Bible Commentaries

Care of the Ark

2 Samuel 6:6). Did the oxen turn aside naturally because of the threshingfloor? Had not they, too, come home? Did they not betray natural impatience when they approached the place where food was kept? The ark shaking under the movement of the oxen, Uzzah, who was undoubtedly a Levite, put forth his hand and took hold of the ark in well-meant purpose. But he was killed ( 2 Samuel 6:7). The ark is never in danger. Could we work this conviction into our minds, it would save us from a thousand inventions and schemes by which to support the throne of the living God. That throne needs no buttress of our building. What share have we in keeping the stars in their places? How much of the security of the constellations is owing to our pre-arrangement, forethought, and devotion? God will take care of his own ark, and his own kingdom and truth in the world. If men did less, more would be accomplished, so far as the protection of these inner spiritual mysteries is concerned. We have work enough to do, but we must not trespass, violate the limits within which we have been enclosed, and take upon us supposed duties which we can never discharge. We cannot guard the truth. That is in God's keeping. If we touch it we may do injury to ourselves, if our touch be done in any spirit of undue anxiety. God was most particular regarding the ark. It must not be moved until the priests had covered it; and whilst they were in the act of doing so the Levites were not so much as permitted to look upon the mysterious box. Then the ark was to be carried upon staves appointed for that purpose. This was God's method,—why should not God have his own way with his own work? This incident rebukes anxiety, limits human service, testifies to the divine presence. Why this anxiety about the kingdom of heaven? Let the anxiety be fixed upon ourselves—upon our spirit, conduct, action; let us be severe in cross-examination of our own motive and intention: then our service will be large and beneficent.

David got a new view of divine providence upon the day on which a breach was made upon Uzzah. He "was afraid of the Lord that day" ( 2 Samuel 6:9). David began in gladness. He began to praise "the Lord on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals;" and the enthusiasm was enthusiasm of music, a passion of delight; and suddenly David was paralysed, filled with fear. He did not know that God was so careful, so critically particular. Such fear has a great place in spiritual education. The culture of the soul is not to be perfected by instruments made of fir wood only, even on harps, psalteries, timbrels, cornets, and cymbals; that is but one aspect and department of our spiritual education—needful, right, useful; but a holy fear, a sense of solemnity, a terror that owns the divine nearness may have much to do in chastening, ennobling, and sanctifying our character. Frivolous men never come to any good. For a time, they seem to carry the day with them, but because there is no deepness of earth they soon wither away. The truly religious life is a life or awe, solemnity, holy self-restraint, and almost apprehension that at any moment God may break forth in flame and consume the imperfect worshipper. These terms of course have their adaptation to particular experiences, and must not be forced upon men as if they were of general and uniform application. Each man knows what is his own particular case; let him turn his anxiety into a daily prayer.

Being afraid of the Lord that day, David could not complete his purpose:—

"So David would not remove the ark of the Lord unto him into the city of David: but David carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. And the ark of the Lord continued in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months: and the Lord blessed Obed-edom, and all his household" ( 2 Samuel 6:10-11).

David having heard that the time of fear had passed and the time of blessing returned, came to complete his original intention:—

"And it was told king David, saying, The Lord hath blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the city of David with gladness" ( 2 Samuel 6:12).

Now we read in the thirteenth verse a singular expression:—"And it was 2 Samuel 6:14). Here was religious enthusiasm. Without enthusiasm, what is religion? Until we feel the passion of love we do not enter really into the spirit of Christ. We cannot hold down our emotions, and keep back our heart like a prisoner, in some high seasons of spiritual delight. Why should not congregations exclaim when they are moved by the spirit with great emotions of gratitude and delight? Is there anything undignified in the grand Amen of a thousand hearts uttered in one solemn exclamation? We must not kill enthusiasm, nor discourage enthusiasm, but cultivate it, direct it, and turn it into a great motive power, by which we shall do more work, and do it with increasing and ever-multiplying gladness.

But one saw David's enthusiasm:—

"Michal, Saul's daughter looked through a window, and saw king David leaping and dancing before the Lord; and she despised him in her heart" ( 2 Samuel 6:16).

