Many people have the idea that the God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament are different Gods. They see the God of the New Testament as a God of love, while they see the God of the Old Testament as one of wrath, killing people who don’t live up to His standards. While there were those who God seems to have killed in the Old Testament, this view is somewhat distorted in several regards. The idea that the Gods of the Old and New Testaments were different is false, He is the same God.
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. – Hebrews 13:8
I and My Father are one. – John 10:30 (Jesus speaking)
If Jesus Christ is unchangeable and He and Father God are one, then that clearly means that Father God is just as unchangeable as Jesus. So, the God we see in the Old Testament and the God we see in the New are the same God. He hasn’t changed. His personality hasn’t changed. His character hasn’t changed. What has changed in the era in which we live.
Many of the people who the Bible records having died in Old Testament times weren’t believers. God was never in the habit of killing people for no reason. Yes, people died, but death wasn’t limited to the Old Testament, there were also those who died in New Testament times, due to their sin, such as Ananias and Sapphira. They sold a piece of property and gave part of it to the apostles, holding back some. First the man lied to the apostles about it, then his wife did so separately. Both of them died for their indiscretion.
The difference between the two eras is how our sins are dealt with. In Old Testament times, God’s people were required by the Law to offer sacrifices for their sins. The blood of those sacrifices covered the sins of the people, much like using a magic marker to scribble over something written on a page will cover it up, making it unreadable. We no longer give those sacrifices for our sins, as Jesus became the final sacrifice for all.
By that will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all… 13 But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God. – Hebrews 10:10, 13
This makes a huge difference in our lives, including the impact that our sins have on us. If we were living under the law and sinned, but didn’t make the necessary sacrifice, that sin was still “on the books” so to say. With the sacrifice that Jesus made on the cross, every sin we ever committed, before repenting and accepting Him as our Lord and Savior, is washed away, leaving to record or trace. At that moment, we are as sinless as Christ Himself.
This is not to say that we can never sin or that those sins which we commit after becoming saved won’t have an impact on our lives. We are all still capable of sin; but when we do, we don’t need to bring a sacrifice to the Temple. Rather, we need to repent of that sin and ask forgiveness.
What Does this Have to Do with Uzzah?
The story of Uzzah’s death is sad, because his death seems to be largely not his own fault. Yet, God is always just, so He would not kill one person, for another’s sin, except in allowing Jesus to go to the cross for the sins of you and me. This clearly isn’t the case with Uzzah.
And when they came to Nachon’s threshing floor, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. 7 Then the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his error; and he died there by the ark of God. – 2 Samuel 6:6-7
Uzzah was a Levite, of the tribe of Levi, who were charged by God with providing support to the priesthood. That support took on many forms, such as carrying the pieces of the Tabernacle when the nation of Israel was wandering in the wilderness, cleaning the Temple, serving as Temple guards, and becoming the praise and worship leaders. This tribe alone didn’t receive their own territory when the conquered land of Canaan was divided amongst the tribes. Rather, they were given 48 cities, scattered amongst the territory of the other tribes.
Given the responsibility which the Levits had, it only makes sense that King David would call upon them for help, when he decided it was time to move the Arc of the Covenant to his capital city, Jerusalem. The Ark had been in the house of Abinadab, one of Saul’s sons. David wanted it in Jerusalem, because he wanted the presence of God where he was, probably to worship God, but also possibly to receive God’s blessings.
David attempted to do the best he knew to honor God. That’s why a new cart was used, as anything that had been used for common uses before would be unworthy of God. It’s also why Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were commissioned to drive the cart. As sons of Abinadab, they had been working with their brother Eliazar, who had been sanctified (set apart) to care for the cart. They were Levites through their mother, which made them appropriate custodians. David even took 30,000 choice men from the army with him, as a honor guard for the ark.
