Early morning: an empty, dusty road winds up through terraced hills of olive trees toward the small City of David on its narrow ridge, its plain stone walls and flat roofs catching the first light, the Kidron valley in shadow below, under a calm, pale sky.

The Book of

2 Samuel 6

David brings the ark of God home to his city. The first time, it ends at a threshing floor in fear.

23 verses≈ 5 min4 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–4King in HebronThe house of Saul falls
5–6JerusalemThe ark comes homeChapter 6
7–10A house foreverGod's promise to David
11–12David's sinBathsheba and Nathan
13–20The swordAmnon, Absalom and Sheba
21–24Last wordsSongs, heroes and an altar

David Fetches the Ark

David again assembled the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand in all. And he and all his troops set out for Baale of Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name—the name of the LORD of Hosts, who is enthroned between the cherubim that are on it.

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Uzzah Touches the Ark

A joyful crowd of Israelite men and women on a dusty road playing small wooden lyres, an upright harp, round frame drums, bronze rattles and small cymbals, with the ark far ahead and small.

David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the LORD with all kinds of wood instruments, harps, stringed instruments, tambourines, sistrums, and cymbals.

When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen had stumbled. And the anger of the LORD burned against Uzzah, and God struck him down on the spot for his irreverence, and he died there beside the ark of God.

Then David became angry because the LORD had burst forth against Uzzah. So he named that place Perez-uzzah, as it is called to this day.

That day David feared the LORD and asked, “How can the ark of the LORD ever come to me?”

The walled courtyard of a stone house at harvest, full grain jars, a goat with kids, a woman grinding grain and children playing; the master of the house stands in the doorway of an inner room where the gold ark rests on a mat in the dimness behind him.

So he was unwilling to move the ark of the LORD to the City of David; instead, he took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. Thus the ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite for three months, and the LORD blessed him and all his household.

Question

Quick question

After Perez-uzzah, David was afraid to take the ark any farther, so he turned it aside.

Where did the ark stay for three months?

The Ark Brought to Jerusalem

Now it was reported to King David, “The LORD has blessed the house of Obed-edom and all that belongs to him, because of the ark of God.” So David went and had the ark of God brought up from the house of Obed-edom into the City of David with rejoicing.

When those carrying the ark of the LORD had advanced six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a fattened calf.

David, fully dressed in a white linen tunic with a linen ephod over it, leaps and spins with his arms raised on the road ahead of the ark, which is carried on poles by men in white linen; men blow ram's horns and a shouting crowd follows.

And David, wearing a linen ephod, danced with all his might before the LORD, while he and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting and the sounding of the ram’s horn.

danced with all his might before the LORD

2 Samuel 6:14

Reflect

With all his might

After Uzzah, David feared the LORD. Three months later he brought the ark up God’s way, and “danced with all his might before the LORD.” Reverence and joy belong together. Which comes more easily to you? Write down what it might look like to hold both before Him this week.

Michal’s Contempt for David

From inside a dim upper room, a woman in a saffron-and-blue robe and a fine head covering stands at a small latticed window, seen from the side, looking coldly down into a bright street where a crowd dances behind the ark.

As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Saul’s daughter Michal looked down from a window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, and she despised him in her heart.

Evening on the ridge of the City of David: a plain goat-hair tent with its door curtain closed, smoke rising from a stone altar before it, and David in white linen handing a loaf, a date cake and a raisin cake to a line of men, women and children.

So they brought the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it. Then David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.

When David had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of Hosts. Then he distributed to every man and woman among the multitude of Israel a loaf of bread, a date cake, and a raisin cake. And all the people departed, each to his own home.

0:26

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

When David returned home to bless his own household, Saul’s daughter Michal came out to meet him.

Michal

“How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today!” she said. “He has uncovered himself today in the sight of the maidservants of his subjects, like a vulgar person would do.”

David

But David said to Michal, “I was dancing before the LORD, who chose me over your father and all his house when He appointed me ruler over the LORD’s people Israel. I will celebrate before the LORD, and I will humiliate and humble myself even more than this. Yet I will be honored by the maidservants of whom you have spoken.”

And Michal the daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.

Pray

I will celebrate before the LORD

Praise the holy God who came near His people and made His home among them. Ask Him for reverence that takes His word seriously, and for joy that is not ashamed to worship Him with all your might. Pray with David, “I will celebrate before the LORD.”

You’ve experienced

2 Samuel 6

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A verse to carry with you

And David, wearing a linen ephod, danced with all his might before the LORD, while he and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting and the sounding of the ram’s horn.

2 Samuel 6:14–15

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