OPEN: Several years ago, Reader’s Digest told of a young couple who had just bought a water bed. While assembling the bed, the couple realized they would need a hose to fill it with – and they didn’t own one. So, the husband went to the hardware store and bought one.
They attached the hose to the bed, ran it through the apartment to the kitchen tap and - knowing it would take over an hour for the bed to fill – they left their apartment to run an errand.
About an hour later they returned to check on its progress. And that’s when they discovered that the husband had bought a sprinkler hose
APPLY: Now, we all know what happened to that apartment, and you can imagine how frustrating it must have been to them (not to mention their landlord) to discover the damage their “oversight” had caused to their home and possessions. Just a minor oversight… but it caused an immense amount of damage.
I. In II Samuel we read about a more serious oversight that cost a man’s his life
Now, just so we understand the setting, let’s revue what has happened in this passage. David has just conquered Jerusalem and was making it the capital of Israel.
Now, David loved God so much that he wanted God at the center of his world… and of his nation, so David sought out the Ark of the Covenant to bring it into Jerusalem from the town of Kiriath Jearim where it had lain dormant – unused in the worship of the nation (as far as we can tell) for about 100 years.
What was the ark doing in Kiriath Jearim? Well, approximately 100 yrs. previously, Israel had been engaged in a war with Philistines. Israel had been guilty of walking away from God and disobeying His will for their nation, and as a result they were losing badly to the Philistines. As it became apparent that the Philistines would overwhelm them, someone came up with the bright idea of taking the Ark into battle. They figured, if they had the ark with them on the battle front, that God would be there too. Unfortunately for Israel – God stayed home. The Philistines slaughtered Israel’s army and took Ark back home with them to the city of Ashdod as a trophy of war.
Now what do you do with a trophy? You display it in a prominent place, don’t you? So the Philistines placed the Ark in the temple of their god – Dagon (a god who was half man/ half fish) as a way of declaring that their god was greater than the God of Israel.
Confident of their victory, the Philistines offered sacrifices and incense to their god and then went home to bed. The next morning, their god lay face down on the temple floor. Now, I’m sure this troubled them, but I guess they shrugged it off, picked up the statue of Dagon and placed him back where he belonged. They offered their sacrifices and incense to Dagon and went home again. The next morning, they find Dagon on the floor again – but he wasn’t laying on his face this time. He didn’t have a face anymore. His head & hands had been broken off and were laying on the threshold beside him.
When God had finished with Dagon, He started in on Ashdod and plagued them with disease and vermin (rats). So severe was the outbreak that the citizens of Ashdod greatly and they decided maybe it was time to share this trophy of war with the other great cities of the Philistines for awhile.
So the ark was shuttled from city to city in Philistia, and every where it was taken, those cities were plagued by disease and vermin. Finally, the Philistines decided it was time to return the ark to Israel, and they placed it on an new oxcart and placed a chest alongside it…with 5 golden tumors and 5 golden rats as a peace offering to the God of Israel.
Their Philistine priests had advised:
“Make models of the tumors and of the rats that are destroying the country, and pay honor to Israel’s god. Perhaps he will lift his hand from you and your gods and your land.” (1 Samuel 6:5)
The oxcart bro’t the ark back to Israel – to a city named Beth Shemesh
1 Samuel 6:15 tells us that “The Levites took down the ark of the LORD, together with the chest containing the gold objects, and placed them on the large rock. On that day the people of Beth Shemesh offered burnt offerings and made sacrifices to the LORD.”
The citizens of Beth Shemesh were so pleased and delighted to have the ark in their city that they decided to look inside the ark. That was a mistake. The hand of God struck down 70 men who died on the spot. This so upset the city of Beth Shemesh that they had the ark moved to Kiriath Jearim and there it remained for the next 100 years or so… until David decided to bring it to Jerusalem.
II. This, of course, bring us to our story today
Now the ark had been residing at the home of Abinadab for about 20 years now. And when the time came to have the ark moved to Jerusalem, Abinadab’s 2 sons - Uzzah and Ahio - went along. Ahio was leading the oxen and it appears Uzzah was walking along side the cart.
And, all the while, “David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the LORD, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals.” (2 Samuel 6:5)
THEN SOMETHING WENT HORRIBLY WRONG.
The cart that carried the ark hit a rough spot and the ark was in danger of falling off. Uzzah reached up and steadied the Ark of the covenant and he immediately is struck dead by God
What happened? What did they do wrong? David didn’t know… and it tells us in 2 Samuel 6:8 that “David was angry because the LORD’s wrath had broken out against Uzzah…” The Hebrew here describes David has “hot”, “furious”, “incensed.” This shouldn’t have happened.
