And David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. 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. And David was angry because the Lord had broken out against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzzah to this day. And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” So David was not willing to take the ark of the Lord into the city of David. But David took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. And the ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months, and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household. And 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.” So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom to the city of David with rejoicing. And when those who bore the ark of the Lord had gone six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal. And David danced before the Lord with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod. So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the horn. (2 Samuel 6:5-15, ESV)
Here in this passage a man is truck down dead by God for his reaching out his hand to touch the Ark of the Covenant because the oxen stumbled and he obviously did not want the Ark to fall to the ground, but… Uzzah should still not have touched the Ark of the Covenant…
But even more in this passage we have David who has to deal with the death of one of his men, and come to an understanding why the Ark has come to him. And when he figures this our he dances in the streets…
Our text says he was wearing a linen ephod. There are mixed reviews on what this was or meant. Some say that David was exposing himself in ways he should not have. Others say as in 1 Chronicles 15:27 that David was wearing a robe as all of those carrying the Ark and he was also wearing a ephod… So was he indecent and dancing in the streets naked?
I like the picture above’s depiction of the event… David was so moved with joy that he was moved to dance in the streets in his underwear… Have you ever been so moved with joy that you would dance in the street in your underwear?
God has done great things for you and David realized that. What is keeping us from expressing that joy the way David did?
aSacredRebel 