David’s Love for the Lord, 2 Samuel 6

P.  Dixon          6/11/10

The first and greatest of all the commandments is cited by our Lord as, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”  Jesus was the only person who ever did so perfectly.  Yet, it is the goal of every believer who can be assured that one day in glory this will be fulfilled for him.  In the meanwhile, we ask the Lord in prayer to increase our faith and love.  In the Old Testament David was a man who had a heart of love and devotion for his Lord.  After God rejected Saul from being king, because Saul had rejected the word of the Lord, the Bible says God sought a man to replace Saul, a man who had a heart for God.  David was that man.  In this chapter we will see David’s love for the Lord manifested in three specific ways.

A.       David’s love for the Lord issued in his desire to be with the Lord.

1 David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. ²And David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale-judah  to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the name of the LORD of hosts  who sits enthroned on the cherubim.

When we love someone we want to be with him.  Some grandparents drive a thousand miles to be with their grandchildren.  David’s love for the Lord translated into his wanting to bring the ark of God to Jerusalem, so he could be with the Lord.

After being anointed by Samuel to be the next king, David had waited a long time to see that fulfilled.  When Saul died, David became king in Hebron and reigned over a portion of the nation.  It took seven and a half years of civil war conflict before he was installed as king and began to reign over a united Israel.  His taking of Jerusalem was critical as it became the capital city of the nation.  But, Jerusalem was not only to be the political capital of a united Israel, it was to be the religious center, as well.

But, what was the significance of the ark of God, and why did David seek to bring it to Jerusalem?  It was called both the ark of the covenant and the ark of God.  In it were deposited two tablets of stone, upon which were written the Ten Commandments, the terms of God’s covenant with Israel, the commandments  being God’s testimony respecting his own holiness and the people’s sin.  The ark of the covenant was the place where God chose to reside among his people.  According to Exod. 25:22 it was at the ark that God would meet with them and speak to them from above the mercy seat between the two cherubim.  And, when the people danced before the ark in verse 5 it was before the Lord.  So, the ark represented the glorious and gracious presence of the Lord.  In the days of old the ark of the covenant would be carried by the Levites ahead of and leading Israel in its movements through the wilderness.  It was placed in the holy of holies in the tabernacle, then later in the temple itself.  In some ways it was kind of like a security blanket for the Israelites.  When going into battle they would often seek to have it brought to them to insure the Lord’s presence and victory. 

In the reading of 1 Sam. 4:1-9 this morning we saw that when the Israelites were defeated by the Philistines at Ebenenzer they asked why God had defeated them there that day.  So, they brought the ark of the Lord from Shiloh to insure victory.  The very presence of the ark in the camp of Israel greatly encouraged the Israelites and simultaneously discouraged the Philistines.  Nevertheless, the Philistines subsequently defeated the Israelites and captured the ark.  This surely must have nonplussed the Israelites even more.  The point here is that people can abuse the things of God.  An outward affection for physical things associated with God is not what counts; rather, it is the heart of love and devotion to the Lord that matters.  Likewise, carrying a cross into battle today is no guarantee that one will be spared from defeat or death. 

David loved the Lord deeply and that love was reflected in his desire to bring the ark to where he was, so that he would be with the Lord.  How does this principle work for us today?  The Lord has said that where two or three are gathered in his name, that “there am I among them” (Mt. 18:20).  That is a precious truth assuring us that when we gather for worship the Lord is amongst his people.  He is here today.  If we love the Lord, we will desire to be with him and with his people in worship on the Lord’s Day.  In the presence of the Lord is the fullness of joy.  That is why Paul the Apostle could say, “for me to live is Christ, and to die is gain,”  that if he had his way he would rather die and go home to be with the love, which is by far very much better than staying here on the earth.  Yet, he knew his time was not up and that God had reasons for keeping him here, for the good of the saints and for God’s glory.

3 And they carried the ark of God^(E) on a new cart and brought it^(F) out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart, ⁴with the ark of God, and Ahio went before the ark.

Apparently they used a ritually clean cart, as the Philistines had done when they carried off the ark.  But, this is not how God had prescribed how the ark was to be transported.  Exodus 25:14-15 says,  ¹⁴And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark by them. ¹⁵The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it.  So, they are in trouble already by disobeying the command of the Lord regarding how the ark should be transported.  But, this was only the beginning of their problems.

 ⁵And David and all the house of Israel were making merry before the LORD, with^(G) songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals.

So, David’s desire to be in the presence of the Lord was a joyful desire.  It caused him and all Israel to rejoice greatly when they saw the ark coming to Jerusalem.