And David hasn’t a clue as to why it happened.
It says he became afraid… and had no idea how he would ever get the ark to Jerusalem. He decided not to move the ark any further… but instead, had it carried over to the house of Obededom the Gittite where it remained until they could figure out what they had gone wrong.
III. Well… what had gone wrong?
The Bible tells us in verse 7. “The LORD’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God.” (2 Samuel 6:7)
His “irreverent act?” What had he done wrong?
Well, he’d touched the ark… you weren’t supposed to do that.
Numbers 4:15 tells us that only the Kohathites – a family in the tribe of Levi – were allowed to carry Ark. And even they were told that “they must not touch the holy things or they will die.” But if they couldn’t touch the Ark… HOW were the Kohathites supposed to carry that it?
The Ark was an elaborate box covered with gold… and along each side there were rings that were designed to hold poles that the Kohathites would use to carry it. Numbers 4:6 tells us “they are to cover (the Ark of the Covenant) with hides of sea cows, spread a cloth of solid blue over that and put the poles in place.”
BUT, when David and the Israelites decided to take the ark into Jerusalem they didn’t carry do it that way. They weren’t using poles to carry it with. They had put it up on a new oxcart and were wheeling it down the road.
Why would they do that?
Why use an oxcart to carry the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem?
Why risk the wrath of God by directly disobeying a command from Scripture?
IV. Now, there are some scholars that believe that David and Israelites had failed to read the instruction manual (The Law) before the moved the Ark. They figured – men haven’t changed much in the past 2000 years or so. Men never read the instructions.
ILLUS: When Diana and I were first married, we bought a brand new push mower. It was still in the box and we had to put it together. I figured it couldn’t be that hard to assemble and before long it was standing in our back yard all nice and shiny. I pulled the starting rope and it purred to life… just like it was supposed to. However, I did have one small problem. I couldn’t shut if off. So, I finally relented and pulled out the manual… and there on the top of the first page were these words: “Now that you’ve decided to read the instructions…”
Scholars believe that David and his the rest of Israel just didn’t know they had to use the poles. And I used to believe that to… until I took a closer look at the text.
I Chronicles 13:1-3 (which gives us a little more information on this event) tells us that
“David CONFERRED with each of his officers, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. He then said to the whole assembly of Israel, "If it seems good to you and if it is the will of the LORD our God, let us send word far and wide to the rest of our brothers throughout the territories of Israel, and also to the PRIESTS and LEVITES who are with them in their towns and pasturelands, to come and join us. Let us bring the ark of our God back to us, for we did not inquire of it during the reign of Saul."
You see, David had given this a lot of thought. This was not some haphazard adventure he was embarking on. He consulted people. He asked everyone he knew. He even made sure that the priests and the Levites were on hand. There are 30,000 people on hand for this event. Granted it’s been nearly 100 years since Israel has done much with the Ark… but don’t you think someone would have thought to look at what Scripture said about the Ark before they moved it?
But, even if it weren’t for that … something else convinced me that they knew about the poles.
Now think about this with me for a minute:
… if you couldn’t move the ARK SAFELY without poles being in the rings
… and if you couldn’t TOUCH the Ark without dying
How do you suppose they got the Ark ONTO the cart – they used the poles.
… you couldn’t.
They knew
THEY KNEW…
They knew they had to use the poles to move the Ark.
AND YET they still had decided to move the Ark by oxcart. Why would they do that?
Well… at this point I’m going to speculate. The Bible doesn’t tell us why they disobeyed God in this matter… but I think I have a pretty good guess.
1. It was easier
Kiriath Jearim was about 10 miles west of Jerusalem. Imagine having 4 men carry a heavy box with poles on their shoulders 10 miles. Wouldn’t it be so much easier to put it up on a cart and let oxen to the work? Of course it would have.
But why use an oxcart??
That question brings me to my 2nd observation:
2. The Philistines had done it (that’s how they’d returned the ark to Israel about 100 years before) … and God hadn’t struck them dead! If it worked for the Philistines… why wouldn’t it work for them.
V. But… it DIDN’T work. A man died
In spite of the fact that the people of Israel had turned this event into a giant worship service.
Offered sacrifices to God
Sang songs of praise and honor to the LORD
Were rejoicing and praising God’s name
In spite of all that… God was not pleased… and a man died.
Why wasn’t God pleased?
Two reasons…
1. They replaced obedience with laziness
2. AND they accepted the thinking of man over the clear commands of God.
(pause…)
Could that happen to us? Yeah, it could.
1. Take laziness for example.
Walking with God is hard work. It’s so much easier to do my Christianity on a part time basis.
