Law of Moses — 2 Samuel 6

Sometimes the specific rules do matter. The Ark of the Covenant was regarded as God’s Throne, the Mercy Seat. It could not be treated as any mere talisman. The issue was not the Ark itself but that it represented the place where Jehovah rested invisibly. Of course, this had nothing to do with the shekhinah glory that came and went with the moral fortunes of the nation, because it was typically invisible in daylight. In the dim shadows of the Tabernacle, and then the Temple later, it would have been visible above the Ark when God’s glory was with the nation. The Ark was His Throne whenever He pleased to use it, and no mere man could touch it without a commission from God.

The Ark had been lost in battle to the Philistines, during which defeat the Tabernacle at Shiloh was apparently destroyed. The Ark was eventually returned and kept by a nobleman of Judah in Baale-judah (Hebrew: “Lords of Judah,” a cluster of towns, including Gibeah, dominated by Kiriath-jearim). It had never been returned to the priests and Levites. Remember also that Saul commissioned Doeg the Edomite to destroy the whole city of Nob and the worship facilities there, and only one of those priests survived to join David’s entourage. There were other priests not living in Nob at the time, but this would have killed their regular service. There was no proper place to keep the Ark, but David felt moved to do what he could to honor the God of Israel.

Our passage begins with David calling out the noblemen and elders of the nation to accompany him to escort the Ark of Covenant to the City of David where the king had set up a proper Tent of Meeting.

But it started off all wrong. It was put on a cart. Granted, it was a new one that hadn’t been used for any common task, but that’s not how God said the Ark should move; it was copying the Philistine behavior. Nor are we told what happened to Abinadab’s son Eleazer, who had been properly consecrated for keeping the Ark. He wasn’t in the company that moved it. Only two of his brothers are mentioned. So when the Ark joggled a bit crossing the threshing floor of Nachon, one of those brothers — Uzza — put out his hand to steady it. He was not consecrated to touch the Ark, so it killed him.

It was not so much Uzza’s sin, but the failure of David and his entourage for not paying strict attention to the requirements. Thus, they were responsible for Uzza’s death, both because he wasn’t consecrated, and because the Ark was supposed to be carried by Levites on the fitted poles. This whole scene really struck David hard. So he turned aside to the nearest Levite in the area, Obed-edom. He’s called a “Gittite” which normally indicates the Philistine City of Gath, but he’s originally from Gath-rimmon, one of the 48 Levitical cities.

During the three months the Ark rested there, the Levite’s house was notably blessed. At least it was in the possession of the right man. So when David heard, he was reminded of his errors on the previous attempt and this time resolved to do it right. On this occasion we know it was properly born by Levites because the text talks about it being carried. After they took six steps and nothing went wrong, David celebrated by having some animals ritually sacrificed and burned on the spot. This would require having a significant number of priests and Levites, more than those needed to carry the Ark. Thus, the journey to his palace courtyard was completed.

But during this journey, David danced ecstatically the whole way. We are told he was wearing only an ephod. There is a lot of debate what that Hebrew word covers. All we know for sure is that it was a ceremonial garment, commonly worn by priests on down to attendants in the Tabernacle/Temple service, sometimes over other garments. Whatever it was, David’s dancing caused him to be a bit exposed in this garment. His first wife, Michal, was not too pleased with this.

David finished the rituals associated with a joyous celebration, with lots of offerings that would have been burned whole, some shared with the officiating priests and Levites, and plenty of thanksgiving offerings to share with everyone who showed up. As he went about the final step of pronouncing ritual blessings over his palace and family, Michal gave him a sarcastic remark about exposing himself to all the young servant girls in the royal household. Oh, how regal!

David responded that this was the God who made him king while her father still lived, and promoted him over Saul’s entire clan. Furthermore, David was quite willing to abase himself even more before the God of Israel. And was it not odd that those servant girls would respect him far more than his own wife? We are told in typical roundabout Hebrew fashion that David never slept with her again, bringing her into grave dishonor in the whole nation for never bearing him children.