CHAPTER 13 Sep. 30 
David Takes the Ark of God 
David consulted with the captains of thousands and of hundreds, even with every leader. 2David said to all the assembly of Israel, If it seems good to you, and if it is of Yahweh our God, let us send abroad everywhere to our brothers who are left in all the land of Israel, with whom the priests and Levites are in their cities that have suburbs, that they may gather themselves to us. 3Let us bring again the ark of our God to us; for we didn’t seek it in the days of Saul. 4All the assembly said that they would do so; for the thing was right in the eyes of all the people. 5So David assembled all Israel together, from Shihor the brook of Egypt even to the entrance of Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath Jearim. 6David went up, and all Israel, to Baalah, that is, to Kiriath Jearim, which belonged to Judah, to bring up from there the ark of Yahweh God who dwells between the cherubim, that is called by the Name. 7They carried the ark of God on a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab: and Uzza and Ahio drove the cart. 8David and all Israel played before God with all their might, even with songs, harps, stringed instruments,  tambourines, cymbals and trumpets. 9When they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzza put forth his hand to hold the ark; for the oxen stumbled. 10The anger of Yahweh was kindled against Uzza, and He struck him, because he put forth his hand to the ark; and there he died before God. 11David was displeased, because Yahweh had broken forth on Uzza; and he called that place Perez Uzza, to this day. 12David was afraid of God that day saying, How shall I bring the ark of God home to me? 13So David didn’t move the ark to him into the city of David, but carried it aside into the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. 14The ark of God remained with the family of Obed-Edom in his house three months; and Yahweh blessed the house of Obed-Edom, and all that he had.

Commentary

13:2 If it seems good to you, and if it is of Yahweh our God- Alluded to in Acts 15:25,28, where the elders of the new Israel, the church, said that it ‘seemed good unto them and to the Holy Spirit’ to bring Gentiles into the church. We see that in both cases, decisions weren’t taken just because it seemed right to a majority; they weren’t pure democrats. They recognized another, Divine, element in decision making which was over and above the simple will of men, even if they were believers. 
13:10 Uzza was a Levite but not a priest; and the Law clearly emphasized that the sons of Kohath were to carry the ark on staves on their shoulders, not on a cart as David was doing (Num. 4:15). David almost boasted in Ps. 119 that he studied God’s law day and night, but he obviously didn’t see the obvious; he blanked off those commands in his mind, assuming the spirit of serving God would make the details of God’s requirements superfluous. Because of our inattention to God’s word, others may die; and we also see that God’s holiness is never to be simply disregarded because we in one sense love Him and are joyful before Him. See on 15:2.