And they carried the ark of God in a new cart out of the house of Abinadab: and Uzza and Ahio drave the cart.
This removal began from Abinadab's house at Kirjath-jearim toward Jerusalem after the ark had remained there twenty years, and afterward it was turned aside toward the house of Obed-edom where it stayed three months before being brought to Jerusalem. The ark of God was taken out of the house of Abinadab on a new cart driven by Uzza and Ahio.
The new cart copied the Philistines' method of transporting the ark, and while the Philistines had acted in ignorance, Israel knew God's command and was responsible to seek and obey His prescribed order, with no excuse for treating a heathen precedent as permission to disobey. That prescribed order was that the Levites, specifically the Kohathites, carry the ark on their shoulders by its staves through its rings, and not touch it. Putting the ark on the cart was disobedience and the first error and first step in the transgression, representing human invention substituted for God's command, and it created the danger that prompted Uzza to touch the ark.
When the ark shook Uzza tried to steady it and was struck down, and David became afraid to bring the ark home, for the deeper offense was touching the ark with unconsecrated hands and an unconsecrated heart. Good motives and aims, good intentions, great enthusiasm and praise, and the approval and agreement of the people did not make the method right or excuse departing from God's instructions. Ignorance does not excuse transgression, and after repenting David acknowledged that the trouble came because they had not sought God according to the due order. God's commands must therefore be obeyed in their prescribed manner rather than altered to suit human judgment or replaced with human methods and traditions, for human judgment and widespread agreement do not make it right to set aside prophetic instruction, whose testimony remains authoritative even after the prophet has died.
This removal began from Abinadab's house at Kirjath-jearim toward Jerusalem after the ark had remained there twenty years, and afterward it was turned aside toward the house of Obed-edom where it stayed three months before being brought to Jerusalem. The ark of God was taken out of the house of Abinadab on a new cart driven by Uzza and Ahio.
The new cart copied the Philistines' method of transporting the ark, and while the Philistines had acted in ignorance, Israel knew God's command and was responsible to seek and obey His prescribed order, with no excuse for treating a heathen precedent as permission to disobey. That prescribed order was that the Levites, specifically the Kohathites, carry the ark on their shoulders by its staves through its rings, and not touch it. Putting the ark on the cart was disobedience and the first error and first step in the transgression, representing human invention substituted for God's command, and it created the danger that prompted Uzza to touch the ark.
When the ark shook Uzza tried to steady it and was struck down, and David became afraid to bring the ark home, for the deeper offense was touching the ark with unconsecrated hands and an unconsecrated heart. Good motives and aims, good intentions, great enthusiasm and praise, and the approval and agreement of the people did not make the method right or excuse departing from God's instructions. Ignorance does not excuse transgression, and after repenting David acknowledged that the trouble came because they had not sought God according to the due order. God's commands must therefore be obeyed in their prescribed manner rather than altered to suit human judgment or replaced with human methods and traditions, for human judgment and widespread agreement do not make it right to set aside prophetic instruction, whose testimony remains authoritative even after the prophet has died.