It was a brilliant idea and a perfect test.  If Yahweh was really controlling the plagues, then he should be able to control two upset cows – and that’s exactly what he did.

My grandfather told me that when they let the cows go they immediately started walking together towards Beth-shemesh.  Complete coordination and cooperation.  But they didn’t seem happy with it – they mooed and mooed as they walked, and wagged their heads backwards and forwards.  Grandfather said that it was clear they wanted to be back with their calves, but an unseen hand was leading them along the road.  Those are the very words he used: “an unseen hand”.  Yahweh was always treated with respect in my house when I was growing up.  In fact, from the stories I’ve heard, it seems that many of us Philistines showed more respect for Yahweh than the people of Israel did at times!

Those cows just kept plodding all the way to Beth-shemesh, not turning to left or right, until they stopped near a huge stone where the Israelites of the town were harvesting their wheat.  The harvesters were thrilled to see the ark, so they took it down from the cart, chopped up the cart and offered the two cows as burnt offerings.

At that stage, the lords of the Philistines gave up and went back home.  They were all completely convinced that Yahweh was in control and that the plagues in our land had truly been his work.  It helped to significantly reduce the tensions between the two nations for many years.

However, because they left then, they didn’t see that God killed some of the men of Beth-shemesh because they looked into the ark.  Once again, I don’t want to be critical, but God had warned the Israelites not to do so hundreds of years before!  Besides, Beth-shemesh is one of the towns that Israel’s priests were given to live in, so they of all people should have known how to treat the ark!  But either they didn’t know, or they chose not to obey – and more people died.

Some of Yahweh’s commands are hard to keep – like the command to love one’s neighbour as oneself, which is very hard with some neighbours! – but a simple collection of rules about how to treat a gold-plated wooden box shouldn’t be that hard to obey.  But you can only obey a command that you know about, and that is what the priests are meant to ensure.  Yahweh’s priests are meant to teach his nation the laws he has given.  But over time, that knowledge has been forgotten because nobody seems to feels it is their personal duty to know.  So, over the generations, more people keep dying because they choose ignorance over obedience.

After the people died in Beth-shemesh, they sent the ark to Kiriath-jearim, and it stayed in the house of a man named Abinadab for a long, long time – about twenty years before Saul became king, another forty years during his reign and then about eight years of David’s reign before he decided to bring the ark into the City of David.

During all of that time – almost seventy years – I don’t believe that anybody died because of the ark.  Instead, Abinadab and his sons were careful to treat God and his ark with the proper care and respect.

David made plans for bringing the ark into Jerusalem with great celebration, but he made the mistake of following the ideas of the Philistines instead of the commands of God.  I suppose that God accepted what we Philistines had done because we couldn’t have known any better – but God’s people had been told what to do and should have known and obeyed.

David provided a new cart that was pulled by oxen, and Uzzah died because he touched the ark when the oxen stumbled.

Yet God had specifically designed the ark with poles for carrying and had said that the ark was to be carried by men – priests – on their shoulders.  Once you know what’s right it’s all so obvious, isn’t it?  After all, why else would the ark have poles?

God had said: “they must not touch the holy things, lest they die.”[1]  When I read those words from the books of the law, they struck me like a dagger-thrust.  But that wasn’t all – when carts were being allocated for carrying the parts of the tabernacle in the wilderness, none were given to the sons of Kohath because “they were charged with the service of the holy things that had to be  carried on the shoulder.”[2]

It was all there, including examples of the priests carrying the ark.[3]  This was the vital information that would have saved Uzzah’s life – all there for people to read, but no-one had bothered to do so.

You may wonder why an old soldier like me would start reading religious scrolls, and ones in Hebrew at that!  When I was young, I was always more interested in physical action – often violent action – than reading.  The truth is, it was fear that started me reading.  I didn’t want to die like Uzzah, or the men of Beth-shemesh, or even my own countrymen so many years before.

And the fear came because, when Uzzah died, King David decided that my house was the best place to put the ark.

My house!

I think you can imagine the scene without me needing to describe it: the unexpected stopping of the cart; the sudden silence that descended on the crowd like a blanket, hard on the heels of the whispered explanations of what had happened; the terrified looks; the gasps of shock; the backward steps.

However, I was too close to see most of this.  I had been standing at the door of my house and the cart had stopped right in front of me.  Uzzah had been so full of life and happiness, taking such care that nothing could possibly happen to the precious cargo he was superintending.  Then the oxen stumbled, he reached out a swift steadying hand, and suddenly he collapsed.

Not many people had seen what had happened, because most were watching their king dancing in joyous celebration – David himself took a while to realise that something was terribly wrong – but I had seen every step of the action from the moment the oxen stumbled.  I was glad that I had – it meant that I could rule out the obvious suggestions and report that Uzzah’s collapse had happened at the very instant that he had touched the ark.  He had not been either run over or knocked down; no, this was the hand of God.

What tragic accidents come through ignorance.

