The Ark of God
Notes
Transcript
If you have your Bible (and I hope you do), please turn with me to 2 Samuel 6. Please keep your Bible open in front of you as we study God’s Word together this morning.
1 David again brought together all the able young men of Israel—thirty thousand. 2 He and all his men went to Baalah in Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name, the name of the Lord Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim on the ark.
We probably need a reintroduction to the ark.
When I was a kid growing up in church, I was really confused anytime our pastor preached about “the ark of God.” What always came to mind was Noah’s Ark—you know, the big boat, the flood, the animals.
The ark of the LORD, or the ark of the covenant, is not a boat. It looks something like this:
[PHOTO]
Exodus 25 gives us the description of the ark:
10 “Have them make an ark of acacia wood—two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high. 11 Overlay it with pure gold, both inside and out, and make a gold molding around it. 12 Cast four gold rings for it and fasten them to its four feet, with two rings on one side and two rings on the other. 13 Then make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 14 Insert the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry it. 15 The poles are to remain in the rings of this ark; they are not to be removed. 16 Then put in the ark the tablets of the covenant law, which I will give you.
17 “Make an atonement cover of pure gold—two and a half cubits long and a cubit and a half wide. 18 And make two cherubim out of hammered gold at the ends of the cover. 19 Make one cherub on one end and the second cherub on the other; make the cherubim of one piece with the cover, at the two ends. 20 The cherubim are to have their wings spread upward, overshadowing the cover with them. The cherubim are to face each other, looking toward the cover. 21 Place the cover on top of the ark and put in the ark the tablets of the covenant law that I will give you. 22 There, above the cover between the two cherubim that are over the ark of the covenant law, I will meet with you and give you all my commands for the Israelites.
The Ark of the Covenant was the visible sign of the presence and power of God.
The ark of the covenant is a sacred, gold-covered, portable box, 3.75 feet long by 2.25 feet wide and high.
The ark sat behind the thick veil in Israel’s worship center in the area called the Most Holy Place, unless it was on the move in the wilderness.
The ark of the covenant was a symbol of the Lord’s rule. The Lord’s presence was enthroned above the cherubim.
The ark was a symbol of God’s revelation; it held copies of the 10 Commandments. The ark also communicated reconciliation; the lid of the ark was called the mercy seat (atonement cover), sprinkled yearly with the blood of sacrifice.
The ark of the covenant was a beautiful, holy symbol of the Lord Yahweh—the God who rules, the God who speaks, the God who forgives. It was also the sign of the LORD’s leading His people.
As the people were wandering in the desert, whenever the ark was on the move, Moses would announce:
Numbers 10:35 “Rise up, Lord! May your enemies be scattered; may your foes flee before you.”
When the Jordan river stopped flowing in Joshua 3-4, when the city of Jericho was destroyed, the ark of the covenant was there and played a central role.
That’s a little info about the ark of the LORD. But now, here in 2 Samuel, David and 30,000 of his closest friends are on a mission to bring the ark of the LORD to Jerusalem.
You can go back and read all about why they had to go retrieve it (early chapters of 1 Samuel). Or, I’m sure you can access the strong memory you have of the sermons I preached through 1 Samuel three years ago.
The Philistines captured the ark when the Israelites had brought it out to use a prop in battle. God’s people treated the ark of the LORD like it was their mascot.
Well, the LORD God was having none of that. The LORD would not be played. Israel was defeated that day, 30,000 foot soldiers were killed, and the ark of the LORD was taken by the Philistines.
The Philistines couldn’t handle the ark of the LORD in their land. The hand of the LORD was heavy on them, afflicting them. After 7 months, the Philistines sent the ark of the LORD back to Israel.
1 Samuel 7:1–2 “So the men of Kiriath Jearim came and took up the ark of the Lord. They brought it to Abinadab’s house on the hill and consecrated Eleazar his son to guard the ark of the Lord. The ark remained at Kiriath Jearim a long time—twenty years in all. Then all the people of Israel turned back to the Lord.”
