Ever since Indiana Jones brought
it to our attention in Raiders of the Lost Ark, the Ark of the Covenant
has held a fascination for modern readers. Much of this fascination comes from
the power that seems to reside in the ark - a power which is clearly displayed
in this text.
(2 Sam 6 NIV) David again brought together out of Israel
chosen men, thirty thousand in all. {2} He and all his men set out from Baalah
of Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name,
the name of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim that are
on the ark. {3} They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the
house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab,
were guiding the new cart {4} with the ark of God on it, and Ahio was walking
in front of it. {5} David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with
all their might before the LORD, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines,
sistrums and cymbals. {6} When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah
reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. {7} The
Lord's anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God
struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God. {8} Then David was
angry because the Lord's wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day
that place is called Perez Uzzah. {9} David was afraid of the LORD that day and
said, "How can the ark of the LORD ever come to me?" {10} He was not
willing to take the ark of the LORD to be with him in the City of David.
Instead, he took it aside to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. {11} The ark
of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months,
and the LORD blessed him and his entire household. {12} Now King David was
told, "The LORD has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he
has, because of the ark of God." So David went down and brought up the ark
of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. {13}
When those who were carrying the ark of the LORD had taken six steps, he
sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. {14} David, wearing a linen ephod,
danced before the LORD with all his might, {15} while he and the entire house
of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets.
{16} As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of
Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing
before the LORD, she despised him in her heart. {17} They brought the ark of
the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it,
and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the LORD.
{18} After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship
offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD Almighty. {19} Then he
gave a loaf of bread, a cake of dates and a cake of raisins to each person in
the whole crowd of Israelites, both men and women. And all the people went to
their homes. {20} When David returned home to bless his household, Michal
daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, "How the king of Israel
has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of
his servants as any vulgar fellow would!" {21} David said to Michal,
"It was before the LORD, who chose me rather than your father or anyone
from his house when he appointed me ruler over the Lord's people Israel--I will
celebrate before the LORD. {22} I will become even more undignified than this,
and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of,
I will be held in honor." {23} And Michal daughter of Saul had no children
to the day of her death.
The Ark
History
It must be remembered that the
ark is about 500 years old at this time. It's history is a bit unusual - it
seems to go in and out of the memory of Israel.
- It was made at the time of the
exodus, at the direction of God. This was a time at which the Law was
being given, and some of that law concerned the ark as well. But in the
time of Moses and Joshua, the ordinances seem to have been followed
strictly.
- The ark was seen as the visible
symbol of God's power. In its presence the Jordan stops flowing at flood
stage; at its presence the walls of Jericho fall down flat. Whatever
else might be thought, here is power.
- Even the Philistines know
this. They capture the ark (because of the evil of the sons of Eli, the
priest.) Things immediately start going wrong for the Philistines. They
put it in the temple of Dagon; Dagon falls flat on his face before the
ark. The Philistines are smitten with a plague - of hemorrhoids. They
shift it from city to city, and finally send it back to Israel on a newly
made cart, with gold offerings for atonement. When the Israelites get it,
some look into it - and are killed. This thing is dangerous.
- It sits. For almost 75 years
it is practically ignored by Samuel and Saul. It is not until David
remembers the legendary power of the ark that it comes into the history of
Israel again.
Rules
God seems to be rather strict
about this piece of hardware.
·
While in transit, it is to be covered so that no irreverence may
be done to it.
·
It is to be carried on poles - so that God will ride above the
backs of the people, not behind them like a captive in a cart.
·
Only certain people - the descendants of Kohath - can carry it.
God chooses, not us.
·
And - interestingly - when the High Priest went into it, he was
to use so much incense (a symbol of prayer) that it clouded over the top of the
ark, called the Mercy Seat.
Political Significance
David is an astute politician.
He knows that he is ruling over a country of tribes, and the ark does two
things for him:
- By having it in his possession,
he connects himself with the Moses and Joshua of legend - completing his
image in the minds of the people as a man after God's own heart. Here is
a symbol of power.
- More than that, it is a symbol
of the unity of the twelve tribes. There are twelve tribes, but only one
ark. He who possesses it can legitimately claim to be the ruler of all
Israel.
Spiritual Significance
Of far more importance to us,
however, is its spiritual significance. There are three very important
aspects:
- It is the "ark of the
Testimony." It, by its very existence, testifies both to the
miraculous deliverance of the Jews from the land of Egypt (a type of sin)
and their own sinful ways, which God dealt with in the wilderness.
- It is said to carry the
"name of the Lord." To a society in which a man's name was much
more than a label, it was the one item which at this time could be said to
represent God in physical form.
- It is at the mercy seat that
God met Moses. This was not unique; Samuel met him there also. This is
the one spot on earth where God speaks to the prophets. This is,
literally, the voice of God.
Lessons Learned, Part 1
So then, what can we learn from
David's handling of the Ark?