There are unsympathetic observers. We must take our life from one of two sources as to its key and purpose: either from those who are cold, selfish, worldly, and incapable of enthusiasm; or from those who are spiritual, loving, ardent of nature, and who keep back nothing which it lies within their power to bestow, that God may be honoured. Now by which of these powers shall we be governed—by the enthusiastic David, or by the contemptuous Michal? Why this despising of glad king David? The explanation is given in the same verse: "Michal, Saul's daughter." In very deed a daughter of Saul! Some people are damned by their parentage! How far they are to be blamed, who can say? Michal brought this curse with her into the world. To be part of the progeny known for coldness, selfishness, vanity; to be the children of men who never prayed; to be burdened with the name of men who never knew the cross;—surely God will be pitiful to such! He will remember them in their generation as well as in their individuality. The omniscient is judge: let us therefore be glad. God knows through what processes we have passed—how we have been limited, and overweighted, and held back, and perverted; how evil influences have risen up within us of which we could give no rational account: but he who keeps record of the generations, and follows a man down through the ages, knows what black lines gather themselves up in him; and God will be pitiful to the burden-bearer, sweetly merciful to those who, longing to cast off the burden, seem to be unable to do more than reveal their weakness.

The ark having been brought in, the twenty-fourth Psalm was sung. It is something to have the very ode before us which was sung at the time of the entrance of the ark into the metropolis. How nobly that Psalm ends!—"Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in." Then the inquiry: "Who is this King of glory?" Then the great thunder answer: "The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle." Then: "Who is this king of glory?" And the great triumphant shout: "The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory." There is no ark now to bring in, but there is a topstone to be brought on. Jesus Christ is building his tabernacle, or his temple, his church, watching the building rise stone by stone, and the topstone shall be brought on with shoutings of "grace, grace unto it." In that glad hour, the coldest man will become hot; and he who has never known the passion of enthusiasm will be caught in the very agony of religious thankfulness.

Selected Note

"Michal... saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord" ( 2 Samuel 6:16).—The Exodus 15:20; 1 Samuel 18:6), and who, in the case of religious observances, composed the regular chorus of the temple ( Psalm 149:3; Psalm 150:4), although there are not wanting instances of men also joining in the dance on these seasons of religious festivity. Thus David deemed it no way derogatory to his royal dignity to dance on the auspicious occasion of the ark being brought into Jerusalem. The word used to describe his attitude is ‏כרכר‎, in the reduplicate form, intimating violent efforts of leaping; and from the apparent impropriety and indecency of a man advanced in life, above all a king, exhibiting such freaks, with no other covering than a linen ephod, many learned men have declared themselves at a loss to account for so strange a spectacle. It was, unquestionably, done as an act of religious homage; and when it is remembered that the ancient Asiatics were accustomed, in many of their religious festivals, to throw off their garments even to perfect nudity, as a symbol sometimes of penitence, sometimes of joy, and that this, together with many other observances that bear the stamp of a remote antiquity, was adopted by Mahomet, who has enjoined the pilgrims of Mecca to encompass the Kaaba, clothed only with the ihram, we may perhaps consider the linen ephod, which David put on when he threw off his garments and danced before the ark, to be symbolic of the same object as the ihram of the Mahommedans. The conduct of David was imitated by the later Jews, and the dance incorporated among their favourite usages as an appropriate close of the joyous occasion of the Feast of Tabernacles.

The Jewish dance was performed by the sexes separately. There is no evidence from sacred history that the diversion was promiscuously enjoyed, except it might be at the erection of the deified calf, when, in imitation of the Egyptian festival of Apis, all classes of the Hebrews intermingled in the frantic revelry. In the sacred dances, although both sexes seem to have frequently borne a part in the procession or chorus, they remained in distinct and separate companies ( Psalm 68:25; Jeremiah 31:13).

Prayer

Almighty God, it is not in man that liveth to direct his way. There is no way in the darkness. Thou hast made the darkness a prison: we know not its size, we cannot tell how long it will endure; it is a burden, and we sink under it; it is a mystery, and we have to answer to it. We would acknowledge God, that in all our paths we may be directed. We would not go out alone; we would never move but under God's inspiration. We do not want to consult ourselves now, for we have seen our own folly in countless cases; we want no counsellor but God. Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? Make the light, show the work, give me the strength, and work in me a spirit of loving obedience,—that is all we want; it seems so little, yet it is so much—yea, it is all grace, the very perfectness of Christian culture. Help us, then, to say, if not always clearly and firmly, yet with great meaning, Not my will, but thine be done. That is the last sentence thou dost teach in thy school. We cannot say it as we would like to say it; our heart keeps something back; we will not yet deny ourselves: we will have a self-loving existence; we insist upon it that consciousness alone makes heaven: we will not leave all things absolutely in God's hands. Yet we pray that we may be able to do this some day—day of miracle, day of heaven! Then death shall have no pain for us, the cross will have no agony we cannot bear, and heaven will be round about us. We pray thee to direct us in every step. As thou hast numbered the hairs of our head, and as thou hast known our thought afar off, so let our uprising be a religious 2 Samuel 6:5.

