So David would not bring the ark of Jehovah home unto himself into the city of David; but David carried it aside into the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite.
After judgment falls on Uzzah, the procession stops. Here the king breaks off the journey and leaves the ark at a stranger's door, which raises two questions: what is the true fear of God, and who ends up blessed?
David's purpose had never been wrong; his method was. When God judged the method, the king gave up the project itself:
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.
Behind the diversion lies a wrong thought about God Himself. David took the blow as proof that God was against him, forgetting everything God had already done for him:
Because of this discipline David treated the Lord as a pitiless judge, and he resented Him. At that moment he forgot that a God of grace had chosen him, led him, kept him, and made him victorious. That same God had given him the kingdom on Mount Zion. He cannot grasp that grace can judge him. He cannot grasp that the closer a person is to God, the less God allows in His own people anything that dishonors Him.
Scripture commends the fear of God, yet here the fear drives David away from God rather than toward Him:
David should have looked at once for the reason behind God's judgment, bowing his head under His correcting hand. Reverent fear of God does not make us afraid of Him. It makes us act in a way that pleases Him, and this is where David fell short. No doubt he thought that bringing the ark to Jerusalem should have pleased God. But he had to learn the painful way what we should all know: we must do God's work in God's way if we are to please Him.
The label "Gittite" ties this man to the town of Gath, yet he was also a Levite:
Obed-edom, though a Levite, was also called a Gittite, probably because of residing at Gath or Gath-rimmon.
His name and his town both point back to something unpromising. One writer reads them as a picture of every believer's background:
Yet his name means "servant of Edom," and Edom pictures the flesh. The place where he once lived, or more likely where he was born, is Gath, the "winepress" — a picture, as we know, of divine wrath. It is no strange thing to tell any of God's Levites that we were indeed "by nature children of wrath." The apostle adds (Eph. 2:3), "fulfilling the desires of the flesh" — we were Obed-edoms.
Turning the ark aside cost David the very thing he had set out to gain. What he forfeited, another household enjoyed:
This was David's loss. By stopping short he gave up much blessing and privilege. The ark of God could do nothing but bless everyone rightly connected with it. Any other connection with it meant judgment, as it did for the men of Beth-shemesh and for Uzzah. It was a happy time for Obed-edom while the ark was in his house, for "the Lord blessed his house and all that he had." All the time David was "afraid" and without the ark, Obed-edom had the ark — and the blessing with it. The blessing did not spread through the whole nation, as it would have done had all been right; it stayed within the close circle of the man who had the ark in his house. Still the blessing, though narrowed, was as real and positive, as pure and true, as if the whole nation had been enjoying it.
God does not argue with David's fear. He answers it by blessing the very house that received what the king refused:
How beautiful it is to see this. David asks, in fear, "How shall the ark of the LORD come to me?" Yet the house of an Obed-edom can receive it, with nothing but blessing — "the LORD blessed Obed-edom and all his house." How His grace rebukes our unbelieving fears with blessing! And once again David finds encouragement to bring the ark up to the city of David. But now there are men who carry the ark: God's word kept, everything prospers.
- Right aim, wrong way. David's goal was good, but when God judged how he carried it out, he gave up the thing itself — "a very common error."
- Wrong fear. True reverence moves us to please God. David's fear pushed him away from God and made him read discipline as pitiless judgment.
- Loss. By stopping short, David gave up blessing that was his to have. The ark could do nothing but bless all rightly connected with it.
- Grace. The blessing did not vanish. It settled on a house whose name and town picture what we all once were.
- Recovery. That blessing rebuked David's fear and drew him back. When men carried the ark God's way, everything prospered.
And the ark of Jehovah remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite three months; and Jehovah blessed Obed-Edom and all his household.
Uzzah was struck down at the ark, and David's joy turned to fear. He turned the ark aside into a stranger's house for three months. There the same ark that had just brought death brought blessing on the household that took it in.
David would not bring the ark home, so it went to Obed-edom's house. One writer traces that refusal to how David now read God.
David saw the Lord as a merciless judge, and he was upset with Him. Just then he forgot the God of grace who had chosen him, led him, kept him, made him victorious, and given him the kingdom on Mount Zion. He cannot see that grace can judge him. He cannot see that the nearer a man is to God, the less God allows in His own people anything that dishonours Him. But God is about to show him that others will gain from what David denied himself, to his great loss.
Uzzah died at the ark. Obed-edom prospered with it under his roof. The difference lay not in the ark but in the way people came to it — and David's fear cost him.
This was David's loss. By stopping short he gave up much blessing and privilege. The ark of God could do nothing but bless everyone rightly connected with it, though to be connected with it in any other way meant judgment, as with the men of Beth-shemesh and Uzzah… True, things might not look so cheering. Had all been right, the blessing would have spread through the whole nation. Instead it stayed inside the small circle of the man who had the ark in his house. Still the blessing, though narrowed, was as real, as pure and as true as if the whole nation had been enjoying it.
"Gittite" means he came from Gath. One writer weighs that place name against his own name, and finds our story in both.
Obed-edom was a Korahite Levite, as we see from the mention of the blessing on him elsewhere (1 Chron. 26:4-5). So his house was not unfit to receive the ark. Yet his name means "servant of Edom" — a type of the flesh. And Gath, where he lived before, or more likely was born, means "winepress" — a type, as we know, of divine wrath. It is no strange thing to tell any of God's Levites that we were "by nature children of wrath". The apostle adds (Eph. 2:3) that we were "carrying out the desires of the body and the mind" (older translations: "the desires of the flesh") — we were Obed-edoms.
David had asked how the ark could ever come to him. Verse 11 is the answer he did not expect.
How beautiful it is to see this. David asks, in fear, "How can the ark of the LORD come to me?" Yet the house of an Obed-edom can receive it, with nothing but blessing… How His grace rebukes our unbelieving fears with blessing! And once again David takes courage to bring up the ark to the city of David. But now there are men who carry the ark: God's word kept, everything prospers.
The three months were not wasted on the king. He came to see why the first attempt had gone wrong.
David realized that God had made this breach because of his own disobedience, and that holiness is found only in the path of obedience.
The blessing did not stop with Obed-edom himself. One writer turns this into a test for the Christian home.
The ark, or mercy seat, was in "the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household."… No Christian should expect the Lord's blessing in his household unless that home knows and honours the mercy seat! God's word is, "Those who honour me I will honour." So if we call on, honour and serve the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ in our homes, we can count on blessing not only for ourselves, but for the whole household.
His story does not end when the ark leaves. His name returns in the later record of those who served the ark.
David appoints singers, musicians and doorkeepers for the ark, and their names are listed. Among them all the name of Obed-edom shines above the others; it is repeated four times. He is doorkeeper for the tabernacle; he is singer, doorkeeper for the ark, and musician. Obed-edom was a witness of God's grace and an object of it. That grace had blessed his house and all that belonged to him because the throne of God had been present in his home. So he receives very special mention in this book of God's counsels in grace.
- Fear — David read God as a harsh judge and turned the ark aside. He forgot the grace that had given him everything.
- Loss — What David refused, another received. The blessing he gave up went to a house that took the ark in.
- Grace — The same ark that judged Uzzah could only bless those rightly connected with it. That blessing answered David's fear instead of proving it right.
- Reach — The blessing covered Obed-edom "and all his household". Any home that honours the mercy seat can look for the same.
- Return — News of that blessing sent David back to God's word. The ark went up to the city of David, carried the way God had said, and obedience restored what fear had halted.