Doing the right things the
right way
It is important to do the right
things. It is also important to do them in the right way - for the ends do not
justify the means. David learns that here.
- The Philistines - who knew no
better - put the Ark on a cart. They try their best to please this
powerful God. The cart is new; the oxen have never been yoked. The cart
contains their atonement offerings - golden models of rats (representing
the plague carriers) and hemorrhoids. They are each five in number, for
the five cities of the Philistines. That's not bad for people who had no
instructions whatever. But it's not good enough for the people of God -
who should be reading the instructions given to them. God has a stricter
standard for those of us who know the Scripture.
- The Ark must come to Jerusalem,
for it bears the name of the Lord, and that is the city where God will
place his name, as prophesied. So the end of this quest is completely
justified. David makes the mistake of assuming that he need think no
further.
- When God's wrath is revealed,
David stops. He lets the matter sit for three months, and in that time
inquires of the priests and Levites as to the Law. They enlighten him -
and he now does it God's way.
The Wrath of God
The wrath of God is not a popular
subject, but it is a necessary one. God's wrath is his permanent, fixed
reaction to evil. We might look at this incident and say, "Why is God
being so picky?" But consider:
- God is completely pure and
holy. If you will, his standards must be much higher than ours, for he
can tolerate no sin in his presence.
- Our reaction comes from the
fact that we are sinners. We say, "Who are you to be so fussy?
You're not perfect." But God is perfect.
- Do you remember that Christ
welcomed the tax collectors, prostitutes and other sinners - but cleansed
the Temple? He was zealous for the things of God. If this were
somebody's hope chest, the reaction would be unreasonable. But this chest
belongs to God. It is holy. To mistreat the possessions of another human
being is one thing; we are all sinners. To mistreat the things of God is
entirely another.
Joy in Worship
So often we find worship to be
dull. It should not be; David sets us an example here. If God is worth
worshiping, he's worth everything we can put into it.
- As Athanasius taught, it's in
such times of music that we are closest to God - for it is only then that
we worship with all our heart, all our souls, all our minds and all our
strength.
- We, like Michal, might see this
as undignified. But let me ask a question: does that dignity come from
our respect for God - or from our own pride at being such righteous
people? To "let go" and make a fool of yourself for God is to
say that He is worthy - and I am not.
It would be convenient to end the
matter here. There is one more thing to be learned, and that from David's wife
Michal.
Michal - and the primacy of
God
There is something utterly tragic
about Michal. If ever a woman had a reason to complain of being ill-used and
treated with a complete lack of respect, it is Michal.
- When we first meet her, we see
she is a woman in love. She has a crush on this young warrior David.
- But she's already second
fiddle. Saul was going to give his daughter in marriage to the man who
defeated Goliath - but the daughter in question was her older sister
Merab. Michal is the kid sister, and even her own father doesn't really
respect her.
- He respects her so little that
he uses her as bait. David is to die at the hands of the Philistines
collecting those hundred foreskins as a bride price for Michal. It
doesn't work - but how would you like to be nothing but bait in your dad's
trap for another man?
- When David flees, Saul
"marries" her off to Paltiel - this after she saves David's
life. For the next ten years David evidently has no contact with her at
all - he has abandoned her, evidently. She is now just a political pawn.
- She is a pawn again when David
comes into the kingship, for David tells Abner to bring her from her
husband to him. She is the symbol of David's triumph and the unity of the
house of Saul with the house of David - and she is now wife number seven
instead of wife number one. David has acquired six other women.
- Despite this, we see her
waiting at her window. You might miss the significance of this. It is
the pose of the wayward wife in Proverbs; it is the picture of the temple
prostitute in ancient times; even today in Europe it is used by houses of
prostitution to lure customers. The woman is waiting for her lover to
come home, and she is letting him know of her passionate desire for him.
After all this, she is still desperately in love with David, and wants him
very much.
There is the sadness of it all.
She wanted nothing more than to be his lover and wife; she got everything but
that for most of her life. She dies childless. Why?
- Perhaps it was God's doing, as
we shall see below.
- Perhaps it was David's anger at
her.
- Perhaps, even, it was her anger
at David.
But there is one thing certain.
She missed the point. No matter what has happened to her, God still comes
first. If ever a woman was ill treated, Michal was that woman. If ever a
woman should have had her husband's love - my gosh, she saved his life - Michal
was that woman. She even has justification for her attitude in the Scripture,
for the king was not to multiply to himself wives.
She had, by our standards, every reason to be angry. But she missed the
point. David was dancing before the Lord, and the Lord comes before your
marriage.
It is tragic. It is a high, holy
moment, and Michal could have shared it with the man she loved. She forced him
to choose between God and herself. She paid for it the rest of her days.
We do not often think of the God
of Wrath, the God who must be worshiped, the God who is above all things. But
perhaps we should, lest we put our own wrongs above his righteousness.