It’s easier to choose to RIDE ALONG in on someone else’s faith rather than WALK with God.
Walking takes time
Walking takes effort
It takes time to pray
It’s so much easier to allow a preacher to do the praying for us
It takes time to study our Scriptures
It’s so much easier to take “Jeff’s word for it” and not bother studying things ourselves
In the book of Acts, we’re told about one of Paul’s mission trips. He’d just gotten done preaching at Thessalonica and had moved on to a city known as Berea. Acts 17:11 tells us: “… the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.”
Why shouldn’t I just “ride along” and let someone else do those religious things for me? Because “riding along” takes away from MY worship. If all I do is “ride along” – it’s not my faith… it’s someone else’s. Doing my faith the easy way, robs me of the closeness to God I really need/want.
AND, if I do it long enough - something inside me… dies.
2. What about accepting the thinking of men over clear commands of God?
Oh… that’s always been a downfall for believers for ages. The church has too often had the tendency to combine teachings & traditions of men with the pure Word of God.
ILLUS: For example: you remember the story of Galileo? Remember how he’d discovered that the earth orbited the sun rather than/ other way around? He was condemned by the church of his day and was threatened with excommunication and perhaps even death if didn’t recant his “error.”
To this day, there are those who believe that it was the Bible that taught that… but that’s not true. Scripture NEVER said anything about the sun OR the earth circling anything.
The church leaders hadn’t based their doctrine on Scripture.
But, if they didn’t base their doctrine in this matter on Scripture… where did they get it?
They got it from a pagan philosopher by the name of Aristotle. Through defective experiment, Aristotle determined that the earth was at rest, and therefore, the sun must orbit the earth and not the other way around.
Galileo believed in Scripture and often opposed those who clung to the teachings of Aristotle Galileo once wrote: “The holy scriptures cannot err, and the decrees therein contained are absolutely true and inviolable…
It was Galileo - not the church of his day – who held to Scripture.
And because the Church of that day based their theology – NOT on Scripture – but on the teachings of a mere man they caused extreme damage to the cause of Christ. There are still skeptics who point to this incident with Galileo as proof of their assertion that the Bible contains errors..
CLOSE: When David and the Israelites chose the easy way to worship God, and when they chose to follow the example of the Philistines rather than God’s Word… the results were devastating.
But they weren’t the only ones who have ever done that with God’s Word… and - won’t be the last. People have handled all kinds of doctrines out of Scripture in these ways. They’ve even handled salvation that way.
ILLUS: I once made the mistake of allowing a denominational preacher to give the invitation at a joint VBS class in a small town. The children had learned all week about Jesus and now the time had come to talk to the older ones about becoming Christians. The other preacher was a nice guy. I liked him a lot. But when he gave the invitation I was never so embarrassed in my whole life. He stood up in front of the sanctuary and gave those kids 5 different ways to accept Jesus.
If they didn’t want to do it one way, they could do it another. He offered them a smorgasbord faith. They could pick and choose any way they pleased to come to Christ.
Now, why would he do that? Because he had grown used to avoiding hard decisions. He wanted a doctrine that was EASY to swallow. He wanted to please people.
AND he was more than willing to base his theology on the teachings of men rather than the commands of God. Others had basically told him it didn’t matter how you accepted Christ, as long as you were sincere. But it doesn’t work that way.
The command of God to you this morning is clear:
Do you want to belong to Jesus Christ this morning?
BELIEVE - John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever BELIEVETH in him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
REPENT - Acts 2:38 "REPENT and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit."
CONFESS JESUS - Romans 10:9 “… if you CONFESS with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved."
BAPTIZED - Romans 6 declares: "don’t you know that all of us who were BAPTIZED INTO CHRIST Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life."
SERMONS IN THIS SERIES (A Man After God’s Own Heart)
Measuring Up - 1 Samuel 16:1-16:13
Be Prepared/ Scout Sunday - 1 Samuel 17:1-17:53
A Friend After Your Own Heart - 1 Samuel 18:1-18:5
A Heart To Honor Authority - 1 Samuel 24:1-24:22
An Obedient Heart - 2 Samuel 6:1-6:15
A Heart To Worship - 2 Samuel 6:12-6:23
The Heart Of A Shepherd - Psalms 23:1-23:6
The Over-exposed Heart - 2 Samuel 11:1-11:5
The Undeserving Heart - Psalms 51:1-51:1
The Weakened Heart - 2 Samuel 3:17-3:39
The Heart Of A Father - 2 Samuel 13:1-13:39
A Heart to Build - 2 Samuel 7:1-7:17
The Dead Dog Syndrome - 2 Samuel 16:5-16:14
