_15:26; but it seems clear from the context that the same offering is here intended as in our passage, for the solemnity is not completed till 2Sa_6:15. It is no objection to this that David is the offerer in the one and the Levites in the other (Patr.), for David may have used the Levites as sacrificers (as Erdmann intimates); nor does the apparent difference in the animals make a serious difficulty, for the terms in “Samuel” may be collective, see Gen_32:6 (so Eng. A. V.), Chron. simply supplying the exact numbers, the special term “bullock” of Chron. may be included under the general “oxen” of “Samuel,” and the “rams” under the somewhat indefinite “fatlings” (so Sept. and Vulg.). Or, if it be difficult to take the second word (מְרִיא) as collective, we may suppose a difference in the figures in the two accounts, such as is not infrequent.—Tr.].
2Sa_6:14. And David danced with all his might before the Lord.—The verb (Pilp. of כָּרַר, only here and 2Sa_6:16) = “to hop, spring, dance in a half circle,” comp. the similar word for “camels, dromedaries” (כִּרְכָרות). Dances on festive occasions, as in thanksgiving for deliverances (Exo_15:20), for victory (Jdg_11:34; Jdg_21:19; 1Sa_18:6) were commonly performed by women alone. The expression “with all his might” sets forth the high degree of David’s joyful excitement, comp. 2Sa_6:5. “Before the Lord,” that is, before the ark of the covenant as the symbol of the presence of the Lord as the king of His people.—Girded with a (white) linen ephod.—As elsewhere the white ephod was worn only by priests as a sign of their priestly character (1Sa_22:18), there was a special significance in David’s wearing the priestly dress now; it lay, however, not in a desire on his part to represent himself, in honor of the Lord as head of the priestly people of Israel, but partly in the general priestly character that the kingly office of David and Solomon still continued to maintain at the head of the people, partly in David’s priestly procedure in this festivity; he, as it were, performed the functions of a priest (Thenius), not merely in blessing the people (2Sa_6:18), but also in conducting the whole procession and arranging the sacrifice. While the Chronicler gives elaborate information respecting the dress of David and the Levites, our narrator here confines himself to the statement that David was clothed with the white ephod. On the other hand, David’s dancing is omitted by the Chronicler, not because it offended him from a priestly point of view (for he alludes to it in 2Sa_6:16, and mentions it 2Sa_13:8 in agreement with 2Sa_6:5), but because he here wished to bring out with special prominence the ritualistic side of the ceremony, for which the priestly dress was important. (See Keil in loco.) [It is suggested by some (see Bib. Comm.) that the first clause of 1Ch_15:27, “and David was clothed with a robe of fine linen,” is merely another form (possibly a corruption) of the text of “Samuel,” “and David danced with all his might,” especially as this same 2Sa_6:14 mentions the linen-ephod also. The Heb. letters in the two clauses are sufficiently alike to permit one to be derived from the other, and the context in Chron. is not against such a supposition. But it is impossible to say whether the one text is to be derived from the other, or, under such a supposition, which is the original.—Tr.]
2Sa_6:15. Comp. 1Ch_15:28, where the names of the several instruments are given. Here we have briefly with shouting and sound of trumpet.—The Chron. draws full accounts from the common source, our author gives a summary statement. [On religious dances among the Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, see Wilkinson’s Ancient Egyptians, Smith’s Dict. of Greek and Roman Ant., Arts. Chorus and Saltatio, and comp. Art. Dance in Smith’s Bib. Dict.—Tr.]
2Sa_6:16. Michal23 is expressly called Saul’s daughter, not thereby to characterize her as lacking in true-hearted piety (Keil), but to distinguish her in comparison with David’s other wives, as highest in position. She looked through the window—that is, holds herself aloof from the procession,24 and criticises David’s conduct (as her remark proves) with a cold heart which had no part in his and the people’s joyous inspiration. When she saw the king leaping and dancing (Chronicl.: dancing [= leaping] and playing), she despised25 him in her heart—despised him on account of his presumed degradation of himself, to the shame of his royal dignity (2Sa_6:20).
2Sa_6:17. The tent that David pitched for the ark being merely a covering on poles without a firm structure of boards, could have been only temporary, since David had the purpose to build a permanent sanctuary, a “house” to the Lord (chap. 7). Set it in its place in the midst of the tent.—That is, in the space marked off according to the tabernacle which still stood in Gibeon, in the Holy of Holies. The burnt-offerings and thank-offerings that David now offered referred to this provisional sanctuary, and served to consecrate it. Of course he made the sacrifices not in his own person, but through the priests.
2Sa_6:18. The offerings being ended, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of Sabaoth.—The blessing was not the Aaronic (Num_6:22 sq.), which pertained only to the high-priest, but (like Solomon’s, 1Ki_8:55) a concluding benedictory address to the whole people. “The name of the Lord of Sabaoth” is the essential being of God, as it was exhibited in the fulness of all His revelations to His people. The benedictions find their fulfilment only in this self-revelation of God to His people as their source, which is at the same time the pledge for the fulfilment.
2Sa_6:19. The entertainment of the people. Each one, men and women, received a “bread-cake” (כִּכַּר = חַלַּת, 1Ch_16:3), a round cake, such as was baked for sacrificial meals, comp. Exo_29:23 with Lev_8:24 sq. Eshpar [Eng. A. V.: good piece of flesh] occurs only here, is not = “piece of flesh,”26 but probably to be derived from a verb “to measure” (Aeth. שׁפּר, De Dieu, Gesenius, Rödiger, De Wette), and = a “measure of wine,” which would not be too hard a suppletion [would not be supplying or understanding too much] (Thenius). The third term [Eng. A. V.: flagon of wine] means raisin-cake, or a mass of dried grapes pressed into a cake (Ges.), comp. Son_2:5; Hos_3:1.—Thereupon the people returned home.—In like manner David, having finished the offering and the entertainment, returned to his house to bless it (2Sa_6:20 a)—that is, to invoke on his house the blessings he had pronounced on the people, and (having finished this sacred act) to place it under the protection and blessing of the Lord, of whose presence in his house the ark standing near in the tent was the symbol. The close of verse 19 and the beginning of verse 20 are given at the end of the narrative, 1Ch_16:43.
2Sa_6:20-23. Michal’s pride and David’s humility.
2Sa_6:20. And Michal came to meet David.—The words here added by the Sept.: “and greeted him” are an insertion, which there is no ground for putting into the Hebrew text. How glorious did the king of Israel make himself to-day!—This bitterly ironical address with which David, returning joyfully to bless his house, is received by Michal, is the outburst of her wicked feeling (2Sa_6:16). Who uncovered himself to-day in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants.—That is: exposed, degraded himself, obviously alluding to the fact that David had exchanged the royal robes proper to such an occasion for the light, comparatively short sacerdotal dress. She blames him not so much for dancing as that in such a procession and in such attire, forgetting his royal dignity, he mingled with the common people and put himself on a level with them. As one of the vain fellows uncovers27 himself.—“Worthless, bad fellows” (רֵיק) as Jdg_9:4; Jdg_11:3; Pro_12:11; Vulg.: “buffoons” (scurris), Sept.: “dancers” (ὀρχουμένων), which is an explanation instead of a translation. Observe the twofold definition of the degradation: “in the eyes of the maids of his servants” over against the reference to the king of Israel.
2Sa_6:21. David’s answer.—Before the Lord who chose me …… and I have played before the Lord.—We have here an anacolouthon, the long Rel. clause “who chose … Israel” breaking the connection, which is then restored by “and [or yea] I have played,” the phrase “before the Lord” (which stands at the beginning) being resumed. [On this verse see the English translation and “Text. and Gram.”—Tr.] After the words “before Jehovah” Sept. inserts “I will dance; blessed be the Lord,” and after “and I have played” [which it renders “I will play”] has “and I will dance,” in order thus to relieve the anacolouthon, and to introduce the “dancing,” which (though the object of Michal’s blame) is strangely omitted [in the Heb.] in David’s reply. In answer to Michal’s cutting irony, which regards David’s conduct merely from the point of view of its accordance with the dignity of “the king of Israel,” and characterizes it as common and low, he affirms two things: 1) that in his procedure he had an eye only to the glory of God, and that it must therefore not be condemned as common and low, but rather recognized as holy and well-pleasing to God; and 2) that he received his kingdom and his position as king of Israel through the Lord’s choice and command. He had therefore acted not counter to, but in accordance with this royal dignity, in that he gave the honor to the Lord, who had raised him from lowliness to this height. The expression “before the Lord” derives a very strong emphasis from its position at the beginning and at the end, and, thus repeated, indicates the holiest and highest point of view whence (in opposition to Michal’s profane utterance) his procedure in this festival is to be judged and estimated. Before thy father and before his whole house says David, in order to repel the charge that he had thus lowered the royal dignity which had passed to him from Saul and his house, thus pointing also to the cause of the rejection of Saul and his house, namely, such haughtiness and pride as the “daughter of Saul” had here exhibited.
2Sa_6:22. “And I will be yet more vile.” Instead of this Sept. has the nonsensical rendering: “and I will still thus uncover myself” (גָּלָה)! The less reason then for changing the Heb. “in my eyes” into the Sept. “in thy eyes.” Certainly David did not lower himself in his own eyes, that is, in his own judgment, by his playing and dancing (as Thenius, contrary to the text-reading, remarks)—not in the sense of Michal’s charge; yet he did lower or humble himself in his own eyes in the sense that he expresses in 2Sa_6:21, where he describes his conduct as a self-abasement before the presence of the Lord. “In comparison with this” (that is, with this abasement before the Lord) he continues: And I will be held (= become) yet more vile (Niph. = Qal. as Gen_16:4) in my eyes.—That is, in my own judgment will humble myself yet more than to-day. The expression “in my eyes” cannot be explained as = I will suffer still greater contempt from men than what I have just experienced.” And with the maids, of whom thou hast spoken, with them will I be held in honor.—Ewald’s explanation: “should I seek honor from them? no, that is not at all necessary” falls to the ground, since Michal’s assertion that he had gotten himself honor was not serious, but ironical. Thenius: “of the maids shall I be held in honor” [so Eng. A. V.]—that is, they, the simple souls, will know better than thou how to estimate my humility, and this will compensate me for thy foolish contempt. But this latter is an interpolated thought, which would be farthest from David’s soul at this moment of extreme humility before the Lord, and would savor of Michal’s ideas about human honor. The “honored” here (obviously contrasted with Michal’s “honored, made glorious,” 2Sa_6:20) refers (as is clear from the throughout recurring words, “before the Lord”) to the honor in the sight of the Lord, which will be given those who humble themselves before the Lord. David, having opposed to Michal’s “in the eyes of the maids” his “in the presence of the Lord,” places himself “before the Lord” on the same level with the maids, expressing by the repeated “with” his fellowship and equality with these humble folk, and pointing to the honor which he with them would have before the Lord, because he humbly showed due honor to the Lord. [The objection to this interpretation is that we should then expect David to say “I will (or shall) be honored by Jehovah,” that is, the subject or agent of the honoring must be expressed, and is given in the text only by the word “maids.” The Hebrew Prep, may mean “among” or “before” (apud), and thus permits the translation of Eng. A. V., Patr., Then., Philippson. Besides, in reply to Michal’s sneer about the maids, it is a natural and sharp rejoinder on David’s part to accept this honor which she regards as beneath contempt.—Tr.]
2Sa_6:23. Michal’s childlessness is specially mentioned as a punishment of her pride. This was the deepest humiliation for an oriental woman. [For a vivid description of the scenes of this chapter see Stanley’s Jewish Church, Second Series, p. 89–98, Lect. 23 (Am. Ed.).—Tr.]
HISTORICAL AND THEOLOGICAL
1. It was not till David had taken Jerusalem from the Jebusites, made Zion his capital and secured it by his victories from Philistine attacks, and thus for a short time at least secured peace, that he could proceed to the holy work that he completed in bringing the ark to Zion, and that was of great importance for the religious life of the nation. This act had its root in David’s truly pious feeling, was the living expression of his gratitude to the Lord for His favor, and aimed at the elevation and concentration of the religious life of Israel. It needed a new elevation, since under Saul it had partly at least sunk down from the height to which Samuel had brought it, and fallen into a somewhat brutalized condition. The royal house itself, whose influence on the people was so great, had more and more lost living piety; the spirit of pride reigned in it, as Michal (who was herein very like her father) plainly shows here in her bearing towards David; it is a significant fact that in her father’s house she has an idol-image. The religious-moral life of the nation fell of necessity into more and more thorough dissolution, the longer Saul’s persecutions of David continued and the external unity established by Samuel was destroyed by the wars between Saul and David, and by partisan oppositions. When, now, David by establishing his theocratic kingdom over all Israel had restored the external (national and governmental) unity, he made an important step further, by the act recorded in this chapter, towards elevating and sanctifying the inner life of his people; he laid the deepest foundation for their internal unity by again concentrating their religious life on its centre and source, namely, the dwelling of God in the midst of His people, symbolically set forth in the ark. “In Saul’s time it [the ark] had not been sought after” (1Ch_13:3); the centre of divine service that it indicated had been lost. Now David gathers the representatives of the whole nation around him, in order at the head of the nation solemnly to restore to the centre of the national life the long-vanished sanctuary, and to renew the religious unifying of the people, especially in regard to divine service, about the kernel and star of the innermost life. By the transference of the ark to Zion Jerusalem, representing the national and political unity, becomes now the centre of religion and divine service for the national life. The account in Chron. supplements our history in regard to the part taken by the priests, the divine service and the ordination of the sacred service before the ark (chs. 13, 15, 16). With this was connected the restoration of the unity and arrangement of the priestly service and of the duties of divine service. This unity indeed does not yet reach a complete external representation. There continue to be two holy places; the ark remains apart from the old tabernacle, which abode with the altar of burnt-offering at Gibeon, where also the offerings still went on (1Ch_16:39; comp. 1Ki_3:4). There the high-priest Za-dok officiates, the son of Ahitub, of the family of Eleazar, who performs the legal regular sacrificial service at the tabernacle (Lev_17:3). But beside him we find a second high-priest in that Abiathar (of the family of Ithamar), who escaped from Nob to David (1Sa_22:20), had remained with him, and now resided with the sanctuary on Zion (comp. 1Ki_2:26); so the two are named together in 2Sa_20:25; 1Ch_18:16. This double high-priestship, which had arisen from the separation of the tabernacle and the ark, was the reason why David permitted this separation to continue, and did not remove the Mosaic tabernacle also to Mount Zion, since he could remove neither the one high-priest nor the other from his office. We see also two sacred tents, besides the old one at Gibeon a new one pitched by David over the ark. While the sacrificial service is still continued in Gibeon according to the Law (1Ch_16:40; comp. 1Ki_3:4), a sacred service is established by David at the ark also; ibid. 2 Samuel 6:37 sq.—But in spite of this still continuing external dualism, there was after the institution of the sacred service on Zion an internal unity (through the establishment of regular divine service) such as did not exist before. The tent which is pitched on Zion, is provisional, and points like the old tent, which in the march through the wilderness and in the time of the Judges was the symbol of a provisional arrangement, to a central sanctuary to be erected, the founding of which David has in mind, but cannot yet execute (2 Samuel 7). But in this provisional, personal state of the religious life which in its two principal seats is unified, purified and arranged, the sanctuary in Jerusalem steps into the central point of the religious consciousness both for David and for the whole people, while the sanctuary in Gibeon retires into the background, as is especially evident from the fact that the tabernacle is never mentioned in the Psalms. Comp. Hengst. Gesch. d. R. Gottes [Hist. of the kingdom of God] II., p. 122 sq.
2. The significance of this narrative (of the transference of the ark to Jerusalem and David’s conduct therein) for the apprehension and representation of the theocratic royal office in his person, is first to be considered on the one side in relation to God, and on the other side in relation to the people. The content of his consciousness as king is simply this one thought of the dependence of his kingdom for its dominion on the royal rule and might of the covenant-God, whose choice and command has appointed him king over Israel (2Sa_6:21), that he is the instrument by which God carries on His government of His people. From this point of view the bringing back of the ark is an act of reverence and gratitude to the Lord, whose name, symbolically set forth in this sanctuary, is honored and praised by David at the head of the whole people as the sum of all his revelations to them. But also by the establishment of this token of the presence of the Lord in the midst of His people and of His royal dwelling and enthronement in His possession on Mount Zion, which David has prepared for his own residence, the idea of the indivisible unity of the human kingship and the kingly rule of God in His people is brought out. There is enthroned the king of glory, Psa_24:7-10; the king’s throne is the throne of God, Psa_45:7 [6]; Jerusalem is the city of the Great King, Psa_48:3 [2]; Zion is Jehovah’s dwelling, Psa_9:12 [11]; Psa_74:2; Psa_76:3 [2]; thence proceed all manifestations of God’s royal might and glory, Psa_20:3 [2]; Psa_110:2.—But also in relation to the people David represents the theocratic kingship in the light of its ideal signification. He assembles the whole people about the sanctuary as the throne of Jehovah; he will make them a people truly united under the dominion of God, moving with their whole life around Jehovah as centre, showing their king-God the highest honor and serving Him alone (Psa_24:1-10). In contrast with every other oriental kingly office David shows in his conduct the popular character of the theocratic kingship. He does not soar at an unattainable and unapproachable distance and height above the people, but “makes himself one” with them, mingles immediately with them, is accessible to all, and does not scorn fellowship with the lowest and meanest, because be knows that in the presence of the Lord he is not connected but religious-morally on the same level with the whole people and every individual one of these (2Sa_6:21-22). David, as theocratic king, whose government is to be the organ and representative of Jehovah’s rule over His people, is conscious that he is mediator between the Lord and His covenant-people, and acts accordingly: on the one hand he “represents the whole people” before the Lord and leads them to Him, at their head and in their stead brings burnt-offerings and thank offerings, and appears with them “before the presence of the Lord” (2Sa_6:21) to restore at the ark the legally ordained divine service—on the other hand he represents the Lord before His people, declaring His “name” to them, and praying and obtaining His “blessing” for them.—Herein, as appears most clearly in this history, David not only stands in closest connection with the bearers of the prophetic office, but we see in him also the kingly office in closest association with the priestly, while Saul, in opposition to both these offices, allowed his kingly rule to assume more and more an antitheocratic character. But still farther: as David, as representative and instrument of God’s royal rule over the people of His possession [peculiar people = his private property—Tr.], possesses the prophetic spirit, whereby Jehovah’s word designed for the people is on his tongue (2Sa_23:2), so also, like Samuel representing the people before God, he combines in his person the priestly character with the kingly and the prophetic, and in this festival in his priestly dress and procedure brings out and represents the idea, that the theocratic kingship, as a representation of the people before the Lord is to be a priest-kingship. [As David is never said to have performed the distinctively priestly work of sacrifice (committing this, as Erdmann himself says in the Exposition, to the priests), and as the representation of the people before God, and mediation between them and Him is a general pious work, performed often by prophets and others (Abraham, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, Josiah, Nehemiah), it is not easy to see why on this ground alone a priestly character should be assigned to him. In one sense the whole people were priests (Exo_19:6), a great spiritual idea being thus guarded against the perverting tendencies of outward ritual, and so David was in the high spiritual sense a priest, as every Christian now is; but in the narrower sense an Israelitish priest made atonement for sin by blood, and none but sons of Aaron could perform this service, as now human priesthood is abolished, and the priestly work is done by Christ alone.—Tr.].—But also the religious-moral character and the disposition of the theocratic king is here set forth typically in the presence of the whole people; he precedes them in showing the Lord His due honor in word and deed; he shows himself to be the faithful and conscientious overseer, leader and arranger of the divine service; he shows himself to be deeply penetrated with the feeling that he owes his royal office solely to the free undeserved grace of the Lord, and exhibits a deep humility, wishing to be nothing but the servant of the Lord in fellowship with his servants and maids. [See Translator’s note to Erdmann’s exposition of 2Sa_6:22.—Tr.].—This humble disposition of David in the presence of his God forms the sharpest contrast to the haughtiness and pride of his wife Michal, “who knew nothing of the impulse of divine love” (Theodoret).
3. God’s blessing is an outflow of His name; it can only be mediately obtained by man for man, when it is drawn from this eternal, inexhaustible source. The Lord dispenses His blessing to house and family, people and State, only on the condition that His gracious presence is desired and preserved (2Sa_6:11), and honor given to His name in mind, word and deed, as here by David and all the people. When men devote their heart and all their life as a sacrifice to the Lord, and consecrate themselves to Him, in reward therefor He sends on them streams of blessing.
4. The following are the references in the Psalms to the important event of the transference of the Ark. Psalms 24 was no doubt composed by David to celebrate Jehovah’s entrance into the sanctuary on Mount Zion, with direct reference to the incidents narrated in 2 Samuel 6 Jehovah, the king of glory, comes to make His dwelling on Mount Zion amid His people.
He is celebrated as the king of the whole world (2Sa_6:1; 2Sa_6:10); on this foundation of the majesty of the Creator and Lord of all things rests the view of His royal glory, the revelation of which is unfolded in and for Israel. The praise of Jehovah as the strong hero in war, the Lord of Sabaoth, points to David’s Philistine wars (2Sa_6:1; 2Sa_6:15). The primeval doors, which are to lift themselves up that the king may hold his entry, are the gates of the old fortress of Zion. The exhortation to the doors to raise and widen themselves assumes that this is the first entrance of the ark, and excludes the view that the Psalm was composed on its return from war. While 2Sa_6:7-10 describe the arrival and solemn entry of “the King of glory” with the outward preparation for His worthy reception and for His entrance into the place prepared for him, 2Sa_6:1-6 refer to the ascension of the people to Mount Zion and to the moral requirements made of those who will be in truth the people of God, who desire and seek after Him. Only the pure in thought, word and deed are His people and may approach Him. With unholy mind and unclean hand Uzza seized the sacred vessel; to this (2Sa_6:6 sq.) refer the words of the Psa_5:3-6. The blessing of “Jehovah the God of salvation” (2Sa_6:5) recalls 2Sa_6:11; 2Sa_6:18. The words: “the generation of them that inquire after Him and seek His face,” form a contrast to 1Ch_13:3 : “Let us bring up the ark of God; for in Saul’s time we sought it not.”—The history of the entry is here regarded according to its higher moral-religious significance for the people of the Lord. “It was needful at the very beginning of the new relation to establish its essential character and fix it in the people’s consciousness, to furnish a counter-weight or equipoise to the external pomp with which the ark was brought in; to point out that true (not simply external) fellowship with a God like this one, the lord of the whole earth, and a share in His blessings, is to be obtained only in the one way of true righteousness; to point to the serious nature of the demands made on the subjects, that results from the glory of the entering king” (Hengstenb. on Psalms 24).
With reference to the establishment of the sanctuary on Mount Zion, and in essential harmony with the first didactic-ethical part of Psalms 24, David sang Psalms 15 also, as is clear from the question to the Lord in 2Sa_6:1 : “Who may be guest in thy tent, who may dwell on thy holy mountain?” and from the portraiture of the moral character of God’s house-companions though we cannot establish with certainty particular references which Hitzig here finds to the history in 2Sa_6:12 sq. (see Moll [Lange’s Bible-Work] on Psalms 15).
Whether Psalms 68 (as most ancient expositors, Stier and v. Hoffm. hold), especially 2Sa_6:16-17 (Ew.), is to be referred to 2 Samuel 6, is doubtful; more probably it is connected with the return of the ark from the wars and victories whose termination is given in 2Sa_12:31.
Psa_78:56-72 presents the historical pre-suppositions of this fixing of the seat of the royal glory, which lie far back in the history of Israel’s sin and defection from the Lord to strange gods. The Lord punished Israel for their apostasy by forsaking His dwelling in Shiloh, giving the sanctuary into the hands of enemies, etc. But the Lord again had mercy, and arose in His might to cast down the enemy; He chose Judah that He might in it on Zion establish His dominion and build high His sanctuary. From hence He ruled as the king of His people through His servant David whom he had chosen to feed His people, as once he fed the flock, whence He called him.