The ark of the LORD is one powerful box (of course, we know, it’s more than that).
Now, David takes 30,000 men to retrieve the ark of the LORD from Abinadab’s house and bring it back with them to Jerusalem.
David is going to place the ark of the LORD in a tent and put it at the very center of Israel’s life.
So they set out to go retrieve the ark. This is a good thing.
One thought, though. There is an issue here. One sad concern is this: there’s no record of David inquiring of the LORD here, asking what he should do.
He doesn’t ask the LORD if they should go grab the ark of the covenant from Abe’s house.
David just does it.
3 They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart 4 with the ark of God on it, and Ahio was walking in front of it. 5 David and all Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord, with castanets, harps, lyres, timbrels, sistrums and cymbals.
“They set the ark of God on a new cart…guiding the new cart with the ark of God on it.”
This detail is a little bit odd, especially the repetition of it all. “So they put it on a cart! What’s that matter?”
Well, it matters. It matters a lot.
Turn with me to Numbers 7. You know the sermon is going to be a real barn-burner when you reference the book of Numbers.
As Moses is setting up the tabernacle and dedicating the tabernacle items, the people of Israel are making offerings. Some people brought their gift: 6 covered carts to help with the Levites’ work.
This is Moses distributing the carts: Numbers 7:6–9
“So Moses took the carts and oxen and gave them to the Levites. He gave two carts and four oxen to the Gershonites, as their work required, 8 and he gave four carts and eight oxen to the Merarites, as their work required. They were all under the direction of Ithamar son of Aaron, the priest. But Moses did not give any to the Kohathites, because they were to carry on their shoulders the holy things, for which they were responsible.”
David (and the small city of people with him) didn’t think about what they were doing or what they should have done. No one, that we know of, asked the LORD or sought His counsel.
Do you think they hesitated at all?
“Wait, wait, wait, you guys. Do you think it’s okay that we use a cart? I mean, it’s a new cart, so it’s probably fine. Do you think that God really cares about this today? I know Moses said something about it, but, yeah…you know, yeah…it’s probably…it’s, it’s probably fine. Go ahead and set the ark on the cart. The new cart.”
The ark’s on the cart, headed to Jerusalem. Let the celebration begin!
2 Samuel 6:5 “David and all Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord, with castanets, harps, lyres, timbrels, sistrums and cymbals.”
This celebration—music and singing and playing instruments—is before the LORD. That’s the key phrase. It’s not just celebration; it’s celebration before the LORD.
This is happening in light of the LORD’s presence. This celebration, this worship, is joyful and it’s loud!
30,000 people singing, playing their instruments, crashing cymbals together, clicking the castanets, strumming the harps, doing whatever you do with a sistrum (I think you shake it).
This is worship/celebration—the people are playing music and instruments, dancing around, as if they are in a parade. It kind of is a parade. They are, as one version of the Bible puts it, “making merry.”
Why? Why all this merry making? Playing music, dancing, parading themselves behind the ark?
Well, having the ark of the LORD is a big deal; the actual presence of God among them is reason to celebrate. It’s joyful, extravagant, loud.
But this isn’t all merry, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade type stuff; this is serious.
It’s serious. Actually, it’s life and death.
6 When they came to the threshing floor of Nakon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. 7 The Lord’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down, and he died there beside the ark of God.
Let me ask: Doesn’t this bother you?
I mean, what’s wrong with what Uzzah did?! He was just trying to help. He just wanted to keep the ark of the LORD from crashing to the ground.
He’s doing something good, right? The cart’s rolling along, the oxen stumble, the cart shudders and shakes, Uzzah says, “Whoops-a-daisy, I’ve got it,” puts his hand out to steady it.
And the music stops. Everyone sees Uzzah lying dead at the side of the cart.
Here is, as one commentator states it, “a man attempting to honor God, burning with a good and holy devotion, punished like a criminal.” - Calvin, Sermons on 2 Samuel
Doesn’t this bother you? If it doesn’t bother you, I’m not sure what would bother you. This is uncomfortable. Uzzah drops dead upon touching the ark. But he was just trying to keep it from falling!
