Tuesday, March 4, 2014

David's First Attempt to Move the Ark (2 Samuel 6:1-11; 1 Chron. 13:1-13)

9/3/2010 8:05:18 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                                                      Focus:  David’s first attempt to move the ark

Bible Reading & Meditation                                     Reference:  2Samuel 6:1-11; 1Chron. 13:1-13

            Message of the verses:  “1 ¶  Now David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. 2  And David arose and went with all the people who were with him to Baale-judah, to bring up from there the ark of God which is called by the Name, the very name of the LORD of hosts who is enthroned above the cherubim. 3  They placed the ark of God on a new cart that they might bring it from the house of Abinadab which was on the hill; and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were leading the new cart. 4  So they brought it with the ark of God from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill; and Ahio was walking ahead of the ark. 5  Meanwhile, David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the LORD with all kinds of instruments made of fir wood, and with lyres, harps, tambourines, castanets and cymbals.
    “6 ¶  But when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out toward the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen nearly upset it. 7  And the anger of the LORD burned against Uzzah, and God struck him down there for his irreverence; and he died there by the ark of God. 8  David became angry because of the LORD’S outburst against Uzzah, and that place is called Perez-uzzah to this day. 9  So David was afraid of the LORD that day; and he said, "How can the ark of the LORD come to me?" 10  And David was unwilling to move the ark of the LORD into the city of David with him; but David took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. 11  Thus the ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months, and the LORD blessed Obed-edom and all his household.”

            “1 ¶  Then David consulted with the captains of the thousands and the hundreds, even with every leader. 2  David said to all the assembly of Israel, "If it seems good to you, and if it is from the LORD our God, let us send everywhere to our kinsmen who remain in all the land of Israel, also to the priests and Levites who are with them in their cities with pasture lands, that they may meet with us; 3  and let us bring back the ark of our God to us, for we did not seek it in the days of Saul." 4  Then all the assembly said that they would do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people. 5  So David assembled all Israel together, from the Shihor of Egypt even to the entrance of Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath-jearim. 6  David and all Israel went up to Baalah, that is, to Kiriath-jearim, which belongs to Judah, to bring up from there the ark of God, the LORD who is enthroned above the cherubim, where His name is called. 7  They carried the ark of God on a new cart from the house of Abinadab, and Uzza and Ahio drove the cart. 8  David and all Israel were celebrating before God with all their might, even with songs and with lyres, harps, tambourines, cymbals and with trumpets.
   “ 9 ¶  When they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzza put out his hand to hold the ark, because the oxen nearly upset it. 10  The anger of the LORD burned against Uzza, so He struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark; and he died there before God. 11  Then David became angry because of the LORD’S outburst against Uzza; and he called that place Perez-uzza to this day. 12  David was afraid of God that day, saying, "How can I bring the ark of God home to me?" 13  So David did not take the ark with him to the city of David, but took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. 14  Thus the ark of God remained with the family of Obed-edom in his house three months; and the LORD blessed the family of Obed-edom with all that he had.”

I suppose that what happened to David in this section, unfortunately is typical of how life goes, and the NT records that the reasons that the sins of the people from the OT are seen is for us on this side of the cross to learn from their downfalls.  This section is opposites from what was done in the section yesterday, for David sought the Lord on two occasions to get direction about fighting against the Philistines and was successful in both occasions.  In today’s reading David forgot to “prime the pump” of the Lord and went off on his own, listening to the words of people and not seeking the Lord in order to move the ark of the Lord to the city of Jerusalem, which is something that was the will of the Lord but wasn’t done by the Word of the Lord. Verse four from the 1st Chronicles section puts I this way:  “4 Then all the assembly said that they would do so, for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people.”

            I think that a little bit of history should be given to understand how it was that the Ark of the Lord to where it rests at this point, and that is at Obed-edom’s house.  The Ark of the Lord was constructed by chosen people that the Lord picked out during the time when Israel spent a year at Mt. Sinai, and all of the plans for the Tabernacle were given to Moses while on Mt. Sinai.  The Ark of the Lord went before Israel in their wilderness wonderings and was carried by the Levites across the Jordan River when Israel was lead by Joshua.  It must be noted that the Lord wanted to position the Ark of the Lord in a certain city, but as of yet that city was not identified and so it went to different places in Israel and landed at Shiloh, which is where it was when Samuel was a baby and was taken care of by Eli.  From there it went into battle against the Philistines and was captured by them and was in their territory for some time where the Lord did harm to the Philistines because they had it.  The Philistines finally put the Ark on a cart pulled by oxen and the Lord sent it back to Israel where it landed at Beth Shemesh and there a man looked into it and was killed by the Lord for disobeying His Holy Law concerning the Ark.  Next it went to Kiriath Jearim where it was guarded by the house of Abinadad.  Now it must be noted that the Tabernacle and all of the things that went along with the Ark of the Lord must have been destroyed by the Philistines when they fought against Israel during the time when Eli and his sons died, so David wanted to put the Ark of the Lord into a tent in Jerusalem, and eventually build a temple to put it in, but his son would do this.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The story was told in our church service a few years back of a man going across the desert and running out of water and he came to a pump where he saw a note that told him where a cup of water was, but he was to put the water into the pump in order to prime the pump so that he could get enough water to complete his journey and then leave enough water there for the next person to do the same.  The point of the story when told in church was about faith, but in yesterday’s SD I wrote about a similar story that came to me about the Lord being the pump and I as a believer would use prayer to prime the pump of the Lord to get His will for my life.  It sound in a way like a crude example making the Lord the pump, and my prayers for direction as the water to prime the Lord to give me directions, but it is just a reminder to me that the Lord wants to guide me, but I have to ask Him to do that.  It kind of goes back to the statement that if God is not allowed to rule in our lives then He will overrule in our lives and in order for me to have Him rule in my life instead of overruling is to seek His direction by prayer each day.


My Steps of Faith for Today:

1.      Proverbs 3:5-6.
2.      Romans 12:1-2.
3.      Philippians 4:11.
4.      Psalm 139:23-24.
5.      Ephesians 6:10-18.


9/3/2010 9:34:09 AM

  


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