1 Samuel 6

Fear and Joy Before the Lord

Big Idea: When you approach God with reverence and fear in worship, you will find communion and joy in His presence.

Intro

Electricity is both awe-inspiring and terrifying. Coursing through your house, many of your gadget’s, your cars, on and on, is electrical power. From lighting our houses, to cooking our food, to keeping us warm, electricity is life-giving. But it is also terribly dangerous when handled improperly. That same electrical cord you grab and plug-in can, without the proper covering, become a source of death. Fear and joy from one source.

That is what we have in our text today, but instead of electricity, it’s the holiness of God. An attribute which is awe-inspiring and terrifying. Here in this episode, we see both fear and joy before the Lord. From this, we learn that since the Lord is both awe-inspiring and mighty, we must show reverence for His holiness.

2 Samuel 6:1-23

Summary of the Text

David is in the kingdom building phase of his life. He has moved his capitol to Jerusalem, built a house, and is beating back the enemies of God. But what is missing is a place of worship. It seems as if David is gearing up for war again, but instead the narrative shifts, as David goes to collect the Ark of the Covenant and bring it up to Jerusalem. It starts off joyfully, but turns serious quickly. After Uzzah, a son of the man who has cared for the ark for decades, is struck down by the Lord for touching the Ark, David abandons the ark, leaving it in the care of a Foreigner, Obed-edom. Until three months later, David hears the Lord has blessed the house of Obed-edom. This time he does things right, and successfully brings the Ark to Jerusalem with a grand procession and worship service. He places it in a tent he has erected for it in Jerusalem. After worship, with all Israel gathered together, David blesses the people and sends them home with food. Finally, David returns to bless his own household only to find His Jealous wife Michal’s, Saul’s daughter, bitter recriminations.

The text does not initially give us David’s motives for wanting to bring the Ark to Jerusalem, but as the story unfolds, David certainly learns a valuable lesson about handling Yahweh, and so does all Israel. Being int he presence of the Lord can be an experience of great joy, but it can also be one of terror and fear—depending on your approach. So let us first consider David’s first approach, which ended in fear, before we consider how David learned from this, with his next approach ending in great joy.

When you approach God with reverence and fear in worship, you will find communion and joy in His presence.

Fear Before the Lord

The Ark of God, called by the name of the LORD of hosts who sits enthroned on the Cherubim, was a small box, made of Acacia wood, and covered inside and out with gold. The lid, which was made of pure gold, was called the “mercy seat”, on which two Cherubim, whose outstretched wings covered it. It had two sets of rings, through which poles would be put through for it to be carried with. Outside of the tabernacle, it was never to be seen. When it traveled with Israel through the wilderness, it was always covered and guarded by the Levites. They were armed with swords and if anyone approached the Ark unauthorized, they were to be killed.

The last we heard much of the Ark was in 1 Samuel 6-7, when the Philistines who thought they had defeated Israel’s God, by capturing the Ark, were visited with plagues because they kept the Ark. after the Lord rot devastation throughout the five cities of Philistia, the kings of these five cities sent it back to Israel. So they sent the Ark back to Israel with a guilt offering of five golden tumors and five golden mice, to represent the five kings and the plagues they experienced at the hand of the Lord. They then put the ark with the offering on a new cart with two milk cows, who had been separated from their calves. They reasoned that since the cows would have a tendency to want to return to their calves, wherever the Ark went would be at the guidance of the Lord.

The Ark came to Beth-shemesh, and the Levites there mishandled the Ark, leading to the death of seventy men because they touched it and looked inside. So the men of Beth-shemesh called to the people the next town over in Kiriath-jearim to come and take the Ark. They do so, and must have handled it properly, for the Lord allows it to come there. They consecrate Abinadab, and his sons, and the Ark remains in his house, until David comes to get it.

But David proves both that he does not know his history, and he doesn’t know the law. We read this law concerning kings in Deuteronomy,

Deuteronomy 17:18–19 (ESV) — 18 “And when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, he shall write for himself in a book a copy of this law, approved by the Levitical priests. 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read in it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God by keeping all the words of this law and these statutes, and doing them,

Had David done this? We don’t know, but if he had, he might not have made the mistakes that he did. Instead of having the Levites carry the Ark, it is on a new cart, just as the Philistines had done. And as it makes its way up to Jerusalem, Uzzah, the son of Abinadab, reaches out his hand to steady the Ark from falling, and the Lord strikes him dead.

At this, David becomes angry and afraid of God because he broke out against Uzzah. He then thinks, if this is how God, how can I bring the Ark to live with me? So he leaves it in the house of Obed-edom, who is Gittite, meaning he was a Philistine from Gath (most likely a sojourner, maybe even a proselyte).

Now, this story often causes people great anguish because it seems so unfair. All poor Uzzah was trying to do was steady the Ark. Is God such an angry and vindictive God that he couldn’t see that Uzzah was just trying to be helpful?