Variety of worship is an idea suggested by this circumstance.—All the instruments differed one from the other, but the subject of the holy song was the same: all the music spoke the same eloquence and adored the same Lord.—The instruments were made of fir wood; they were harps, psalteries, timbrels, cornets and cymbals; and all these various instruments concurred in one lofty and thrilling tribute of praise.—What applies to instruments applies to faculties and to attributes of every kind offered upon the altar of religion to the glory and honour of God. One man has a harp, another has a timbrel, another a cornet, and another clashes the cymbals to express his religious emotion and aspiration: one man is eloquent, another liberal, another sympathetic, another wise in counsel, another tender in prayer, another powerful in argument; all these are required to make up the great ministry of the cross.—The ministry is not fully represented in any one man; it is only represented in the sum total of its members.—The harp must not be silent because the psaltery is not played, or the cornet, or the cymbals.—If the harp cannot have company, it must offer its own tribute; even if the cymbals have to be heard alone they must not be ashamed of their offering.—Better indeed that all the instruments should concur in one sacred offering of praise, but if any instrument persist in keeping silence, the silent instrument must not deter others from doing what they can to extend the kingdom and multiply the praise of God.—The greatest mistake which the Church can make is to turn monotony into an idol.—This is a practical danger.—How much like one another are ministers of the Gospel! Who can tell one clergyman from another?—What a disposition there is to formulate all worship, to give it iron shape and inflexible direction.—Where is individuality? where is spontaneity? Where is enthusiasm?—Because the harp is not a cymbal, is it therefore not an instrument of music?—Because the timbrel differs from the cornet, is it therefore unworthy to express the praise of Almighty God?—Some men are learned, dry, tedious, and to popular criticism they present the aspect of nuisances; but they are really doing a very necessary and effective work in the Church, in guarding many approaches to the citadel against the attacks of men who are cultivated, subtle, and desperate in their hostility.—Other men are popular because they are eloquent, effective, almost ostentatious in service, and they are apt to be sneered at by those who are labouring in secret, toiling over difficult passages of history, and searching into the meaning of recondite terms and usages.—All this is worse than useless; it is most mischievous, it is divisive, it is enfeebling, it is disheartening.—The complete idea of praise is that which brings within its range all manner of men, all manner of instruments, and all manner of methods.—As the Church grows in wisdom and in love it will grow in inclusiveness of recognition and sympathy.

"Handfuls of Purpose"

For All Gleaners

"David returned to bless his household."— 2 Samuel 6:20.

David had been bringing up the ark from Kirjath-jearim; the ark had rested in the house of Obed-edom; David brought the ark into Zion with sacrifices, and he danced before it, and he placed it in the tabernacle with great joy and feasting,—"As soon as David had made an end of offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts."—The history says, "All the people departed every one to his own house;" and then it adds, "David returned to bless his household."—Public worship does not obviate the necessity of private worship.—There should be a church in every house.—Every hearthstone should have its sacred altar; the clear way from every window in the house should be a path ending only in heaven.—What avail is it that a man has served the public if he has neglected his own family? Of what advantage is it that a man has been most eloquent to others, and most silent to those of his own household? Pitiful indeed is the life of the man who is most popular with those who know him least, and who is but scantily welcomed by those who live with him in common family relations. There is indeed an exception to this household enthusiasm in the instance given in this chapter; for Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and reproached him, being out of sympathy with his religious enthusiasm.—Michal was to blame, not David.—David said, "It was before the Lord, which chose me before thy father, and before all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord, over Israel; therefore will I play before the Lord."—Where a man has unfortunately married a wife who is not in sympathy with him, he must not cast all the responsibility upon other people; he fashioned the sword with which he is pierced; he kindled the fire which leaps upon him like an avenging flame.—The lesson is that men ought not to enter into relationships that axe not deeply sympathetic; if there is any disparity as to religious conviction and religious enthusiasm, it will tell in the long run upon family peace.—At first when passion burns and love has taken leave of reason there may be an apparent smoothness in all the outlying way; but when reason begins to assume its function, and life settles down into its ordinary levels, and the daily wear and tear of business is felt, then it will be seen that there is no true union that does not begin in religious identity of sympathy and purpose.—Where the house is divided upon religion it is divided fatally; no compromise can create an enduring truce: a profound mistake was made at the beginning, and it will exert its disastrous influence until the dissolution of the unhappy bond.