The Life and Times of

Introduction

My wife and I were privileged to participate in the marriage of our daughter Jenny recently. As the time for the wedding drew near and things became a little intense, someone passed a book along to my wife with the suggestion that we read a particular chapter. I do not remember the title of the book, but I do remember the essence of the chapter. It was written by a minister, who told of the most memorable wedding ceremony he had ever conducted.

The bride-to-be was a young woman whose mother was, to say the least, obsessive-compulsive. She wanted the wedding to be just perfect, and so she owned the entire ceremony. She planned the ceremony down to the last detail, and then checked and rechecked to make sure nothing had been overlooked. Of course, there had to be an orchestra. The dress was breathtaking. The church was an architectural wonder. The flowers, the ceremony, the cake and refreshments were all arranged under the watchful eye of the mother of the bride. This mother virtually harassed every person who had a part in the ceremony. The rehearsal was flawless, assuring the mother of the bride that everything was under control -- her control.

Then came the fateful day and the actual ceremony -- with its unplanned events. As the moment for her entrance approached, the bride nervously waited with her father in the reception room. Pacing around the tables, she picked at the nuts, then the punch (which was spiked with champagne), then a little appetizer. . . . When the moment came for her to walk down the aisle with her father, she had visited each table and sampled its contents several times. She hardly thought of what she was doing, and neither did her father. Then came the processional. All groomsmen were in place. The groom stood in the front of the church, alongside the minister, awaiting his bride. The bridesmaids gracefully made their way down the aisle and took their places. Now was the bride's finest hour.

As the bride and her father proceeded down the aisle to the front of the church, no one seemed to notice her flushed face, nearly matching the color of her wedding gown. Just as she reached the front, as her mother watched in her seat to her left, all of the food she had eaten chose to depart -- the bride vomited. I do not mean a polite little heave, hardly noticed when coughed into a handkerchief. I mean a complete emptying of the insides; the bride completely hosed down everyone and everything anywhere near her at the front of the sanctuary. The mother of the bride was the first to be baptized, followed by the groom and the nearest bridesmaids. The stench was immediate and gut wrenching. It was obvious that a chain reaction might be imminent. The bride's mother was horrified. The bride fainted, but was caught nicely by her groom. The father was able to avoid the line of fire and stepped out of the way, with a faint smile on his face, slightly amused by the humor -- and the irony -- of it all.

Quickly, the pastor pronounced a brief recess. The bride was cleaned up, along with the mess at the front of the church. Those who had been hosed down by the bride regained some semblance of cleanliness and dignity. In a short while, the wedding resumed, and the deed was done -- without the pomp and circumstance the mother of the bride had in mind. Ten years later, they all laughed as they watched a replay of these events, captured more than adequately by the three video cameras the mother of the bride had carefully arranged, each capturing the event from a slightly different angle in grim detail.

Some days, no matter how carefully we plan and orchestrate events, things just have a way of going wrong. This is the way it happened with King David. After David captured the city of Jebus, he had it in his heart to retrieve the ark of the covenant (here called the “ark of God”), which had been kept privately in the home of Abinadab at Kiriath-jearim.² David carefully consulted the leaders of the nation, so that this was an action taken by the whole nation:

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 (1 Chronicles 13:1-5).³

As in the wedding story, all the details of transporting the ark to Jerusalem had been thought through and the necessary preparations made. A new cart was acquired to carry the ark some six miles or so east and a little south to Jerusalem. This journey involved some changes in elevation since Kiriath-jearim was located in the hills, and so was Jerusalem, but in between there were lower lying areas, which meant some up and down hill maneuvers. There was great rejoicing as David and the Israelites brought the ark to Jerusalem. David and those with him celebrated with all their might (1 Chronicles 13:8; compare 2 Samuel 6:5). All sorts of musical instruments and singers participated in the celebration, and from the context, we can infer that there was enthusiastic dancing as well.

Suddenly something went wrong, and one of the oxen nearly upset the cart. We are not told exactly what happened. Perhaps the oxen stumbled, or they may have been startled by some enthusiastic gesture on the part of someone who ventured too close. In some way, the oxen momentarily got out of control, and this motion was transferred to the cart, causing the ark to be jolted in such a way that it appeared it would fall off the cart. The thought of the ark crashing to the ground was too much for Uzzah, walking along side the cart close to the ark. Instinctively, he reached out his hand and took hold of the ark to steady it. When he did, God struck him dead. The celebration came to a screeching halt. Joy turned to amazement and bewilderment. David's joy turned to anger, because God had “rained on his parade.” All of this was being done to honor God. Did God not understand? Why would He strike one dead who had helped for years to care for the ark? Why would God ruin such a wonderful occasion?

David wanted the ark of God there in Jerusalem, with him. Now that Uzzah had been struck dead, David was unwilling to continue, fearful of bringing the ark near him in Jerusalem. He decided it was safer to keep the ark at a safe distance, at least until he could figure out what had gone wrong. What was the problem? What went wrong? And what was the solution? Our text never actually tells us. It is almost like a riddle we are supposed to figure out for ourselves. The answer is in the Bible, as we shall see, and it has application to our lives today, just as it did for those long ago. There is yet another dimension to this story which we have not mentioned, and that is the story of Michal, who also “rains on David's parade.” From that too we have lessons to learn. Let us listen then and learn what the Spirit of God has for us in this text.