Psalms 101, “the Prince’s psalm” or ruler’s mirror (Luth.), was not indeed composed by David on the occasion of Uzza’s misfortune and the deposition of the ark in the house of Obed-edom (Hammond, Ven., Dathe, Muntinghe, De W., Del.); for, from the connection of thought, the question: “When comest thou to me” (2Sa_6:2)? cannot be referred to the words of 2Sa_6:8 : “how shall the ark of Jehovah come to me?” and the designation of Jerusalem (ver 8) as “the city of the Lord” does not suit, since Jerusalem was so called in consequence of the establishment of the ark on Zion, and an anticipation of this designation (Del.) is not supposable. But this appellation, the “city of the Lord,” taken together with the repeated expression within the house “and with the prominent mention of personal, domestic, social and national duties and virtues, favors the view that some time after this event, which was an epoch-making one for his and the nation’s religious-moral life, David wrote this Psalm with reference to the blessings that he therein received from God and the obligations therein imposed on him. The “city of Jehovah,” which has received this name and the honor involved in it through the Lord’s choice of it as a dwelling-place, “is to set forth not only in its divine service [ritually], but also ethically the character of holiness” (Moll), Isa_35:8; Isa_52:1; Nah_2:1, as the king “within his house,” which is founded and built on Mount Zion as the seat of the theocratic kingly dominion, himself walks in uprightness of heart, suffers no other house-companions but those who with him serve the Lord in righteousness (2Sa_6:3), truth (2Sa_6:4) and humility (2Sa_6:5), and so conducts his government, that in the nation and land he looks on those only as his true servants and his companions in the kingdom of God who walk in the ways of faithfulness and honesty. Ewald: “We are introduced into the very core of all the great king’s thought and effort at this time by Psalms 101, which cannot have been composed till at least after this removal of the sanctuary, when Jerusalem had already for some time been the ‘city of Jehovah,’ and according to its whole content probably falls in these first years. Here is freely poured forth a heavenly-clear stream of the purest kingly thoughts and purposes. … How David, having before wished to become a righteous king, faithful to the true God, was now in the ‘city of Jehovah’ much more joyfully and decidedly resolved to become one, comes out most beautifully from the words of this Song.”
5. The establishment of the ark on Zion was the beginning of the reformation and reorganization of the divine service, which was raised by David from the disintegration and lawlessness into which it had fallen under Saul, to an artistically beautiful form. He organized the priests and Levites, dividing them into twenty-four classes for weekly service. With his own musical endowments was intimately connected his zealous care for the organization of the sacred music, to which, with the aid of the three great masters, Asaph, Heman and Jeduthun, he gave a new impulse, and for the culture and further development of which, along with the four thousand Levites who were charged with the execution of the sacred music, there was formed a select chorus out of the families of the three masters. And with this was connected the development of sacred poetry in psalm-composition, of which David himself was the creator.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
2Sa_6:2. [Hall: The tumults of war afforded no opportunity of this service; only peace is a friend to religion; neither is peace ever our friend, but when it is a servant of piety.28—Tr.] Fr. Arndt: Truly to be praised and felicitated is every land that is ruled by a pious king; there mercy and truth meet together, righteousness and peace kiss each other: and the proverb is proven true: As the king, so the people! But also to be felicitated is every king himself, who does not forget that over him there reigns a yet greater king, the King of all kings, to whose grace he owes his royal power, who alone secures him his throne, and who will one day bring him to account for what he does and what he leaves undone.
2Sa_6:3-7. Starke: He who wishes to rejoice let him rejoice in the Lord.—-[Hall: O happy Israel, that had a God to rejoice in, that had this occasion of rejoicing in their God, and an heart that embraced this occasion!—Tr.]—As a burning coal kindles the next, so may the good example of pious rulers attract the subjects to follow them, 2Co_9:2.—Even that which is done with a good intention does not always please God, 2Sa_7:5; Lev_10:1; Pro_14:12.—Osiander: Even pious people err when they depart, though it be but a little, from the express word of God.—[Hall: God’s businesses must be done after His own forms, which if we do with the best intentions alter, we presume.—Wordsworth: All religious reformations which are wrought by men are blemished with human infirmities.—Tr.]—Schlier: How could such a festal joy, which knew nothing of holy fear, however well meant, prove acceptable to God? It is not enough that we mean well, and have pious thoughts; we must also, in what we do, hold fast to God’s word and commandment, and in all our joy in the Lord must not allow ourselves to forget that we have to do with a holy God.—Disselhoff: Where God sees one that wishes to flee to the shelter of His word, He so trains him up that he learns to bow unconditionally to the authority of that word, and no longer mingles God’s word and man’s word.—F. W. Krummacher: This interruption of the bright jubilee-festival was for every one a new warning that God’s kindness never goes alone, but always under the guidance of His holiness, … that we dangerously overstep the limits of becoming modesty whenever we mount up to the delusion that it depends on us to rescue the ark as soon as ever the car of the Church whereby it is borne appears, through the negligence and unfaithfulness of those who are appointed for its direction, to be rolling into the abyss.—O. v. Gerlach: Uzzah is a type of all those who with humanly good intentions, but in an unsanctified spirit, take it upon themselves to rescue the cause of God, which they think is in peril.
2Sa_6:9. Osiander: When many have sinned, God commonly punishes one or two of the leaders, in order that the others may remember their sin and beg forgiveness.—F. W. Krummacher: Though the Lord may for a time change His countenance, yet with His own people He always means faithfulness, and after the storm always makes the sun come up again in his time. However painfully He may chastise, His word of promise always stands: Can a woman forget her child?” etc.
2Sa_6:11. Fr. Arndt: Where the sign of the Lord’s presence, the means of grace, is, there the Lord’s presence and gracious working is not wanting, and where this enters there is indeed blessing upon blessing, as in Obed-edom’s house.—Schlier: What blessed people we then first become when we receive God’s word into our houses, and let this word of God be our heart’s joy and delight. The blessing of the Lord dwells where God’s word dwells.
[2Sa_6:12. Scott: When pious men who have been betrayed into unwarrantable conduct have had time for self-examination, searching the Scriptures and prayer, they will discover and confess their mistakes, and be reduced to a better temper; they will justify God in His corrections; they will be convinced that safety and comfort consist, not in absenting themselves from His ordinances, or in declining dangerous services, but in attending to their duty in a proper spirit and manner; they will profit by their own errors.—Tr.]
2Sa_6:14. Disselhoff: David was full of joy because he perceived that entire submission of heart to God’s revealed will makes one truly free and blessed.—Berl. B.: The joy of a soul is unspeakably great, which finds again in itself the pure and holy God, whom before it feared to receive.—F. W. Krummacher: David gave expression to that which swelled in his bosom, even in corresponding gestures and a rhythmical movement.—The idea of that which the world of today is wont to associate with the word dance, is here to be kept quite at a distance. Dancing was in Israel a form of divine service, in which often—as in the case of Miriam and her companions after the passage of the Red Sea—the highest and holiest inspiration found expression.—Starke: It is accordingly a shameful misuse to justify voluptuous dancing by David’s example.—S. Schmid: What is undertaken in God’s service must be done with all the heart and with all the powers, in order that everybody may see that one is in real earnest.
2Sa_6:15. Schlier: So we have here a popular festival, and indeed a right joyous popular festival full of festal jubilation, and the occasion of the festive joy is nothing else than the ark, the sanctuary of the Lord. The law of the Lord makes a whole people, with their king in the lead, joyous and jubilant.—How much do worldly festivals amount to, and how little do Christian festivals ! what a jubilee in the one case, and how little true festal joy in the other!—Our fairest and most delightful popular festivals ought to be our Christian festivals.
2Sa_6:16. Starke: Divine and heavenly things are to worldly hearts only folly; they cannot know them, for they are spiritually discerned, 1Co_2:14.—F. W. Krummacher: Even at the present day, alas! there is still no lack of people like Michal. In the pure fire of the Spirit from on high these persons also see only a morbid fanaticism; in the most animated and vigorous expression of hallowed exaltation of soul, a hypocritical display. … The life from and in God remains a mystery to every one until through the Spirit of God Himself it is unsealed to his experience.
2Sa_6:20. [Henry: We have no reason to think that this of which Michal accused him was true in fact; David no doubt observed decorum, and governed his zeal with discretion; but it is common for those that reproach religion thus to put false colors upon it, and lay it under the most odious characters.—Tr.]—There is never wanting to pious enthusiasm the moment when it again gives place to the accustomed quieter and more equable state of mind. David did not always come home in so exalted a frame as on that festal day. But lamentable is the case of him who does not at all understand the eagle-flight by which souls devoted to God, in times of especial visitations of grace, are carried up above all the enclosures of their wonted everyday life, and transported into a condition in which in feeling and word they “soar above the heights of earth.”—Berl. Bib.: After the soul has lost all its own greatness and all the joy drawn from itself, it has no other joy or greatness than the joy and greatness of God. Men filled with mere carnal prudence cannot bear such a condition. They condemn it and depise those who are so happy in possessing it, yea they chide it still, as here Michal reproaches David and passes carnal sentence on that which is spiritual.
2Sa_6:21 sqq. Disselhoff: A heart that with all the forces of its being clings so closely, so joyously, to God’s revelation, or rather grows into it, draws from it all nourishment and receives from it all light, such a heart bears as a precious fruit that unfeigned, immovable humility, whose heart-refreshing image this history sets before our eyes.—He who walks in such humility before God and men, his eye is not blinded by the sunlight of good days, his heart and head do not become dizzy on the heights of prosperity. He stands firm, whether God leads him into the gloomy valley, or a step higher, or upon the summit. But such humility is born only of absolute submission under God’s law and testimony.—[Scott: We should esteem such reproaches honorable, and determine to become still more vile in the eyes of ungodly revilers, by abounding in those services which they despise.—Robinson: We are warned from the examples of ancient saints to expect opposition and contempt, as far as we discover any real fervor in the service of God. Nor should we wonder if on such an occasion “a man’s foes be they of his own household.”—Tr.]—S. Schmid: It is better to be exalted by God with the lowly than to be humbled by God with the proud. Mat_23:12. Cramer: Honor with God should be more highly esteemed than honor with men. Joh_12:43.
2Sa_6:23. Fr. Arndt: If we look back once more, we see: All are blessed of God, David, Obed-edom, the rejoicing people; Michal alone has remained unblessed. Her lack of blessing was the penalty and the curse of her pride.—[Hall: David came to bless his house (2Sa_6:20); Michal brings a curse upon herself.—Tr.]
[Chap. 6 Rabanus Maurus: In this history we see humility approved, pride condemned and rashness punished.—Tr.]
Chaps. 6 and 7. Disselhoff: The blessed secret of standing firm in days of exaltation and undisturbed quiet. Belonging to it are: 1) Humble, unconditional subjection to the testimony of God; 2) Faithful, genuine, zealous work for the honor of the Lord and of His kingdom; 3) Grateful stillness when the Lord rejects our work for Him, and wishes to work in our own hearts.
[2Sa_6:6-7. The fate of Uzzah: 1) Its occasion—neglect of a known commandment of God (Num_7:9; 2Sa_6:13). 2) Its immediate cause—irreverence (Num_4:15). 3) Its general lessons for us; for example, even an apparently little thing may be a great sin; an action may seem necessary, and yet be wrong; good intentions do not excuse disobedience; we must not expect to help God’s work by measures which God forbids.—Tr.]
[2Sa_6:8. A man displeased with God; thinking himself wiser, more kind, more just than God. Really perhaps vexed that his grand solemnity was interrupted, his rejoicing people disappointed, his prestige damaged, his enemies encouraged. Often when men complain of Providence on “high moral” grounds, they are in fact mainly influenced by some secret personal feeling.—Now highly elated with spiritual pride, at once thankful and self-complacent, and presently dejected, irritated and disposed to give up altogether (2Sa_6:9). When any promising religious enterprise of which we have had the lead is disastrously interrupted, we are tempted to find fault with Providence.—Tr.]
[2Sa_6:10. Obed-edom and the ark. Israel had long slighted the ark; Uzzah had been slain for making too free with it; David had shrunk from it in mere superstitious fear and resentment; Obed-edom receives it gladly, deals with it in the prescribed way, and is rewarded by a rich blessing. So as to religion in general. Some neglect, and greatly lose; some profane, and are ruined; some misunderstand, and pervert into superstitious fear; but those who truly welcome and observe it according to its real nature are richly blessed themselves, and may by their example induce others to seek it likewise (2Sa_6:12).—Tr.]
[2Sa_6:12. The “city of David” now becoming the “city of Jehovah” (Psa_101:8). 1) How it had been conquered; 2) How it was consecrated; 3) How it was to be prospered.—Worthy purposes of a God-fearing ruler. King David’s devout programme when now established as theocratic sovereign (Psalms 101). 1) As to his personal character and conduct (Psa_101:2); 2) As to punishment and prevention of evil-doing (lb., 2Sa_6:3-5; 2Sa_6:7-8); 3) As to encouragement of good men (lb., 2Sa_6:6). (Comp. above, “Hist. and Theol.,” No. 4, latter part.)—Tr.]
[2Sa_6:12-18. Sermon on Psalms 24, as written for this occasion. Comp. Psalms 15. (See above, “Hist. and Theol.,” No. 4.)
2Sa_6:20. He that had “blessed the people” (2Sa_6:18) returns to “bless his household.” Piety in public and in private—public worship and family worship.—A good man, after public religious duties, returns joyous, thankful and loving to his home—and meets scolding and ridicule.
2Sa_6:16; 2Sa_6:20-22. Religious enthusiasm, and those who contemn and ridicule it.
2Sa_6:16-23. Sermon on the history of Michal. (Comp. Henry on this passage.)—Tr.]
Footnotes:
[1][2Sa_6:1. Wellhausen supposes that עוֹר came from the misunderstanding of יסֶֹף>, as if the verb were from יסף, which regularly takes עוֹר (comp. 1Sa_18:29); but see the explanation in the Exposition.—Tr.]
[2][2Sa_6:2. So substantially Cahen, Wellhausen, Bib. Com.; Philippson repeats the word “name,” and Erdmann renders: “where (שָם) is invoked the name of the Lord of hosts, who is enthroned on the cherubim over it.”—It is clear, however, that עָלָיו is the complement of the Rel. אֲשֶׁר, and the second שֵׁם is better omitted with Sept., Vulg., Chald., Arab., and one MS. of Kennicott. As to the number of words between the Rel. and its complement, such a massing up of dependent phrases in unusual, but not impossible; and the sentence may have been originally simpler (as Wellh. suggests) אֲשֶׁר נק׳ שֵׁם י׳ עָלָיו, and the appositional phrase afterwards added.—Tr.]
[3][2Sa_6:4. This clause is omitted by Erdmann (so Sept.). But it is doubtful whether the whole verse had not better be omitted (as in 1 Chronicles 13.), for it adds nothing to the preceding. In that case the last clause might be regarded as a marginal explanation which early got into the text.—Thenius thinks that the incorrect repetition of the first clause has occasioned the dropping out of the words: “and Uzzah went,” before the words: “with the ark of God,” and Wellh. adds that it has also occasioned the change of the appellative אָחִיו, “his brother,” into the proper name, אַחְיוֹ, “Ahio.”—Tr.
[4][2Sa_6:5. This is the reading in 1Ch_13:8. Sept.: בִּכְלֵי עז.—Tr.]
[5][2Sa_6:6. Aq. ἕως ἅλωνος ἑτοίμης, and so substantially Böttcher and Erdmann: “to a ready (fixed) threshing-floor;” but this is less probable than the rendering of Eng. A. V. as a proper name. It is no objection to this that this word does not occur elsewhere as a proper name. The form in Chr. כִּידוֹן is thought by Wellh. to be the same as the last syllable of this: כון = כרן =; but this is improbable.—Tr.]
[6][2Sa_6:7. עַל־הַשַּׁל, an obscure phrase. Ewald: “unexpectedly” (comp. Dan_8:25; Job_15:21); some Greek VSS. give ἐπὶ τῆ προπετεία, ἐπὶ τῆ εκνοία; Erdmann and others as Eng. A. V., which is a doubtful meaning, and besides the suffix would then be required. Our phrase might be a fragment of the phrase in Chron.: עַל אֲשֶׁר שָלַח (so Bib. Com. and others). Chald. as Eng. A. V.; Vulg. super temeritate (so margin of Eng. A. V.).—Tr.]
[7][2Sa_6:8. Some MSS. have שֵׁס המָּק֨ום.—Tr.]
[8][2Sa_6:10. עַל, “on,” since the city was on a hill (but many MSS. have .—אֶל).—בֵּית indicates the point reached by motion, the Prep. being omitted, as is frequent.—Tr.]
[9][2Sa_6:11. Some MSS. have “the house of Obed-edom,” and others add “the Gittite.”—Tr.]
[10][2Sa_6:13. Here and elsewhere Aquila renders אָרוֹן by γλωσσοκόμον. Sept. has ἐν ὀργάνοις ἡρμοσμένοις for בְּבָּל־עזֹ in 2Sa_6:14 (see 2Sa_6:5). It is difficult to see how it gets its translation: “and there were with him seven choruses bearing the ark,” unless it takes צְעָדִים (steps) concretely as = “persons going or marching;” what follows: καὶ θῦμα μόσχος καὶ ἄρνες, is also strange.—Tr.]
[11][2Sa_6:15. Some MSS.: “ark of the covenant of Jehovah.”—Tr.]
[12][2Sa_6:17. Without the Art. since the number is not given, and the statement is indefinite; but in the following verse, since the nouns are then defined by previous mention, the Art. is used.—Tr.]
[13][2Sa_6:18. בְשֵׁם—Sym.: διὰ τοῦ ὀνόματος, Aq. ἐν ὀνόματι.—Tr.]
[14][2Sa_6:19. Erdmann: “a measure (of wine),” Aq., Sym. ἀμυρίτην (perhaps ἀμυλίτην from ἀμυλος = “fine meal”), obscure, Sept. ἐχαρίτην, perhaps = אֶשְּׁכָּר, Vulg. assaturam bubulœ carnis unam, “a roast of ox-flesh.”—Tr.]
[15][2Sa_6:20. This adverb in Eng. A. V. is intended to express the force of the second Inf. here; the construction is noticed by Erdmann. Supposing the second Inf. to be genuine and intensive, the meaning would be: “really, thoroughly uncovers,” to which Eng. A. V. corresponds substantially.—Tr.]
[16][2Sa_6:23. Keth. יֶלֶד, Qeri וֶלֶד, written in Gen_11:30 וָלָד, which is the older form. Böttcher: “This is one of the few examples of the retention by the punctuators of an archaism in the older book, and its correction in the later.”—Tr.]
[17] יוֹסֵך for יֶאֶסֹף = יֹאסֵף (as in 1Sa_15:6; Mic_4:6, Psa_104:29), comp. Ew. § 139 b, Ges. § 68, Rem. 2; it is Impf. of אָסַף [not of יָסַף “to increase”].
[18]The אֲשֶׁר־שָׁם refers back to the מִשָׁם. So in 1Ch_13:6 this invocation is mentioned, if we read שָׁם for שֵׁם at the end.
[19] עָלָיו belongs to ישֵׁב, but there is no need to supply אֲשֶׁר in reference to “Cherubim” (Then.).
[20] הִּדְכִּיב as 2Ki_23:30; comp. 2Ki_13:16.
[21]Instead of our צֶלְצְלִים Chron. has מְצִלְתַּיִם, see Psa_150:6.
[22][Josephus says (but probably without extra-biblical authority) that Obed-edom, from having been poor, became rich, and that people observed it.—Tr.]
[23] וְהָיָה, as in 1Sa_17:48 and often in later books, for וַיְהִי (comp. Ew. § 345 b)—“because there is no progress in the action, but we have merely the mention of an additional incident” (Keil).
[24][But probably it was not expected that she and other members of the household (women) should take part in the procession (2Sa_6:20).—Tr.]
[25] וַתִּבֶז with לְ, as verbs of inclination and hate often have the prepositional construction (love to, Lev_19:18; hate or contempt towards, Pro_17:5); Ewald, § 282 c.
[26]It is not (with most Rabbis) to be derived from אֵשׁ and פָר.
[27] כְּהִגָּלוֹת נִגְלוֹת. The explanation of this abnormal combination—according to Ew. § 240 c—is “that since according to the sense only the second form must be in the Inf. Abs., both now with slight change of form appear in the Inf. Const., because the whole sentence by reason of the Prep. בְּ follows the train of the Inf Const.” Maurer: נִגְלוֹת is Inf. Abs. (for נִגְלֹה, in order to make paronomasia with the preceding הִנָּלּוֹת). Thenius and Olshausen (Gr. p. 600) explain נִגְלוֹת as error of copyist from the preceding word.
[28][The following specimen of allegorizing on 2Sa_6:1 is given as a curiosity: “The thirty thousand chosen (elect) are shown by the number to have been perfected in faith, works and hope. For three refers to the Trinity, and thus denotes faith; ten refers to the Decalogue, and denotes works; thousand, the greatest of numbers, the perfect number, denotes the hope of eternal life, than which there is nothing higher. Therefore multiply three by ten, lest faith without works be dead. Likewise multiply thirty by a thousand, in order that faith, which works through love, may not hope for reward elsewhere than in heaven.” This precious morsel is found in Rabanus Maurus (ninth century), and also in an anonymous work of the seventh century, printed with the works of Eucherius.—Tr.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain REMOVAL OF THE ARK TO ZION, 2Sa_6:1-19.
REMOVAL OF THE ARK TO ZION, 2Sa_6:1-19.
Having smitten his enemies and fortified Mount Zion, and having for a time, rest from war, David most judiciously took measures to make the capital of his kingdom the central place of worship for all the tribes. He doubtless knew Jehovah’s promise to choose out of all the tribes a place to put his name, (Deu_12:5; Deu_12:11,) and the signal providences that had given him possession of Zion convinced him that this was the chosen city. It was manifestly important, therefore, that the ark of the covenant, the most sacred of all the shrines of the sanctuary, be brought with appropriate ceremonies from its obscurity in Kirjath-jearim, and placed in the city of the king. The parallel account of this event in 1 Chronicles 13, 15, , 16, is more elaborately drawn. For this grand occasion David probably composed Psalms 24.
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1. All the chosen men of Israel — According to 1Ch_13:1-5, David took counsel in this matter with all the chief men, and then “gathered all Israel together from Shihor of Egypt even unto the entering of Hemath.” The expression all Israel often stands for the representatives or chosen men from all the tribes, who in the present instance numbered thirty thousand.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 1–11. Removal of the Ark from Kirjath-jearim. Uzzah smitten…
1–11. Removal of the Ark from Kirjath-jearim. Uzzah smitten for his irreverence
1. Again, David gathered together] And David gathered together again. “Again” refers either to the assembly convened for David’s coronation (ch. 2Sa_5:1-3), or to the muster for the Philistine war recorded in the verses immediately preceding (ch. 2Sa_5:17-25).