B.     David’s love for the Lord issued in a holy fear of disobedience.

Tim Townsend of the St. Louis Dispatch newspaper recently wrote about what Pastor Chan said regarding the fear of God.  Chan is the pastor of Cornerstone Community Church, a 4,000-member congregation in Simi Valley, Calif.  He was recently in St. Louis to address attendees of the International Christian Retail Show, which brought 7,000 people to the America's Center this week.  Chan said, "Pastors sell people on God …  to sell God to them, we have to sell them on the parts of God they'll like. It's like selling vacuum cleaners — you focus on the features people will like. We don't often talk about the parts of God people wouldn't like …. If people were to read the Bible for themselves, rather than listen to pastors who take verses out of context, they would realize there's a reason to fear the Lord … If God were to speak audibly today, he'd say, 'These people do not fear me.'"  He adds, “Fearing God is an ancient theme, and often thought to be the exclusive domain of the Hebrew Bible, or Old Testament. But the New Testament is not all about grace, forgiveness and love.”  He points to a verse in the Gospel of Matthew in which Jesus depicts God as violent and vengeful. "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul," Jesus says, "rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell."

 ⁶And when they came to the threshing floor of^(H) Nacon, Uzzah^(I) put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. ⁷And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and^(J) God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God.

It is a terrible thing to incur God’s anger.  But, why was God angry against Uzzah?  After all it seems like Uzzah only tried to keep the ark from falling to the ground.  What was wrong with that?   So, why did God put him to death?

The death of Uzzah resembles the outbreak of 1 Sam. 6:19-21,  ^19(A) And he struck some of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they looked upon the ark of the LORD. He struck seventy men of them, and the people mourned because the LORD had struck the people with a great blow. ²⁰Then the men of Beth-shemesh said,^(B) "Who is able to stand before the LORD, this holy God? And to whom shall he go up away from us?" ²¹So they sent messengers to the inhabitants of^(C) Kiriath-jearim, saying, "The Philistines have returned the ark of the LORD. Come down and take it up to you."  In this passage the Lord killed seventy men for merely looking on the ark, resulting in a holy fear of God.

But not only was it forbidden to look upon the ark, it was also strictly forbidden to touch it. In the instructions given regarding the transporting of the ark God says in Num. 4:15, ¹⁵And when Aaron and his sons have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, as the camp sets out, after that^(A) the sons of Kohath shall come to carry these,^(B) but they must not touch the holy things, lest they die.

The holiness of God is one thing that can rightly said to be awesome.  God is holy and the things of God are holy.  In fact, his glorious holiness is so awesome that no flesh can look upon it and live.  Moses desired to see God, but he was not allowed to.  God told him to get in the cleft of the rock and when God walked by He would his hand up to cover Moses, and Moses was allowed to see his backside only.

When Isaiah was shown the vision of the Lord in Isa. 6 the prophet says, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. ²Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. ³And one called to another and said:

   "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!"

 ⁴And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. ⁵And I said: "Woe is me!  For I am lost;  for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!"

The beloved John said, No one has ever seen God.  The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has revealed Him.  That God would reveal Himself to us in the person of His Son is indeed a marvelous demonstration of His love and grace.

8  And David was angry because the LORD had burst forth against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzzah, to this day.

What makes you angry?   There is a righteous anger and an unrighteous anger.  The Bible says, “be angry and sin not; do not let the sun go down upon your wrath and so give place to the devil” (Eph. 4).  Well, David got angry here.  He got angry, because the Lord had burst forth His anger against Uzzah in putting him to death while Uzzah was only trying to do a good thing  - to keep the ark of God from falling to the ground.   There is a sober lesson here.  What Uzzah did was wrong, even though his motives were good.  It was a violation of God’s law regarding touching the ark of the covenant.  God had given specific instructions against touching it, with death being the penalty for doing so, as we saw in Numbers 4.  Uzzah should have been taught this and known it, but even if he did not know it, ignorance is no excuse.  The things of God are holy and sacred and must be treated as such. 

The place was then named in memory of what had happened, Perez-uzzah, literally: Outburst against Uzzah.  Thereafter the name of that place reminded everyone of the time God’s righteous anger burst out against the sin of Uzzah.   As Jonathan Edwards said:  ‘it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of an angry God.’  There are plenty of times in scripture where we see God’s outburst of anger kindled against people who disregarded His law.   There was Korah’s rebellion when certain dissident men rose up against Moses and complained.  God’s outburst of anger was manifested in the ground opening up and swallowing them alive.  That could be called Perez-Korah.  There was the constant bickering and complaining of the first generation of Israel in the wilderness.  God’s outburst of righteous anger issued in their perishing in the wilderness.  That could have been called, Perez-first generation.  In the New Testament there were husband and wife team Ananias and Sapphira who were put to death for lying to the Holy Spirit.   Perez-Ananias and Sapphira.  Then there were the Corinthians who got sick and some died, because they partook of the Lord’s Table in an unworthy manner.  Perez-Corinth.

