II Samuel 6:1-15
Rev. David A. Davis
July 12, 2015
Let me tell you this story again. If you had never heard of Uzzah before this morning, my guess is that you will remember his name now. This is one of those odd, memorable bible stories that sort of sticks with you. Some of you will remember that a few weeks ago we read David’s ode to Saul and Jonathan that comes at the beginning of II Samuel after David had been told of their death in battle. In the chapters to follow David becomes king of Judah and then king of all of Israel and Judah. With the desire to reestablish Jerusalem as the military stronghold and the political and religious center of the kingdom, David sets out to get the ark of God that been in the hands of the Philistines and return it to Jerusalem. With 30,000 of the chosen men of Israel, plus all the people, David went to get the ark. The ark was in the house of Abinadab up on a hill. As the bible tells it David brought a new cart to carry the ark and Abinadab’s sons were driving the cart; Ahio and Uzzah. Driving the cart, leading the team of oxen pulling the cart that was bearing the Ark of God. David and the people were dancing, singing, praising the Lord with every instrument you could imagine. It must been a Psalm 150 kind of moment.
When the ark parade comes to a threshing floor, a presumably a flat, smooth area, something unexpected, something tragic happens. The oxen shook, the cart must have dipped, and the ark start to tip. Uzzah, not wanting the ark to fall, reaches out his hand and touches the ark. Right then and there, according to II Samuel, the anger of the Lord was kindled against poor Uzzah and God struck him dead because he reached out his hand to the ark. The Lord wasn’t the only one angry. David was angry at God because the Lord had burst forth with an outburst upon Uzzah. In traditional biblical fashion, David named the place; Perez-Uzzah. Bursting out against Uzzah was now the name of the place.
In the aftermath of Uzzah’s death, David was scared to continue with the ark, to take the ark to Jerusalem. David left the ark at Obed-edom’s to see how he would fair with it for a while. Things went well there at Obed-edoms house for three months. So David went ahead with the ark moving plan and David and all of Israel brought the ark of the Lord into Jerusalem with shouting and with dancing and with the sound of the trumpet, and apparently without incident. History and tradition and rabbis and preachers and readers and you and I, we remember this story for David dancing pretty much naked before the ark of God, skipping over the whole Uzzah part. But I don’t think we should forget Uzzah. I bet most you will remember Uzzah. The poor guy who reach up to stop the ark from falling and died right then and there.
How about a word for Uzzah? A sigh, maybe. A shake of the head. It’s a bizarre happening recorded there on the sacred page. You come upon this sort of thing every now and then in scripture, you know? Here someone will say, “oh that’s just the Old Testament. “That’s how it is in the Old Testament”, someone says with a shrug of the shoulders and a wave of the hand. But the bible tells of Annanias and Sapphira, they sold property and didn’t share all the money with the community of faith. They lied about it. They died. That’s in the New Testatment. The Book of Acts. The assigned Old Testament text for this Sunday, the Revised Common Lectionary is II Samuel 6:1-5 and v12b-19. A lectionary cut that cuts Uzzah right out of the story.
How about a word for Uzzah? The bible mentions Ahio and Abinadab, his brother and father. But what about Uzzah’s mother? If you’re on Uzzah’s side of the family, the story really stinks. Relatives in grief. People in shock. All because the man reached out his hand to the ark of God. Because it was starting to tip. Was it that bad? Would it have been better to let it fall to the ground? Maybe all 30,000 would have died then? Did Uzzah really deserve that?
I guess his time was up? There is so shortage of such philosophy that rains down in the aftermath of a tragedy. When your time is up. It must have been God’s will. You can’t tempt fate. His number was up. Stuff happens. God must have need and ark bearer up in heaven. All things work for good for those who love the Lord. He’s in a better place. I wonder if someone offered such wisdom to Uzzah’s mother that day somewhere outside of Jerusalem.
Everyone has been trying to understand what happened to Uzzah pretty much from the moment he died. The writer of II Samuel comes right out with it, “God struck him there because he reached out his hand to the ark”. David himself questioned, was angry at God. That naming of the place. Bursting against Uzzah. That’s David saying this is where it happened Lord, This where you took him. It must have been so easy back then, for the writer of II Samuel. So black and white when it came to the rules. The rules about the ark, how to build it, how to carry it, how NOT to touch it. The rules intended to honor God’s holiness. You break the rule, here comes God’s wrath. You touch the ark, God will strike you dead. You touch me, I’ll kill ya. So long, Uzzah!
