Maybe you have never heard the story of Uzzah and how God punished him for rescuing the ark. It is a strange story which seem to have no relevance at all for us today. No, and you will be surprised. But lets take is step by step.

The Story

Before Israels first king Saul was enthroned Israel was in war with the Philistines and had the glorious idea to bring the ark of the covenant into the battle so that they will win. The ark was the place where God was residing in the Old Testament and Israel thought that God would never allow that their enemy will win the battle and so capture the ark. But they were wrong - God did not allow them to manipulate him.

The Philistines captured the ark (and God with it?) and presented it in the house of their God to show that they are triumphant. But God did turn this around and the Philistines decided to send the ark back. Their priest decided to put the ark on a cart with some gift and carried by two calfs. It arrived at the house of Abinadab and stayed there for many years.

After this time, David, the next king wanted to get the ark to Jerusalem. This was accompanied by the two sons of Abinadab: Uzzah and Ahio. The ark was put on a cart and carried by oxens. But when the oxen stumbled, Uzzah reached out and tried to stop the ark sliding from the cart. And God killed him for this act.

King David is in shock about this and it took him three months to try it again, but this time differently.

What is going on?

To understand the situation better we need to go a bit back in the story. When God made instructions for the ark and the sanctuary he made it very clear how this should be transported – in the time in the Exodus the tent was constantly moving.

The inner part of the temple should only be carried by the Levites. They are consecrated for the Lord of all of Israel. The ark was the place where God lived and he did not wanted to be carried around by some animal but wanted to be in touch on the journey with his beloved people.

When the ark came back to Israel, the Philistines did not know better and put it on a cart. But Israel should know better. Even Uzzah should know better as the ark stayed at his father house for about 20 years.

God wanted to break out from this situation by sliding the ark off the cart but Uzzah was stopping him and God punished him for this.

And today?

In todays time God looks to come close to us. But we have our ways of boxing him away and keep him on arms length.

But God wants to break out from this but we do our best to stop him for his own good. As we saw in this story God is willing to break something that we consider precious for God but it turns out we are totally wrong.