9   And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and he said, "How can the ark of the LORD come to me?" ¹⁰So David was not willing to take the ark of the LORD into the city of David. But David took it aside^(K) to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. ¹¹And the ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months,^(L) and the LORD blessed Obed-edom and all his household.

But, what did David learn from this?  The text says David was afraid of the Lord that day.  David feared the Lord in a fresh way, because of what had happened.  His initial reaction had been anger, anger over an apparent injustice.  There is nothing wrong with getting angry over injustice.  But, where one goes with this is critical.  Some get angry over injustices, or perceived injustices, and that anger simmers and leads to bitterness.  The untimely death of a loved one causes some people to turn away from God altogether.  That is the wrong response.  David’s anger resulted in his fearing God.  What brought that response about?  Undoubtedly, he remembered the law of God that had been violated resulting in the just punishment. 

C.  David’s love for the Lord issued in joyful praise and worship.

 ¹²And it was told King David, "The LORD has blessed the household of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God."^(M) So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom^(N) to the city of David with rejoicing. ¹³And when^(O) those who bore the ark of the LORD had gone six steps,^(P) he sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal. ¹⁴And David^(Q) danced before the LORD with all his might. And David was^(R) wearing a linen ephod. ¹⁵So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting and with the sound of the horn.

Here we get a glimpse of David’s deep love for the Lord issuing in joyful praise and worship when he sees the ark being brought to Jerusalem.  If fact, they had gone only six steps when David could contain no longer.  He breaks out into worship by sacrificing an ox and a fattened animal.  He then danced before the Lord with all his might wearing only a linen ephod.  But, not only David but all the house of Israel were shouting and sounding the horn.  We know what its like when the Cardinals win the World Series.  Think about all the shouting, hooping, hollering and dancing that goes on then.  Well, that pales in comparison to the celebration of David and his men, as the ark is brought to Jerusalem. 

I like this picture because it shows how deeply David felt about God.  The text says he danced with “all his might.”  Do we sing with all our might praises to God, or is our singing soft and quiet, so as not to wake anybody up? 

We are not a charismatic church, but how would you feel if somebody came to our worship service and expressed his or her love for God in such a way?  Would it offend us, make us feel uncomfortable?  Paul says these words to the Thessalonian church, Do not quench the Spirit.  Do not despise prophesies (1 Thess. 5:19-20).  This was said, because in those days there were certain gifts of the spirit given for the infancy period of the church, while the scripture were being completed.  They were  legitimate gifts, but some who did not have those gifts looked down on those who did and practiced them.  The point is simply we must realize we are not all the same and some have different ways of expressing their love for the Lord in worship and we must we very careful not to get in the way.  But, on the other hand, as Paul hastens to add, we should test everything.

But, even in David’s day there were some who despised such spontanteous outbursts of love and worship for God.  David’s wife, Michal, was one of those.  Let’s see what see did and what happened to her for it.

David and Michal

 ¹⁶As the ark of the LORD came into the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looked out of the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, and she despised him in her heart. ¹⁷And they brought in the ark of the LORD and set it in its place, inside the tent that David had pitched for it.  And David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD. ¹⁸And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offering the blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts ¹⁹and distributed among all the people, the whole multitude of Israel, both men and women, a cake of bread, a portion of meat, and a cake of raisins to each one.  Then all the people departed, each to his house.

 ²⁰And David returned to bless his household. But Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David and said, "How the king of Israel honored himself today,^(W) uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants’ female servants, as one of the^(X) vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself.

It is safe to say David loved God more than he loved his wife, and that is what every husband is called to do, according to the words of Christ in Lk. 14.  Michal’s attitude toward David, however, is terrible.  Where is the respect due her husband?  Rather, she compares him to the vulgar fellows who shamelessly uncover themselves.  But, it is David’s response that is instructive.   ²¹And David said to Michal, "It was before the LORD,^(Y) who chose me above your father and above all his house, to appoint me as prince over Israel, the people of the LORD—and I will make merry before the LORD. ²²I will make myself yet more contemptible than this, and I will be abased in your eyes. But by the female servants of whom you have spoken, by them I shall be held in honor." ²³ 

But, look at what happened to Michal, because of her disdain and respect for her husband.    And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.

In conclusion, David’s love for the Lord was manifested in his desire to be with the Lord, in his fear of disobeying the Lord, and in his joyful praise and worship.  May God enable us to love the Lord our God with such sincerity.  Amen.