The Ark of the Covenant sat upon a cart pulled by oxen. The oxen stumbled and one of the men accompanying the vehicle reached out to keep the Ark from falling. His name was Uzzah. That was a no-no. For God had said whoever touches it as it was being moved would die (Numbers 4: 15).

This was meant to instill and preserve a sense of God’s holy presence, along with a fear of approaching Him inappropriately. So when he touched the Ark, God’s anger struck out against Uzzah, killing him. Because Uzzah’s actions were meant to protect the Ark, the immediate question that comes to mind is why did God strike him down?

To begin with, instead of having Abinadab and his sons (Levites) bring the Ark to him, King David took secular men along with him to bring the Ark back to Jerusalem.

You see, God had given specific instructions as to how the Ark was to be moved. Only the Levites and the Kohathites (a family division of the Levites) were to move the Ark. And God instructed that the Ark be carried, not on a cart, but by poles upon their shoulders. (Exodus 25: 12-14; Numbers 7: 9).

So the whole setup by David was wrong. God’s instructions were ignored. His ways of doing things were put aside in favor of worldly reasoning. That’s a recipe – the rejection of God’s commands replaced with our own preferences – that will always lead to death.

What happened to Uzzah is a lesson for us. In fact, all that we read about in the Old Testament is meant to be an example for us today (1 Corinthians 10: 6-11). It may seem harsh that Uzzah was struck down, but at some point, God had to put His foot down in order for us to understand the seriousness of and reverence for His word. That’s no different, except by degree, than parents backing up their guidance with discipline and/or punishment when the child disobeys.

The most effective way to train a child in right ways is to do so early in a child’s development. And that’s what God did in the Old Testament. That period, from God’s point of view, was the early developmental stage of humanity’s growth.

God isn’t as harsh now as He was then because He’s made His point. Examples, like that of Uzzah’s, have been given to show us how the Lord feels about our insistence on breaking His commands.

Though Uzzah’s actions appeared to be innocent, it really showed that he didn’t have faith in the Lord. The episode tells us that the oxen stumbled. It didn’t say that the cart or the Ark was falling. Yet Uzzah took it upon himself to intervene. He figured the Lord needed his help.

But God had laid down the law. He made it clear that if anyone violated it by touching the holiness of the Ark, that person would die. That’s the result for all of us when we break God’s commandments. We may not be struck down immediately, but death will be the consequence. It’s deserved too; what with all of us being sinners, having fallen short of God’s glory. That means Uzzah’s death was justified. The Lord, in keeping His word, didn’t kill an innocent man.*

God doesn’t want us to take His commands lightly. He watches over and protects His word, that it may not be found empty. Though His action against Uzzah was severe, again it is meant to wake us up to the divine justice that will be applied to the unfaithful who rebel by disobeying the holy One.

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*For more on the fairness of God’s justice, read God Killing People- Just or Unjust? Click here.