1 Chronicles 13:1-14
The Ark Brought from Kirjath Jearim (2 Samuel 6:1–11)
1 Then David consulted with the captains of thousands and hundreds, and with every leader. 2 And David said to all the assembly of Israel, “If it seems good to you, and if it is of the LORD our God, let us send out to our brethren everywhere who are left in all the land of Israel, and with them to the priests and Levites who are in their cities and their common-lands, that they may gather together to us; 3 and let us bring the ark of our God back to us, for we have not inquired at it since the days of Saul.” 4 Then all the assembly said that they would do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.
5 So David gathered all Israel together, from Shihor in Egypt to as far as the entrance of Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kirjath Jearim. 6 And David and all Israel went up to Baalah, to Kirjath Jearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God the LORD, who dwells between the cherubim, where His name is proclaimed. 7 So they carried the ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab, and Uzza and Ahio drove the cart. 8 Then David and all Israel played music before God with all their might, with singing, on harps, on stringed instruments, on tambourines, on cymbals, and with trumpets.
9 And when they came to Chidon’s threshing floor, Uzza put out his hand to hold the ark, for the oxen stumbled. 10 Then the anger of the LORD was aroused against Uzza, and He struck him because he put his hand to the ark; and he died there before God. 11 And David became angry because of the LORD’s outbreak against Uzza; therefore that place is called Perez Uzza to this day. 12 David was afraid of God that day, saying, “How can I bring the ark of God to me?”
13 So David would not move the ark with him into the City of David, but took it aside into the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. 14 The ark of God remained with the family of Obed-Edom in his house three months. And the LORD blessed the house of Obed-Edom and all that he had.
The choice of king David to bring back the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem from from Kirjath Jearim (1 Samuel 6:21, 7:1-2), where it had been kept safe bit also safely out of reach and out of sight from God’s people, was a wise choice. It symbolized bringing back the very presence of the LORD God to the people for that is where the covenant was represented and where the high priests met God on his mercy seat (Exodus 25:17, Leviticus 16:2) between the angels bowing (Exodus 37:6, Hebrews 9:5) over it. He therefore gathered the people and priests to convey it home as he and they worshiped in song with all their hearts and might all along the way. It was going well until the Ark cart seemed to be in trouble as the oxen stumbled and appeared that it might fall. Uzza made the critical mistake of failing to trust God to keep it safe and touched it against the order that only a priest might do so carrying it with poles (Numbers 4:15, Leviticus 10:2) and met the wages of sin, death, as a result. Sadly, the Ark was left there and God’s presence with it due to disobedience and anger at God’s righteous judgment. How often people hear the gospel and are angry at God for holding them accountable for sin to earn death at not accepting the terms of His New Covenant in the lifeblood of His Son Jesus Christ to enter into His presence through Him (Leviticus 16:30, Hebrews 9:8-9, 12, Romans 3:25, 26) according to the work of God alone to deliver and keep them? We who are in Christ now happily bow to Him for His work as our High Priest and worship in our forgiveness by mercy to approach for more grace and mercy (Hebrews 4:16) when we falter and fail, letting Him steady us lest we fall (1 Peter 1:5, Jude 1:24) and not attempt to do so in our own power to steady the cart of the covenant of His lifeblood that brings us into His presence as the Israelites brought His presence near in the symbolic Ark which was a shadow of the heavenly one (Hebrews 8:5) according to that pattern made by God to show us these things.
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