Why does the LORD’s anger burn against Uzzah, and kill him?
This is referred to as an irreverent act. Really? An irreverent act?
Yes, actually, this was wrong. A Holy God had told His people how they should relate to the ark. He gave them ample warning.
Numbers 4:15 “After Aaron and his sons have finished covering the holy furnishings and all the holy articles, and when the camp is ready to move, only then are the Kohathites to come and do the carrying. But they must not touch the holy things or they will die. The Kohathites are to carry those things that are in the tent of meeting.”
Clearly, here in the parade to Jerusalem, Uzzah’s instincts just took over.
It’s like my sister trying to keep her curling iron from falling to the rug in the bathroom.
She reached out and caught it, in her mind saving the rug, but she grabbed the hot barrel of the curling iron and fried her fingers (there was one intelligent child in the house, and it wasn’t my sister).
Uzzah obviously hadn’t seen “Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark.”
You know, when the Nazis are searching for the ark of the covenant, and the U.S. Government hires Indy to find the ark before the Nazis utilize its extraordinary powers.
If Uzzah had seen the movie, he would know the ark of the LORD melts their faces melt and explodes their heads. Uzzah would have known to steer clear of the ark of the LORD.
It seems like Uzzah is just doing what any of us would have done. He was just keeping the ark from hitting the ground, come on! What’s so bad about that?
The LORD has said, “Don’t touch!”
The LORD is HOLY, and Uzzah is not. Neither are we. When the unholy meets what is Holy, it cannot stand.
Indeed, “Were it not for the fact that God burst forth in the person of His Son at the Cross of Christ, not a single one of us could ever stand before Him.” - Alistair Begg
This quote just wrecks me, but it’s exactly right. [SLIDE]
“The presumptuous sin of Uzzah was this: he assumed his hands were less polluted than the dirt.” -R.C. Sproul
Uzzah was not less polluted than the dirt. He wasn’t holier. And certainly not holy enough to grasp the holy things of God without consequence. He reached out and touched. And he died.
What God does here with Uzzah actually has very little to do with Uzzah. It’s all about the Holiness of God, the Untouchable-ness of God.
The LORD God is Holy, Holy, Holy.
8 Then David was angry because the Lord’s wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah.
9 David was afraid of the Lord that day and said, “How can the ark of the Lord ever come to me?” 10 He was not willing to take the ark of the Lord to be with him in the City of David. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. 11 The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, and the Lord blessed him and his entire household.
David was, of course, happy when God broke out against the Philistines—2 Samuel 5:20 “As waters break out, the Lord has broken out against my enemies before me.” That’s great news!
But now, when the LORD’s wrath breaks out against Uzzah, David’s angry.
“I don’t mind when you break out, God, and do it for my benefit. But I don’t like you breaking out against my people, especially when it affects me.”
Sound familiar? We’re fine to see the judgment of God upon our enemies, on those people, but when we personally encounter God’s discipline for our sins—nope, don’t like that.
David is afraid of the LORD. His celebration has turned to trembling, rejoicing has turned to fear. GOOD!
David doesn’t want the ark of the LORD to come with him to Jerusalem, now that this has happened. The question the people asked 20 years prior, is appropriate now:
1 Samuel 6:20 “Who can stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God? To whom will the ark go up from here?”
So, David leaves the ark of the LORD with Obed-Edom. And the once-merry parade marches on home for now, instruments quiet, all the people with a fresh appreciation—hopefully—and new fear in the face of the holiness of God.
12 Now King David was told, “The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.” So David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. 13 When those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. 14 Wearing a linen ephod, David was dancing before the Lord with all his might, 15 while he and all Israel were bringing up the ark of the Lord with shouts and the sound of trumpets.
16 As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.
17 They brought the ark of the Lord and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the Lord. 18 After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord Almighty. 19 Then he gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to their homes.
20 When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, going around half-naked in full view of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!”