For several moments, nobody went to Uzzah.  The few who had seen what had happened felt the terror inspired by the destroying hand of God.  But I was a soldier, and soldiers are used to helping their fellows whatever the danger, so I was the first to reach his side and roll him onto his back, trying to see how he was.  I didn’t feel that I was in any great danger, although I’d heard all the stories about the ark and its fatal power.  Anyway, I couldn’t just leave him lying on the road when he might need help.  Ahio, his brother, arrived next and we examined Uzzah together.

It took only a few moments to find out that we couldn’t do anything to help Uzzah, and by that time, the procession had stopped and David was running back towards us.

“What happened, Obed-edom?” he asked, breathlessly.

“Uzzah touched the ark.  He’s dead.”

“Why?”

“The oxen stumbled and he tried to steady the ark.”

“Has he ever collapsed before, Ahio?”

“No,” said Ahio, “but this was no normal fainting or anything like that.”

“But God wouldn’t kill anyone like this.  We were honouring him.  Honouring his ark.  Praising him.”

Nobody answered.  The facts spoke for themselves – Uzzah was dead.

“We had all the plans made,” David continued, and it was easy to hear the anger growing in his voice.  “Thousands of people have gathered today to celebrate bringing God’s ark into Jerusalem.  Why did Uzzah touch the ark?  He has caused so much trouble and ruined all of our plans.”

David continued to express his anger, and most of it was aimed at Uzzah, but in that mood, some of it was also directed at God.  I’ve never been one to argue with David because he has so much more wisdom and intelligence than I have, but this time I spoke up: “You would have done the same, sir.”

“What do you mean?”

“He saw the ark rocking and thought he needed to steady it.  I would have done the same – and so would you, sir.”

“And now he’s dead.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Well, I suppose you’re right – if I had been there I would have done just what he did.  And I would have been dead.”

“Yes, sir, I think so.”

“How can the ark of God come to me if anyone who is near it can be struck dead at any time?”

“But haven’t Uzzah’s family had the ark in their house for many years?  Has anyone died during that time?”

“No.”

“Then it must be something that we did differently today.”

“Well, whatever it was, we can’t move the ark any further now, and that’s flat.”  I had seen David in many battles and was familiar with his indomitable courage, but now the fear in his voice was palpable.  “Is this your house, Obed-edom?”

“Yes, sir,” I said slowly.

“We can’t leave the ark here on the road, so we’ll need to put it on your property for a while until we work out what to do.  Be careful, Obed-edom.”

So that was how the ark and its cart ended up being driven onto my land, just as they carried away the body of poor Uzzah.

David called the priests and they covered the ark. Everybody was far too afraid to touch it, so some material was draped over it without anyone getting very near it.  Even so, everyone was very glad once the operation was over and the ark was sitting right next to my house.

Everyone except me.

I felt a strange mix of terror and elation.

Before the end of the day, I made sure that the cart and the ark were covered with a roof.  I couldn’t leave the ark of God out in the weather – it didn’t seem right – but I was very, very careful not to touch the ark as I rigged up that roof.

King David arranged for several priests to guard the ark to keep it safe, and that got me thinking.  It was fine to “be careful” with the ark, but did anyone actually know what was right and what was wrong in dealing with the ark?  I spoke to the priests who were on guard, and they gave me the hint I needed by saying that instructions had been given, but that nobody knew them anymore – it had been unnecessary because the ark hadn’t been moved for so long.

The next day, the priests arranged for me to read the scriptures.  Not only were they surprised that I would want to read them, they also weren’t sure that foreigners should be allowed to read them.  If David hadn’t been king, I doubt that I would have been given permission, but he has always insisted that Yahweh welcomes people of any nation who are determined to worship him.  Of course, there are still limitations on how foreigners can worship depending on which nation we come from.  In this case, though, the priests agreed that I could read Moses’ writings of the law of God.  I read through them all diligently, and whenever I came across any instructions about the ark, I copied them down on a scroll of my own so that I would know exactly what was and what was not allowed.  Shortly afterward, I felt confident that I knew what had gone wrong for Uzzah, and was careful to follow the instructions myself by not looking into or touching the ark.  It was just that simple!  Uzzah’s life would have been saved if only he had known God’s commands and obeyed them.

Since then, the ark has stayed safely at my house, covered and kept dry.  No-one has touched it.  No-one has died.  On the contrary, God has blessed me and my household.  It’s amazing: everything we do is successful and every decision we make is right.

 

 

 

 

After three months it has become obvious to everyone that God has been blessing me and my household.  So now the priests have also been studying the law to find out what is required to move the ark to where King David wants it.

I’ve learned – and I hope that Israel as a nation has also learned – two very simple lessons from that tragic day:

Ignorance of God’s commands cost Uzzah his life, and it could easily have been anyone else who died instead – even King David.

Yet it really didn’t take much for me to learn what God required, and obeying his commands hasn’t been hard either.  And with that obedience has come the blessings of the loving God of Israel about whom David has taught me so much.

 

 

[1] Numbers 4:15
[2] Numbers 7:9
[3] Deuteronomy 31:9; Joshua 3:3