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A more elaborate account of David’s preparations for this ceremony is given in 1Ch_13:1-5. We are there told how David consulted with the representatives of the people, and gathered a general assembly of the whole nation. This important step towards the re-establishment of religious worship must be a national act. The Chronicler’s object in writing leads him to give special attention to details of religious organization, where the writer of Samuel is content to condense his account into a single sentence. See Introd. Ch. III. p. 22.
thirty thousand] The smallness of the number may be explained if we suppose it to refer only to the “captains of thousands and hundreds and every leader” mentioned in 1Ch_13:1. A general assembly of the people would have been much more numerous.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (1) Again, David gathered.—The word “again” should be transposed:…
(1) Again, David gathered.—The word “again” should be transposed: “David gathered together again”—referring to the former military musters. In 1Ch_13:1-4, mention is made of the consultations with the leaders of Israel which preceded this gathering, and the gathering itself is there (2Sa_6:5) said to be of “all Israel.” But “all Israel” was evidently represented by the thirty thousand (the LXX. reads seventy thousand) of its more prominent men.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And David gathered together. The long subjection to the…
And David gathered together. The long subjection to the Philistines was at an end, and David"s first care is to bring the ark of Jehovah from Kirjath-jearim to Jerusalem. In this he had a twofold object. For, first, it was an act of piety, testifying David"s gratitude to God, who had so quickly raised him from the condition of a despairing fugitive hiding away in the cave of Adullam to that of a victorious king reigning over an independent and free people. But David had also a political purpose. The weakness of Israel in the past was the result of its divisions, he would heal this by giving it a capital, whither the tribes would come up for worship, and where they would feel that they formed one nation. David had seen the evils of a divided sovereignty, when he and Ishbosheth were wasting the strength of Israel in civil war. For more than half a century he remedied this, but before there had been time for the union of the tribes to be cemented by the gradual influence of religion. Solomon"s oppressive levies of unpaid workmen, forced to labour in his costly buildings, and the despotic stupidity of Rehoboam, broke up united Israel into two feeble states, which henceforward had to struggle hard for a mere existence. The condition of Israel was very similar to that of the United States of North America before their great civil war; except that their president, elected by all the people, and their Congress at Washington, were far stronger bonds of union than any that were possessed by the Israelites. But when there was danger of even these failing to keep them together as one people, the statesmen of the north put forth their utmost powers, and spared neither life nor treasure, because they saw clearly that the victory of the south meant the breaking up of their empire into a multitude of feeble governments, which, by their mutual jealousies, would paralyze and thwart one another. With equal discernment David endeavoured to counteract the jealousy and separate action of the tribes, which was bringing about the disintegration of Israel, by giving them a point of union. Had he gone further north for his capital, he might, perhaps, have overawed the stubborn tribe of Ephraim, which was always the most unmanageable of the sections of Israel. But the situation of Jerusalem upon the borders of Benjamin and Judah, on a hill-top which neither had really possessed, and which was marked out for noble use by its wonderful natural conformation, fully justified David"s choice; and it has had the assent of mankind ever since. David then made this unrivalled spot his capital, and placed there, first of all, his royal residence, whereby it became the centre of all public business and of the administration of law; and, secondly, as a matter of still higher importance, he made it the headquarters of their national religion and the abode oF their God. We see the weight of this religious influence in the anxiety of Jeroboam to counteract it, and in the strength given to Rehoboam by the migration into Judah of those who valued the temple services more than their worldly prosperity. Even Saul had valued the national religion, and had established its headquarters at Nob; but, giving way to the ungoverned anger of a despot, he had destroyed his own work. It was left to one who to the bravery of a soldier added the discernment of a statesman to consolidate the tribes into a nation by establishing their religion upon a sure and influential basis. For this reason also he made their services full of delight and enjoyment by the institution of choral chants and the use of instruments of music; while the psalms which his singers recited were so spiritual and ennobling that we to this day use them in our solemn worship. Granting that there are expressions in them harsher and more intolerant than a disciple of the loving Jesus would now apply to any earthly enemy, yet, as a whole, the Psalms, written in these rough far off times, still form our best book of devotion! In the parallel place in the First Book of Chronicles we have the narrative of this re-establishment of the Mosaic Law given as looked at on the Levitical side, and with many interesting additions. Here the narrator looks at it with the eye of a statesman. We must not, however, suppose that the history there given is arranged in chronological order, as, if so, the two victories in the Valley of Rephaim would have both taken place in the three months during which the ark was resting in the house of Obed-Edom. If this were so, then David would first have had more than three hundred and forty thousand warriors with him at Hebron to anoint him, and with their aid would have captured Jerusalem. lie would next have assembled thirty thousand picked men to bring the ark up to Zion; and yet would have had only his body guard of "mighty men" wherewith to fight Israel"s battles and win its independence. Most probably the order, both here and in Chronicles, is not chronological, and the course of events was as follows. With the help of the men gathered at Hebron David captures Jerusalem. As soon as it is made safe they withdraw, and leave him occupied with planning out and building his city.
Alarmed at the vast concourse at Hebron, and made angry by David"s seizure of a strong fortress, the Philistines hastily pounce upon him in numbers too vast for him to resist. He escapes, leaving but a few men to defend Jerusalem, and hides in his old fastness. Encouraged there by finding three of his mighties more than a match for the garrison at Bethlehem, he gathers the mere valiant spirits, and makes a sudden attack upon the Philistines, who were engaged in ravaging the country as a punishment for its rebellion. They are defeated, but with no great loss; and so with uubroken strength they again invade the country, and march up once more to Jerusalem, prepared to fight a pitched battle, and seize that fortress as the prize of victory. Again, David, with far larger forces, surprises them, and, driving them from ridge to ridge, so utterly vanquishes them that the power of Philistia was destroyed forever. It was after this double victory that Hiram, King of Tyre, whose dominions bordered upon the Philistines, and who had found them disagreeable neighbours, made a close alliance with David; and so at length, free from all fear at home, and honoured abroad, he was able to turn his thoughts to the consolidation of his kingdom and the establishment of Jehovah"s worship. And in the Book of Chronicles we have the details of that spiritual service of psalmody which David added to the Levitical routine of sacrifice, and which bears the significant name of "prophecy," as being the expression of the moral and spiritual side of the Mosaic Law. (1Ch_25:1) Instead of "Again David gathered," the words of the Hebrew are" And David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel." The first gathering was at Hebron, (2Sa_5:1) and before they came David must have given his consent to their wishes, and invited their presence at his anointing. They soon gather together a second time to endow their new kingdom with the safeguards necessary for their spiritual welfare, and the maintenance among them of morality and virtue and the fear of God. Chosen men. This usually means picked men fit for war. But doubtless on this occasion the eiders and all good men possessed of power and influence would be present to strengthen the king"s hand. Thirty thousand. A large number, but not too large. David probably chose one of the great feasts for the occasion, and by the presence of a large number of warriors, and the display of much military pomp, he would impress upon the minds of the people the value of religion. They would thus learn also to respect their new capital as being the place where was the presence of their Deity, and where they were to come to worship him.
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Vers. 1-11. The facts are:
1. David, deeming the time to be come for reorganizing the religiousservices, raises a select force wherewith to bring the ark from its obscurity at Kirjath-jearim.
2. Providing a new cart, the ark is set thereon, and brought out of thehouse of Abinadab under charge of his two sons.
3. David and the people move in joyous procession before the ark to musicfrom all manner of instruments.
4. Arriving at a certain place, Uzzab, putting forth his hand to steady the ark, is smitten for his rashness, and dies before the ark.
5. Thereupon David"s spirit is much troubled, and is filled with dread at thethought of taking charge of so sacred and terrible a treasure.
6. David is restrained by this apprehension from his purpose, andmeanwhile leaves the ark in the house of Obed-Edom.
7. The sojourn of the ark in the house of Obed-Edom for three months proves an occasion of great blessing to him and his family. The remarkable events of this section naturally arrange themselves in a threefold order the bringing up of the ark; the judgment on Uzzah; and the suspension of the undertaking. We here find three topics, which we will take in succession.
Religious restorations.
I RELIGION IS THE FOUNDATION OF NATIONAL PROSPERITY. This is the interpretation of David"s action in seeking to bring the ark out of its obscurity to the central seat of government. From the time when the ark was captured by the Philistines (1Sa 4) and its deposit at Kirjathjearim, (1Sa_6:21) all through the reign of Saul, with the exception of the brief revival at Ebenezer, the religion of the nation had been at a low ebb. That so sacred a treasure should have been left in obscurity, without the forms and order of worship enjoined in the Law of Moses, was an indication of spiritual decadence, and goes far to account for the political weakness of the nation during the life of Saul. David saw clearly that the elevation of his people depended chiefly on two thingsvigorous, enlightened statesmanship, and fidelity in all things to their covenanted God. The establishment of a strong centre of government at Jerusalem was one step; but he saw that, if the nation was to fulfil its highest destiny, the prosperity he desired must also rest on a strictly religious foundation. Hence the effort to restore religious life by bringing up the ark of the covenant. Leaving out of view the particular form of religion, and the symbolism appropriate to that stage in the development of God"s revelation, we can see how profoundly wise David"s judgment was. The human activities developed in national civilized life can only be counted on to run into right and safe channels, and to avoid mutual destruction, when they are pervaded by the spirit of true godliness. Wealth, art, science, commerce, military display, free and easy interchange of thought, these are not self-preservative, these do not give rest to the heart, these do not check the tendencies that carry in themselves the germs of decay and death. Only when the national mind is purified, rendered calm, self-restrained, and God-like in feeling by knowledge and worship of the Holy One is there a guarantee that all will go well and endure. This is taught in the history of Greece, Rome, and other lands where God was not honoured by proper worship, and his Spirit not cherished in daily life; and it is the strenuous teaching of prophets and apostles, and especially of the Saviour, who makes clear what is the light of the world and the healing of the nations.
II THE RESTORATION OF RELIGION IS AN EVENT OF GREAT JOY. The very idea of a restoration of the piety of former days was to David an inspiration. His calling the chief men from all quarters of the land, his expounding to them his sense of what was due to the symbol of God"s presence, his grand processional march, and the exuberant delight with which he sang and danced, reveal the high appreciation he had of the great turn now coming in the religious, life of the nation. The awakening of a new enthusiasm by his influence certainly was a remarkable incident in the national life regarded in contrast with the stolid indifference of the age of Saul. The power of a new and healthy religious emotion over all the faculties, and consequently over all departments of activity, is very great, giving elevation, spring, and purpose to all that is done or attempted. In this case there were special elements entering into the joy. The ark was the symbol of God"s presence; it contained the overshadowed mercy seat, which told of forgiveness and communion; it was the exponent of covenant relationship, and the prophetic indicator to the devout mind of a glory yet to he revealed, and of a covenant on wider basis and embracing vaster blessings. Ezra knew something of this joy of restoration of religion to its proper position. There was joy also when, after centuries of error and wrong, the attention of men was directed once more by Luther and his coadjutors to the mercy seat where men could find a new and living way of access to the Father. No greater occasion for joy could arise for our own land than a full national enthusiasm for those sacred deposits of truth and holy influence which God has given us in his revelation and in the institutions of his Church. What is thus true of restorations on a large scale holds of our own lives, when, after seasons of dreary separation from our God and cold miserable observance of occasional acts of worship, we go forth with all our soul after the living God, and welcome him afresh to our love and trust as the God of our salvation.
III INDIRECT PERSONAL INFLUENCE CONDUCES TO A RESTORATION OF RELIGION. It is instructive to see how, in the providence of God, great movements have sprung out of individual consecrations. The soul of David, purified, elevated, and aroused to grasp spiritual realities, was the human spring of this great change. Of course his official position would secure attention to his requests and commands; but it depended on the bent of his mind as to the form and scope of his commands. This reformation proceeded from him, but not entirely by direct personal influence. His tone and manner, his habits of devotion and strict regard for God"s will, would tell on those in direct contact with him; but that was not enough. Hence in his sagacity he summoned select men from all parts of the land, and through them sought to act on the thousands who could not leave their homes. This call from all towns and villages would awaken thought there, would lead to explanations, would quicken conscience, would disseminate his ideas and the enthusiasm of his spirit, would create the feeling that a holier and wiser time was at hand; and when, subsequently, the thirty thousand returned home, they would further diffuse the influence caught by contact with the godly king, and contribute elements of good to their respective localities. The great reformations of the world have all been effected thus. Few come into direct personal contact with the originators. The multitude get the secondary influences. Nor can we tell how far our influence may thus be diffused. The wave moves on in proportion to the susceptibility of those who first receive its impact. The question of indirect influence deserves much consideration on the part of Churches and individuals.
IV A TIME OF REFORMATION IN RELIGION DEVELOPS MUCH FEELING NOT PURELY SPIRITUAL. Although a great interest was awakened by David"s zeal in the restoration of the more regular worship of God, yet we must discriminate between such devout feelings and clear views of spiritual things as were true of him, and the vague sentiments of the multitude. If Psalm 68, and 132, may be taken as indicative of his real state of mind, we are not to suppose that all the rest who joined in the procession or were stirred to excitement in their homes rose to the same height in the religious life. Men cannot help being roused when powerful religious minds put forth their energies; and in some instances they are awakened to a really new spiritual life; but contagion of thought and sentiment and fervid interest in a great public movement are not the same as vital godliness. They may be better than dull indifference, and may even serve as a step to a higher and more permanent elevation, yet if they be all the reformation is very superficial. Forming an estimate on the general rules that govern human action, we may be sure that many who sang and danced before the ark were only nominal worshippers, and had but slight sympathy with the deep meaning of the words of the psalmist. The same was true of the Protestant Reformation. Multitudes took an interest in doctrinal discussions and in the freedom from priestly domination who knew little of that inner spiritual life which, in the case of Luther and the leaders, found its core in personal union with Christ. Our modern revivals are to be estimated in the same way. We may be thankful that crowds flock to sing and hear and welcome ostensibly the true Ark of the covenant, and many, no doubt, sing with the understanding and rejoice in spirit, but the mass have still to be regarded as relatively strangers to the new and deeper life.
Human judgments on Divine acts of judgment.
The part of the narrative referring to the conduct of Uzzah and the consequences to himself always awaken in the reader a feeling of surprise at the apparent disproportion of the punishment to the offence. Sympathy is felt with the feeling of David, who was "displeased," and could no further carry out his project of conveying the ark to Jerusalem. Evil minded men have not been alone in pointing to this record as an evidence of what they would call the unworthy representations of the Divine Being contained in the Old Testament. It is well to look this difficulty fully in the face, and see, if possible, how far man is warranted to express a judgment at all upon an event so terrible and seemingly inexplicable, on such principles at least as govern human acts of justice. Note here
I THE REASONS FOR DIVINE JUDGMENTS ARE NOT ALWAYS APPARENT TO MAN, AND YET MAY BE MOST VALID. It is a first principle that the "Judge of all the earth" cannot but do right. That is the solid rock on which to rest when events occur in providence that do not admit of explanation. It is, further, a sound position that God locks at the inner life of men, and knows exactly the tone and spirit concealed from human view; and it is this condition of the inner man, and not the bare outward act, which constitutes the real character and determines the moral value of the action in the sight of God. Also, incidental actions are incidental in their form because of passing circumstances; but the state of mind out of which they spring is permanent; for given two minds of different spiritual tone and bias, they will, when placed under pressure of the same external circumstances, produce totally different actions. Now, we have a right to assume, prima facie, that, if there are no adequate reasons for the sudden terrible punishment discoverable in the bare and apparently well-disposed act of Uzzah, there must have been, in his habitual state of feeling towards the symbol of God"s presence and the whole events of the day, something determinately evil, and of which that which seemed to others to be an innocent act was known by God to be the natural outcome. That was the case in the destruction of Dathan and Abiram. The falsehood of Ananias Was outwardly only like other falsehoods, but we are told that God saw something more than the ordinary antecedent of a lie in common life. There have been judgments on nations and families and individuals, and are still, which do come in the providence of God, but the hidden reasons of which only eternity will reveal. As our Saviour during his earthly life often spoke to the unuttered thoughts of men, and not to meet definite words, so here and in other cases the Divine act was doubtless to meet an unuttered, a permanent, not fully expressed state of mind, of which Uzzah was conscious, but of which men knew little. The same will be true of future judgments of God; they will be based, not on the ostensible act merely, hut on the tenor of the whole life. (Mat_7:22, 23 25:40-46)
II THE GUILT OF ACTIONS IS DEPENDENT VERY MUCH ON PRIVILEGES ENJOYED. The Philistines had handled the ark, (1Sa_5:1, 1Sa_5:2) and no immediate evil came to them for so doing. Their subsequent affliction seems to have been owing to their detention and mockery of the ark, (1Sa_5:3-7) not to the fact of touching it. But it was a positive injunction that the Levites should not touch the sacred; (Num_4:15) and the particular injunction was illustrated and rendered more significant by the regulation that the ark should always be carried on staves, thus not needing the touch of any hand. The Philistines were men "without law;" Uzzah was a man "under law." The whole history of his people in relation to ceremonial had been full of instruction of the same kind. The guilt of a deed depends on previous knowledge or means of obtaining knowledge. Capernaum is not judged by the same rule as the people of Sodom. The Jew is pronounced inexcusable because of his superior light. (Ro 2) Severer punishment comes on those who, possessing gospel light, do deeds worthy of darkness (Joh_3:19; Heb_10:29) Judgment may fall on the "house of God" which would not come on those not in the house. (1Pe_4:17)
III INDIFFERENCE TO DIVINE LAWS IS PROGRESSIVE. The disregard of the well-known injunction in this case was probably the culmination of an indifference which had been growing for a long time. An evil tendency or mental habit may be in process of formation, and may constitute a state of actual spiritual degeneracy, a long time before an occasion occurs for its manifestation in any overt act that is distinctly in violation of positive law. The degeneracy which was far too common during the reign of Saul doubtless had penetrated to the home of Uzzah, and the neglect of honour paid to the ark during those long years of its stay in his father"s abode, together with the kind of familiarity with it bred of its presence as a relic of a former elaborate ritual, could not but have resulted in a rather decided insensibility to the sacredness of minute regulations. The act of touching the ark may have been a consequence of this condition, and the "error," or "rashness," spoken of (ver. 8) may indicate that there was not in him that quickness of spiritual sensibility which would at once have seen that no casual circumstance can set aside a command based on a great and Divine order of things. There is not a more subtle evil of our life than this gradual deepening of indifference arising from neglect of spiritual culture and encouraged by unthoughtful familiarity with sacred things. The conscience passes through stages of degeneration till we come to do things without compunction which once would have caused us anguish of spirit. How far our children are in danger from constant familiarity with religious phrases and usages is a serious question. The same applies also to ordinary worshippers in our sanctuaries.
IV THERE IS POSITIVE IMPIETY IN DISTRUSTING GOD"S PROVISION FOR THE SAFETY OF HIS OWN GLORY. The ark was the visible symbol of God"s presence. His glory was there, so far as it could be manifested in visible form to man at that stage of his religious education. The command that no Levite should ever touch it was among the arrangements made for its stay among the people. All such arrangements of God are made on full prevision of every possibility. To say that circumstances might arise when the command would he inadequate to the maintenance of the ark in its integrity among men, would be an impeachment of the Divine wisdom and power. The command had reference solely to human action, and did not reveal what reserve of power and appliance there might be for securing the safety of the ark at all times. Common sense, to say nothing of religious faith, ought to have taught that the Eternal would take care of his own if he declined the aid of man, or at least that it was his will that his own should suffer temporary injury now and then. It was irrational and impious, therefore, to distrust his provision for securing his own ends. The putting forth of the hand in contravention of the command may have been the expression of this. The same applies equally to the New Testament manifestation of the glory of God in Christ. For times of danger and of seeming safety he has enjoined on us certain conduct in relation to the kingdom of Christ, which proceeds on the presupposition that he has means of securing the integrity of that kingdom on the basis of our restricting our conduct to that prescribed order. By prayer, by truthfulness, by spirituality of mind, by love, by persuasive words, by blameless, meek lives, by quiet faith in the invisible power of the Spirit, we are to do our part in relation to the preservation of the integrity of the kingdom, and to its processional march to final triumph. If, when supposing it liable to suffer, or when observing a great shock arising from the circumstances of its position in our time, we depart from the order laid down, and trim to the world and become unspiritual and untruthful, or depend less on faith in the invisible power of the Holy Spirit than on mere human science and social influences, then we virtually fall into this view of the sin of Uzzah, we distrust God"s provision for securing in the world those interests that are bound up with the work and Person of Christ. Man is responsible for the observance of what is enjoined, not for imaginary temporary consequences that will ensue from an observance of what is enjoined. Here is the clue to hosts of failures of duty and wretched expediencies.
V PROFOUND REVERENCE AS AN ELEMENT OF CHARACTER IS OF PRIME IMPORTANCE IN PERSONAL AND NATIONAL LIFE. No great character is formed without profound reverence as a chief feature. Men are mean, weak, morally low, in so far as they are trifling and destitute of awe. The spirit of levity, which treats all things as common and fit subjects for free and thoughtless handling, never reads the great lessons of existence, and never wins respect. A reverent man alone forms a true estimate of himself in relation to the vast order of things of which he is but a part. An irreverent nation lacks the strong, sober qualities which alone grow out of reverence as their root, and which alone can produce noble, strenuous actions. Now, the whole drift of the Mosaic ritual and commands was to develop and foster reverence in the people. The solemnities and details in reference to the ark, the sanctuary, the altars, the sacrifices, the cleansings, and assemblies were rational in their specific relations. The great gathering at the foot of Sinai, and the solemn restrictions there laid down, (Ex 19) were evidently designed to develop a becoming "fear of the Lord" and profound regard for sacred things. The judgment on Dathan and Abiram was a check on a tendency to irreverence. The very hope of the people depended on the due maintenance of this reverent spirit. All had understood the command not to touch the ark in that light, and the judgment on Uzzah for the violation of that command was only another solemn way of impressing the people with the prime importance of this feeling. Hence, also, our care to encourage such forms of worship as best foster reverence of spirit, and such styles of teaching as exhibit the facts and principles from the recognition of which reverence will naturally arise. Hence, again, our appreciation of those providential events, such as sickness, bereavement, and stupendous manifestations of untraceable wisdom and power, which awaken or strengthen the feeling, "Great and holy is the Lord: who shall stand in his presence?
VI THERE IS AN EDUCATIONAL CHARACTER IN JUDGMENTS. The dull heart of man often needs something more than the still small voice and quiet order of events to arouse it to a sense of what is due to God and what is wisest and best for man. In every judgment say of Sodom, of Pharaoh, of Dathan, of Ananias there is pure justice; no wrong is done to the individuals concerned; but the acts have a reference beyond the persons affected thereby. The contemporaries of Abraham, the Egyptians, Israel in the desert, and the primitive Church, were instructed by what occurred in their midst. Many judgments are connected with the explicit statement that "the nations may know." The judgment on Uzzah formed part of the educational process by which God was bringing the people out of their low spiritual condition to the elevation in tone which would render them more effective in carrying out Divine purposes in the world. We cannot fully estimate how much we owe to the influence over us of the record of God"s judgments contained in his Word. Nor is it enough to say that they are repressive in their influence, and not conducive to the developing of love and filial trust and the free joy of a superior life; for the repression and restraint of evil tendencies is requisite in creatures strongly under their influence, and, while checking from what would soon be utter, hopeless ruin, they open the way for the action of other gentle, tender influences which do develop the free joyous spirit of the obedient child.
VII THE SEVERITY AND GOODNESS OF GOD ARE PERFECTLY CONSISTENT AND OFTEN COEXIST. It is had theology based on defective knowledge of Scripture to represent God in an exclusive aspect of mildness. Though we need not become material in our conceptions, and think of contrary attributes in him as so many quasi-physical forces contending one against the other or finding an outlet at the expense of one another, yet the very conception of love, when just, implies a rigid, severe guardianship of the order of things on which the welfare of the holy depends. This combination shines forth in the death of Uzzah. In case he was a really devout man, and simply in an unguarded moment of unwatchfulness put forth his hand, then his sudden death though necessary to the maintenance of the ritual which we have seen was based on the principle of inculcating reverence, and useful, as an educational act, for the People would not include, necessarily, loss and ruin in the next life. He might be saved, though as by fire. This combination of severity and goodness shines forth most conspicuously in the work of our Saviour, in whose life and death the reprobation of sin and the outflow of mercy to sinners form the two elements which render the cross a mystery of justice and mercy.
Distrust a foil to faith and love.
it is said that David was displeased, and in his displeasure there arose a fear hitherto unknown to him, and, as a consequence of these, the enterprise on which he had entered with so much joy and confidence was abandoned till, as we shall see further on, the reward which came to Obed-Edom"s faith and love, standing in contrast with David"s gloomy imaginings, brought him round to a better mind.
