2 Samuel 6:3, “And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah: and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart.” This was in error as God dictated that the ark was to be carried via two poles so there would be no touching of the ark. In verse 6 we learn that the ox shook the ark and Uzzah attempted to steady it. 2 Samuel 6:7, “And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God.”
2 Samuel 6:9” And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and said, How shall the ark of the Lord come to me?” So King David offloaded the ark to the “house of Obededom the Gittite” for three months.
As an aside, there is a price to be paid for disrespecting the ark of God. 1 Samuel 4 shares that the Philistines captured the ark. 1 Samuel 4:21, "And she named the child Ichabod, saying, the glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband." Strong's H350 - there is no glory, that is, inglorious; Ikabod, a son of Phineas.
1 Samuel 6:6, “And the ark of the Lord was in the country of the Philistines seven months.” During those seven months the ark was passed from one city to another during which time the anger of God was manifest. First “Dagon was fallen upon his face to the earth before the ark of the Lord.” And “there was a deadly destruction throughout all the city; the hand of God was very heavy there.” Add to that, the people suffered with emerods. Finally the Philistines wanted to return the ark and included a trespass offering of “five golden emerods, and five golden mice, according to the number of the lords of the Philistines: for one plague was on you all, and on your lords.”
Proverbs 9:10, “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.” To me this is not fear in the usual sense rather it is having a right relationship with God, of being absolutely in awe of God, holding him in complete respect and being obedient to His will.
There are many warnings of coming judgment in the Old Testament for disobedience. Warning passed on by Isaiah, Joel, Ezekiel, Job and others. Isaiah 2 speaks to judgment beginning in verse 1 with “a rod out of the stem of Jesse” and in verse 2 “knowledge and of the fear of the LORD.” With thanks to Strong’s H3374, here fear is infinitive; morally reverence; dreadful, exceedingly, fearfulness.
There is still the possibility of redemption. 2 Chronicles 7:14, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.”
Added later:
Uzzah not only had the ark placed on a cart, he touched it, both actions in direct disobedience to God's command. IMO, this has relevancy to our/ other countries' treatment (touching) of the State of Israel since her rebirth and before. The Gaza disengagement pushed by the US/ Hurricane Katrina is just one correlation. The sun now sets of the British Empire, In 1939, Great Britain reneged on the Balfour Declaration.
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