And David brought not the ark home unto himself into the city of David, but he carried it aside into the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.
David had set out to bring the ark of God up to Jerusalem, but Uzza's death stopped the procession cold. Instead of taking it home, he left it in another man's house — so why did a king who wanted God's throne near him now want it at a distance?
God's judgment fell on David's method, not on his plan. One writer draws out the mistake:
There is much deep instruction in this. David was doing a right thing in a wrong way, and when God executed judgment upon his way of acting, he despaired of doing the thing at all. This is a very common error.
David's fear was not a mark of closeness to God. Another writer traces it back to something David never did:
It is not difficult to understand why David was afraid of God. He had not consulted God at all in this solemn matter, which showed that he was not in communion with God. Where there is true communion with God there will not be fear. Fear exists where God is not known. It exists where the conscience is not pure before Him. And it comes when God steps in to make us aware that we have been acting without regard to His will and His glory. God's judgment had made David aware that He was displeased, and David's conscience had been reached. His was the reaction of a guilty conscience that had not yet asked God the reason for His displeasure.
The verse gives the man a title that can mislead:
Obed-edom, though a Levite, was also called a Gittite, probably because of residing at Gath or Gath-rimmon.
The choice cost David. It also narrowed the blessing from a whole nation to one household. But it did not make that blessing any less real:
This was David's loss. By stopping short he gave up much blessing and privilege, because the ark of God could do nothing but bless everyone rightly connected with it. To be connected with it in any other way brought judgment, as with the men of Beth-shemesh, and Uzza… All the time that David was "afraid" and without the ark, Obed-edom was blessed with the ark… the blessing, though it reached fewer people, was as real and positive, as pure and true, as if the whole nation had been enjoying it.
The detour became a school. What David refused to carry, he began to study:
Uzza's death woke David up to the error of his ways. At first he judged God, because of the breach that was made. Later he judged himself… Those three months brought deep blessing into the house of Obed-edom. During them David seems to have taken to studying and following the instructions in his Bible, and this led to great blessing for him soon after.
A later family list sets Obed-edom beside others in the same service:
Obed-edom is here, as always, the object of special blessing. Meshelemiah, the son of Korah, counts eighteen sons and brothers set apart for this office in his family. Hosah, of the family of Merari, counts thirteen sons and brothers. Obed-edom counts sixty-two among his direct descendants. He had eight sons, for the text says that God had blessed him… Had he not kept the ark in his house, with his family, for three months?
Dropping a holy thing because someone mishandled it is the wrong cure. One writer carries David's mistake into the New Testament:
David was displeased and left the ark completely alone for a time. This was a mistake. Later he put it right by honouring the ark and treating it as God had commanded… God had stepped in with judgment among the Christians at Corinth, but that should not make them refuse to keep the Lord's supper. It should make them examine themselves and take part in a spirit of self-judgment. There had been abuse, but the cure was not to stop using it. The cure was careful use, in obedience to God's design.
- Wrong way. David's aim was right; his method was not — and when judgment fell on the method, he abandoned the aim.
- Wrong fear. He had never consulted God about the matter. Fear filled the place where communion should have been.
- Turned aside. Stopping short cost David the very blessing he wanted. The ark could only bless those rightly connected with it.
- A household's gain. Obed-edom was a Levite, though people called him a Gittite. He took into his house what the king refused in his. The blessing was as real for one household as it would have been for the whole nation.
- Recovered. The three months were David's schooling in Scripture. The cure for mishandling a holy thing is not to drop it, but to handle it God's way.
And the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-Edom in his house three months. And Jehovah blessed the house of Obed-Edom, and all that he had.
The ark had just cost a man his life, and a frightened David left it in the nearest house instead of taking it on to his city. Three months later that house was plainly blessed, which raises the question: why does the same ark kill in one place and bless in another?