I DISCONTENT WITH THE ORDER OF PROVIDENCE PROCEEDS FROM A COMBINATION OF SELF-WILL AND IGNORANCE. David was dissatisfied and vexed in spirit with what had occurred to interrupt the joyous carrying out of his programme. It was not so much dissatisfaction with what Uzzah had done, or pare that he was dead, but annoyance that for such a deed the great terror of death should have come on them all. Had he spoken out all his feelings and thoughts, he would have said that such an event was undesirable, out of proportion to the deed, and an intrusive disturbance of a great and important ceremonial. Had he been at the head of authority, no such calamity as that should have interfered with a grand national undertaking. Possibly, apart from frustration of his own immediate plans for festivity, he may have been apprehensive of the effect of such a dreadful doom upon the mass of the People whom he was anxious to interest in the restoration of religion. But we can now see how all this was the outcome of self-will and ignorance. He wanted things to go on in his own way; he did not know, as he might have known on more profound reflection, that to maintain the authority of law and inculcate reverence and check national tendencies to levity were for the highest good of the People, and that these could be most assuredly promoted by this sad event. We have here an instance, in conspicuous form, of the very common circumstance of men secretly complaining of the order of events which Providence chooses. A rainy season, a sweeping earthquake, a transmission of evil consequences from parent to child, the destiny of the wicked, and many other things which do come in consequence of the constitution of the physical and moral worlds, often raise within the heart the feeling that some other arrangement would surely have been better, and that had we our way such things would not be possible. This is really self-assertion, love of our own way, ignorance of the innumerable ramifications of single events and acts, and inability to penetrate into the conditions on which alone a permanent and generally beneficial order of things can be secured. The psalmist rose to wiser thoughts and holier feelings (Psa_73:13-22 Psa_92:4-6; cf. Mat_11:25, Mat_11:26; Rom_11:33, Rom_11:34)
II STRONG UNHOLY FEELING IMPAIRS THE CONCEPTION OF TRUTH AND DUTY. That David"s annoyance with the order of Providence was a decidedly unholy feeling is obvious it was the opposite of that meek, loving acquiescence in the ways and acts of God, even when they are most painful, which characterizes the truly filial spirit; and that it was strong is seen in the fact that from that moment he failed, under its action, to see the glorious truth enshrined in the symbol before him, and was moved to abandon the work to which he had committed himself and the people. Psychologically it can be proved that all emotion affects more or less the steadiness of intellectual perception. Morally it is a matter of experience that an emotion of anger, distrust, or annoyance always interferes with a clear perception of spiritual truth. Plato was right in affirming that the nouv unaffected by the storms or" passion and sense alone can see reality. The god of this world, by engaging and exciting feelings, blinds the minds of men, so that they see not the glory which shines in the face of Christ. David"s fear of the ark, his dread lest something should happen (ver. 9), was contrary to all he had felt before. Hitherto the ark had been to him the symbol of that blessed presence which had brought joy and comfort to his heart a reminder of the mercy which endureth forever. It was not possible to see this precious truth through the mists of unholy feeling that had been permitted to rise in his soul. And this shrinking from what had once been reverently regarded as the spring of purest joy and satisfaction at once weakened the resolve be had formed to bring the blessed symbol to his seat of government and give it there the honour due. Duty gave way to the disgust and disappointment and foolish apprehensions generated by his own proud will. The correlative truths are clear, namely, in so far as we are lowly and absolutely acquiescent in the Divine wilt is our spirit calm and clear and strong in its recognition of highest spiritual truth, and in so far as this truth is perceived the path of duty is steadily followed. None knew the truth and pursued the path of duty as Christ, because none were so pure and calm and one in will with the Father. Herein is a lesson to teachers and taught; to those who meet with trouble and those who move on in joyful procession.
III FAITH AND LOVE EXERCISED IN A TIME OF RELIGIOUS BACKSLIDING ARE ABUNDANTLY REWARDED. David"s piety was now at fault; he had slipped backwards in the path of godliness; his conduct was an unjust reflection on Providence and on the holy symbol that shadowed forth the presence of the people"s real Protector and Friend. Had men followed his example or caught his temper, they would have shrunk from the ark as from the source of death; and it would have been left in an obscurity and neglect equal to that of Kirjath-jearim. But all this serves as a foil to set forths in striking beauty, the conduct of Obed-Edom, who, not dreading with slavish fear the Holy One of Israel, but, doubtless, in a quiet way, proud of the privilege, welcomed the ark to his house. Whether he first sought the honour, or whether this was the nearest Levite"s house, we know not. In any case we can imagine, from the tenor of the narrative, how with careful haste the house was cleansed and prepared for its holy guest; the best and fairest chamber made, if it might be, yet more meet for such high honour; the Levite and his sons purified, that they might fitly bear in the ark to its destined place, venturing, perhaps, as they bore it along, to utter or think of the" ancient words, "Return, O Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel!" Honoured, happy Obed-Edom What faith in God! what love for the blessed presence! Did sleep fall upon him that first night? Was there not a joy that would make "songs in the night"? The bliss, later on, of Zacchaeus was in a sense forestalled by Obed-Edom. The reality of the faith and love, and its continued manifestation in various forms of reverential interest, is proved by the rich blessing that came upon him and all belonging to him. The house became the abode of the higher forms of religious sentiment which in themselves are choicest treasures. Honour fell upon parents, and children felt the blessed charm. Servants began to feel, as never before, that their services were more than attentions paid to man. Providence smiled on field and vineyard. Men saw that somehow this home was now blessed above all homes. What lessons here for all! Who would dread with slavish fear the Christ, the Manifestation of the glory of the Father? Who would not welcome him as chief, most cherished Guest? Who would not subordinate all the arrangements of home life that he may be duly honoured there? Who would "not rejoice that the Holy One does condescend to dwell thus with man, and brighten the fairest scenes of home life? Blessings abound where he is welcome Guest. No fear of flashing fire to destroy. To faith and love there is only mercy and peace.
O happy house, O home supremely blest, Where thou, Lord Jesus Christ, art entertained As the most welcome and beloved Guest, With true devotion and with love unfeigned;
Where all hearts beat in unison with thine; Where eyes grow brighter as they look on thee; Where all are ready, at the slightest sign, To do thy will, and do it heartily!
GENERAL LESSONS.
1. Times of religious excitement may arise in the natural progress ofreligion, but they obviously are not to be regarded as a normal condition of thought and feeling, and they may, by their absorption of one class of feelings, lay us open to peculiar temptations.
2. In every season of apparent and real prosperity in religion we ought toexercise self-control, in prospect of the possibility of events arising through the imperfection of men which, from their nature, mar our joy.
3. Secret murmuring against what Providence ordains is a sin to which allare very prone, and therefore it is important to watch against it very closely, especially as it does more damage to our inner life than is often supposed.
4. We ought to ponder carefully the enormous injury done, both by ourloss of personal influence and the force of example, when we, out of a feeling of sudden disappointment, throw aside solemn duties.
5. Those who render service to the cause of God in times of urgency maybe sure that a rich blessing will come that will cause them to forget any temporary inconvenience experienced.
HOMILIES BY B. DALE.
Vers. 1, 2 (JERUSALEM.) (1Ch_13:1-6)
The ark sought after long neglect.
1. The ark was the central point of the religion of Israel. In this sacredchest were deposited the two tables of the Law (the testimony, the great document of the covenant); on it rested the covering (kapporeth) propitiatory (LXX), expiatory (Vulgate), or mercy seat (Authorized Version), "above it cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat,
2. whereon the invisible King of Israel, the Lord of hosts, was enthroned; and there atonement was made, by the sprinkling of blood, for the sins of the people. (Exo_25:10-22) It was a symbol of Jehovah"s presence and fellowship, his righteousness and mercy, his protection and blessing; a type of heavenly things.
3. Of the ark nothing is recorded since it was placed, about seventy yearspreviously, on its return from the land of the Philistines, in the house of Abinadab, on the hill, at Kirjath jearim; and Eleazar, his son, was consecrated to keep it. (1Sa_6:21, 1Sa 6:22) During this long period it continued there, separated from the tabernacle in Nob, (1Sa_21:6 1Sa_22:13, 1Sa_22:19) and afterwards in Gibeon, (1Ch_21:29) unsought and neglected, (1Ch_13:3) "buried in darkness and solitude." The worship and service of God were necessarily incomplete an effect and evidence of the imperfect relations subsisting between the nation and its Divine King, and of its divided and distracted condition.
1. The time had now come for the restoration of the ark to its proper placeas the centre of national worship. The union of all the tribes under "the man of God"s choice," the conquest of Jerusalem, the defeat of the Philistines, prepared the way for the great enterprise; and to it David was impelled by a truly theocratic spirit. "This act had its root in David"s truly pious feeling, was the living expression of his gratitude to the Lord for his favour, and aimed at the elevation and concentration of the religious life of Israel" (Erdmann).
2. The truths and principles symbolized by the ark are fully embodied inChrist and Christianity. (Heb_9:11) It may, therefore, be regarded, generally, as representing the true religion; and its restoration from "captivity" a religious reformation. (see 1Sa_7:2-6) In the going forth of the king at the head of "all Israel" from Jerusalem "to Baale, that is, to Kirjath-jearim, which belonged to Judah (twelve miles distant), to bring up thence the ark of God," we observe
I AN EXALTED AIM.
1. The rendering to God of the honour which is his due, by open acknowledgment of his supremacy, proper reverence for his great Name, cheerful obedience to his requirements. The religious life of a people is not only expressed in a proper regard for the ordinances of public worship, (1Sa_1:3) but also greatly promoted thereby. When these are neglected, corrupted, or negligently performed, there can hardly be a higher aim than to make them attractive and pure, and induce a worthy performance of them. "O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!". (Psa_96:9)
2. The realization of closer communion with God, and the reception of the blessings that flow from such communion mercy and grace, righteousness and strength, safety and peace. "True religion can never be the affair of the individual alone. A right religious relation to God must include a relation to our fellow men in God, and solitary acts of devotion can never satisfy the wants of healthy spiritual life, which calls for a visible expression of the fact that we worship God together in the common faith which binds us into a religious community. The necessity for acts of public and united worship is instinctively felt, wherever religion has a social influence, and in Israel it was felt the more strongly because Jehovah was primarily the God and King of the nation, who had to do with the individual Israelite only in virtue of his place in the commonwealth" (J. Robertson Smith, "The Prophets of Israel").
3. The fulfilment of the purpose of God concerning his people that they may be holy, united, prosperous, mighty, and "show forth his praise". (Isa_43:21) "O Lord, I beseech thee, send now prosperity". (Psa_118:25) "The next great step of David (after the conquest of Jerusalem) was the re-establishment of the national religion, the worship of Jehovah, with suitable dignity and magnificence. Had David acted solely from political motives, this measure had been the wisest he could adopt. The solemn assembling of the tribes would not only cement the political union of the monarchy, but also increase the opulence of his capital and promote the internal commerce of the country.; while it brought the heads of the tribes, and indeed the whole people, under the cognizance and personal knowledge of the sovereign, it fixed the residence of the more eminent of the priesthood in the metropolis" (Milman).
II AN ENEGETIC LEADER. The enterprise was initiated, inspired, accomplished, by David, whose anxious thought on the matter is alluded to in Psalm 132. (written subsequently), "Jehovah"s resting-place.
Remember, O Jehovah, to David All his harassing cares, Who sware to Jehovah, Vowed to the Mighty One of Jacob:
"I will not come into.the tent of my house, I will not go up to the couch of my bed, I will not give sleep to mine eyes, Nor slumber to mine eyelids,
Until I find a place for Jehovah, A dwelling for the Mighty One of Jacob." Lo! we heard of it at Ephratah, We found it in the fields of the wood.
Let us go into his dwelling, Let us bow ourselves before his footstool. Arise, O Jehovah, to thy rest, Thou and the ark of thy strength. (Psa_132:1-8)
Ephratah, at Bethlehem, the idea of making this great transference" (Act_7:46) may have first "occurred to David"s mind" (Stanley; but see Commentaries on this psalm). "And David consulted with the captains of thousands," etc.; (1Ch_13:1-4) "gathered together all the chosen men warriors of Israel;" and "arose and went.
1. Eminent piety in the individual manifests itself in deep and tenderconcern with respect to a common neglect of Divine worship, and in wise and diligent effort to repair it. "David"s ruling passion was zeal for the house and worship of God". (Psa_26:8)
2. Men in authority should make use of their position for that purpose; not, indeed, in the way of compulsion, but of example and persuasion. "Where shall we find today men whose first concern is for the honour of God; who really believe that the favour of the Highest is the true palladium of their country"s welfare?" (Blaikie).
3. Thus one man sometimes effects a general and lasting reformation. Itwas so with Samuel and David, and it has been so with others. How much may be accomplished by one man who is thoroughly in earnest!
4. In this manner such a man fulfils the will of God concerning him, and proves his Divine calling. (see 1Sa_13:14) "These things show David to be "a man after God"s own heart," every way fitted for the purpose for which he was exalted, a prince of the largest capacities and noblest views; and the extensiveness and national utility of the scheme he formed, in which the honour of God and the welfare and advantage of his people were equally consulted, demonstrate the piety and goodness of his heart, and clothe him with a glory in which no prince could ever rival or equal him" (Chandler, "Life of David," pp. 236, 320).
III A SYMPATHETIC PEOPLE. In response to David"s appeal, "all the congregation that were with him," etc.
1. A leader of men, however great, stands in need of their sympathy and support, and can do nothing without them.
2. It is by their means that he achieves success. The age contributes as much to him as he to it.
3. The union and cooperation of the people with him are a sign of the favour and blessing of God, and a condition of further prosperity. "The new enthusiasm and elevation of the community was not the creation of David. It met him as his noblest incentive; but it is the completeness with which he suffered it to take possession of him that constitutes the secret of his peculiar greatness, and the charm which never failed to attach to his struggles and triumphs all the strongest and purest spirits of his age" (Ewald).
IV A UNITED AND ZEALOUS ENDEAVOUR. Captains of thousands, every leader, brethren everywhere, all Israel from Shihor of Egypt even unto the entering of Hamath, priests and Levites, chosen warriors, numbering thirty thousand (seventy thousand, LXX), went "to find the lost relic of the ancient religion." They felt the value of the object of their search; were intent on its possession; "of one heart and one soul;" rested not in wishes and prayers merely, but exhibited their concord in practical, appropriate, persevering activity. It was a fresh starting point for the nation, the commencement of a new religious era. Be it ours now to seek and strive after a still more glorious time!
Oh, may the hour Soon come when all false gods, false creeds, false prophets, Allowed in thy good purpose for a time, Demolished, the great world shall be at last The mercy seat of God, the heritage Of Christ, and the possession of the Spirit,
The Comforter, the Wisdom! shall all be One land, one home, one friend, one faith, one law, Its ruler God, its practice righteousness, Its life peace! (Bailey, "Festus"). D.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain And David arose and went with all the people…
2Sa_6:1-23
And David arose and went with all the people that were with him from Baale of Judah to bring up from thence the Ark of God.
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The Ark brought to Zion
In order to understand the full meaning of this transaction, it will be necessary to recall what the Ark was, and what was the occasion due the significance of its removal from Shiloh, and its long-continued absence from the sanctuary from that time forward. Immediately after the formal ratification of the covenant between Jehovah and Israel at Mount Sinai (Exo_24:1-18), by sacrifice and the sacred meal partaken of by the representatives of the people in Gods immediate presence, Moses was directed to come up into the mountain, and receive Gods covenants. And the first direction given was for the preparation of a sanctuary that Jehovah might dwell among them (25:8); and the first thing appointed to be made for this purpose was the Ark (v. 10) with its mercy-seat (v. 17), of which the Lord said to Moses (v. 22), There I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy-seat, from between the two cherubim, which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel. Nothing had as yes been said about the tabernacle, or the altar, or sacrifices, or the priesthood. All this was secondary and subordinate to the first essential matter, which was the presence of God Himself as represented and pledged in the Ark. The tabernacle was to contain the Ark, and it was the house of God, not merely because it was dedicated to sacred uses, but because He who had graciously linked his presence with the Ark dwelt in it. When, therefore, the ungodliness of Israel and the gross iniquity of Elis sons, the priests, was punished by suffering the Ark of God to be captured by the Philistines, this was an event of the direst significance. It was not merely that in the adverse fortunes of war a precious and highly valued treasure had been lost, an ancient and sacred relic which was devoutly prized, and had hitherto been sacredly guarded. It was an absolutely irreparable loss. When the Ark was taken away, Jehovah himself was gone. The tabernacle was thenceforward an empty shell; the priests ministered before a vacant shrine. No new ark was made to take the place of the old. This was impossible. Another chest might have been made of the same pattern and dimensions, and it could have been similarly overlaid with gold. Like figures of golden cherubim could not have been set above it. It might have been exactly reproduced in material and form; but this newly framed model would not have been the Ark. What the Ark was in Israels esteem, and what the sacred historian believed it to be, is sufficiently apparent from his narrative. Gods presence is represented to be as firmly linked with it by the statements of the history as by the enactments of the law. This long neglect of the Ark from the time of Eli to that of David, from its removal from Shiloh to its transportation to Zion, is utterly unaccountable but upon one hypothesis, and that is the explanation afforded by the sacred writers themselves, namely, that the Lord had for the time withdrawn the visible manifestation from Israel, The breach between Jehovah and his people, created by their transgressions, had not yet been healed. And until this was done, He would not again establish His dwelling in the midst of them. It cannot be because Samuel was ignorant of the existence of the Ark, or of its sacred significance. For he was brought up in the temple at Shiloh, where the Ark of God was, and there it was within its hallowed precincts that Jehovah had first revealed Himself to him, and foretold the desolation of the sanctuary because of the iniquity practised there by the, degenerate priests. It cannot be because the Levitical law was not yet in existence, and the sacredness with which it surrounded the Ark was not yet popularly ascribed to it. For the facts already above recited demonstrate the contrary. It is not because the Ark was slightingly regarded, that it was for so long a time suffered to slumber in silence, but for precisely the opposite reason. Now, however, the long term of the Lords displeasure is ended, and the way is prepared for Him to return with His power and grace to His people, to renew the symbol of His presence, and to fix His residence again in the midst of them. The alienation of Jehovah was removed. And Davids first care, upon his being established as king over all Israel, in which he was most heartily seconded by the people at large, was to have the Ark brought to his capital, and set up there in an appropriate sanctuary, so that he might reign under the shadow of the Almighty: Jehovah the real king of Israel, and David ruling simply as his vicegerent. Jehovah thus returns once more to Israel, and takes up his abode in the midst of his people. The return of the Ark is not merely the bringing forth into notice of a long-neglected and sacred vessel belonging to the sanctuary; it, is the coming back of God Himself to a people whom he had temporarily forsaken. (W. H. Green, D. D., LL. D.)
The ark brought up to Jerusalem
1. In bringing up the ark to Jerusalem, the king showed a commendable desire to interest the whole nation, as far as possible, in the solemn service. A handful might have sufficed for all the actual labour that was required; but thousands of the chief people were summoned to be present, and that on the principle both of rendering due honour to God, and of conferring a benefit on the people. It is not a handful of professional men only that should be called to take a part in the service of religion; Christian people generally should have an interest, in the ark of God; and other things being equal, that church which interests the greatest number of people and attracts them to active work will not only do most for advancing Gods kingdom, but will enjoy most of inward life and prosperity.
2. The joyful spirit in which this service was performed by David and his people is another interesting feature of the transaction. God enthroned on Zion, God in the midst of Jerusalem--what happier or more thrilling thought was it possible to cherish? God, the sun and shield of the nation, occupying for His residence the one fitting place in all the land, and sending over Jerusalem and over all the country emanations of love and grace, full of blessing for all that feared His name.
3. But the best of services may be gone about in a faulty way. There may be some criminal neglect of Gods will that, like the dead fly in the apothecarys pot of ointment, causes the perfume to send forth a stinking savour. And so it was on this occasion. What induced them to follow the example of the Philistines rather than the directions of Moses, we do not know, and can hardly conjecture. It does not appear to have been a mere oversight. It has something of a deliberate plan about it, as if the law given in the wilderness were now obsolete, and in so small a matter any method might be chosen that the people liked. It may have been an error of inadvertence. But that somewhere there was a serious offence is evident from the punishment with which it was visited (1Ch_15:13). The great lesson for all time is to beware of following our own devices in the worship of God when we have clear instructions in His word how we are to worship Him. This lamentable event put a sudden end to the joyful service. It may happen to you that some Christian undertaking on which you have entered with great zeal and ardour, and without any surmise that you are not doing right, is not blessed, but meets with some rough shock, that places you in a very painful position. You are attacked with unexampled rudeness, sinister aims are laid to your charge, and the purpose of your undertaking is declared to be to hurt and discourage those whom you were bound to aid. The shock is so violent and so rude that for a time you cannot understand it. But when you go into your closet, and think of the matter as permitted by God, you wonder still more why God should thwart you in your desire to do good. Rebellious feelings hover about your heart float if God is to treat you in this way, it were better to abandon His service altogether. But surely no such feeling is ever to find a settled place in your heart. You may be sure that the rebuff which God has permitted you to encounter is meant as a trial of your faith and humility.
4. The Lord does not forsake His people, nor leave them for ever under a cloud. It was not long before the downcast heart of David was reassured. When the ark had been left at the house of Obed-edom, Obed-edom was not afraid to take it in. Its presence in other places had hitherto been the signal for disaster and death. It is not so much Gods ark in our time and country that needs a lodging, but Gods servants, Gods poor, sometimes persecuted fugitives flying from an oppressor, very often pious men in foreign countries labouring under infinite discouragements to serve God. The Obed-edom who takes them in will not suffer. Again, then, King David, encouraged by the experience of Obed-edom, goes forth in royal state to bring up the ark to Jerusalem. The error that had proved so fatal was now rectified. The check he had sustained three months before had only dammed up his feelings, and they rolled out now with all the greater volume. His soul was stirred by the thought that the symbol of God-head was now to be placed in his own city, close to his own dwelling; that it was to find an abiding place of rest in the heart of the kingdom, on the heights where Melchizedek had reigned, close to where he had blessed Abraham, and which God had destined as His own dwelling from the foundations of the world. He sacrificed, he played, he sang, he leapt and danced before the Lord, with all his might; he made a display of enthusiasm which the cold-hearted Michal, as she could not understand it nor sympathise with it, had the folly to despise and the cruelty to ridicule.
5. A few other circumstances are briefly noticed in connection with the close of the service, when the ark had been solemnly enshrined within the tabernacle that David had reared for it on Mount Zion.
(1) The first is that David offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before the Lord. The burnt-offering was a fresh memorial of sin, and therefore a fresh confession that even in connection with that very holy service there were sins to be confessed, atoned for, and forgiven.
(2) Again, we find David after the offering of the burnt-offerings and the peace-offerings blessing the people in the name of the Lord of hosts. This was something more than merely expressing a wish or offering a prayer for their welfare. It was like the benediction with which we close our public services. The benediction is more than a prayer, The servant of the Lord appears in the attitude of dropping on the heads of the people the blessing which he invokes. Not that he or any man can convey heavenly blessings to a people that do not by faith appropriate them and rejoice in them. But the act of benediction implies this: These blessings are yours if you will only have them. The last act of public worship is a great encouragement to faith. When the peace of God that passeth all understanding, or the blessing of God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, or the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost are invoked over your heads, it is to assure you that if you will but accept of them through Jesus Christ, these great blessings are actually yours.
(3) The third thing David did was to deal to every one of Israel, both man and woman, a loaf of bread, and a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine. It was a characteristic act, worthy of a bountiful and generous nature like Davids. Yet Jesus did not abstain on some rare occasions from feeding the multitude, though the act was liable to abuse. The example both of David and of Jesus may show us that though not habitually, yet occasionally, it is both right and fitting that religious service should be associated with a simple repast.
