Why did God strike Uzzah dead for touching the Ark of the Covenant?

They set the ark on a new cart (v.3), apparently thinking this was giving it due honor. Were they merely following the example of the Philistines when they returned the ark to Israel after having captured it and suffered for doing so (1 Sam.6:7-9)? God's method was only for the Levites of the family of Kohath to carry the ark by means of the staves (Ex.25:13-14; Num.3:27-32), though named "priests" in Joshua 4:16-17. Philistines might ignore this, but Israel must not. In fact, the Philistines gave more credit to God than did the Israelites on these occasions, for the Philistines left the cart without drivers and without a man going before it. They decided to let God direct the oxen, and there was no difficulty. The Israelites had two drivers as well as the man before. No doubt they thought they should take every human precaution to see that the ark was well conducted. This was not faith.

With great joy David and many minstrels played numbers of instruments to celebrate the coming of the ark to Jerusalem. But this was suddenly and shockingly interrupted when Uzzah, a driver, reached out to steady the ark when it was shaken by the oxen. God immediately struck him dead (vs.6-7). Uzzah was the son of Abinidab in whose house the ark had remained for many years (1 Sam.7:12), but neither Uzzah nor anyone else in that house had touched the ark before, or they would have been killed. No doubt what he did was on the spur of the moment and with concern that the ark should not fall, but the throne of God does not need the steadying of men's hand.

All seemed to go well until the oxen that pulled the new cart stumbled, then Uzza put forth his hand to hold the ark, "and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzza, and He smote him, because he put his hand to the ark: and there he died before God" (1 Chr. 13:10). It might seem a very small matter to men that Uzza touched the ark, but it was in disobedience to the express command of God. The judgment of God had fallen upon the men of Bethshemesh for looking into the ark, and now God's judgment fell on Uzza for touching it.

God had given specific instructions regarding the ark in Numbers 4. Only the priestly family were allowed to touch the ark, Aaron and his sons to cover it before it set out on its journeys, and the sons of Kohath to carry it on poles upon their shoulders. There was no need for Uzza to touch the ark, the oxen may stumble, but God was able to look after His holy ark without the aid of men. Not even the Levites were allowed to touch the holy vessels: it was clearly written, "the sons of Kohath shall come to bear: but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die" (Num. 4:15).

"And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah: and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart." Where we have not the guidance of the Lord, and do not even look for it seriously, every step cannot but be wrong. Who told them to put it "upon a new cart?" Were they Philistines? Another Book told us of the Philistines doing so, and how God bore pitifully with these heathen who knew no better. But will He allow such a procedure in Israel? God deals with men according to the place in which they are, or He has put them. If He left the poor Philistines to the darkness of nature, only just illumined by whatever beams of light might from Israel break through the darkness from time to time, could it be that God's elect should surrender themselves to imitate the darkness of the heathen? What a wretched descent, beloved brethren, when those who are called into the light of God allow themselves to be swayed by the license taken by the world, even though it may be the religious world!

But let us pursue the tale. "And they brought the ark out of the house of Abinadab which was at Gibeah, accompanying the ark of God: and Ahio went before the ark. And David and all the house of Israel played before Jehovah on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals. And when they came to Nachon's threshing-floor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God." Surely this is very solemn for me, for any. 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 to be a mere accident of circumstances, by which He was pleased to try them, and in a single instance show signally His sense of their irreverence, though of course especially in one who went farthest in it. It is true that it was another act, and it was an aggravation of the evil.

Nevertheless on the outward surface of things it looked justifiable enough to guard the ark from a fall. The ark of God seemed in danger: why should not a Levite put out his hand to save it? Was not Uzzah, son of Abinadab of Gibeah, the most fit to do so holy an act? But the act involved going against the express word of God. What of this? It was not only a device that was taken up hastily in the first instance, and carried out independently of God's order for carrying the vessels of the sanctuary; here there was a direct failure in the respect due to God's ark when it seemed to need man's succour. The Lord had appointed who it was in Israel that should carry the ark, and how it must be done. Of this the Philistines knew nothing, nor were they responsible to obey such an ordinance; but Israel were as being under the law. They had His word in their hands, and were responsible accordingly.

Though Uzzah, in reaching for the ark to steady it, acted without premeditation, yet his effort was an actual insult to God's authority, and he died. This was a lesson needed by David and all Israel. The responsibility for bearing witness to God's sovereign authority (as symbolized in the ark) is not to be placed upon oxen and a cart, but upon the shoulders of the Levites, the sons of Kohath (Num.3:27-32). Today every believer too, as the Levite Kohathites were, is responsible to bear Christ upon his shoulders as the One who sustains the throne of God's glory. They actually did not touch the ark, but bore it with staves. This witness is not to be left to any organization that man devises, a new cart with its impersonal "oxen" to energize it. Too often God's people leave their responsibility to their "denomination" and bear no personal witness to Christ in His place of gracious sovereign authority. Let us carry the ark by its staves on our own shoulders, while having utmost respect in not daring to touch it, that is, to give Christ His place of highest sanctification, altogether above the need of our defending or protecting Him.