David stopped short, and another man received what he left behind. One writer weighs both sides: what the king lost, and how full the blessing was in the house that took the ark in:
This was David's loss. He forfeited much blessing and privilege by stopping short, for the ark of God could do nothing but bless all who were rightly connected with it. To be connected with it in any other way brought judgment, as it did to the men of Beth-shemesh and to Uzza. All the time that David was "afraid" and without the ark, Obed-edom was blessed with the ark. True, things might not look so cheering. The blessing did not spread through the whole nation, as it would have done had all been right. It stayed inside the circle of the man who had the ark in his house. Still the blessing, though narrowed, was as real and positive, as pure and truthful, as if the whole nation had been enjoying it.
The ark had not changed between Uzzah's death and Obed-edom's doorstep. Only the handling of it changed:
David leaves the ark in the house of Obed-edom. There the Lord shows that it is His nature to bless. He blesses whenever men have not forgotten His majesty so far as to deal with Him as they think proper. If we take away from His glory, He maintains it; and He also shows what He is by the blessing He gives.
David read the judgment on Uzzah as proof that God was against him. The blessing next door corrected him:
David witnesses the blessings granted to Obed-Edom, when this man might have, like Uzza, drawn the Lord's wrath upon himself by the least fault. So the king learns by experience that the God who had just revealed Himself as judge, though He is a holy God, is a God of grace.
Who was the man with the open door? One writer reads his names and finds in them a picture of what every believer once was:
Obed-edom, as we see by the reference to the blessing on him elsewhere (1 Chr. 26:4-5), was a Korahite Levite, and so his house was not unsuited for receiving the ark. Yet his name means "servant of Edom" — a type of the flesh. And Gath, where he had lived before or, more likely, was born, is the "winepress" — a type, as we know, of divine wrath. That we were indeed "by nature children of wrath" is nothing strange to be told of any of God's Levites.
David had asked in fear whether the ark could ever come to him. The same writer reads the three months as God's answer:
How beautiful it is to see that while David asks, in fear, how the ark of the Lord can ever come to him, the house of an Obed-edom can receive it, with nothing but blessing. How His grace rebukes our unbelieving fears with blessing! And David is encouraged once more to bring the ark up to the city of David — but now there are men who carry the ark: God's word kept, and everything prospers.
The verse does not stop at the man. It names his house and all he owned. One writer sets this beside the widow who gave the prophet Elijah a home:
Instead of the widow's son being mentioned, the text now says "her house." This shows God's ways of grace with His people: He blesses their households through the heads. So if Obed-edom received the ark into his house, the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household. In the same way, if Elijah lived with the widow, her house shared in the blessing.
The three months were short. The blessing outlasted them, as a later list of doorkeepers shows:
Here we find the courses of the doorkeepers. Obed-Edom is here, as always, the object of special blessing. Meshelemiah, the son of Korah, has eighteen sons and brothers marked out for this office in his family. Hosah, of the family of Merari, has thirteen. Obed-Edom has sixty-two among his direct descendants. He had eight sons, for it is said that God had blessed him (v. 5). Had he not, together with his family, kept the ark in his house for three months?
One writer turns Obed-edom's three months into a rule for any home:
Let no Christian expect the blessing of the Lord in his household unless the ark, the mercy-seat, is known and honoured there! God's word is, "Those who honour me I will honour." So if we call on the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in our homes, and honour and serve Him there, we may count on blessing. It will not be our own blessing only, but blessing for the whole household.
- Presence. The house was blessed because the ark was there — God's presence given room, not a reward earned.
- Nature. The ark that struck Uzzah now blesses a home. God blesses by nature, wherever men do not forget His majesty and handle Him as they please.
- Reach. The blessing named the head, then covered the whole house and all he owned. God blesses families through the one who receives Him.
- Loss. David's fear kept the ark out of his city. An open door took it in, and the man who went without was the king.
- Harvest. Three months of the ark under one roof left sixty-two descendants in the list of doorkeepers — short welcome, long fruit.