There’s just one thing wrong with all that; it’s not the way that God intended for the Ark to be moved. Although there are times when we see priests carrying the Ark of the Covenant, God originally commanded that it be carried by the sons of Kohath, one of the four sons of Levi. His family were given responsibility for the care and carrying of the Tabernacle furnishings.
And when Aaron and his sons (the priests)2 have finished covering the sanctuary and all the furnishings of the sanctuary, when the camp is set to go, then the sons of Kohath shall come to carry them; but they shall not touch any holy thing, lest they die. These are the things in the tabernacle of meeting which the sons of Kohath are to carry (making reference to the previous verses). – Numbers 4:15
When we compare this to what David did, we see numerous transgressions:
- The Ark was to be carried, not transported by ox cart.
- Only the Levites, and amongst them only the Kohathites, were to move the Ark and the other temple furnishings.
- Nobody was to touch the Ark, lest they die.
- The Ark was to always be covered by the veil and a covering of badger skins, not left exposed. Although there is no specific reference as to whether the Ark was covered or not when David was moving it, it is likely that it was uncovered, as David was making a big deal about bringing it to Jerusalem. If he didn’t know that the ark was to be carried by the Levites, he probably didn’t know that it was to be covered.
Herein we find the true tragedy of Uzzah’s death; it came about by ignorance. Although he was a Levite, Uzzah didn’t properly understand his duties and paid the price for it. None of the other Levites recognized the error either. Neither did the priests, who certainly should have known God’s Law. Finally, King David didn’t know it either, even though God had commanded that the king make a personal copy of the Law and read from it daily, long before Israel had a king.
Also it shall be, when he sits on the throne of his kingdom, that he shall write for himself a copy of this law in a book, from the one before the priests, the Levites. 19 And it shall be with him, and he shall read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the Lord his God and be careful to observe all the words of this law and these statutes. – Deuteronomy 17:18-19
So Uzzah touched the Ark of the Covenant, something that he should never have been in the position to so. He was guilty of that sin, something he personally should have known to avoid; but the other Levites, the Priests and the King were guilty as well.
Why Did Uzzah Die?
As we read earlier, in 2 Samuel, chapter 6, the oxen which were pulling the cart with the Ark in it stumbled. Apparently concerned that the Ark might fall off the cart, Uzzah reached out his hand to steady it, touching it, even though God had forbidden anyone from touching it. Not even the High Priest was allowed to touch the Ark.
According to the account there in Second Samuel, God was angry at Uzzah for his sin and struck him down. However, there may have been more behind this than God just killing him.
God is holy and anything associated with Him is holy as well. Such things can’t just be touched by anyone or anything which is unholy. If something or someone unclean (not set aside as holy unto God) touches something holy, it makes it unclean, according to Numbers 19:22. But is it actually possible to make God, or even something that represents His presence, unclean? That would be impossible, as the holiness of God would overpower the unholiness of the other thing.
The same can be said of going into God’s presence. God told Moses, “No man can look on my face and live” (Exodus 33:20). Is that because God would kill them, or is there another reason?
Allow me to propose another reason for Uzzah’s death here. Although the verse in Second Samuel reads that the anger of the Lord was aroused against Uzzah, that doesn’t necessarily mean that he was angered by Uzzah himself. It can just as easily mean that he was made angry by the sin which he saw within Uzzah. If Uzzah had sin in his life, for which he had not offered a sacrifice for, God would see the sin in him, which would cause God to be angry. The Bible is clear that God is angered by sin.
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness. – Romans 1:18
There are a number of places in the Bible where things are attributed to God, as God’s actions, even though it is doubtful that God took action at that particular time, to cause that thing to happen. Rather, God established spiritual and physical laws, which give us those results. So, when those things happen, God is credited with them, just as he is credited with making it rain.
That you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. – Matthew 5:45
Looking at it this way, it was the sin within Uzzah’s heart which killed him, rather than God specifically striking out at him. Sin cannot survive in the presence of God. If there is enough sin in us, then the destruction of that sin will kill us.