David was not only subdued before God that day, but displeased (v.8). Were his motives not right in ringing the ark to Jerusalem? If so, why should God kill Uzzah for doing a very natural thing? But right motives alone do not secure God's approval. They must be accompanied by obedience to God's Word. David did not yet realize that the ark should be carried by the Kohathites, and it is more sad still that the priests did not discern the reason for this tragedy. David feels that the Lord is telling him that he ought not to bring the ark to Jerusalem. Why did he forget to consult the Lord at this time at least? For this failure he deprived himself of the privilege of having the ark at Jerusalem for three months. He decided to have it placed in the house of Obed-edom a Gittite (vs.10-11)

God bore with the Philistines when they knew no better than to put the ark on a new cart: in fact it was their way of honouring it. And so with the kine that had conducted the ark long before from the land of the Philistines. God did not make so much of the mistakes of' the Philistines: they did their best; they did not know the mind of God. But not so with Israel who had a knowledge of God that they did not possess. Why bring they oxen to carry God's ark? It ought to have been carried by the redeemed servants of the Lord. They alone were called to identify themselves with the ark. It was their honour to be the servants of the ark of Jehovah. But Israel at this time were by no means up to the mark of the word of God. Hence with good enough intention they put the ark on oxen, and when one of them stumbled, Uzzah put forth his hand to sustain the ark. But the Lord put forth His hand against the presumptuous man who had deemed that the ark of God needed human power to hold it up. He that made heaven and earth could surely hold up His own ark from falling. Uzzah forgot this; and he shows us therefore the folly of our attempting to do God's work out of our own heads or thoughts. Never do we glorify God, we are never even safe, when we are not walking in obedience.

The judgment of God on Uzzah made a great impression on David. He was afraid of Jehovah; he called the place Perez-uzzah, because Jehovah had made a breach upon Uzzah; he was not in communion with God about it; he let in his own thoughts and feelings, which were wrong because they doubted God instead of censuring man. He ought to have taken God's side and have said that Uzzah was justly smitten. What greater wrong is there than to find fault with God? There is no good in us; all our good is in upholding the Lord, in listening to His voice and simply carrying out His will.

David was made to learn his mistake by bitter experience, for "when they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzza put forth his hand to hold the ark; for the oxen stumbled." The weakness and inconsistency of the whole thing was here manifested. The Levites, the ministers of God, had borne the ark from Horeb to Jordan, and yet we have no record of any stumble. The shoulders of His servants was God's way; but the cart and oxen were man's way. And who would have thought that an Israelite would have deposited the ark of the God of Israel upon a wooden cart, to be drawn by oxen? Yet such is ever the sad effect of departing from the written Word to follow human traditions. "The oxen stumbled." The arrangement was "weak and beggarly," in the judgement of the Holy Ghost; and the Lord was only making this fully manifest. The ark should never have been in such a dishonouring position; oxen should never have been the bearers of such a burden.

"And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzza, and He smote him, because he put his hand to the ark; and there he died before God." Truly, "judgement must begin at the house of God." The Lord judged David for doing what the Philistines had done without notice. The nearer a man is to God, the more solemnly and speedily will he be judged for any evil. This need not afford any encouragement to the worldling, for, as the apostle says, "If judgement first begin at us, what shall the end be of those that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?" If God judges His people, what shall become of the poor worldling! Though the Philistines escaped the judgement of God in the matter of the cart, they had to meet it in another way. God deals with all according to His own holy principles, and the breach upon Uzza was designed to restore David to a right apprehension of the mind of God in reference to the ark of His presence.

Yet it did not seem, at first, to produce the proper effect. "David was displeased because the Lord had made a breach upon Uzza: wherefore the name of the place is called Perez Uzza to this day. And David was afraid of God that day, saying, How shall I bring the ark of God home to me?" There is much deep instruction in this. David was doing a right thing in a wrong way, and when God executed judgement upon his way of acting, he despaired of doing the thing at all. This is a very common error.