But the problem with thinking like this is that it blurs the lines between God and man, between creator and creature. By doing that, it obscures the nature of God’s holiness. The problem in this text is not so much Uzzah, as it was David (and the Levites) who should have known better. Instead they introduced an innovation by carrying the Ark on a cart, instead of on the shoulders of Levites. By doing so, it altered their approach to God, setting aside his law, which brought them dangerously close to the Lord’s holiness. David (and the Levites) exposed Uzzah to something he was not qualified to handle.

Here we see the importance of the regulative principle of worship. God gave commands to His people in the law for how they could safely approach him, and it wasn’t until Christ came that they could do so without a mediator. No one except the high priest, and that only once a year on the Day of Atonement, could approach the Ark of the Covenant. David, probably from ignorance, which if that was the case would have been the fault of the Levites, had failed to uphold the Lord as holy and it cost Uzzah his life.

Why would we think the Lord doesn’t take this as seriously today? Why do we find so much innovation in worship that goes unchallenged by churches today? Largely, it is because we think we know better. We want to worship God the way we feel good about worship, not how he has commanded us to worship. The way you approach God in worship is deadly serious, and when it is done flippantly, or without thought or care, the consequences are disastrous and lead to fear. And not the healthy kind.

Joy Before the Lord

But that wasn’t the end of the story. David hears that the house of Obed-edom has been great blessed over the three months span the Ark resided there. So David resolves to bring up the Ark, and this time he does it right. This time the Ark was bore by people. In the account of this event in 1 Chronicles 15:26, it makes explicit that these are Levites. And after they had made six steps, David sacrifices to the Lord. So, as they process up to Jerusalem, all the people are dancing and rejoicing while sacrifices are being made. In other words, great care is taken to approach God according to his word.

So we see that when you approach God in worship, according to His word, there is great joy and exuberance before the Lord. Freedom is found in limits, not in their absence. You will find the most joy, the most intimacy and communion with God when you learn to approach him as he has told you too.

Here the text highlights that there were two differences to David’s approach to God that warrant our consideration. First, the proper men in place to lead and second, the proper means in place to give the people access to God.

David and the Levites had failed earlier at their task to guard and keep the holiness of the Lord. The first thing that marks a proper approach to God is men who will teach and lead according to the word of God. These are men who have been set apart for the task by God. We don’t want just anyone teaching the law of God, or leading God’s people in worship, but only those God has called for that task. Which is why at Hope we do not include unordained men, and certainly not women, to lead in worship. For part of leading in worship is teaching the people how they are to approach God.

Secondly, our approach must use the right means. Without sacrifice it is impossible for anyone in the Old Covenant, including the priests, to approach God. Yes, David and the people were rejoicing before the Lord when they had attempted to come at first, but there is no mention of sacrifice. This would be like having a worship service with no private and corporate confession of sin. Which I would say a great many evangelical churches do every week. I remember one pastor telling me that if I arrived after the confession of sin, I might as well turn around and go home. By this he was teaching me that there is a proper way to approach God, and it’s not just willy-nilly. its not just rolling out of bed, and stumbling into the church with your Pj’s still on. You should prepare to come before the Lord. The author of Hebrews tells us,

Hebrews 9:22–28 (ESV) — 22 Indeed, under the law almost everything is purified with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. 23 Thus it was necessary for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24 For Christ has entered, not into holy places made with hands, which are copies of the true things, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf. 25 Nor was it to offer himself repeatedly, as the high priest enters the holy places every year with blood not his own, 26 for then he would have had to suffer repeatedly since the foundation of the world. But as it is, he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27 And just as it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment, 28 so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Jesus is our sacrifice, offered once for the forgiveness of your sin, so there is no need of repeated blood-sacrifices. But there is a need for continued repentance and confession. So when confronted as we are with the holiness of God, it is good and right and fitting, that we should confess our sins and look for their forgiveness and pardon in the sacrifice of Jesus. To approach God otherwise would be to invite the same response God gave to Uzzah.

By using the right men and the right means, Israel worships the Lord in holiness and experiences the joy of communion before the Lord. They then return to their houses full, having been blessed by God. You see, when you approach God with reverence and fear in worship, you will find communion and joy in His presence.

Excursus on Michal

I am out of time, but these episodes ends on a low note, that serves to show the contrast between the house of David and the house of Saul. Upon returning home from this exuberant service of worship, David finds Michal to be a great kill-joy. Something in David’s behavior has provoked this woman to jealousy, and so she tries to shame David for his behavior before the women of Israel. You can tell from David’s response that he had not worshipped in this way to put on some show for the ladies, for all his actions were done before the Lord. Further, the women Michal had thought would be scandalized by David’s behavior actually hold him in greater honor. The point of this episode is to show the difference between David and Saul in their attitude of worship before the Lord. David was rightly leading the people of God in worship by providing an example of an ideal Israelite in worship. He worships the Lord from his heart, whereas Saul was always doing it for what God could do for him. Saul worshipped God for what he could get out of it. Whether to make Samuel, or the people happy, or to secure some kind of victory from his enemies. David worships because he loves the Lord. For her jealous recriminations Michal was barren until the day of her death—the lineage of Saul is dead, for his approach to the Lord will always lead to death. But when you approach God with reverence and fear in worship, you will find communion and joy in His presence. Amen.