NailDriven †

I’m reading through 2 Samuel and came across Uzzah. I’ve read this before, he is the guy who reaches out to stop the Ark of the Covenant from falling off the cart King David put it on and dies because he touched it.

I’ve often thought “why would God kill him for that, he was just trying to help”. What I didn’t know and learned today is that there was more going on than what I noticed before:

- David wasn’t following God commandment about how to move the Ark, he had it on a “Cart” instead of having Levite’s carry it.

- Uzzah had great zeal but not knowledge of God’s law - this is demonstrated by him wanting to stop any harm coming to the ark but apparently not knowing that he wasn’t supposed to touch it (or at least believing that he shouldn’t, even if he was told not to)

I have often held the idea that it isn’t smart to have new Christians take on too much as far as witnessing and going out to “fight” the devil in the world before they are trained. This story emphasized and strengthened that viewpoint, that if Uzzah would have had more knowledge about God and His commandments he wouldn’t have died. Bad things can result when Christians have the zeal but not the knowledge, they go out and “fight the good fight” but often spawn more hatred toward Christianity than they do conversions, and usually conversions from this situation aren’t deep and rooted because those doing the converting aren’t rooted and able to help.Just my study this morning, but I appreciated the extra encouragement to my own life to keep in God’s Word, and know His commandments so I don’t find myself being a “Uzzah” but rather I follow more along the lines of Christ.  

(JP)