THE ARK—BANE AND BLESSING
‘How shall the ark of the Lord come to me?’
2 Samuel 6:9
When David was king of Israel, he resolved to have the ark brought to Jerusalem. So he went down to Baale with a great company, that the return might be made in seemly fashion. And with the ark set on a new cart, with Uzzah beside it, and Ahio leading the oxen, the journey to Jerusalem was begun. Observe that to conduct the ark that way was a violation of the command of God. God had forbidden the carting of the ark, and had expressly ordered that it should be carried.
I. All that follows should impress on us, that not only is it for us to do God’s will, but we must seek to do it in God’s way.—At Nachan’s threshing-floor the oxen strained—turning aside after the scattered corn—and Uzzah, as the cart pitched and jolted, put out his hand to seize the ark and steady it. Nothing could have been better meant; nothing could have been more flatly disobedient. It was against God’s law to touch the ark, or even to look at it till it was covered—and God was angry at this disobedience, and He smote Uzzah that he died. Remark how one sin leads to another sin. Had there been no cart, there would have been no jolting. It was the disobedience at the outset of the journey that made possible the disobedience on the road. It is well to be true to God in our beginnings if we wish a prosperous journey by and by.
II. Note how familiarity may breed contempt.—The action of Uzzah to us seems very harmless, and the punishment which he suffered very sore. But as a thread of gossamer shows how the wind is blowing, so do our little actions show our character. It was not, I think, for a mere touch of the hand that Uzzah was thus visited of God. It was rather for the state of heart and temper which this momentary act revealed. For long years he had dwelt beside the ark. It had had a lodgment in his father’s house right through his happy days of boyhood, a very familiar object, until at last the awe it should have stirred, and the reverence wherewith it should have been regarded, had come to be very dull in Uzzah’s heart. He had ceased to think of the ark as something holy. He had wellnigh forgotten it was the rest of God. He had come to reckon it as an antiquity that must be fended like any other chest. And it was this irreverence and lack of awe, revealing itself in an action that was trifling, that kindled the wrath of Jehovah against Uzzah. All this should warn us against that familiarity which, as the proverb says, begets contempt. It is the peril of those who dwell in a Christian land, and who are surrounded with the privileges of the Gospel. The Bible and the sanctuary—these have been beside us since our childhood. Let us be very watchful that we never think of them as Uzzah had come to think about the ark.
III. Note that the ark is a guest that no man loses by.—That is a lesson we should learn from Obed-edom. Into his house the ark of God was brought, and everything prospered with Obed-edom from that hour. The Jews have a legend that he had been very poor, but that immediately thereafter he grew rich; and while that is only a legend, yet at the heart of it it bears the truth. For everything was different with Obed-edom now. He felt that God in His mercy had come near him. When he woke in the morning, God was in his dwelling; when he retired to rest, his Lord was there; and every time he came home from field or village, and every time he had worship with his children, there flashed on him, in overpowering vividness, the knowledge that ‘Thou God seest me.’ All this made a new man of Obed-edom. The little sins that wrought such havoc before were banished now from Obed-edom’s home. And the result of it all was that Obed-edom prospered, and began to flourish like a palm tree by the river, and it all dated from that memorable hour when he received the ark into his home.
Illustrations
(1) ‘There is a story of a stranger who came to a poor cottage, and who said, “There is a treasure in this cottage.” And the cottars searched for it, till on a dusty shelf they lit on an old and long-neglected Bible. That Bible, studied again, became a treasure, as did the ark in the house of Obed-edom, and as the presence of God does wherever it is welcomed.’
(2) ‘A godly household is the place in which to see religion at its best and truest. What a blessing the ark brings with it. Communion with God, the prayer morning and evening, the family altar, the acknowledgment of God at the meal, piety at home, these ensure a wonderful harvest of peace and happiness. Godliness is great gain. Only three months did the ark shelter in the house of Obed-edom, and yet as long as the Bible is read this silver lining shall fringe the dark cloud of Divine displeasure. “The Lord blessed Obed-edom, and all his household.” ’
(3) ‘In Ruskin’s Ethics of the Dust, the old lecturer sternly rebukes one of his hearers, because she is afraid of hindering instead of helping God’s work by misplaced or wavering zeal. “Do you suppose,” he asks, “that you can thwart in the least degree the plans of God?” Is not this an only too common form of the sin of Uzzah? It is as irreverent to withhold as to stretch forth the hand for fear of accident to God’s plans.’