4. The last thing recorded of David is that he returned to bless his house. The cares of the State and the public duties of the day were not allowed to interfere with his domestic duty. It is plain from this that, amid all the imperfections of his motley household, he could not allow his children to grow up ignorant of God, thus dealing a rebuke to all who, outdoing the very heathen in heathenism, have houses without an altar and without a God. (W. G. Blaikie, D. D.)
The return of the ark
I. The removal of the ark from Baale to Jerusalem. This period was the very prime of Davids life, and power, and glory, and in it he undertakes the great business of confirming the worship of God. We can easily see that this forwardness to promote religion was his duty, as he was king of a religious state; yet it is in that very form and light that his conduct speaks to us with the highest authority. To rulers and magistrates, kings and ministers, what a lesson does it afford, what a salutary counsel! Men are religious beings, endowed with the faculty of religion, which other inferior animals possess not; their duty is, in every relation in life, religion. In authority, the main object should be to legislate for the true welfare of the subject, which is connected with religion alone. If rulers and legislators, on any pretext whatever, uphold and pension idolatry in a state, Or indulge the tendency of the multitude to idolatry, they decidedly labour the ruin of the subject, here and hereafter, as well as their own.
II. Davids grievous offences. The prescribed mode of transportation was wholly neglected. Men there are well disposed to serve God, and give Him the best of all their property, of life, and love, and reason, and substance, who hasten indiscreetly and illegitimately to the call of religion. Some will serve God, provided one article of the faith may be omitted. Others provided one favourite sin be allowed. Others, provided that their own fancy, their own wild conceptions of religion, their poetical deism, and poetical philanthropy, be taken for religion. And they fail! How could it be otherwise, when God did never call any man to a defective creed, or defective morality, or to despise His own rule of religion. And they are offended when some judgment has fallen in the very highway of their service, and declared it void and rejected! Such a judgment as distress, or death, or spiritual weakness, or ignominy, and the increase of folly rather than of religion. By these things God may declare our service dishonoured and unacceptable. The temporary sojourn of the ark brought numerous blessings on the house of Obed-edom. Religion--scriptural religion--is the means of solid prosperity. The time was short which was here allowed for the proof of a special providence in behalf of those who kept the ark of God within their walls, yet it was enough to confer blessings of health, and wealth, and honour. And if our time be limited but to one hour from this moment forth, and if we can carry with us, not the ark of the law, but the ark of mercy--the covenant salvation of Jesus Christ, by faith, who can set a limit to the blessings which shall accrue to us? Loved of Christ, what can harm us? cherished of God, what can hurt our peace, or damage our fortunes? We are all candidates for earthly welfare; believe it, then, the only and true secret of success, is in the sincere worship of the Saviour, as God of Gods and Lord of all Lords.
III. During the progress of the successful attempt to set up the ark of the Lord at Jerusalem, David took a prominent part, as on the former occasion, in the whole proceeding. To all men this public homage speaks alike: it calls on us to do personal service. We may not transfer to any fellow-creature the performance of religious duties. As ordinary men, we do too little, when we transfer to others the conveyance of our patronage or bounty. We should with our own hands, when possible, feed the hungry, and refresh the weary, and clothe the naked; we should with our own voices, and present souls, and present sympathy, soothe the afflicted.
IV. The kings return to bless his household. The king of Israel, it is true, forsakes the public scene, but it is only to return and bless his household, to rehearse the ceremony of the day, explain its importance, impress the value of religion on all his dependants, and seal the blessings of public worship upon his family, by domestic piety. In this act we recognise these three particulars--
1. The personal maintenance of Gods honour before His family.
2. His anxiety to communicate the blessings of religion to all the souls within His influence.
3. The solemn dedication of those souls to the honour and worship of the Supreme Being.
V. The Boldness, The Nobleness And Dignity Of Davids Conduct throughout the events of that great day, when the ark rested within the walls of the holy city. A man shall find his foe ever in his own household; or if not, his religion will be arraigned, and his conduct reprehended with the keenest censures, by his associates, and his very piety denounced as mean and grovelling, dishonourable and injurious. (C. M. Fleury, A. M.)
Care of the ark
In the second verse we read David arose. A new passion seized him; a sudden enthusiasm stirred him like a great wind from heaven. We cannot account for these inspirations, excitements, new consecrations, and purposes in life. Sometimes we say, Why did not men rise before? The answer is, They could not: the rising of men is not in themselves. There is a centre, there is a Throne, there is a living King, and in connection with these great central sovereignties and dominions there is a mysterious ever-operating Spirit that will not fall under our calculations and laws and predictions as to his operations in the human mind and on the human heart.
2. David arose to bring the ark to the metropolis. This idea is not without sublimity, and not without practical bearing upon our own nationality and own religious civilization. Be strong in the high places; see that the throne is within the operation of the mysterious influence of the altar; let there be no great distance between royalty of an earthly kind and service of a spiritual sort Let every metropolis be the best city in the whole land, It ought to be.
3. How is the ark to be moved? We read, in the third verse, that they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah. There is a touch of veneration about this arrangement. The cart was new. In the olden times and in eastern cities great store was set by new things: the colt upon which Jesus rode was to be one whereon never man sat; the tomb in which he was laid was a Scrub in which never man was laid before. There used to be a kind of pagan veneration for new things. Samson said, If you bind me with new withs--they must be new--then I shall be weak as other men. That experiment having failed, he added, If you bind me with new ropes--they mush be new--never occupied is the old English word--never occupied before, then my strength will be as the strength of other men. So we find here that the cart on which the ark was to be carried is a new cart. Where was the law? A dead letter. We can outlive our laws. We can forget the Bible. We can so accustom ourselves to policies and moralities of our own invention and construction as to forget the law of Sinai, the commandments of the living God. Oxen and waggons they were to have none. When the ark was to be carried it was to be carried by living men, and they were to be proud of the crowning honour of having part or lot in bearing the ark of the Lord. Let us not look at such details as little things, and suppose that it matters nothing whether the ark is carried in one way or another, provided that it is brought to its proper destination. There is nothing trifling in the kingdom of Heaven; there is nothing trifling in human life, when we really understand it.
4. And when they came to Nachons threshing floor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it (v. 6.) Did the oxen turn aside naturally because of the threshingfloor? Had not they, too, come home? Did they not betray natural impatience when they approached the place where food was kept? The ark shaking under the movement of the oxen, Uzzah, who was undoubtedly a Levite, put forth his hand and took hold of the ark in well-meant purpose. But he was killed (v. 7). The ark is never in danger. That throne needs no buttress of our building. What share have we in keeping the stars in their places? How much of the security of the constellations is owing to our pre-arrangement, forethought, and devotion? God will take care of His own ark, and His own kingdom and truth in the world.
5. David got a new view of Divine Providence. He did not know that God was so careful, so critically particular. Such fear has a great place in spiritual education. The culture of the soul is not to be perfected by instruments of music, but by a holy fear. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The ark brought to Zion
I. Davids good work hindered by war. Manifold are the evils of war. What an arrest on industry! What wrecked homes! What ruined harvests! What slaughtered lives! What a legacy of oppressive taxation, and the worse legacy of revengeful feeling! Manifold evils! This, too, among them: good works, national reformation, widened freedom,, education, religion arrested. Neglected is the tabernacle of God when the war-tents are pitched, and drowned in battle-cries are the songs of Zion. We know nothing of this; but it is well to think of it. The calm Sabbath air is unvexed by the war trumpet. The church doors are open to us, and the bells peal out their invitation to worship. Wars, rumours of wars, are not shocking the sweet, refreshing rest out of our Sabbath hours. Peace is ours. Not always so in this land. Churches were closed, or turned into barracks or military hospitals. And though this has been unknown in recent England, it has been known in recent days in other lands. Here--let us recognise it thankfully--God has blessed His people with peace. Davids conflicts were triumphs; for he carefully enquired of the Lord. He went not forth till bidden, and did as bidden. What battles had never been fought if men, statesmen, kings, had done as David did. Voice of seer, mystic oracle we need not. We have the word of prophecy made more sure; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a lamp shining in a dark place. This will guide men-out of their self-seekings and ambitions and incipient quarrels into peace. Let us, each of us, be guided by it in our dealings one with another, and then, though un-influential seem our place in the great worlds life, we shall yet be helping to make war one of the barbarisms of the past--one of the happily-unknown horrors of the golden year that appears so far away, but is to come.
II. Davids good work, when begun, arrested by irreverence. The glories of the ark had largely passed into history. Still, it was Gods symbol;--still to be treated with reverence; still--the command not having been abrogated--to be untouched by human hand. Let all this day, then, beware. Amid this tumultuous gladness let there be reverence. The monitary instruction of that death is for us as well as for David and his people. It is for all, and especially for those who bear a prominent part in Divine work and worship. We mock God when we do not fear. Irreverence! I speak not of the irreverence of the age; parents to children; subjects to governors; literature to religion; science to revelation. Think of irreverence in the Church! We need not go beyond ourselves. The preacher needs to watch. He may not handle the Word of God deceitfully, but he may lightly; so familiar with it as to lose sight of Whose Word it is. In any department of Christian labour we must watch lest as preacher, teacher, visitor, we forget to whom we are speaking. Humble folk, it may be, poor children, dull, impatient patients. But who are these? For them, the most repellent of them, Christ died. Each dowered with the transcendent possession of a soul outvaluing the world though it were one entire and perfect chrysolite. Each through all the obscurity, and toil, and weariness of the life here, a pilgrim to eternity. So in Divine worship. As we enter the sanctuary, let it be to us none other but the house of God, not by our wandering, grasping thoughts degraded into tent of folly or den of thieves. As we open the Bible, familiar to us as was the ark to Uzzah, let us treat it with reverence, and hear with meekness the messages of this Book of God, this God of Books. As we sing, let us make melody in our hearts to the Lord, or the sweetest music will be sin. As we pray, let us only utter the heart--our words the expiration of the thing inspired. Amid all the exercises of public worship and the worship of the home, let more of reverence in us dwell. Uzzah being dead yet speaketh.
III. Davids good work joyfully accomplished. For three months the ark continued in the house of Obed-Edom bringing in unrecorded but manifest ways much blessing on the household of its careful and pious keeper. By this David was encouraged to prepare for its final removal to Jerusalem. He has learnt some lessons from Uzzahs death. Everything must be done with circumspection, after the due order (1Ch_15:2-13), which had been strangely overlooked before. It was a transcendent hour. We can know little all it meant to David--how many hopes were being crowned: all it meant to Israel, with whom was opening a new epoch in their great history. They had been long falling from God--the very symbol of His presence neglected. But now had come times of peace; a God-chosen, God-approved man was their king. He would remind them that they were Gods people, that ark the centre of their worship in the new capital would check that local idolatry to which they were so prone; would, gathering them together to one place for their holy feasts, bind them into a national and, infinitely more important, a religious unity. That ark, shrined in the sanctuary of their sanctuary, no idol in it, witnessed to the spirituality of God. We can rejoice in One whose Name is Immanuel, God with us. Round Him Christian people gather for worship, and through Him have access with boldness to the Father. By Him God is declared to us, declared in a life of human suffering, yet Divine purity; in a life that went about doing good, in a death that was died for the sins of the world. More than even ark with its shekinah glory could be to Israel, is Christ to us. A glory seen to-day not in material temple; not in any house made with hands, but in the transformation, ennobling of human spirit and life. In every saved man behold the glory of God in Jesus Christ. We know that God is among us for such work is Divine. (G. F. Coster.)
David restoring the ark
1. At last God accomplished the long cherished desire of His servants heart--and David became the head and governor of Israel. The capture of the citadel of Zion, which till then had never been wrested from the foe, made him the virtual founder of Jerusalem; and undisputed supremacy began for the first time to attach to the people of God. But of what value is strength, unless thoroughly subjected to God, and made the servant of His order, and of His truth? David well knew that Israel could only regulate others for blessing, in proportion as they themselves were regulated by God. To be legislated for by God was the distinctive privilege of Israel: it was theirs to say of Him, my King as well as my God. What, then, was the condition in which David found the order of Israel? Was Israel really subject to the arrangements of God? The condition of Israels order was mainly determined by their relation to the Tabernacle and its vessels, especially their relation to the Ark of the Covenant. When Israel were in their journies in the wilderness, the Ark preceded them. When the Ark rested, its proper place was the Tabernacle. It is true, indeed, that the presence of the Ark anywhere in Israel was an evidence of God being near them, and His care over them: but His presence could not be duly recognised, nor the order of His truth maintained, unless the Ark was in the sanctuary, and the appointed services performed by the Levites and Priests, according to the manner. The fallen Tabernacle--the scattered vessels of ministration--the isolation of the Ark in an unknown dwelling--were sufficient indications that Truth and the order thereof had indeed fallen. Can we trace in these things no typical likeness to the days in which we live? Are we living at an hour when the truths of God are maintained in their completeness, and in their right connections; or are they held partially, confusedly, and out of their right relations to each other--many despised--many lost. And yet, who cares for these things? Men say, Is not God yet amongst us? Are not souls still saved by His grace? Why, then, should we concern ourselves about His order, or the more minute knowledge of His truth?
2. Throughout the reign of Saul the Ark was not only kept in separation from all the other vessels of the Tabernacle, but even in its isolation, it was neglected and dishonoured. It was the sense of this that chiefly acted on the soul of David. He does not appear to have considered so much the absence of right relation between the Ark and the other vessels of the Tabernacle, as to have been struck by the more palpable and astounding fact of the want of all right relation between the Ark and Israel. To bring back, therefore, the Ark from the place of its dishonour; to make it once more that which Israel should seek unto and inquire of; and above all, to establish it in the citadel of Zion, the place of sovereign supremacy and strength; these were the immediate objects of Davids desires. Herein he was fulfilling his office of king, in giving supremacy to God and to His truth.
3. But the servants of: God have not unfrequently to learn that the pursuit of a right end does not necessarily imply the employment of right means. This David proved. It seemed easy to him, and to the eiders of Israel to move the ark of God to its new habitation. The desire was holy--the object right--and they fully reckoned on the instant and unhindered blessing of God. A cart was prepared: oxen were yoked to it; the ark of God was placed thereon; and one whom they appointed amongst themselves, drave the oxen. The ordinance of God was express, that none but Priests and Levites should handle the vessels of the sanctuary: and although God, when the sin of Israel had brought the ark into the land of the Philistines, where there were no Levites--no Priests--was at liberty to supersede His own ordinances, yet David was not God. David, indeed, might well humble himself because of his error; for what error could be greater than recklessly to transgress the solemn ordinance of God, who had said that none but Priests and. Levites should touch the things of His sanctuary? Yet, has Christianity afforded: no instances of similar transgression? David infringed the typical order of God, and was punished; but how much sorer punishment do we deserve if we subvert the anti-typical reality--if we call the unsanctified and the unbelieving--those who fear not God and know not Christ, into functions which belong only to those who have truly the grace of His Spirit.
4. There was no visible glory; no manifestation of the Divine Presence, whilst David was restoring to Israel the long-banished Ark of the Covenant of their God. If it had been a day in which God was visibly manifesting His own glory, there would have been no danger of Davids being regarded unduly, even if all the splendour of Israels glory had been gathered around his person. But it was otherwise when that glory was hidden, and when the solitary Ark, long exiled from the Tabernacle of God, was the lowly emblem of Gods presence in the midst of His repentant people. The eye of faith could discern the blessedness of that hour; but the heart of the daughter of Saul, true to her lineage, saw no excellency in it. She beheld the joy of David--understood it not--despised and upbraided him, and found in the day of Israels blessing, a day of sorrow and lasting chastisement to herself. We have authority from Scripture for saying that the things which happened to Israel happened unto them for ensamples, and are written for our admonition (1Co_10:1-33.) They who read the Old Testament Scriptures, remembering this, will be able to trace many a feature in the general aspect of Christianity, that too closely resembles the condition of Israel at the time of which we have been speaking. How often do Christians seek to deaden their apprehension of the disorder and dereliction of truth that prevails around them, by the reflection that God has not forsaken, and never will forsake His own people; just as Israel might have said, in the days of Saul, Is not the Ark yet amongst us? It is, indeed, most true that God will not forsake His people; but is preservation from final ruin, and deliverance from the extreme effects of disobedience, the only thing that is to be desired by the Church of God? Have they no distinctive testimony to maintain--no banner to display, because of Gods truth? Is there no directive efficacy in His principles--nothing that forms the character, and determines the path of those who are subject to their power? If His principles be amongst us, and we regard them not, what can we expect, but that it should be said of us, as it was said of Israel, that truth has fallen in the streets, and equity cannot enter. When we read of the triumph and exceeding joy with which David and all Israel with him, brought up the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord to Zion, with shouting, and with sound of the cornet, and with trumpets, and with cymbals, making a noise with psalteries and harps, if we ask ourselves what these things indicate, we are obliged to look on to a yet future hour, when a greater than David--One whom David feebly typified, will, as one of the results of His own conflicts, give rest, and establishment, and supremacy, to the long scorned and persecuted Truth. The time is drawing nigh when that typical hour of Davids joy is to be accomplished in that final day of triumph, when the Psalms of Israel on earth shall unite with the halleluiahs of the redeemed above, in saying, The Lord God omnipotent reigneth. For that hour we wait, as those who have been alike made Levites--Priests--Kings; able therefore to serve, to worship, and to contend for Him, during the time of His peoples weakness, and of His truths dishonour, yet expecting no triumph until that day. (B. W. Newton.)
The Ark brought bark
In this lesson there are sharp contrasts. Here is the ark of God, dreaded by some, by others desired; by some treated with rashness and irreverence, by others with holy care. To the first it becomes the occasion of awful punishment and fear; to the last, of unmingled blessing. Like the Gospel, it is a savour of death to some; to others, of life.
1. David, now victorious over all enemies, and firmly settled on the throne, resolves to bring up the long-neglected ark of God from Kirjath-jearim to Jerusalem. Disregarded, almost forgotten, through the reigns of Saul and Ishbosheth, it shall now be honoured in the sight of all the nation, brought to the capital, and made again the centre of Israels religious services. Immense preparations are made by the king for celebrating its removal with suitable impressiveness and splendour. The whole nation is, as it were, taken into his plans. The men of renown, the leaders of the tribes, are summoned from all portions of the land. The priests and Levites assemble from their widely-scattered cities. Kirjath-jearim is reached; the vast procession is formed, the ark in its midst. Suddenly a cry of terror is heard, and now another, and still another. Disorder and confusion are spreading from rank to rank. David himself is seen lifting up his hands in horror as at some dreadful sight. What is the cause of this sudden tumult? Uzzah has been struck dead beside the ark! It shook because of the stumbling oxen, and, reaching forth his hand to hold it, instantly he fell dead upon the road. What could have been the meaning of this startling catastrophe? Undoubtedly, to many readers of the Bible, it has appeared a judgment of strange and disproportionate severity. If, however, we study the whole event, we shall find that there are circumstances which will do much to explain why Jehovah regarded this dreadful stroke as just and necessary. It was a part of this lesson of reverence for His Name and presence, and only in harmony with all the wonderful history of the ark, when Jehovah added special instructions as to the manner in which it should be cared for by its attendants, and in which the tabernacle and the ark itself should be transported from place to place. The Levites only were to be employed in this service (Num_4:2; Num_4:15; 1Ch_15:2), and of these only one household, the sons of Kohath. There was no room for doubt that these directions had been thought by Jehovah of sufficient importance to be embodied in distinct and written commands; and these commands on that day were utterly disregarded. Uzzahs laying hold of the ark itself, was an act forbidden to the priests--and Uzzah was no priest--under any circumstances. It was at this point that Jehovah interposed. The nation, with the king at their head, were nominally honouring Him, but by the light and irreverent way in which they did it, by the negligent and half-heathenish manner in which, notwithstanding all their pomp, they entered upon this sacred business, they were dishonouring Him. If God were worthy of their worship, why did they take no sufficient pains to worship Him according to His Word? How did they dare in the very acts of His so-called service to break His most obvious command? As for Uzzah himself, who was the most conspicuous sufferer, it is possible that long familiarity with the ark had bred a special irreverence and presumption in him; but, however, that may be, his sin was shared by all who employed him in these forbidden services, and so occasioned his foolhardy and guilty deed. A feeling of mingled anger and despair now took possession of Davids mind (v. 8). If he had been displeased with himself, we could have understood it. But it is indeed a mystery if his resentment was directed against God. It inclines us to fear that his own glory was in some measure his object in all these magnificent services. Was he angry because God had turned his great fete into a day of national disappointment and gloom, or because Jehovah had dishonoured him before the multitudes by this overwhelming rebuke? We cannot tell, but we wish that it could have been written that David was humbled and penitent rather than that he was displeased. And we can defend his despondency as little as his anger. He seems to have forgotten all his duty in a fit of half sullenness, half unbelieving fear. He abandons on the spot the whole plan of restoring the ark to its true abode. Instead of inquiring for the sin which caused the trouble, he acts as if there were no hope of forgiveness, no hope of acceptable service--as though God were a being toe dreadful to be approached, too capricious to be pleased. We are reminded of the slavish fears which the presence of God and the thought of His holy majesty still awaken in the hearts of sinful men, and of their readiness to be quit of all tokens of Him whom they cannot remember except with dread.
2. But now there appears another character upon the scene. He is a man hitherto unknown. The name of Obed-edom will always be honoured as that of the man who, while all others were filled with terror and dismay, shrinking in dread from the ark of God, held in his bosom the secret of a far different feeling--looking upon the ark indeed with all veneration, but without fear, opening the doors of his dwelling to welcome it, and finding it a source of unmingled good: He knew well how fearfully God had vindicated His holiness when the ark had been dishonoured; how by an unseen hand the massive idols had been thrown down upon their faces and broken before it; how the Philistines had been smitten with disease and slaughter; how the men of Beth-shemesh had been slain, and how Uzzah also had been struck with death beside it. He had heard the cry of terror from its heathen captors when they pleaded to have it sent away from their coasts. Beth-shemesh, the scene of the awful judgment because of the dishonoured ark, was scarcely a half-days journey from his home, and now he sees all the frightened thousands of Israel, helpless with sudden fear, crowding the mountain-roads around his dwelling, even David himself afraid to meddle with this dreadful ark. He sees all this, and yet he does not fear to admit it to his house. A man humble and devout, he understands that, although to the irreverent and careless our God is a consuming fire, the obedient need not fear him. To the obedient and confiding soul He is always a God of love. Obed-edom expected to obey God--to obey Him scrupulously, reverently. Whatever rule God had prescribed for his observance he would never make bold to call a little thing. He was not under any such delusion as that God could be better honoured by a vast procession or by any services, however ravishing to human sense, than by a sober respect for his plain commands. In the house of Obed-edom there is peace. It rests not alone on the father. Here Gods covenant is found to be a household covenant and to bring a blessing to all the home. And they were such as to be manifest. They were not confined to the secret souls of this favoured household. Either their unusual health and happiness and prosperity were such as were daily apparent to all their neighbours, or the inward blessings they enjoyed were freely mentioned by them to Jehovahs praise. Probably in both these ways the favour they received from God was known. And now we shall see that by having received a blessing they were made a blessing. The happiness and goodness of this one pious household extend their influence at length to all the nation. They make it evident to one and another of the multitudes who had fled from God at his stroke, that, although He is a holy God, he need not be dreaded by any humble, careful heart. Through the spreading story of Obed-edoms blessing all Israel learns anew the loving-kindness of the Lord. The skepticism which that day of gloom had rolled over the land begins to be dispelled. The scoffers are silenced, the disheartened take courage. They learn that although the highest kings must not trifle with the holiness of the Lord, the humblest worshipper, anxious only to obey completely His sacred will, shall find Him a Father full of smiles and tenderness, Obed-edom restores: Davids faith, and David at length leads the nation back to God. It is given to this unknown villager to instruct and reassure the dejected king. From the acceptance of Obed-edoms lowly worship, contrasted with the rejection of his own magnificent array, the monarch learns that to obey is better than sacrifice--that not all the eloquence of Davids psalms, not all the minstrelsy of his choirs, not all the throngs of Israels applauding tribes, could please Jehovah half so well as a serious and exact obedience to His written word. (A. Mitchell, D. D.)
