Was God Fair To Uzzah?

To those who read this blog I’m sorry that I have not posted in a while.  I’ve been spending ever spare minute getting ready for some state insurance tests.

Today I was reading 2 Samuel 6 and there you find the story of David brining the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem.  The Scripture tells us that the oxen stumbled and Uzzah put out his hand to steady the Ark and keep it from falling out.  The Scripture tells us that the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah and God struck him down and he died. 

This is one of those passages that causes us at times to scratch our heads and wonder what in the world is God doing here.  Uzzah had good intentions mind you.  Didn’t God know that?  Why did he have to die just because he was keeping the Ark of the Covenant steady?

I remember one of my seminary professors at Reformed Theological Seminary by the name of John Currid speaking on this one day in chapel.  He helped me to see that there were some deeper issues going on.  The lesson here for you and me is the importance of God’s Word when it comes to living our lives.

You see God had given clear instructions when it came to the Ark of the Covenant.  It was Holy or separated onto the Lord.  It was not your ordinary pieceof furniture.  When moved there was a special group that was to be in charge of the moving.  They were from the tribe of Levi and specifically that were to be Kohathites.  And when this group moved the Ark they were to do so with special staves (poles) that were made specifically for this purpose.  When David decided to move the Ark he did so not by the service of the Kohathites and he did so using a new cart pulled by oxen.  The reason Uzzah died that day was because David didn’t follow the Lord’s instructions.  Kind of makes you think doesn’t it?  Our decisions and failures usually has an affect on the people around us.  If David had read and followed the Scripture then the Ark would have been moved correctly.

Well where in the world did they get the idea of moving the Ark in a new cart.  I don’t know this for certain but we do have another occurence in the Scriptures of the Ark being moved.  In 1 Samuel when the Philistines stole the Ark in battle and wanted to return it to the Israelites because of the trouble that it brought them, the Scripture tells us that they used a new cart pulled by oxen to do so.  Now I don’t know for sure that is where David got the idea but the similarities are too obvious to not mention.  How important it is that when we get ready to do the Lord’s work that we don’t look to the world to get our direction but that we look to the Word.

This is what I believe.  The Word of God is very relevant for our day.  Although there are not specific commands for every situation in life there are precepts and principles that will help us in our decision making.  When it comes to serving our God it is vitally important that we do so with the Word of God as our guide or somebody around us just may pay a price for our sin.

Was God fair with Uzzah?  I think the better question is do we really want God to be fair with any of us?  I don’t want God to be fair with me.  I would much rather he show me mercy and grace because even my best efforts are tainted with sin.