Sermon for Sunday Evening, December 7th, 2025 at First Presbyterian Church at Unionville, NY (BPC)
Sermon Text:
[2 Samuel 6:1-23 ESV] 1 David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. 2 And 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. 3 And they carried the ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart, 4 with the ark of God, and Ahio went before the ark. 5 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. 6 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. 7 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. 8 And David was angry because the LORD had broken out against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzzah to this day. 9 And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and he said, “How can the ark of the LORD come to me?” 10 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. 11 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. 12 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. 13 And when those who bore the ark of the LORD had gone six steps, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened animal. 14 And David danced before the LORD with all his might. And David was wearing a linen ephod. 15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting and with the sound of the horn. 16 As 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. 17 And 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. 18 And when David had finished offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts 19 and 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. 20 And 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, uncovering himself today before the eyes of his servants’ female servants, as one of the vulgar fellows shamelessly uncovers himself!” 21 And David said to Michal, “It was before the LORD, 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 celebrate before the LORD. 22 I 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 And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.
Introduction
I’ve title this sermon “Ark Encounters.”
You might know that the recreation of Noah’s Ark in Kentucky is called “The Ark Encounter.” But we’re not looking at Noah’s Ark today, rather the return of the Ark of the Covenant. There is no Indiana Jones in our passage, but there is the great King David.
And in this chapter we’ll see some encounters with the Ark, showing different attitudes towards the Lord.
I. Disrespect (v. 3-10)
The first attitude is that of disrespect. That is the story of Uzzah.
Uzzah is the man whom God STRUCK DOWN AND KILLED!
Whether the Ark fell and crushed him, or some lighting bolt from the Lord struck him, he fell dead upon the spot.
And the reaction we sometimes have to this is “WHAT DID HE DO WRONG?”
And that reaction is sinful (because who are we to question God), and/or the reaction is one of ignorance because “we know not the law.”
The Law of God had detailed proscriptions for how the Ark of the Covenant was to be handled.
a. A cart rather than poles
Do you remember how the Ark of the Covenant was supposed to be carried?
[Exodus 25:12-15 ESV] 12 You shall cast four rings of gold for it and put them on its four feet, two rings on the one side of it, and two rings on the other side of it. 13 You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. 14 And you shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark to carry the ark by them. 15 The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be taken from it.
And now, what was Uzzah and Abio, the sons of Abinadab doing? They were moving the Ark of the Covenant IN A CART!
It is too heavy to carry! So we’ll put it in a cart.
That is lazy and disrespectful.
b. Uzzah not a priest
Then, Uzzah was not a priest, but a Levite.
Only the priests, in fact only the sons of Kohath (Numbers 4:15) were to carry the Ark.
And Uzzah was not a son of Kohath.
So he’s breaking another commandment of God.
In fact, God makes it extra clear. Not only does he say that those who are to carry the Ark are to be “sons of Kohath,” but He explicitly says NO to the Levites.
Numbers 18:3 – “[The sons of Levi] they shall keep guard over you and over the whole text, but shall not come near to the vessels of the sanctuary or to the altar lest they, and you, die.”
Even the punishment is clearly laid out. “Lest they die.”
c. Standing too close to the Ark.
Another element of disrespect of God and His Ark is that Uzzah stands too close to it.
The ark is a symbol of the presence of very Living God. And it is not to be touched by any sinful man. In fact, it would be better for it to fall to the dirt of the ground than to be touched by the sinfully dirty hands of man.
But Uzzah, with presumption, stands near the Ark and “put his hand to the Ark and took hold of it” when the Oxen stumbled.
His was a disrespect of God, and the punishment was just.
So too are the punishments just in the case of Nadab and Abihu whom God put to death for offering a strange fire, and in the case of Ananias and Sapphire who held back their giving to the church.
God was just in these cases, and He is just in ever case, because He is the Lord. He is the ruler, and justice is defined by Him, and His very nature is justice.
So we ought not to think “poor Uzzah.”
Nor ought we to disrespect the Lord.
Rather, this case reminds us of the HOLINESS OF GOD. So holy is He that touching even the symbol of His presence is fraught with danger and is liable to bring death.
Not that was a bad “Ark Encounter.”
The next Ark Encounter —that of David — has a better response. That of Joy. Well, it looks something like this Joy – Fear – Joy.
II. Joy (v. 1-2, 11-15, 17-19)
The first joy is the return of the Ark.
After nearly fifty years in the house of Abinadab, the Ark is now to be moved to Jerusalem, in its rightly place in the center of Israel’s place of worship.
The Ark has almost been forgotten about. It has not been mentioned for many chapters in the combined 1 Samuel – 2 Samuel narrative. But now David is bringing it back.
Clearly that is a great joy to him and for the nation. So he gathers 30,000 chosen men of Israel to bring the Ark “up” to Jerusalem.