The ark the centre of service and worship
King David had two great things set him to accomplish: to establish the worship of Jehovah in the place which he had chosen above all others for his abode, and to extend the kingdom to the bounds allotted to his people. He had just been acknowledged as king of all Israel. And now the place was ready to receive the ark of God, the most sacred of all the sacred things about which centred the worship of Jehovah. The ark, with its contents and its covering, came thus naturally to be the centre of the service and worship of Israel. To bring back the ark, then, was to re-establish the worship of Jehovah, and to centre the nation about the recognition of His law and grace. The topic suggested by these events is the relation of the public acknowledgment of God to the welfare of the nation, the family, and the individual.
I. the neglect of public worship is disastrous to all these interests. Not always at first to material prosperity, and yet that condition of society which permits the increase of irreligion and a growing disregard for the institutions of worship is incompatible with the best prosperity of the state. No one can tell the evil that comes to a people by the disregard of its religious institutions, except as he sees it illustrated in the history of nations or in the fortunes of communities. Of two nations or neighbourhoods equal in other regards, one of which honours the Lords house and the Lords day, and the other treats them with neglect or more positive disregard, it is easy to prophesy their contrasted courses. When atheism took possession of the heart of the French people, it led in anarchy with its red right hand. Even a faith mingled with falsity is better for the morals and good order of a state than total lack of faith. It is almost as true in the family. It would be altogether so, except for those influences which surround the family so closely that it cannot be isolated from their power. Many a household is saved by the religious habits of the community around it, in which things it takes no part itself. The recognition of Divine law and grace are the best safeguards of society. Israel without the ark is Israel without wisdom or strength. Saul without the ark is a weak and wayward king. Samuel, whose heart was with the ark, was, next to God, the strength of Israel.
II. We are taught a due regard for the forms of religious observance. The spirit of irreverence is one which grows rapidly. One neglect of that which is due or decorous easily leads to another, till at length it requires sharp rebuke or severe punishment to remind men of that which was once in every heart. Do we not need a caution here in our day and in regard to our services of public worship? In how many of our Christian congregations the upright posture and the open eyes in prayer are painfully suggestive of a lack of reverent devotion. No better lesson can be taught the young, and no better training given in our Sunday schools than the lesson of reverence in the heart toward holy things, of reverence in thought and tone when we read the word of His covenant, and of reverence in posture when we approach His mercy-seat.
III. The spirit of our service is what God regards, rather than the form of it. When in his false fear the king carried the ark into the house of Obed-edom, the Gittite, the Lord blessed all the household during the three months of its sojourn there. Is it not a clear indication to us that, after all, that which pleases God is not the exactness of our ritual, but the loving reverence of our hearts? All the outward forms were intended to promote this inward righteousness. If that were wanting, the empty forms could give God no pleasure, and they could do man no good. The Lord had appointed the tabernacle service and its feasts; but when the spirit was gone out of them, he would have them go out too. God is a spirit; and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. This is the lesson--more important than all others--which comes to us from the open doors of the house of Obed-edom, from the prosperity which blessed them, and from the peace which ever attends the reverent though it be the informal service of the Lord. (Monday Club Sermons.)
Bringing up the ark
1. David was now no sooner settled again in his kingdom (after this double defeat of the Philistines) but he resolves upon settling religion and the sincere service of God. Seek first the Kingdom of God and all things else shall be added (Mat_6:33.)
2. As David called this great assembly together, not only to put an honour upon the action, but also in defence of the ark in case the enemy should make any attempts to interrupt them for their passage. So this design was to redeem the ark of Gods Presence from that sordid neglect all Sauls time.
3. The journey from Kiriath-Jearim to Jerusalem might be looked upon as too long a journey for the Levites to carry the Ark of God upon their shoulders according to Gods command (Num_4:14-15; Num_7:1-89; Num_9:1-23), therefore out of prudence (which often spoils true piety) they provide a new cart, and lay the Ark of God upon it. This mode of carriage they had learnt from the Philistines, a bad precedent, who had done so before this without damage or any token of Divine displeasure, they doing so at the direction of their diabolical diviners (1Sa_6:2; 1Sa_6:7.) No good patterns for Israels practice: They did not so well consider that God would wink at this disorder in the Philistines because they were ignorant of Gods Laws. But he would not brook it in His own people to whom the oracles of God were committed (Rom_3:2.) And one would think the very staff-rings upon the Ark might have minded the Levites of their duty: But tis likely they loved their own ease too much at this time, so were too willing to spare their own shoulders (2Sa_6:1-4.)
4. The great icy that David and his thirty thousand nobles and all Israel celebrated the removal of the Ark from Kiriath-Jearim Withal is expressed (v. 5), Ahio going before to lead the oxen, and Uzzah following behind to secure the Ark from tumbling off the cart. Tis supposed then David uttered those words, Let God arise and let His enemies be scattered, etc. (Psa_68:1) at this time, which were the words constantly used when the Ark was removed (Num_10:35.) But alas, how soon was all this mirth marred and turned into mourning, all this singing into sighing, merely by the stumbling of the oxen (2Sa_6:6-7), Uzzah observing that the Ark was shaken thereby and in danger of falling, he thereupon puts forth his hand to stay it steady in the cart. (C. Ness.)
Seeking the ark of the covenant
For sixty-five or seventy years this ark of the covenant had been permitted to remain in almost total neglect and forgetfulness. At length the time had come for David to interpose and, in the exercise of his royal authority, bring it back into prominence and reverence in the worship of the people.
I. Questions concerning the Ark itself.
1. What was the so-called Ark of the Covenant?
2. Of what was it the symbol? Of the presence of Jehovah as the covenant-keeping God of His people Israel.
3. Of what is the Ark a sign now?
(1) An institution set apart for the Lord.
(2) An organization like the church.
(3) An ordinance, like the Lords Supper.
(4) A duty: The family altar.
(5) A doctrine.
4. What does the absence of the Ark involve? The lonely heaviness of work done without a helper or a promise of success. That ancient Ark was only a symbol; Christs presence is to us a wonderful fact. That was but a sign that Divine companionship was near; now we may be sure that Jesus, the Master, is really under our roofs and in our hearts.
II. Some suggestions concerning different methods of treating the presence of God.
1. The ark of God must be treated with a becoming honour. True humility can be shown in forwardness; for there are occasions in which it costs more to go forth into necessary conspicuousness, and brave the criticisms of public opinion, than it would to remain in concealment, withdrawn into a quiet of deepest reserve.
2. The Ark of God can be treated with a culpable carelessness. It had been decreed in the beginning of its history that this singular chest should be carried on mens shoulders; for this purpose of handling it had been constructed with rings through which poles might be passed so that it could be borne by the priests. Here we observe that Abinadab mounted it in a cart; and in this he patterned not after Moses, but after the Philistines, who once did the same disrespectful thing. It is of no use to say this was of no consequence. It is always of much consequence that one obeys God, and pays respect to every one of His commandments exactly as lie gives them.
3. The Ark of God can he treated with the highest exuberance of joy. The account in the chapter from which the text is taken must be supplemented by that which is added in the book of Chronicles: there we learn that a great school of training in music was set up at Jerusalem in patient preparation for this ceremony. There is nothing too good in poetry, in instruments, in singing, for God who is over all.
4. The Ark of God can be treated with a fatal presumption: And when they came to Nachons threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it.
5. The Ark of God might be treated with a half-hearted timidity. And David was displeased, &c.
(1) He was displeased: the word means vexation akin to petulance; he was disappointed in all his plans.
(2) He was afraid. There was likewise a sense of penitence under the revelation of infinite holiness.
(3) He was inconsiderate: So David would not remove the Ark of the Lord unto him into the city of David: but David carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. He dared not take the Ark any further, but deposited it beside the way as quickly as his alarmed attendants could remove it from the wheels.
6. The Ark of God may be treated with an appropriate and affectionate devotion: And the Ark of the Lord continued in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months: and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household. Of course he received his reward; for God is good to the men whom he finds to be faithful to any trust. Josephus is quoted as saying that, whereas before Obed-edom was poor, on a sudden, in these three months, his estate increased, even to the envy of his neighbours. Matthew Henry says, with his usual brightness, that the Ark paid well for its entertainment; it is good living in a family that entertains the Ark, for all about it will fare the better for it. Household piety is always profitable. We can have Gods actual presence with ourselves and our children, if we accept His Word for our guide and His love for our shelter evermore. (C. S. Robinson, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain
CHAPTER V I I I.
THE ARK BROUGHT UP TO JERUSALEM.
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2Sa_6:1-23.
THE first care of David when settled on the throne had been to obtain possession of the stronghold of Zion, on which and on the city which was to surround it he fixed as the capital of the kingdom and the dwelling-place of the God of Israel. This being done, he next set about bringing up the ark of the testimony from Kirjath-jearim, where it had been left after being restored by the Philistines in the early days of Samuel. David's first attempt to place the ark on Mount Zion failed through want of due reverence on the part of those who were transporting it; but after an interval of three months the attempt was renewed, and the sacred symbol was duly installed on Mount Zion, in the midst of the tabernacle prepared by David for its reception.
In bringing up the ark to Jerusalem, the king showed a commendable desire to interest the whole nation, as far as possible, in the solemn service. He gathered together the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand, and went with them to bring up the ark from Baale of Judah, which must be another name for Kirjath-jearim, distant from Jerusalem about ten miles. The people, numerous as they were, grudged neither the time, the trouble, nor the expense. A handful might have sufficed for all the actual labour that was required; but thousands of the chief people were summoned to be present, and that on the principle both of rendering due honour to God, and of conferring a benefit on the people. It is not a handful of professional men only that should be called to take a part in the service of religion; Christian people generally should have an interest in the ark of God; and other things being equal, that Church which interests the greatest number of people and attracts them to active work will not only do most for advancing God's kingdom, but will enjoy most of inward life and prosperity.
The joyful spirit in which this service was performed by David and his people is another interesting feature of the transaction. Evidently it was not looked on as a toilsome service, but as a blessed festival, adapted to cheer the heart and raise the spirits. What was the precise nature of the service? It was to bring into the heart of the nation, into the new capital of the kingdom, the ark of the covenant, that piece of sacred furniture which had been constructed nearly five hundred years before in the wilderness of Sinai, the memorial of God's holy covenant with the people, and the symbol of His gracious presence among them. In spirit it was bringing God into the very midst of the nation, and on the choicest and most prominent pedestal the country now supplied setting up a constant memento of the presence of the Holy One. Rightly understood, the service could bring joy only to spiritual hearts; it could give pleasure to none who had reason to dread the presence of God. To those who knew Him as their reconciled Father and the covenant God of the nation, it was most attractive. It was as if the sun were again shining on them after a long eclipse, or as if the father of a loved and loving family had returned after a weary absence. God enthroned on Zion, God in the midst of Jerusalem - what happier or more thrilling thought was it possible to cherish? God, the sun and shield of the nation, occupying for His residence the one fitting place in all the land, and sending over Jerusalem and over all the country emanations of love and grace, full of blessing for all that feared His name! The happiness with which this service was entered on by David and his people is surely the type of the spirit in which all service to God should be rendered by those whose sins He has blotted out, and on whom He has bestowed the privileges of His children.
But the best of services may be gone about in a faulty way. There may be some criminal neglect of God's will that, like the dead fly in the apothecary's pot of ointment, causes the perfume to send forth a stinking savour. And so it was on this occasion. God had expressly directed that when the ark was moved from place to place it should be borne on poles on the shoulders of the Levites, and never carried in a cart, like a common piece of furniture. But in the removal of the ark from Kirjath-jearim, this direction was entirely overlooked. Instead of following the directions given to Moses, the example of the Philistines was copied when they sent the ark back to Bethshemesh. The Philistines had placed it in a new cart, and the men of Israel now did the same. What induced them to follow the example of the Philistines rather than the directions of Moses, we do not know, and can hardly conjecture. It does not appear to have been a mere oversight. It had something of a deliberate plan about it, as if the law given in the wilderness were now obsolete, and in so small a matter any method might be chosen that the people liked. It was substituting a heathen example for a Divine rule in the worship of God. We cannot suppose that David was guilty of deliberately setting aside the authority of God. On his part, it may have been an error of inadvertence. But that somewhere there was a serious offence is evident from the punishment with which it was visited (1Ch_15:13). The jagged bridle-paths of those parts are not at all adapted for wheeled conveyances, and when the oxen stumbled, and the ark was shaken, Uzzah, who was driving the cart, put forth his hand to steady it. "The anger of God," we are told, "was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error;and there he died by the ark of God." His effort to steady the ark must have been made in a presumptuous way, without reverence for the sacred vessel. Only a Levite was authorized to touch it, and Uzzah was apparently a man of Judah. The punishment may seem to us hard for an offence which was ceremonial rather than moral; but in that economy, moral truth was taught through ceremonial observances, and neglect of the one was treated as involving neglect of the other. The punishment was like the punishment of Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, for offering strange fire in their censers. It may be that both in their case, and in the case of Uzzah, there were unrecorded circumstances, unknown to us, making it clear that the ceremonial offence was not a mere accident, but that it was associated with evil personal qualities well fitted to provoke the judgment of God. The great lesson for all time is to beware of following our own devices in the worship of God when we have clear instructions in His word how we are to worship Him.
This lamentable event put a sudden end to the joyful service. It was like the bursting of a thunderstorm on an excursion party that rapidly sends everyone to flight. And it is doubtful whether the spirit shown by David was altogether right. He was displeased "because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah, and he called the name of the place Perez-uzzah to this day. And David was afraid of the Lord that day and said, How shall the ark of the Lord come to me? So David would not remove the ark of the Lord into the city of David; but David carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite." The narrative reads as if David resented the judgment which God had inflicted, and in a somewhat petulant spirit abandoned the enterprise because he found God too hard to please. That some such feeling should have fluttered about his heart was not to be wondered at; but surely it was a feeling to which he ought not to have given entertainment, as it certainly was one on which he ought not to have acted. If God was offended, David surely knew that He must have had good ground for being so. It became him and the people, therefore, to accept God's judgment, humble themselves before Him, and seek forgiveness for the negligent manner in which they had addressed themselves to this very solemn service. Instead of this David throws up the matter in a fit of sullen temper, as if it were impossible to please God in it, and the enterprise must therefore be abandoned. He leaves the ark in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite, returning to Jerusalem crestfallen and displeased, altogether in a spirit most opposite to that in which he had set out.
It may happen to you that some Christian undertaking on which you have entered with great zeal and ardour, and without any surmise that you are not doing right, is not blessed; but meets with some rough shock, that places you in a very painful position. In the most disinterested spirit, you have tried perhaps to set up in some neglected district a school or a mission, and you expect all encouragement and approbation from those who are most interested in the welfare of the district. Instead of receiving approval, you find that you are regarded as an enemy and an intruder. You are attacked with unexampled rudeness, sinister aims are laid to your charge, and the purpose of your undertaking is declared to be to hurt and discourage those whom you were bound to aid. The shock is so violent and so rude that for a time you cannot understand it. On the part of man it admits of no reasonable justification whatever. But when you go into your closet, and think of the matter as permitted by God, you wonder still more why God should thwart you in your endeavour to do good. Rebellious feelings hover about your heart that if God is to treat you in this way, it were better to abandon His service altogether. But surely no such feeling is ever to find a settled place in your heart. You may be sure that the rebuff which God has permitted you to encounter is meant as a trial of your faith and humility; and if you wait on God for further light and humbly ask a true view of God's will; if, above all, you beware of retiring in sullen silence from God's active service, good may come out of the apparent evil, and you may yet find cause to bless God even for the shock that made you so uncomfortable at the time.
The Lord does not forsake His people, nor leave them forever under a cloud. It was not long before the downcast heart of David was reassured. When the ark had been left at the house of Obed-edom, Obed-edom was not afraid to take it in. Its presence in other places had hitherto been the signal for disaster and death. Among the Philistines, in city after city, at Bethshemesh, and now at Perez-uzzah, it had spread death on every side. Obed-edom was no sufferer. Probably he was a God-fearing man, conscious of no purpose but that of honouring God. A manifest blessing rested on his house. "The God of heaven," says Bishop Hall, "pays liberally for His lodging." It is not so much God's ark in our time and country that needs a lodging, but God's servants, God's poor, sometimes persecuted fugitives flying from an oppressor, very often pious men in oreign countries labouring under infinite discouragements to serve God. The Obed-edom who takes them in will not suffer. Even should he be put to loss or inconvenience, the day of recompense draweth nigh. "I was a stranger, and ye took Me in."
Again, then, King David, encouraged by the experience of Obed-edom, goes forth in royal state to bring up the ark to Jerusalem. The error that had proved so fatal was now rectified. "David said, None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites, for them hath the Lord chosen to carry the ark of God and to minister unto Him forever" (1Ch_15:2). In token of his humility and his conviction that every service that man renders to God is tainted and needs forgiveness, oxen and fatlings were sacrificed ere the bearers of the ark had well begun to move. The spirit of enthusiastic joy again swayed the multitude, brightened probably by the assurance that no judgment need now be dreaded, but that they might confidently look for the smile of an approving God. The feelings of the king himself were wonderfully wrought up, and he gave free expression to the joy of his heart. There are occasions of great rejoicing when all ceremony is forgotten, and no forms or appearances are suffered to stem the tide of enthusiasm as it gushes right from the heart. It was an occasion of this kind to David. The check he had sustained three months before had only dammed up his feelings, and they rolled out now with all the greater volume. His soul was stirred by the thought that the symbol of Godhead was now to be placed in his own city, close to his own dwelling; that it was to find an abiding place of rest in the heart of the kingdom, on the heights where Melchizedek had reigned, close to where he had blessed Abraham, and which God had destined as His own dwelling from the foundations of the world. Glorious memories of the past, mingling with bright anticipations of the future, recollections of the grace revealed to the fathers, and visions of the same grace streaming forth to distant ages, as generation after generation of the faithful came up here to attend the holy festivals, might well excite that tumult of emotion in David's breast before which the ordinary restraints of royalty were utterly flung aside. He sacrificed, he played, he sang, he leapt and danced before the Lord, with all his might; he made a display of enthusiasm which the cold-hearted Michal, as she could not understand it nor sympathize with it, had the folly to despise and the cruelty to ridicule. The ordinary temper of the sexes was reversed - the man was enthusiastic; the woman was cold. Little did she know of the springs of true enthusiasm in the service of God! To her faithless eye, the ark was little more than a chest of gold, and where it was kept was of little consequence; her carnal heart could not appreciate the glory that excelleth; her blind eye could see none of the visions that had overpowered the soul of her husband.
A few other circumstances are briefly noticed in connection with the close of the service, when the ark had been solemnly enshrined within the tabernacle that David had reared for it on Mount Zion.
The first is that "David offered burnt-offerings and peace-offerings before the Lord." The burnt-offering was a fresh memorial of sin, and therefore a fresh confession that even in connection with that very holy service there were sins to be confessed, atoned for, and forgiven. For there is this great difference between the service of the formalist and the service of the earnest worshipper: that while the one can see nothing faulty in his performance, the other sees a multitude of imperfections in his. Clearer light and a clearer eye, even the light thrown by the glory of God's purity on the best works of man, reveal a host of blemishes, unseen in ordinary light and by the carnal eye. Our very prayers need to be purged, our tears to be wept over, our repentances repented of. Little could the best services ever done by him avail the spiritual worshipper if it were not for the High-priest over the house of God who ever liveth to make intercession for him.
Again, we find David after the offering of the burnt-offerings and the peace-offerings "blessing the people in the name of the Lord of hosts." This was something more than merely expressing a wish or offering a prayer for their welfare. It was like the benediction with which we close our public services. The benediction is more than a prayer. The servant of the Lord appears in the attitude of dropping on the heads of the people the blessing which he invokes. Not that he or any man can convey heavenly blessings to a people that do not by faith appropriate them and rejoice in them. But the act of benediction implies this: These blessings are yours if you will only have them. They are provided, they are made over to you, if you will only accept them. The last act of public worship is a great encouragement to faith. When the peace of God that passeth all understanding, or the blessing of God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, or the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost are invoked over your heads, it is to assure you that if you will but accept of them through Jesus Christ, these great blessings are actually yours. True, there is no part of our service more frequently spoiled by formality; but there is none richer with true blessing to faith. So when David blessed the people, it was an assurance to them that God's blessing was within their reach;it was theirs if they would only take it. How strange that any hearts should be callous under such an announcement; that any should fail to leap to it, as it were, and rejoice in it, as glad tidings of great joy!
The third thing David did was to deal to every one of Israel, both man and woman, a loaf of bread, and a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine. It was a characteristic act, worthy of a bountiful and generous nature like David's. It may be that associating bodily gratifications with Divine service is liable to abuse, that the taste which it gratifies is not a high one, and that it tempts some men to attend religious services for the same reason as some followed Jesus - for the loaves and fishes. Yet Jesus did not abstain on some rare occasions from feeding the multitude, though the act was liable to abuse. The example both of David and of Jesus may show us that though not habitually, yet occasionally, it is both right and fitting that religious service should be associated with a simple repast. There is nothing in Scripture to warrant the practice, adopted in some missions in very poor districts, of feeding the people habitually when they come up for religious service, and there is much in the argument that such a practice degrades religion and obscures the glory of the blessings which Divine service is designed to bring to the poor. But occasionally the rigid rule may be somewhat relaxed, and thus a sort of symbolical proof afforded that godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.
The last thing recorded of David is, that he returned to bless his house. The cares of the State and the public duties of the day were not allowed to interfere with his domestic duty. Whatever may have been his ordinary practice, on this occasion at least he was specially concerned for his household, and desirous that in a special sense they should share the blessing. It is plain from this that, amid all the imperfections of his motley household, he could not allow his children to grow up ignorant of God, thus dealing a rebuke to all who, outdoing the very heathen in heathenism, have houses without an altar and without a God. It is painful to find that the spirit of the king was not shared by every member of his family. It was when he was returning to this duty that Michal met him and addressed to him these insulting words: "How glorious was the king of Israel to-day, who uncovered himself to-day in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamefully uncovers himself." On the mind of David himself, this ebullition had no effect but to confirm him in his feeling, and reiterate his conviction that his enthusiasm reflected on him not shame but glory. But a woman of Michal's character could not but act like an icicle on the spiritual life of the household. She belonged to a class that cannot tolerate enthusiasm in religion. In any other cause, enthusiasm may be excused, perhaps extolled and admired: in the painter, the musician, the traveler, even the child of pleasure; the only persons whose enthusiasm is unbearable are those who are enthusiastic in their regard for their Saviour, and in the answer they give to the question, "What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits toward me?" There are, doubtless, times to be calm, and times to be enthusiastic; but can it be right to give all our coldness to Christ and all our enthusiasm to the world?
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain 2Sa_6:1. “Chosen Men.” Keil understands this assembly to have…
CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES—
2Sa_6:1. “Chosen Men.” Keil understands this assembly to have been composed of representatives of the ntire nation, but the use of the word again seems to point to a military gathering. Thenius remarks that we learn from this “that David already in a certain sense maintained a standing army.”
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2Sa_6:2. “All the people,” etc. “These are not the above-named thirty thousand warriors, but besides them, the representatives of the whole nation gathered to the festival as described in 1Ch_13:1-14, where nothing is said of a military body; while here in our passage the preliminary conference with the heads of families is passed over, and only a summary statement made as to the accompaniment of the ark by the people.” (Erdmann.) “Baale of Judah.” From 1Ch_13:6, we know that this was Kirjath-jearim where the ark was carried before the death of Samuel. It still retained its ancient Canaanitish name (Jos_15:9; Jos_15:60) in conjunction with the one given by the Israelites. “It lay on the border between Judah and Benjamin, westward on the border of the latter tribe and about eight miles west of Jerusalem.” (Erdmann.) “Whose name.” etc. The rendering of this phrase is difficult; it is probably “over which, or upon which, the Name is called (or invoked) the Name of Jehovah, etc. The name of God denotes all the operations of God through which He attests His personal presence in that relation into which he has entered to man, i.e., the whole of His divine self-manifestation, or of that side of the divine nature which is turned towards men.”—(Herzog.)
