David sets out to bring the ark to Jerusalem with thirty thousand men, music, and joy — on a new cart, the way the Philistines had once sent it back. At the threshingfloor the oxen stumble, Uzzah grabs the ark to steady it, and God strikes him dead. David, frightened and angry, leaves the ark at a stranger’s house for three months. Then he tries again — this time God’s way, carried on the shoulders of Levites — and danced before the LORD with all his might while, at a window, his wife despised him.
A study in 2 Samuel 6 · Arthur Baldwin · StandUp4Jesus.Org · 9 min read
God Smote Him There For His Error
“Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it… God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God.”
2 Samuel 6:6-7
The mistake was not Uzzah’s alone. God had commanded that the ark be carried on the shoulders of the Levites, never touched, never set on a cart. David had a plain written instruction and ignored it, borrowing the Philistines’ method instead. When the LORD had accepted the Philistines’ cart, it was because they did not have the law; Israel did. Uzzah, reaching out with unconfessed sin upon him, paid for a carelessness the whole procession shared.
“The fate of Uzzah was a divine judgment upon the violation of a most explicit command… Thus in the bringing of the ark from Kirjath-jearim there had been a direct and inexcusable disregard of the Lord’s directions.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 705
How Shall The Ark Of The LORD Come To Me
“And David was displeased, because the LORD had made a breach upon Uzzah: and he called the name of the place Perez-uzzah to this day. And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and said, How shall the ark of the LORD come to me?”
2 Samuel 6:8-9
David’s first response is not repentance but resentment — “displeased” — and then fear. He parks the ark at the house of Obed-edom and goes home. But he watches. For three months the blessing of God visibly rests on that household, and it dawns on David that the ark is deadly only to presumption; to the obedient it is life. The rebuke does its work: he goes back to Scripture and does it right.
“Upon David the divine rebuke accomplished its work. He was led to realize as he had never realized before the sacredness of the law of God and the necessity of strict obedience.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 706
David Danced Before The LORD With All His Might
“And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod… And as the ark of the LORD came into the city of David, Michal Saul’s daughter looked through a window, and saw king David leaping and dancing before the LORD; and she despised him in her heart.”
2 Samuel 6:14-16
The second time, the Levites carry the ark; after six steps David halts the whole procession to sacrifice, and then he worships his way into the city — the king in a plain linen ephod, not his royal robes, taking his place before God on a level with his people. Ellen White is careful to say this is nothing like the modern ballroom. It is joy that points away from itself.
“The music and dancing in joyful praise to God at the removal of the ark had not the faintest resemblance to the dissipation of modern dancing. The one tended to the remembrance of God and exalted His holy name. The other is a device of Satan to cause men to forget God and to dishonor Him.”
Ellen G. White · Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 707
It Was Before The LORD
“And David said unto Michal, It was before the LORD, which chose me before thy father, and before all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the LORD, over Israel: therefore will I play before the LORD. And I will yet be more vile than thus, and will be base in mine own sight: and of the maidservants which thou hast spoken of, of them shall I be had in honour.”
2 Samuel 6:21-22
Michal, Saul’s daughter, sees a king making himself common and is embarrassed for the crown. David answers that the crown was God’s gift and the worship was for God’s eyes: “therefore will I play before the LORD.” He would rather be undignified before God than dignified before the household. The chapter ends on a hard line — Michal “had no child unto the day of her death” — the house of Saul, which despised wholehearted worship, going quietly extinct.