There was the great mistake. It was all very well for Philistines to send the ark of God in a cart — not for Israel. Israel should have known better. When the Philistines did it, there was a propriety. They had an object too. It was not to be driven; it was to be committed to the kine that were yoked to it. It was particularly meant as a test, because the cows would naturally care for the young they had left behind; and the very point of God's power and manifestation of His glory was this — that although there was very natural feeling on the part of the cows to go after their young, on the contrary they took an opposite direction, and carried the new cart with the ark upon it to the land of Israel, thus giving a most illustrious proof of the power of God above nature. It was not chance; it was not nature; it was God that governed. But with Israel it was a very different thing. Yet I presume they adopted the cart because it was the last thing. So it is that we often do. Even a Philistine tradition will carry away the people of God, so that although the only people, as far as we know, that ever employed a cart for the ark of God were these Philistines, here we find that wonderful man David, and the priests and the Levites, and indeed all Israel, all joining in this Philistinian way of bringing in the ark of God to the site that was destined for it.

Well, one bad step leads to another, and, although there was apparent joy, and no doubt there was plenty of outward honour to the ark, when they came to the threshing-floor of Chidon, God allowed that there should be something that tested their state. "Uzza put forth his hand to hold the ark; for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Uzza, and He smote him, because he put his hand to the ark." He at least ought to have known better. He who belonged to the tribe of Levi — he who ought to have felt that God was able to take care of His own ark, let oxen stumble or not — he put forth his hand unhallowedly to sustain the sign of the presence of the God of Israel as if He were not there to care for His own glory. He was smitten on the spot, "and there he died before God." David was displeased, instead of humbling himself, "because Jehovah had made a breach upon Uzza; wherefore that place is called Perez-uzza to this day. And David was afraid of God that day, saying, "How shall I bring the ark of God home to me?" That was the next effect; first displeasure, then dread. "So David brought not the ark home to himself to the city of David, but carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. And the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house three months. And the Lord blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that he had." There was such manifest blessing in that house that, as we find afterward, it could not abide; but there it abode at any rate for three months.

All this was bad, for it was against the commandment of the Lord, and God could neither recognise nor bless this act. He had said that the ark ought to be borne by the children of Kohath, that is to say, by the Levites (Num. 4:15); and if David had consulted the Lord, he would have been taught about this, and the ark would have been neither placed on a cart nor conducted by Uzza and Ahio. But David took counsel with the people and they executed their holy desire according to their own thoughts, and not according to God's. Uzza acted also on the same principle; he was not led by the Lord to hold the ark, but by his own judgment. He was not a man who felt his weakness and who allowed himself to be ruled and guided by the Lord; and consequently he put forth his hand and touched the ark. Thus every child of God who puts his hand to the Lord's work, presuming that he is able to act in his own strength, resembles Uzza. It is God alone who is to be glorified, and it is He alone who can say how He wishes to be glorified; and if David had inquired of Him, he would have learnt that God would glorify Himself.

11 We see in verse 10 what were the sad consequences of Uzza's conduct, and in verse 11 we see that David was greatly afflicted at the breach the Lord made upon Uzza; but it was needful for him in this way to learn, that we have to wait and let the Lord do His work in His own way. May we also keep this instruction, of which we all have need, and not act in our own strength! Let us remember that Uzza drew upon himself the wrath of God by putting his hand to the ark. All the work was spoilt by his folly: the ark instead of being brought in triumph was put aside and placed in the house of Obed-edom; and all this because in the first place David had not consulted the Lord, and secondly Uzza acted himself instead of letting the Lord act. These circumstances were calculated to humble David greatly: he was first afflicted, then afraid of God (v. 11, 12); but all that happened taught him wherein he had failed.

If Uzza had realised the importance of being near the ark of God, and the greatness of the privilege, he ought to have been concerned to learn what God had said about those who were so privileged, and have shrunk from touching what was so holy in the sight of God. Only the high priests and his sons were allowed to touch God's ark. Unsanctified hands did so at the peril of their lives, as God had forewarned, and as Uzza proved.

And do we not see men today touch God's holy ark with unsanctified hands? Alas! in Christendom, there are those who dare to speak lightly about the Person of God's Son, as well as those who, like the men of Beth-shemesh, would pry into its holy secrets. For many who have touched the things of Christ without being in nearness to Him, it has meant spiritual death. God will only have those who are His priests, those who have been sanctified by the blood of sprinkling, and have received the gift of the Holy Spirit, touch the holy things that bring Christ before us. How very solemn that men in high religious places, with high pretension, should profess to be servants of God, and all the while be far from Him.

When divine judgment fell upon Uzza for touching God's holy ark, an act of gross disobedience to the command that had been given at the beginning, David was indignant and afraid of God. Like Jonah, David was angry because God did not act as he thought becoming to the situation. Jonah was angry because God acted in mercy and spared Nineveh (Jonah 3:4, 9); David was angry because God punished Uzza for an act of disobedience for which David was partly responsible, for he should never have tolerated a new cart being used to transport the ark to Jerusalem. Neither Jonah nor David understood the ways of God. God could forgive the Philistines using a new cart, for they had not His word nor His priests; but He looked for obedience in His people who had His holy oracles.