21 David said to Michal, “It was before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the Lord. 22 I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”
23 And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.
The LORD soon enough made it clear that what happened to Uzzah wasn’t the last word about the ark of the LORD. It didn’t stay in Obed-Edom’s house indefinitely.
The ark of the LORD “was not automatically deadly.” Obed-Edom’s household was blessed by the LORD and by the presence of the ark.
David gets the point: the LORD’s true intent is to bless and not destroy His people by way of the ark.
David sets out to bring the ark to Jerusalem, this time following God’s instruction
No cart this time. They are carrying the ark as they should, as the LORD desired.
I’m sure there was still some terror, some awesome dread as they are taking the ark with them. But, the overall mood is celebratory. We find David rejoicing and dancing, leaping and dancing.
All Israel is bringing the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets.
We can’t miss this. The author highlights the joy. They’re bringing the ark (see the end of verse 12) to the City of David with rejoicing.
David’s really going to town as they head into the town of David. He’s dancing before the LORD with all his might. With gusto, a cacophony of music and singing around him, David’s celebrating.
This is his worship before the LORD.
Let’s think about this. Think about what’s just happened. A few months prior to this, David et. al, were struck with the terror and the fear of the LORD as they watched Uzzah touch the ark and then drop dead right then and there.
That sticks with you. OR it should. You don’t quickly forget that moment. That memory is tattooed on your mind.
And now, King David says, “Let’s run it again, fellas. We’re gonna go get the ark of the LORD.”
You’d walk there with trembling, knowing your faces could melt off just as quickly as Uzzah fell to the ground.
Trembling fear would accompany your joy in the presence of the LORD. As it should.
Fearfulness and gladness are held together.
In the LORD’s presence, you should both shudder and dance. You should sing and cower.
Worship the Holy God.
Celebrate and Tremble.
Worship the Holy God.
Celebrate and Tremble.
A fearful, reverent sense of the Holiness of God leads to right worship. We should celebrate and tremble.
Psalm 2:11 “Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling.”
This is 2 Samuel 6 in seven words: Worship the Holy God.
Celebrate and Tremble.
David’s wife doesn’t like what she sees. She’s unimpressed. Embarrassed even. Michal, King Saul’s daughter, thinks her husband David should act more “kingly.”
David says his dancing, his worship, his reverence was before the LORD (v. 21).
It’s not a performance for the people, but worship to the LORD.
He states definitively: “I will celebrate before the LORD.”
David might be the king, but before any of that, He is the LORD’s. David belongs to, and trembles before, the LORD Almighty.
There’s nothing embarrassing or shameful about full-throated, joyous worship that’s full of expression.
We don’t have to reserve all of our enthusiasm for professional sports, nor should we be entirely stoic and bored before the LORD.
Will Blaikie writes: “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?”
God’s Word instructs us to get excited in His presence:
1 Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him.
1 Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy.
5 praise him with the clash of cymbals, praise him with resounding cymbals.
Worship the Holy God. Celebrate and Tremble.
Why wouldn’t we?
Why sit in our pews all silent and stoic?
Don’t we have just as much reason as David to praise the LORD, to dance before Him, to sing and shout and worship Him?
I’d argue we have even more reason!
The LORD is present with us—that’s reason enough to celebrate and tremble.
AND Jesus gave Himself for us, so that we could approach the throne of God’s grace ANYTIME!
During the temple/sacrificial era, the high priest would enter into the holy of holies one time a year, in the presence of God, to make atonement for the sins of the people.
OUR High Priest, Jesus, made ONE sacrifice, ONCE for all time, and then He took His seat. His work was over. Done. It’s finished. Jesus said so from the cross.
And it’s gloriously, wondrously true!
If we don’t tremble before the Holy God…if we, the people for whom Jesus died, making us right with God, allowing us to stand before the Holy God—if we don’t tremble and celebrate in worship of Him, I’m not sure we grasp, even a little, what He has done for us.
If we do understand, if we do grasp what He’s done—let us sing and shout, dance and make merry!
Let us worship the Holy God, with joy and reverence.
11 Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling.