2 Samuel 6:6

This is very solemn for me, for anyone. God did not at once deal with the first departure from His word. They drove the new cart for a time without a sign of His displeasure. Then He allowed what might have seemed a mere accident. By it He was pleased to test them, and in a single instance to show clearly what He thought of their irreverence — most of all in the one who went furthest in it.

The Levites, the ministers of God, had carried the ark from Horeb to Jordan, and yet we have no record of any stumble. The shoulders of His servants were God's way; but the cart and oxen were man's way. And who would have thought that an Israelite would put the ark of the God of Israel on a wooden cart for oxen to pull? Yet that is always the sad effect of leaving the written Word to follow human traditions.

On the surface of things it looked justifiable enough to guard the ark from a fall. The ark of God seemed in danger: why should a Levite not put out his hand to save it? Was not Uzzah, son of Abinadab of Gibeah, the most fitting person to do so holy an act? But the act involved going against the express word of God. The Lord had appointed who in Israel should carry the ark, and how it must be done. The Philistines knew nothing of this, and they were not responsible to obey such a command. But Israel were under the law. They had His word in their hands, and they were responsible for it.

God's judgment had fallen on the men of Bethshemesh for looking into the ark, and now His judgment fell on Uzzah for touching it. God had given clear instructions about the ark in Numbers 4. Only the priestly family were allowed to touch the ark. Aaron and his sons were to cover it before it set out on its journeys. The sons of Kohath were to carry it on poles on their shoulders. There was no need for Uzzah to touch the ark. The oxen may stumble, but God was able to look after His holy ark without the help of men. Not even the Levites were allowed to touch the holy vessels. God had written it plainly: "the sons of Kohath shall come to carry these, but they must not touch the holy things, lest they die" (Num. 4:15).

There comes a time when man's meddling in the worship of God makes that worship limp in one way or another. "The oxen had stumbled" (v. 6). Naturally the men thought they ought to help, and they lent the support of their arms to this shaky system. They forgot that it is profane folly to want to help God. This was the problem of Uzzah, the son of Abinadab, who was the first and chief agent of this transport. He feels a completely natural need to support what he had made. He does not take into account that he is, as it were, laying his hand upon God.

At the prepared threshing floor the oxen stumble, and Uzzah puts out his hand and takes hold of the ark to steady it. Uzzah means "strength". He had not measured himself before God, and he had not learnt where strength comes from. The act revealed what the ark was to him. It was the habit of a soul that knew neither God nor itself, yet was always occupied with itself. He is struck down. The "prepared" threshing floor becomes Perez-uzzah, the "breaking of strength."

Do we sometimes feel anxious about the future of those among whom we work? Are we inclined to make provision for them according to our own thoughts? Creature hands need not be stretched out to support the ark; God is quite able to take care of it Himself (2 Sam. 6:6).