But after the Uzzah episode, David is in great fear of the Lord. And because of that fear he even arrests his plan to move the Ark to Jerusalem and instead has it put in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. What can be said about this but that this man, Obed Edom the Gittite, is not at Israelite! The Ark of the Covenant was entrusted to the Jews, and now it is going to the house of a Gittite?
God then resumes David’s efforts by blessing the house of Obed-Edom so much that David’s heart is turned back to joy, and he continues and completes the effort to move the Ark to Jerusalem.
In this resumed or second attempt of David to bring the Ark to Jerusalem, he corrected the error of Uzzah, and puts the Ark not in a cart, but has it carried on the shoulder. (Presumably with poles and by Sons of Kohath)
Then, in that joy, David dances. If there are any Fundamentalist Baptists, I bid you read verse 14: “And David danced before the LORD with all his might.”
So joyful was David that he broke out in dancing. Probably not break dancing, but dancing nevertheless.
The dancing is the most notable response of David in his joy. But there is also not of his “rejoicing,” of sacrificing an ox and a fattened animal, of putting on a linen ephod [that priestly garment], and shouting with the sound of the horn. These are all things done in ELATION. David is ELATED. He is so joyful that he is ELATED.
That’s the response we ought to have to the grace of God, and what He has done for us.
That CAN BE your attitude. When you look at God, and see salvation in Christ, BE ELATED.
And in this attitude, David is praising God, not bringing attention to himself. David is doing a good thing.
Now, it doesn’t say that David was naked as Michal later claims. Rather it says he was wearing a linen ephod. Its not clear to me if Michal is just making a false accusation or if perhaps she is saying “this is not the conduct of a King, as I think it should be, having been in the House of Saul. It is as if you are a naked. It is a shameful thing.” She’s wrong on this, but that is her accusation.
III. Contempt (v. 16, 20-23)
There is then a third “Ark Encounter” in our text. A third attitude towards God and all things of God. And that is exemplified by Michael, a wife of David.
Her attitude is Contempt. “She DESPISED him [David] in her heart.”
Why did she despise David?
It was not for something BAD that David did, but rather for something GOOD.
Michael despise David because of his joy in the Lord.
Michal, we see, THREE times HERE is called “Michal, the daughter of Saul.” She, Michal, despite being a wife of David, still had desires for “the House of Saul.” And Saul would never be joyful unto the Lord, nor dance because of the Ark’s return.
Michal was not a helper but a hinderer.
She was filled with contempt and spite.
She remained a daughter of Saul. (repetition). .
She was of another heart, and another spirit from David.
She was, as in Psalm 1, “Sitting in the seat of the scornful.”
Her heart had not left her father’s house.
But when comes to Christ, we are called to leave the old house. Jesus even says to “let the dead bury their dead.” We are to entirely 100% follow Christ, not looking back like Lot’s wife or like Michael.
David wasn’t great in his response either.
21 And David said to Michal, “It was before the LORD, 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 celebrate before the LORD. 22 I 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.”
There’s some marriage advice in this exchange, if we take it as a negative example.
The wife is the support the husbands decision, way of life, and leadership.
The husband – while David here is telling the truth that his BELIEVING life will cause her to hate him more, maybe husband probably could find a more gentle response!
We can say they were “unequally yoked.” Their marriage was in shambles before they had no unity in the Lord.
But this is not primarily a passage about marriage.
It is about the life of every Christian.
The main point is “Don’t look back.”
Don’t look to the things of the world, desiring them, but have joy in the Lord.
In the end it says:
23 And Michal the daughter of Saul had no child to the day of her death.
Did God judge Michal? Well, the text doesn’t say that. There are other possibilities here. As Derek Thomas said in his sermon on this passage, it is possible that “They [David and Michal] didn’t have children because David and Michal has no rapport.”
So what are we to learn from this text:
Application: Rejoice in the Lord
Application: Rejoice in the Lord even through opposition.
And, we are not only to have joy in the Lord, but to have joy in the Lord EVEN THROUGH ridicule. So what if someone else doesn’t like the fact that you worship the Lord. You are to go on anyways.
How does David handle the ridicule? He doubles down on the truth of God. He’s not going to stop rejoicing.
Application: Avoid the Sin of Contempt
There is first the sin of Uzzah who disrespected the Lord. Obviously we shouldn’t have that sin either.
But it is a less common sin in Michal that is so instructive in this text. We seen that she is overly critical, spiteful, not glad for David’s joy in the Lord.
We ought to say to her, and those like her, “don’t rain on other’s parades.” Especially don’t try to snuff out their joy in the Lord. First off, that’s evil. But secondly, IT ISN’T GOING TO WORK. You can’t stop a Christian from being joyful in the Lord. That is our natural response in our renewed nature. The Lord has been so good to us, we ought to have joy in him through all challenges.
Conclusion:
So let us have joy in the Lord. Unstoppable joy.
Let us pray.