Reflections after Christmas

It’s a hard story about a good day turned bad.

David, king of Israel, wants to bring the Ark of the Covenant up to Jerusalem. He wants to honor God, to enrich worship for his people.

So he sets the Ark on a cart pulled by oxen and off they go bumping along over twenty miles of road, David dancing before it with joyous procession.

But the oxen stumble and the Ark is about to slide off the cart into the muddy road. That’s when Uzzah reaches out to steady it with his hand.

Now here comes the hard part! The Bible says, “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.”

David was angry at God (2 Samuel 6:1-8).

You’d think Uzzah would have been a hero, not a dead man who displeased God by his “irreverence.”

Some background: Exodus 37 calls the Ark the mercy seat where God dwelt among His people. In dictating the Ark’s construction, God required a ring at each corner through which poles were slipped so priests could carry it shoulder-high without touching it. In fact, Numbers 4:15 forbids humans to touch the Temple worship fixtures which included the Ark.

“This is how it is done,” God was saying.

So when David and the priests loaded the ark on the cart they were doing things their way. And when Uzzah touched it to steady it, he was breaking rules God had expressly set.

David and Uzzah were acting in convenience, not obedience!

If the Ark, symbol of God’s presence, had fallen to the ground, it would have gotten muddy, bent, and scratched. It may have even broken. But that would have been better than being touched by sinful man’s hands.

Hundreds of years later Jesus fell to earth in a manger. He grew and walked on dirty feet, was broken on a cruel cross.

Ah, but man did not touch Him. For He was born of Mary, a virgin. He was sired by the Holy Spirit, not Joseph the man. (Luke 1:26, following).

Thus the story of 2 Samuel 6:1-8 foreshadows the Incarnation, or the Christmas story.

And both teach a stern lesson. We approach the Ancient of Days, Holy God, Jesus Christ, on His terms and not those of our own convenience.

The Reverend Stephen Crotts is pastor of Village Presbyterian Church in Charlotte Court House, VA. He is also the director of the Carolina Study Center, Inc., a campus ministry, located in Chapel Hill, NC. Pastor Crotts may be reached at carolinastudycenter@msn.com.