But I keep thinking about Uzzah’s mother. On our trip to Israel and Palestine, we met one night with two women from a group called “Parents Circle”. It is a support group for both Jewish families and Palestinian families who have lost loved ones to the violence, the ongoing conflict. It’s a group that advocates for peace and the end to violence. It’s a group Nassau Church has supported for about ten years through our mission and outreach budget. The two women who spent a couple of hours; one was a Jewish mother whose son was killed by a Palestinian sniper. The other was a Muslim woman whose husband was killed by Israeli soldiers as he tried to maneuver out of a traffic jam. It has been years since their loved ones died yet their grief, their suffering, it was palpable that night last month. They know what it is like to have history and tradition edit out your story, trying to make things so black and white.
People like us, readers and interpreters of scripture, have been trying to understand and explain what happened to Uzzah for a really long time. Some blame it on how David chose to carry the ark. It was being carried in a cart pulled by oxen. The instructions however, dictate that the ark was supposed to be honored and carried by human means. Ark bearers with poles on the shoulder, carrying it like king would be carried in the ancient world rather than being schlepped in a cart behind some oxen. So Uzzah died because David didn’t follow directions? Not very convincing, is it?
One interesting argument suggests that Uzzah was killed in an animal related accident. The text reads that Uzzah reached up to the ark because the oxen shook it. Scholars point out that a better translation of the verb would be that the oxen stumbled, or even more accurately, the oxen dropped. Or to be agriculturally accurate, the oxen reached the flat terrain of the threshing floor and they made some manure. Uzzah, according to this theory, just slipped. Touch the ark and with a bad struck of luck, was gone. The wrath of God and an unfortunately placed pile of manure. Let me tell that to Uzzah’s mother.
If you will pardon the pun, the arc of the story here points the reader toward the holiness of God. As you and I come upon the story, and as you remember Uzzah’s name after today, remember too that we believe that in the mystery of God’s plan of salvation, God making Godself known to God’s people, that God’s holiness, the presence of God Almighty went from the Ark of the Covenant to the ark of Mary’s womb. Not only was the holiness of God now to be touched, the holiness of God was to be held, the holiness of God was heard to cry, the holiness of God nursed at his mother’s breast. The holiness of God, the presence of God there in the form of a child. This child, God’s holiness, the One who allowed a woman to anoint his feet, the one who healed the woman who touched his garment, the one who called out to the dead with tears in his eyes, the one who allowed the children to run into his knees. He allowed himself to be touched, and to be whipped, and to be spat upon, and spread out on a cross. God’s holiness. God’s presence displayed not in the finery of the ark but splattered on a cross. The very epitome of a tragedy.
The truth is, we can do the theological and biblical maneuvering with the best of them to try to figure out how to feel better, or to think better about these biblical passages that gnaw away at your mind and your heart. An abstract theological perspective and rationale can be found that somehow helps it all make sense. Or on the other hand tradition can just cut around it. But then there’s Uzzah’s mother, and there’s Jesus’ mother. If not Uzzah’s mother, then maybe his brother or his wife or his children. Just about every day you can I hear about, read about, live next to, or look straight into the face of Uzzah’s mother. People who are wrestling with tragedy, grief, unexplained happenings, and the stark reality of life and death. People forced to wrestle with that which they and we will never understand this side of heaven.
You and I fall right in line behind the Old Testament writers who yearned for simple answers. We fall right in line with Kind David who was angry and questioned God. We fall right in line with thousands of years of feeble interpretation and only slight understanding. We fall right in line with all who wonder how a poor man can be struck dead after touching a museum piece that was starting to tilt. We fall in line with those who struggle to understand when the inexplicable happens and yearn to draw near to the God whose holiness we know best in Christ himself; a holiness defined by compassion and a self-emptying love.
Way too many people have come to think that the Christian faith is about finding answers, offering answers. At least for me, I have come back from the cemetery too many times with muddy shoes, and sat in too many waiting rooms or hung up the phone too many times with I didn’t have a blasted thing to say. If you think the invitation to walk with God and follow Jesus is about always having an answer, demanding an answer, finding an answer, you may as well be playing catch with an ark. Because you and I are called to stand knee deep in the grey water of life and point to the presence of God, especially when the words are not going to be found. This journey of faith we are on together, it is all about naming and nodding to and seeing and affirming the holiness, the majesty, and the love, and the grace of God in the here and now. Anyone can rise to point to and rail on the sin and the darkness of the world all around us. But some are called to stand in the darkness of the world and bear witness to the light of God’s presence.
For the same God who presence was acknowledged by the ancients with the Ark of the covenant, the same God whose presence kicked around in the ark of Mary’s womb, the same God whose holiness is defined as “friend of sinners”, the same God whose love turned a cross of death in an ark of life eternal, that same God this is day present among us. God for us. God with us.
Some demand answers. Some search for words. Most days, all you and I can do is lean into life, clinging to God’s promise and yearning for God’s embrace. God’s promise and God’s embrace. If you want to know where to look, if I were you, I would start looking right next to Uzzah’s mother.
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