Remember Uzzah
By Richard Maffeo
I wrote this in 2015. The message still
applies to 2020
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To Obey is Better Than to
Sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22)
If you read about Uzzah’s death only in 2
Samuel you’ll miss a critically important piece of supplemental
information.
In the sixth chapter David and “all
the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord.” They placed the ark
of God on an ox cart to bring it to Jerusalem. But as they drew near the city
the oxen stumbled and knocked the ark off balance. Uzzah the priest reached out
to keep it from falling. But “the anger of the Lord burned against
Uzzah, and God struck him . . . and he died.”
If that’s all we know, then we should have
some questions, not the least of which would be: Why did God kill His priest
for trying to protect the ark?
But take a look at the same story in the 15th chapter
of 1 Chronicles, especially verses 11-15. After Uzzah’s death, David again
decided to bring the ark to Jerusalem. But this time: “David called for
. . . the priests, and for the Levites . . . and said to them . . . because you
did not carry it at the first, the Lord our God made an outburst on
us, for we did not seek Him according to the ordinance.”
“. . . for we did not
seek Him according to the ordinance.”
In other words, sacrifice and celebration in
our worship and work for God is fitting and proper for anyone who calls God
“Father” and Jesus “Lord.” But God also demands those things be done in
obedience to His revealed will. Only after Uzzah’s death did the priests insert
poles into the rings of the ark and then carry it on their shoulders – as
Moses commanded half a millennium earlier (see Exodus 25:10-14 and Numbers
4:6-15).
The Holy Spirit tells us through the prophet,
Samuel: “Surely, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the
fat of rams. For rebellion is no less a sin than divination, and stubbornness
is like iniquity and idolatry.” (1 Samuel 15:22-23)
God is always serious about our obedience to
His commandments – even while we worship and work for Him.
Remember Uzzah.
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