Put another way, we are all made of a combination of good and bad. The act of purifying us is the act of removing the bad parts, more than that of putting in good parts, even though God replaces everything bad he takes out of us with something good. But there are people who would be nothing more than an empty shell, if the holy fire of God were to burn the bad out of them. How could such people survive?
We don’t really know much about Uzzah, as the Bible doesn’t tell us much. However, if we were to surmise anything about him, it is unlikely that he was a highly godly man. I say this because he grew up in the time of King Saul, a time when the nation of Israel wasn’t serving God. Not only that, but his appointment to the position of caretaker of the Ark of the Covenant didn’t come through the priesthood, but was rather a more-or-less political appointment, due to his family ties to Saul. Even though he was a Levite, there is little to commend him as being a holy man of God.
I realize that there is a fair amount of supposition in what I just proposed. My purpose in that is not to change what the Bible says; but rather to align the idea of God’s anger killing Uzzah with our knowledge that “God is love,” as John has told us in his first epistle. The Bible has to agree with itself and if it looks like it doesn’t it’s that we are mistranslating, misinterpreting, or misunderstanding what we are reading.
David Learned From His Mistake
King David was greatly distressed by the loss of Uzzah, realizing that he was at fault in some way. Fear of the Lord rose in his heart and he decided that he couldn’t bring the ark to Jerusalem. So, he left the ark in the house of a Levite, Obed-Edom. The ark stayed in his house for three months.
The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite (refers to the city in which he lived)2 three months. And the Lord blessed Obed-Edom and all his household. 12 Now it was told to King David, saying, “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 brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with gladness. – 2 Samuel 6:11-12
David wanted God’s blessing and was quite possibly jealous that Obed-Edom was receiving it, instead of himself. We don’t actually know, because the Bible doesn’t tell us. But as we just saw, he went back and brought the ark from Obed-Edom’s house to Jerusalem. But this time, things were different. Either David, the priests or the Levites had gone back to check what the Torah (the Law) said about moving the ark, and this time, it was carried on the shoulders of the Levites. David and the priests went before the ark, worshiping the Lord and making sacrifices to Him every six paces. That worked out to over 4,000 sacrifices!
Does Sin Kill Today?
We can accept the idea that it was Uzzah’s sin which killed him, because the Bible tells us that sin kills.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 6:23
This is not just an Old Testament concept, as it is written in a New Testament book and we have already seen it fulfilled in the lives of Ananias and Sapphira in the book of Acts. With that being the case, why don’t we see it come to pass more often? Why do evil people continue to live, while seemingly good ones die?
One of the things that the Bible does rather poorly is in giving us a sense of time, specifically how long it is between one thing that’s mentioned and the next. In the gospels, we find Jesus praying for a number of people to be healed’ but in most cases, we have no idea how long it took for the healing to manifest. The gospels are written in such a way as to say something like “Jesus prayed for them,” followed by “they were healed.”
As the gospels were written by the disciples, I’m sure that’s how they remembered the event. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that they were healed immediately. There were a few cases in which the Gospels give us specific information, showing that they were not healed immediately, such as the lepers who were healed as they were on the way to show themselves to the priests (Luke 17:14). From that, we can see the possibility that others weren’t healed instantly, even though the way the Bible is written makes it appear as if they were.
The very same thing can apply to people dying for their sins. The stories in the Old Testament might be leaving out the amount of time it took for those people to die. That doesn’t eliminate the idea that they died for their sins though; it just means that the people of that time may not have seen it as clearly as it was happening, as we can see in the Bible.
We have many people in society today who are dying slowly of various ills which have been caused by their own actions, often sinful actions. Can we say that those people aren’t dying for their sins? Can we say that God is not bringing about justice upon them? Just as much, can we not say that God is extending grace to them, by giving them time to repent and encounter His Son, Jesus?
Personally, I prefer it that way; a way that shows God’s love, compassion and grace.