2Sa_6:3. “A new cart”. This mode of conveyance was in direct opposition to the Divine requirement (Num_7:9), and was probably borrowed from a custom of the Philistines and others, who are supposed to have had sacred carts on which to carry about their gods. “Abinadab.” The ark had been standing in the house of Abinadab from the time when the Philistines sent it back into the land of Israel, i.e., about seventy years, viz., twenty to the victory of Ebenezer (1 Samuel 7), forty years under Samuel and Saul, and about ten years under David. The further statement that Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, drove the cart may easily be reconciled with this. These two sons were either born about the time when the ark was taken to Abinadab’s house, or at a subsequent period; or else the term sons is used, as is frequently the case, in the sense of grandsons. (Keil and others.) “Gibeah,” rather, the hill.
2Sa_6:4. “Accompanying the ark.” Literally, with the ark. This sentence not fitting the sense, most critics suppose a copyist’s error, and omit either the whole of 2Sa_6:4, or the first clause of it.
2Sa_6:5. “Played.” Literally, were sporting, i.e., dancing to vocal and instrumental music “All manner of instruments,” etc. Literally, with all manner of cypress-woods, which makes no sense, hence many critics adopt the reading of the Septuagint, “with might and with songs,” as in 1Ch_13:8. “Harps” (kinnor). A stringed instrument, which apparently more resembled the guitar than our modern harp, since it was played on in walking. “Psalteries” (nebel). (See 1Sa_10:5) “Timbrel” (toph). A species of hand-drum or tambourine. “Cornet” (menana). An instrument which consisted of two rods fastened together at one end, upon which rings were hung which made a tinkling sound when shaken.
2Sa_6:6. “Nachon’s threshing floor”. Nachon is not a proper name. Erdmann translates “a fixed threshing floor,” i.e., “one which did not change its place like a summer floor (Dan_2:35), and therefore probably had a roof.” Keil and others read “the threshing floor of smiting, or of the stroke, conjecturing that it was so called from the incident which took place there. “Shook it.” rather, stumbled, thereby making it likely that the cart would be overturned.
2Sa_6:7. “Error.” “None could so much as look at the ark, much less touch it (Num_4:15-16; Num_4:20), without peril of life.”
2Sa_6:8. “Displeased”. “The word denotes angry excitement.” (Erdmann.) On further reflection, David could not fail to discover where the cause of Uzzah’s offence, which he had atoned for with his life, really had lain, and that it had actually arisen from the fact that he, (David) and those about him had decided to disregard the distinct instructions of the law with regard to the handling of the ark.” (Keil.) “Perez-uzzah,” or the rent or breach of Uzzah. The situation of this place is unknown, but Josephus says that it retained its name in his day.
2Sa_6:9. “Afraid.” “David’s excitement at what had occurred was soon changed into fear of the Lord.” (Keil.) “Obededom the Gittite.” A Levite of the family of the Korahites, who descended from Kohath (comp. Exo_6:16; Exo_6:18; Exo_6:21, with 1Ch_26:4); he was therefore one of the family whose special duty it was to bear the ark. He is generally supposed to have been called the Gittite from his birthplace, the Levitical city of Gathrimmon, in the tribe of Dan (Jos_19:45). The name of this man is literally serving, or servant of, Edom. “It may be surmised that he, or some ancestor of his, had once been in servitude to the Edomites.” (Transr. of Lange’s Commentary.)
2Sa_6:13. “They that bare.” This shows that the Divine requirements were now strictly complied with. (See 1Ch_15:11-15.) “Six paces,” This is sometimes understood to mean that a fresh sacrifice was offered at every six paces, but there is nothing in the text to favour such an assumption—the plain statement is that as soon as the bearers had advanced the first six paces, the offerings took place. (So Keil, Erdmann, and others.)
2Sa_6:14. “David danced.” “As emotions of joy or sorrow express themselves in movements or gestures of the body, efforts have been made among all nations, but especially among those of the south and east, in proportion as they seem more demonstrative, to reduce to measure and to strengthen by unison the more pleasurable—those of joy. The dance is spoken of in holy Scripture universally as symbolical of rejoicing … and in the earlier period is found combined with some song or refrain (Exo_15:20, etc.) … more especially in those outbursts of popular feeling which cannot find vent in voice or gesture singly. Nor is there any more strongly popular element traceable in the religion of the ancient Jews than the opportunity so given to a prophet or prophetess to enkindle enthusiasm … more especially among the women, themselves most easily stirred and most capable of exciting others. The dance was regarded even by the Romans as the worship of the body … and Plato certainly reckons dancing as part of gymnastics. So far was the feeling of the purest period of antiquity from attaching the notion of effeminacy to dancing that the ideas of this and of warlike exercises are mutually interwoven.” (Smith’s Biblical Dictionary.) “A linen ephod.” “The white ephod was, strictly speaking, a priestly costume, although in the law it is not prescribed as the dress to be worn by them when performing their official duties, but rather as the dress which denoted the priestly character of the wearer (see at 1Sa_22:18); and for this reason it was worn by David in connection with these festivities as the head of the priestly nation of Israel.” (Keil.)
2Sa_6:16. “Michal,” etc. As has been remarked on 2Sa_6:14, the women of the Jewish nation, and especially those nearly related to the heroes of the occasion, were accustomed to take the most prominent part in the demonstration (Exo_15:20; Jdg_11:34), hence Michal should herself have led the female choir and have come out to meet David and the ark, and her absence shows, in a very marked manner, her want of religious sympathy. Keil remarks that “in David she only loved the brave hero and exalted king,” not the servant of God.
2Sa_6:17. “In his place,” etc. “That is, in the space marked off according to the tabernacle which still stood in Gibeon, in the Holy of Holies.” (Erdmann.) “Why did not David remove the mosaic tabernacle to Mount Zion at the same time as the ark of the covenant, and so restore the divinely-established sanctuary in its integrity? This question can only be answered by conjectures. One of the principal motives for allowing the existing separation of the ark from the tabernacle to continue may have been that, during the time the two sanctuaries had been separated two high priests had arisen, one of whom officiated at the tabernacle of Gibeon, whilst the other (Abiathar) had been the channel of all Divine communications to David during his persecution, and had also officiated as high priest in his camp; so that he could no more think of deposing him from the office which he had hitherto filled, in consequence of the reorganisation of the legal worship, than he could of deposing Zadok, of the line of Eleazar, the officiating high priest at Gibeon. Moreover, David may from the very first have regarded the service which he instituted at Zion as merely a provisional arrangement.” (Keil.) “David offered.” “Of course not in his own person, but through the priests.” (Erdmann.)
2Sa_6:18. “He blessed,” etc. “Not the Aaronic blessing (Num_6:22), which pertained only to the high priest, but, like Solomon’s (1Ki_8:55), a concluding benedictory address to the whole people.” (Erdmann.)
2Sa_6:19. “A piece,” etc. The words of flesh have no counterpart in the Hebrew; most translators read a measure or cup, and may signify anything (probably here a portion of the sacrifice) measured out. A flagon of wine is not in the original, which ought to have been rendered a grape or raisin cake, i.e., dried grapes pressed into a cake.
2Sa_6:20. “Uncovered himself in the eyes of the hand-maids.” This means simply that David exchanged his royal robes for the simple and comparatively short priestly dress and led the female choir which Michal should have led herself. Some have suggested that in the word handmaids Michal refers to the other wives of David, of whom she was probably jealous. There is no equivalent in Hebrew to the word shamelessly, and the words naked and uncovered are often used by sacred and other ancient writers in a comparative and limited sense.
2Sa_6:21. “Before the Lord.” “This expression denotes the holiest and highest point of view whence David’s procedure in this festival is to be judged and estimated.” (Erdmann.)
2Sa_6:22. “I will yet he more vile,” etc. “David, having opposed to Michal’s ‘in the eyes of the maids’ his ‘in the presence of the Lord,’ places himself before the Lord on the same level with the maids, expressing by the repeated with (translated of in Eng. vers.) his fellowship and equality with these humble folk and pointing to the honour which he with them would have before the Lord.” (Erdmann.) So also in substance Keil, though some scholars contend that the Hebrew proposition may be rendered of or before, and explain that David refers to the honour which he received and valued from those whom Michal despised.
2Sa_6:23. “No child.” As is well known, the greatest humiliation which could befal any oriental woman, and especially one who might have hoped to be the mother of the heir to the throne. Some have, however, supposed that she had children before this event.
NOTE.—Psalms 14, 15, 23, 24. are referred by Hengstenberg to this occasion Dean Stanley says, “No less than seven Psalms, either in their traditional titles, or in the irresistible evidence of their contents, bear traces of this festival. The 29th (by its title in the Sept.) is said to be on the ‘going forth of the tabernacle.’ As the tabernacle was never moved from Gibeon in David’s time, the ark is probably meant. The others are the 15th, 24th, 30th, 68th, 132nd, 141st.” (See also his remarks in the Suggestive Comments.) The manner in which Psalms 24 was probably sung is thns described by Dr. Kitto:—“The chief musician, who seems to have been the king himself, appears to have begun the sacred lay with a solemn and sonorous recital of these sentences. ‘The earth is the Lord’s, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. For He hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.’ The chorus of vocal music appears then to have taken up the song, and sung the same words in a more tuneful and elaborate manner; and the instruments fell in with them, raising the mighty declaration to heaven. We may presume that the chorus then divided, each singing in their turns, and both joining at the close, ‘For He hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.” This part of the music may be supposed to have lasted until the procession reached the foot of Zion, or came in sight of it, which, from the nature of the inclosed site, cannot be till one comes quite near to it. Then the king must be supposed to have stepped forth and begun again, in a solemn and earnest tone, ‘Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall shall stand in His holy place?’ to which the first chorus responds, ‘He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity nor sworn deceitfully.’ And then the second chorus gives its reply, ‘He shall receive the blessing from the Lord, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.’ This part of the song may, in like manner, be supposed to have lasted till they reached the gate of the city, when the king began again in this grand and exalted strain, ‘Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lifted up ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in;’ which would be repeated then, in the same way as before, by the general chorus. The persons having charge of the gates ask, ‘Who is this King of glory?’ to which the first chorus answers, ‘It is Jehovah, strong and mighty: Jehovah, mighty in battle;’ which the second chorus then repeats in like manner as before, closing with the grand refrain, ‘He is the king of glory: He is the King of glory.’ We must now suppose the instruments to take up the same notes, and continue sounding them to the entrance of the tabernacle (or tent) which David had prepared. There the king again begins: ‘Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in.’ This is followed and answered as before—all closing by the instruments sounding, and the people shouting, ‘He is the King of glory.’ ”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE CHAPTER
THE REMOVAL OF THE ARK TO ZION
In this chapter we have—
I. Extraordinary religious emotions overflowing into extraordinary modes of expression. When a river has been long pent up and impeded in its flow, the removal of the dam at last is the signal for an extraordinary rush of the waters—such a rush as will make it impossible to confine them within the ordinary and appointed channels, but must for a time cause them to overflow the river banks. David’s soul had long been filled with deep gratitude to God for the extraordinary blessings which had been bestowed upon him, and this gratitude had kindled within him lofty and holy aspirations and desires which until now he had been unable fully to express. But now that the obstacles are removed and he finds himself established over Israel, elected alike by God and man to shepherd the chosen people, his deep emotion breaks through all conventionalities, and his gratitude for the past and hope for the future are too deep and strong to keep within the limits of ordinary expression, and the overflow of feeling must for a time have a wider channel. There are ever and anon such souls as that of David rising above the dead level of ordinary religious experience, who are at times the subjects of such deep religious enthusiasm as to demand extraordinary and special modes of expressing it.
II. Extraordinary religions emotion expressing itself by a deed of permanent and beneficent influence. The gold in the molten state is gold, and has a certain value; but if it is to be useful to mankind the glowing liquid metal must pass into solid coin. So feeling is good, and its outward and personal manifestation is lawful and right. But if it begin and end there, it is like gold which is always in the crucible, and never makes the world the richer by its existence. David’s deep emotion did not expend itself in singing and dancing before the Lord. These were but the accompaniments to a deed by which he gave a permanent expression to his feelings, and brought down blessing upon all under his influence. The removal of the ark to Zion at the earliest opportunity after the settlement of the kingdom was not only a testimony to David’s own faith in Jehovah, but a call to all Israel to restore the God of their fathers to His rightful place in their midst, and so to build their national unity upon a secure foundation. If we had no other guarantee for the reality and purity of David’s religious fervour, this great national act would be sufficient to show its genuineness and worth. Thus far we have looked only at the bright points of the picture; we must also regard the shadows in it. The circumstances surrounding the death of Uzzah teach us—
III. That under the influence of strong emotion we are in danger of being betrayed into irreverence. Though we allow the pent-up river some extension of its ordinary bounds, it must be prevented if possible from exceeding all limits and so becoming a means of destruction instead of blessing. But here is the difficulty and the danger. So is it with us all when our emotional nature has full sway over us in matters connected with the service and worship of God. When we are wholly occupied in contemplating His infinite love and condescension, we are apt to lose sight of His awful holiness and majesty, and our joy betrays us into irreverence and neglect of some plain command. It must have been such a transport of feeling which tended to make David at this time so strangely neglectful of God’s express command respecting the ark. We must not forget that the general confusion of the country, and the long banishment of the ark from the public service of God, had no doubt tended to render even the best men less conversant with the Divine requirements than they would have been in happier times, but it seems strange that such a man as David should not have been careful to observe all things written in the book of the law upon this matter. We can only account for it by remembering how prone even good men are to perform one holy duty at the expense of another, and either to approach God in worship with irreverent familiarity or to stand too far off in mere external observance of forms and ceremonies. From the closing incident in the chapter we learn—
IV. How impossible it is for hearts untouched by love to God to enter into the feelings of one under its dominion. To Michal the transports of David seemed more like the excitement of a madman, and his expressions of deep feeling foolish and degrading performances. But this was because she lacked that sympathy with him which is the only key to the soul of another, and without which all its deepest and holiest experiences must remain a mystery. And sympathy is only possible where there is some similarity of feeling and experience, and there is none between a godly and a godless person upon the most vital and soul-stirring subjects. Michal could as little enter into David’s feelings as Judas could into those of Mary when she broke the box of perfume over the head of her Lord, or as Festus could into those of Paul when the prisoner in bonds discoursed with such glowing enthusiasm to those who sat in pomp upon the judgment seat. To those who have no spiritual life religious fervour is looked upon either as fanaticism or hypocrisy, and the purest actions attributed to the most unworthy motives. This is a trial to which all eminent servants of God are exposed, and sometimes, as in the case before us, it comes through those who are near and dear according to the flesh, though far off according to the spirit. “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” (1Co_2:14.)
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
2Sa_6:1. What a contrast to the ordinary rule of public life, and of private life too! Where shall we find the public men, whose first concern is for the honour of God, and who really believe that the favour of the Highest is the true palladium of their country’s welfare? Or when, in private life, shall the rule be reversed, to give to temporal interests and worldly comforts the first share of attention—while the cause of Christ … is either wholly neglected, or served with mere scraps and fragments? “If I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear?—Blaikie.
2Sa_6:6. It must be men’s care “that their deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God” (Joh_3:21). Two things make a good Christian—good actions and good aims. A good aim maketh not a bad action good, as here, and yet a bad aim maketh a good action bad, as we see in Jehu.—Trapp.
A man would think this act deserved commendation rather than punishment, for, alas! what should he have done? The ark had long sojourned in his father’s house, and he and his brother had done (at least as he conceived) acceptable service about it. In this present removal, by the king’s appointment (at least by his consent) as his brother went before to guide, so his place was behind to attend and help.… He saw the oxen staggering, the cart shaking, the ark rolling and he (as it should seem) next at hand, and who would not have put forth his hand in such a case? Had the ark actually fallen through his neglect, would not the whole multitude have cried shame upon him and perchance done worse unto him? The Philistines would have blasphemed, that the ark of the God of Israel had now at length caught a fall, as well as their Dagon had formerly before the ark. Devotion in the people would have been abated, religion scandalized, God’s ordinances and holy mysteries less reverenced and esteemed. But infinite such pretensions weigh nothing, where the law of God, and obedience required of man are laid in the contrary scale.—Bp. Prideaux.
2Sa_6:7. The special moral of this warning is, that no one, on the plea of zeal for the ark of God’s Church, should resort to doubtful expedients and unlawful means for the attainment of his end. Let him not say, that for the advancement of the Church of God, all acts are pleasing to Him. No; if the vessel of the Church is tossed with storms, the disciples may not approach and touch Him with familiar irreverence in order to awake Him who sleeps as man, but who sees all things as God. Here is the trial of their faith. Let them tarry the Lord’s leisure, and He will rise and succour them, and bless them for their trust in Him.—Wordsworth.
You must rather leave the ark of the Church to shake, if so it please God, than put unworthy hands to hold it up.—Lord Bacon.
This interruption of a joyful festival was to everyone a new admonition, that the kindness and grace of God are never alone, but are always accompanied by his holiness. God never permits it that anyone should sin, and yet, sinning, should rejoice and be glad before him. If his benevolence tends to draw us aside to levity and presumption, we will soon see Him exchange gentleness for severity, though He thereby imbitter to us the fairest day of our lives. In educating us, God cares more that we should fear Him (with the more of a child-like spirit the better) as the Holy One, and as demanding holiness in us, than that we should always prosecute our pilgrimage-journey here below with unclouded joy. He therefore causes it frequently to happen that we are compelled, in the midst of the superabundance of our prosperity and of our joy, suddenly to join in the lamentation of Job, “Thou art become cruel to me; with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.”—Krummacher.
Uzzah here was struck down at the inauguration of a new era in the Jewish worship; and Ananias and Sapphira were punished in the same way in the early infancy of the Christian Church.
Now the connection of this latter case with that of Uzzah here will show you how we in these days can be guilty of Uzzah’s sin. The Corinthians were guilty of it when, forgetting the sacred character of the Lord’s Supper, they became intoxicated at the table of the Lord; and we shall be guilty of it if, with hearts estranged from God, and lives which are inconsistent with His Word, we presume to connect ourselves with His Church, and take part in the management of its affairs. David, therefore, rightly read the meaning of the breach of Uzzah when, in addition to rectifying his error by putting the ark on the shoulders of the priests, he sang these words: “Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? or who shall stand in His holy place? He that hath clean hands and a pure heart;” and unless we who are members of the Church have this character, we shall be guilty of Uzzah’s sin.—Taylor.
2Sa_6:8. A man displeased with God; thinking himself wiser, more kind, more just than God. Really, perhaps, vexed that his grand solemnity was interrupted, his rejoicing people disappointed, his prestige damaged, his enemies encouraged. Often when men complain of Providence on “high moral” grounds, they are in fact mainly influenced by some secret personal feeling. Now highly elated with spiritual pride, at once angry and self-complacent, and presently dejected, irritated and disposed to give up altogether. (2Sa_6:9.) When any promising religious enterprise of which we have had the lead is disastrously interrupted, we are tempted to find fault with Providence.—Tr. of Lange’s Commentary.
2Sa_6:9. I do not hear David say, Surely this man is guilty of some secret sin that the world knows not; God hath met with him, there is no danger to us; why should I be discouraged to see God just? We may go on safely and prosper. But here his foot stays, and his hand falls from his instrument, and his tongue is ready to tax his own unworthiness: “How shall the ark of the Lord come unto me?” That heart is carnal and proud that thinks any man worse than himself. David’s fear stays his progress: perhaps he might have proceeded with good success, but he dares not venture where he sees such a deadly check. It is better to be too fearful than too forward in those affairs which do immediately concern God. As it is not good to refrain from holy businesses, so it is worse to do them ill: awfulness is a safe interpreter of God’s secret actions, and a wise guide of ours.—Bp. Hall.
2Sa_6:11. See here the courage and faith of Obed-edom; he knew that the presence of the ark had been disastrous to Dagon, and had brought plagues on the Philistines, and that the men of Bethshemesh had been struck dead for looking into it, and that Uzzah had been smitten for touching it; and yet he gladly welcomed it and harboured it for three months, and God blessed him for his faith. Obed-edom well knew that though “God is a consuming fire” to those who treat Him with irreverence, He is infinite in mercy to those who obey Him. The Gadarenes, smitten with fear, besought Jesus to depart out of their coasts, and we do not hear that He ever visited them again. But Zaccheus, animated by love, received him gladly, and Jesus said, “This day is salvation come to this house.” (Luk_19:9.) All divine things are set, as Christ Himself was, “for the fall and rising again of many in Israel” (Luk_2:34), they are a savour (or odour) of death unto death to those who reject or despise them, but “an odour of life unto life” to those who love them. (2Co_2:16).—Wordsworth.
While the ark brought the plague everyone was glad to be rid of it; but when it brought a blessing to Obededom, they looked upon it as worthy of entertainment. Many will own a blessing ark, a prospering truth; but he is an Obed-edom indeed that will own a persecuted, tossed, banished ark.—Trapp.
2Sa_6:12. When pious men who have been betrayed into unwarrantable conduct have had time for self-examination, searching the Scriptures and prayer, they will discover and confess their mistakes and be reduced to a better temper; they will justify God in His corrections; they will be convinced that safety and comfort consist, not in absenting themselves from His ordinances, or in declining dangerous services, but in attending to their duty in a proper spirit and manner. They will profit by their own errors.—Scott.
2Sa_6:14-15. Now the sweet singer of Israel revives his holy music, and adds both more spirit and more pomp to so devout a business. I did not before hear of trumpets, nor dancing, nor shouting, nor sacrifice, nor the linen ephod. The sense of God’s past displeasure doubles our care to please Him, and our joy in His recovered approbation; we never make so much of our health as after sickness, nor ever are so officious to our friend as after an unkindness.—Bp. Hall.
Evidently this service was not looked on as a toilsome one, but as a happy occasion, admirably adapted to raise the spirits and cheer the heart. What was the nature of the service?… In spirit it was bringing God into the very midst of the nation; and on the most prominent pedestal the country now supplied, setting up a constant memento of the presence of the Holy One.… To those who knew Him as their reconciled Father, the service was inexpressibly attractive. Why should there not be more joy in the worship of this gracious God? Why should our praises not be, at times at least, more lively, fitted to express and deepen such feelings of exuberant delight in the presence of a covenant God?—Blaikie.
2Sa_6:13-19. This was the greatest day of David’s life. Its significance in his career is marked by his own pre-eminent position: Conqueror, Poet, Musician, Priest, in one.… But the Psalms which directly and indirectly spring out of this event reveal a deeper meaning than the mere outward ritual. It was felt to be a turning point in the history of the nation. It recalled even the great epoch of the passage through the wilderness. It awoke again the inspiriting strains of the heroic career (Psa_68:7-9, comp. Jdg_5:4) of the Judges.… That glory which fled when the ark was taken was now returning. From the lofty towers the warders cry, “Who is this King of Glory?” The old heathen gates will not at once recognise this new comer. The answer comes back, as if to prove by the victories of David the right of the name to Him who now comes to His own again, Jehovah, the Lord, the Mighty One.… This is the solemn inauguration of that great name by which the Divine Nature was especially known under the monarchy. As, before, under the patriarchs, it had been known as Elohim, the strong ones’—as through Moses it had been Jehovah—the Eternal,—so, now, in this new epoch of civilisation, of armies, of all the complicated machinery of second causes, of Church and State, there was to be a new name expressive of a wider range of vision opening on the minds of the people. Not merely the Eternal solitary existence—but the Maker and Sustainer of the host of heaven and earth … were now attracting the attention and wonder of men. Not merely the Eternal Lord of the solitary human soul, but the Leader and Sustainer of the hosts of battle, of the hierarchy of war and peace that gathered round the court of the kings of Israel.… This great change is briefly declared in corresponding phrase in the historical narrative which tells how David “brought up the ark of God whose name is called by the name of the Lord of Hosts.” This was indeed as the 68th Psalm describes it, a second Exodus. David, was, on that day, the founder not of freedom only, but of empire—not of religion only, but of a Church and commonwealth.—Dean Stanley.
