The mystery of David’s music deepens when we review that first parade (2 Samuel 6). King David is bringing the sacred ark to its new home, Jerusalem! Levites escort the ark on a new cart pulled by oxen. The Israelites celebrate with all their might. The air pulsates with shouts of praise and with powerful music. The ground shakes beneath dancing feet, with David in the lead.
David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the LORD, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. (2 Samuel 6:5)
Along the way, the oxen stumble at a threshing place. The cart tips alarmingly. The closest Levite, Uzzah, reaches up to steady the ark. The moment Uzzah touches the ark, God intervenes with deadly force.
And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God. (2 Samuel 6:7)
David reacts in shock, anger and fear. Fortunately, David’s fear leads him to learn more from God. David researches what God has revealed about the ark (just as you are researching God’s music). Concluding his study, David says,
“It was because you, the Levites, did not bring it up the first time that the LORD our God broke out in anger against us. We did not inquire of Him about how to do it in the prescribed way.” So the priests and Levites consecrated themselves in order to bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel. And the Levites carried the ark of God with the poles on their shoulders, as Moses had commanded in accordance with the word of the LORD. (1 Chronicles 15:13-15)
God makes an example of Uzzah to reinforce the truth that God must be obeyed “in the prescribed way”—that is, as God Himself specifies (1 Chronicles 15:13). David respects the authority of what God has revealed. So, he carefully complies “in accordance with the word of the LORD” (1 Chronicles 15:15). In David’s day, the law of Moses is still in effect. That law specifies Levites as carriers of the ark, and it shows them how to carry it. They must use long poles that rest on their shoulders.
Do you detect an important principle? The law itself says nothing against using carts and oxen. But God speaks as we do. If the boss says, “Do it this way,” he does not mean, “Do it that way.” Nor will he be pleased with any other way. Similarly, when God chooses one way to do a thing, He is displeased when we choose other ways. In that particular matter, God’s choice rules out other choices. The Levites break the law by making their own choice (the ox cart), and by touching a sacred object that should never be touched (Exodus 25:10-15; Numbers 4:5-6, 15; 7:4-9). This is Uzzah’s error for which he pays the death penalty.