The ark had been the witness to the people that they were one people, because they had the one God dwelling in the midst of them while they were shifting their tents continually in the wilderness. It was to be the same truth to those who were dwelling in settled habitations.… It spoke to them, as it had to the others, of a permanent Being, of a righteous Being, always above His creatures, always desiring fellowship with them, a fellowship which they could only realise when they were seeking to be like Him. “Lord, who shall ascend to Thy tabernacle?” “who shall dwell in Thy holy hill?”—so spake David as he brought the ark to its resting place. “Even he that hath clean hands and a pure heart.” … The moral being of the nation, then, as of each individual in it, stood in the confession of a person absolutely good, the ground of all goodness in His creatures, accessible to them while they sought Him with fear and reverence as the King, Protector, Friend, of each and all.—Maurice.
2Sa_6:19. This was a most characteristic act—an index of that delight in the comfort and welfare of his people that marked the character of David. It may be that the practice is liable to abuse, … yet it was a pleasing feature of this memorable occasion. It has a lesson especially appropriate to wealthy Christians on occasions of lawful rejoicings. In the olden time the festival of Christmas used to be thus observed, and there were far worse things about the old feudal system than the flowing hospitality which used to make poor men feel that times of refreshing for the soul opened men’s hearts to their bodily wants. It would be quite in the spirit of David’s example for wealthy Christians to make communion seasons and similar occasions times of ample distribution.—Blaikie.
2Sa_6:20. Let us learn from the conduct of David in retiring to bless his house, that public religious services should not be allowed by us to interfere with the discharge of the duties of family religion. After such a day as that which we have attempted to describe, David might have imagined that he had a good excuse for omitting all domestic worship; but it rather seemed that the devotions of the day gave him new zest for the exercises of the family altar. And this is what always ought to be. It is to be feared, however, that many among us content themselves with a mere go-to-meeting piety, and seem to believe that religion consists in a round of public religious services. They attend all manner of holy convocations. You see them at every important devotional meeting you take part in. But they rarely enter the closet; they never bless their houses; and their lives are just as selfish and unspiritual as are those of multitudes who make no profession of attachment to Jesus whatever. I do not make light of the ordinances of God’s worship; on the contrary, I believe them to be most serviceable in feeding the fire of piety within the heart. But what I mean to say is, that piety does not consist in attending on these means of grace, and that our engagement in public services must never be made an excuse by us for the neglect of household duties. “Why did you not come to church last night,” said one working-man to another, on a Monday morning; “our minister was preaching a third sermon on the duty of family religion; why did you not come?” “Because,” was the reply, “I was at home doing it.” I would like to see not less earnestness in attendance at the sanctuary but more of this “at home doing it.”—Taylor.
A man may be as zealous as he pleases about what relates to this life only, and yet be had in admiration; but to be zealous in religion seems to be regarded a mark of imbecility. Devotion to God alone is regarded as something degrading—something unworthy the dignity of man—which renders him a fit subject for the finger of scorn to point at—for the ridicule or contempt of a world that lieth in wickedness.—Lindsay.
2Sa_6:21. It is hard for the best men to recriminate without some tincture of tartness, and to keep quick the fire of zeal without some smoke of sin.—Trapp.
2Sa_6:21-22. If David had not loved Michal dearly, he had never stood upon those points with Abner: he knew that if Abner came to him, the kingdom of Israel would accompany him; and yet he sends him the charge of not seeing his face, except he brought Michal, Saul’s daughter, with him; as if he would not regard the crown of Israel while he wanted that wife of his: yet here he takes her up roundly, as if she had been an enemy. All relations are aloof off, in comparison of that betwixt God and the soul: “He that loves father, or mother, or wife, or child, better than me (saith our Saviour), is not worthy of me.”—Bp. Hall.
1. We should be afraid of censuring the devotion of others, though it may not agree with our own sentiments, because, for aught that we know, the heart may be upright in it, and who are we, to despise those whom God has accepted?
2. If we can approve ourselves to God in what we do in religion, and do it as before the Lord, we need not value the censures and reproaches of men.
3. The more we are vilified for well-doing the more resolute we should be in it, and hold our religion the faster, and bind it the closer to us, for the endeavours of Satan’s agents to shake us and to shame us out of it.—Henry.
2Sa_6:14-22. In the portrait of David, as it here appears to our view, several essential marks of a true state of grace unveil themselves before us. There are these five. We may describe them thus, in the language of the NewTestament:—
(1.) Joy in Christ;
(2.) separation from the world;
(3.) the open confession of the crucified one;
(4.) love to the people of God; and
(5.) bearing willingly the shame of the cross. But how frequently does one meet such ill-temper as that of Michal even at the present day! It displays itself when at any time one belonging to the higher ranks of life, who has been brought, through the grace of God, from the “broad way,” salutes in the time of his “first love” every companion in the faith as a brother, and is happiest among those who, whether they be distinguished in rank or lowly, rejoice like himself in the Lord; worships in the same fellowship, and joins with them in spiritual songs; meeting familiarly with the lowliest among them, as if birth, position, rank, and social etiquette were the most indifferent things in the world. How frequently does one also see relations and friends change their demeanour towards such as disregard the conventional boundaries, and convert it into hateful mockery! That king himself did not escape such scorn whom history has adorned with the name of the “Confessor,” and who once, when in the presence of an assembly of believing preachers, gave free expression in high excitement to the feelings of his heart, glowing with love to Christ, “I know well,” he said, “it is not politic for me to say what I now utter in your presence;” but he did not, on that account, for a moment check the flow of his thoughts and feelings. But this state of pious elevation of mind never continues long. It soon gives place to the accustomed calm and uniform course of thought. David is not alway so lofty in his experience as he was on that day of festal joy. But he is deserving of pity who understands not the flapping of the eagle’s wings, by which souls consecrated to God are in times of particular visitations of grace lifted up above all the boundaries of their common life, and placed in a condition where, in the emotions that fill them, they rise above all earthly things.—Krummacher.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain 2 Samuel
2 Samuel
DEATH AND LIFE FROM THE ARK
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2Sa 6:1 - 2Sa 6:12.
I. The first section {2Sa 6:1 - 2Sa 6:5} describes the joyful reception and procession. The parallel account in 1 Chronicles states that Baalah, or Baale, was Kirjath-jearim. Probably the former was the more ancient Canaanitish name, and indicates that it had been a Baal sanctuary. If so, the presence of the ark there was at once a symbol and an omen, showing Jehovah’s conquest over the obscene and bloody gods of the land, and forecasting His triumph over all the gods of the nations. Every Baale shall one day be a resting-place of the ark of God. The solemn designation of the ark, as ‘called by the Name, the name of the Lord of Hosts, that dwelleth between the cherubim,’ is significant on this, its reappearance after so long eclipse, and, by emphasising its awful sanctity, prepares for the incidents which are to follow. The manner of the ark’s transport was irregular; for the law strictly enjoined its being carried by the Levites by means of bearing-poles resting on their shoulders; and the copying of the Philistines’ cart, though a new one was made for the purpose, indicates the desuetude into which the decencies of worship had fallen in seventy years. In 1 Chronicles, the singular words in 2Sa 6:5, which describe David as playing before the Lord on the very unlikely things for such a purpose,’ all manner of instruments of fir wood,’ become ‘with all their might: even with songs’ which seems much more reasonable. A slight alteration in three letters and the transposition of two would bring our text into conformity with I Chronicles, and the conjectural emendation is tempting. Who ever heard of fir-wood musical instruments? The specified ones which follow were certainly not made of it, and songs could scarcely fail to be mentioned.
At all events, we see the glad procession streaming out of the little city buried among its woods; the cart drawn by meek oxen, and loaded with the unadorned wooden chest, in the midst; the two sons or descendants of its faithful custodian honoured to be the teamsters; the king with the harp which had cheered him in many a sad hour of exile; and the crowd ‘making a joyful noise before the Lord,’ which might sound discord in our ears, as some lifted up shrill songs, some touched stringed instruments, some beat on timbrels, some rattled metal rods with movable rings, and some clashed cymbals together. It was a wild scene, in which there was a dangerous resemblance to the frantic jubilations of idolatrous worship. No doubt there were true hearts in that crowd, and none truer than David’s. No doubt we have to beware of applying our Christian standards to these early times, and must let a good deal that is sensuous and turbid pass, as, no doubt, God let it pass. But confession of sin in leaving the ark so long forgotten would have been better than this tumultuous joy; and if there had been more trembling in it, it would not have passed so soon into wild terror. Still, on the other hand, that rejoicing crowd does represent, though in crude form, the effect which the consciousness of God’s presence should ever have. His felt nearness should be, as the Psalmist says, ‘the gladness of my joy.’ Much of our modern religion is far too gloomy, and it is thought to be a sign of devotion and spiritual-mindedness to be sad and of a mortified countenance. Unquestionably, Christianity brings men into the continual presence of very solemn truths about themselves and the world which may well sober them, and make what the world calls mirth incongruous.
‘There is no music in the life
That rings with idiot laughter solely.’
But the Man of Sorrows said that His purpose for us was that ‘His joy might remain in us, and that our joy might be full’; and we but imperfectly apprehend the gospel if we do not feel that its joys ‘much more abound’ than its sorrows, and that they even burn brightest, like the lights on safety-buoys, when drenched by stormy seas.
II. The second section contains the dread vindication of the sanctity of the ark, which changed joy into terror, and silenced the songs. At some bad place in the rocky and steep track, the oxen stumbled or were restive. The spot is called in Samuel ‘the threshing-floor of Nachon,’ but in Chronicles the owner is named ‘Chidon.’ As the former word means ‘a stroke’ and the latter ‘destruction,’ they are probably not to be taken as proper names, but as applied to the place after this event. The name given by David, however-Perez-uzzah-proved the more permanent ‘to this day.’ Uzzah, who was driving while his brother went in front to pilot the way, naturally stretched out his hand to steady his freight, just as if it had been a sack of corn; and, as if he had touched an electric wire, fell dead, as the story graphically says, ‘by the ark of God.’ What confusion and panic would agitate the joyous singers, and how their songs would die on their lips!
What harm was there in Uzzah’s action? It was most natural, and, in one point of view, commendable. Any careful waggoner would have done the same with any valuable article he had in charge. Yes; that was just the point of his error and sin, that he saw no difference between the ark and any other valuable article. His intention to help was right enough; but there was profound insensibility to the awful sacredness of the ark, on which even its Levitical bearers were forbidden to lay hands. All his life Uzzah had been accustomed to its presence. It had been one of the familiar pieces of furniture in Abinadab’s house, and, no doubt, familiarity had had its usual effect. Do none of us ministers, teachers, and others, to whom the gospel and the worship and ordinances of the Church have been familiar from infancy, treat them in the same fashion? Many a hand is laid on the ark, sometimes to keep it from falling, with more criminal carelessness of its sacredness than Uzzah showed. Note, too, how swiftly an irreverent habit of treating holy things grows. The first error was in breaking the commanded order for removal of the ark by the Levites. Once in the cart, the rest follows. The smallest breach in the feeling of awe and reverence will soon lead to more complete profanation. There is nothing more delicate than the sense of awe. Trifled with ever so little, it speedily disappears. There is far too little of it in our modern religion. Perfect love casts out fear and deepens awe which hath not torment.
Was not the punishment in excess of the sin? We must remember the times, the long neglect of the ark, the decay of religion in Saul’s reign, the critical character of the moment as the beginning of a new era, when it was all-important to print deep the impression of sanctity, and the rude material which had to be dealt with; and we must not forget that God, in His punishments, does not adopt men’s ideas of death as such a very dreadful thing. Many since have followed in David’s wake, and been ‘displeased, because the Lord broke forth upon Uzzah’; but he and they have been wrong. He ought to have known better, and to have understood the lesson of the solemn corpse that lay there by the ark; instead of which he gives way to mere terror, and was ‘afraid of the Lord.’ David afraid of the Lord! What had become of the rapturous love and strong trust which ring clear through his psalms? Is this the man who called God his rock and fortress and deliverer, his buckler and the horn of his salvation and his high tower, and poured out his soul in burning words, which glow yet through all the centuries and the darkness of earth? It was ill for David to fall thus below himself, but well for us that the eclipse of his faith and love should be recorded, to hearten us, when the like emotions fall asleep in our souls. His consciousness of impurity was wholesome and sound, but his cowering before the ark, as if it were the seat of arbitrary anger, which might flame out destruction for no discernible reason, was a woful darkening of his loving insight into the heart of God.
III. The last section {2Sa 6:10 - 2Sa 6:12} gives us the blessings on the house of Obed-edom and the glad removal of the ark to Jerusalem. Obed-edom is called a ‘Gittite,’ or man of Gath; but he does not appear to have been a Philistine immigrant, but a native of another Gath, a Levitical city, and himself a Levite. There is an Obededom in the lists of David’s Levites in Chronicles who is probably the same man. He did not fear to receive the ark, and, worthily received, the presence which had been a source of disaster and death to idolaters, to profanely curious pryers into its secret, and to presumptuous irreverence, became a fountain of unbroken blessing. This twofold effect of the same presence is but a symbol of a solemn law which runs through all life, and is especially manifest in the effects of Christ’s work upon men. Everything has two handles, and it depends on ourselves by which of them we lay hold of it, and whether we shall receive a shock that kills, or blessings. The same circumstances of poverty, or wealth, or sorrow, or temptation, make one man better and another worse. The same presence of God will be to one man a joy; to another, a terror. ‘What maketh heaven, that maketh hell.’ The same gospel received is the fountain of life, purity, peace; and, rejected or neglected, is the source of harm and death. Jesus Christ is ‘set for the fall and rising again of many.’ Either He is the savour of life unto life, the rock on which we build, or He is the savour of death unto death, the stone on which we stumble and break our limbs.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain The bringing of the Ark from Kirjath-jearim to Jerusalem
The bringing of the Ark from Kirjath-jearim to Jerusalem
1. Again] This probably refers to the previous assembling of the chosen men of Israel to repel the Philistine invasion (2Sa_5:22-25).
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2. From Baale of Judah] should probably be 'to Baal of Judah' (1Ch_13:6). The town was also known as Kirjath-baal (City of Baal).
3. Out of the house of Abinadab] It had been there ever since its removal from Bethshemesh (1Sa_7:1). In Gibeah] RV 'in the hill.' Kirjath-jearim was situated on high ground.
5. On all manner of instruments made of fir wood] Read with Chronicles 'with all their might, even with songs.'
7. He died] If this punishment seem severe, we must remember that one great lesson the Israelites had to learn was reverence and fear of God. The whole symbolism of both Tabernacle and Temple was intended to impress upon them the holiness of God and the fact that He could not be rashly approached by sinful man.
10. Gittite] The later tradition (1Ch_15:18) makes him a Levite. If this is correct, he probably came from Gath-rimmon, a Levitical city (Jos_21:25).
13. When they.. had gone six paces] They offered sacrifices as soon as it was seen that God permitted the removal of the ark.
17. The tabernacle] This translation, though correct, is misleading. It was an ordinary tent. The Tabernacle was at Gibeon. Burnt offerings] represented the self-dedication of the worshipper. Peace offerings] were sacrifices of thanksgiving.
19. A flagon of wine] RV 'a cake of raisins.'
23. David thus inflicted on Michal the greatest disgrace which could befall an Eastern woman. This condemnation seems to our minds extreme; but such sudden impulses were characteristic of David.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain 3. The Ark Brought to Zion
3. The Ark Brought to Zion
CHAPTER 6
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1. The ark fetched by David (2Sa 6:1-5)
2. Uzzah: his error and death (2Sa 6:6-9)
3. The ark in the house of Obed-edom (2Sa 6:10-11)
4. The ark brought into David’s city (2Sa 6:12-19)
5. Michal’s mockery of David (2Sa 6:20-23)
It is of importance to read 1 Chronicles 13 for a better understanding of how the ark was brought from Kirjathjearim to David’s city. The book of Chronicles contains these larger records because in that book these events are described in their theocratic character, while in Samuel the outward aspect of David’s kingdom is followed. David issued the call that the people with the priests and the Levites should gather to bring again the ark of God (1Ch 12:2-3). However we do not read anything more about the Levites, who alone were commissioned to carry the ark. It is evident that David neglected to follow the divine instructions given in the law concerning the handling of the ark. (See Numbers 4.) This neglect may be traced to the fact that David did not inquire of the Lord. The way they transported the ark was the way of the Philistines (1Sa 6:7). When Uzzah put forth his hand to steady the ark, he was smitten for his error and died. God had spoken to His people and taught them the lesson that the ways of the Philistines and disobedience to His Word in holy things demands His judgment. How many in the past and more so today act like Uzzah when in service for God they employ the methods of the world and disregard entirely His Word. Godly fear and faithful submission to the Word of God are essentials in true service for God. Service without these is often a snare and results in dishonour.
Then the progress of the ark was arrested, because David filled with fear would not remove it to his city. The ark found a resting place for three months in the house of Obed-edom (servant of Edom); he was a Levite and therefore authorized to care for the ark (1Ch 26:1-5). Blessing rested upon his house. The judgment of Uzzah and the blessing of Obed-edom had a great effect upon David. “So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the city of David with gladness.” This is all we find in our chapter. But how did he bring the ark up? 1 Chronicles 15 gives the answer. “Then David said, none ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites; for them hath the LORD chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto Him for ever.” The sons of Kohath, Merari, Gershom, etc., are given there. All is now done in accordance with the Word of God and blessing follows. And David filled with divine joy danced, girded with a linen ephod, before the Lord. After the ark had been set in its proper place in the tabernacle which David had pitched and the burnt offerings and peace offerings had been brought, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord. In his dancing the king had taken a place amidst the people. And Michal, who is called here not the wife of the king, but “the daughter of Saul,” despised David. She looked upon David’s holy joy as an indecent humiliation, while the king declared he would even be more vile than thus and base in his own sight. What a contrast with the pride of Saul which is now manifested in his daughter Michal. And what happened when the ark had been put into the tabernacle? 1Ch 16:4-36 tells us how David appointed Levites to minister and then he delivered into the hands of Asaph and his brethren a great Psalm of praise. And that sublime utterance looks forward to a far more glorious day, when the Lord dwells in Zion in the midst of an obedient people. Then the heavens will be glad and the earth rejoice and among all the nations it will be said “Jehovah reigneth”; and even nature will sing in the presence of the Lord (1Ch 16:31-36).
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain The First Attempt ends Sadly
The First Attempt ends Sadly
v. 1. Again, David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, the captains and leaders of the army, together with the best soldiers of the nation, thirty thousand.
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v. 2. And David arose and went with all the people that were with him, from Baale of Judah, to Kirjath-baal or Kirjath-jearim, to bring up from thence the ark of God, which had been in the house of Abinadab some seventy years, since the time that the Philistines had returned this trophy, 1 Samuel 7, whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubim; for at the ark, before the ark, the name of Jehovah Sabaoth, who appeared over the cover of the ark, between the cherubim on the mercy-seat, was invoked.
v. 3. And they set the ark of God, literally, "let it ride," upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah, on the hill; and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, here probably in the sense of grandsons of Abinadab, and sons of Eleazar, who had been the first guardian of the ark, drave the new cart. Strictly speaking, this mode of transporting the ark did not agree with the legal requirement, which demanded that the ark should always be carried by Levitical priests, Num 7:9.
v. 4. And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab which was at Gibeah, on the hill, accompanying the ark of God, the two men acting as guardians; and Ahio went before the ark, while Uzzah walked along at the side of the cart.
v. 5. And David and all the house of Israel, the entire assembled multitude, played before the Lord, in His honor, on all manner of instruments made of fir-wood, with all their might, and with songs, 1Ch 13:8, even on harps, the Jewish zithers, and on psalteries, small harps held in the hand, and on timbrels, tabrets or hand-drums, and on cornets, sistrums, instruments which gave forth a musical sound when shaken in time with the rest of the music, and on cymbals, the well-known metal plates used to this day.
v. 6. And when they came to Nachon’s threshing-floor, a permanent floor along the road leading to Jerusalem, probably covered with a roof, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it; in stepping to the side of the road or in slipping they jostled the ark, so that it seemed about to fall off.
v. 7. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, for the unauthorized touching of the ark, as of the throne of God’s glory in the midst of Israel, was a profanation of the Lord’s majesty; and God smote him there for his error, for his rash mistake in touching the ark; and there he died by the ark of God, he was struck down immediately.
v. 8. And David was displeased, becoming angry that his undertaking had resulted in such a misfortune, because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzzah, by inflicting this stroke; and he called the name of the place Perez-uzzah (the breach of Uzzah) to this day.
v. 9. And David was afraid of the Lord that day, the anger over his misfortune gradually turned to apprehension and then to fear, as he considered that his disregard of the Lord’s command about transporting the ark had evidently been the cause of the unfortunate happening, and said, How shall the ark of the Lord come to me? David felt that he was guilty before the Lord and unworthy of His presence.
v. 10. So David would not remove the ark of the Lord unto him in to the city of David, fearing that misfortune might strike his entire family if he proceeded with his plan; but David carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite, who hailed from Gath-Rimmon, the Levitical city in Dan, a musician and also a porter at the Sanctuary in Jerusalem.
v. 11. And the ark of the Lord continued in the house of Obed-edom, the Gittite, three months; and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household. To the believers of the New Testament the most holy thing is God’s Word and Sacrament, for where the means of grace are administered, there the Triune God dwells. To the believing Christians the Word of God is a savor of life unto life, but to those who despise His grace it is a savor of death unto death.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 This word marks a new part of the story.
Now
This word marks a new part of the story.
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all the chosen men of Israel
This metonym represents the army of the nation of Israel. (See: Metonymy)
thirty thousand
"30,000" (See: Numbers)
from Baalah in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God
It is implied that they are taking the ark to Jerusalem. AT: "from Baalah in Judah to take to Jerusalem the ark of God" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
to bring up from there the ark of God
Jerusalem was higher than almost any other place in Israel, so it was normal for Israelites to speak of going up to Jerusalem and going down from it.
to bring up
The word "bring" can be translated as "take." (See: Go and Come)
Baalah
This is the name of a place. (See: How to Translate Names)
which is called by the name of Yahweh of hosts
Yahweh's name was written on the ark.
who sits enthroned over the cherubim
You may need to make explicit that the cherubim are those on the lid of the ark of the covenant. The biblical writers often spoke of the ark of the covenant as if it were Yahweh's footstool upon which he rested his feet as he sat on his throne in heaven above. AT: "who sits on his throne above the cherubim on the ark of the covenant" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
enthroned
to sit on a throne
translationWords
David
Israel
raise
Judah
ark of the covenant
call
name
Yahweh of hosts
cherub
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 6:1-23 Except for the brief reference in 1 Sam…
6:1-23 Except for the brief reference in 1 Sam 14:18 (see note), the Ark of the Covenant has not been mentioned since 1 Sam 7:1-2, when the Philistines returned the captured Ark to Beth-shemesh and then to Kiriath-jearim, where it was placed in Abinadab’s home. The Ark’s virtual absence during Saul’s forty-year reign highlights that Saul, in his spiritual insensitivity, did not seek the Lord (see 1 Chr 10:13-14; 13:3). David brought the Ark into Jerusalem, effectively acknowledging and enthroning (see 2 Sam 6:2) Yahweh as the true king over Israel in the new capital.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.