Joy Interrupted, Then Carried Differently

Thirty thousand is the exact number of Israelite foot soldiers who died on the day the ark was captured at Aphek (1 Samuel 4:10). The ark was lost with thirty thousand dead; it comes home with thirty thousand chosen men walking beside it.

Baale of Judah is Kirjath-jearim (Joshua 15:9), where the ark had waited since the Philistines sent it back (1 Samuel 7:1–2). “Dwelleth between the cherubims” means enthroned on them; the King James adds an English plural to a Hebrew word that is already plural.

A new cart is exactly how the Philistines sent the ark back (1 Samuel 6:7). David borrows the method of people who had no instructions for carrying it. “Gibeah” here means “the hill”, the house of Abinadab on the hill at Kirjath-jearim, not Saul’s town.

The verse repeats most of verse 3 word for word, probably a copyist’s doubling. What it adds is position: Ahio walked in front of the ark, leading the oxen, which leaves Uzzah beside or behind the cart.

“Played” is the verb for festive sport, as in 2:14. First Chronicles 13:8 reads “with all their might, and with singing” where this has “instruments made of fir wood”; the two Hebrew phrases look alike on the page. The cornets were probably rattles or sistrums.

Chronicles calls the place the threshingfloor of Chidon (1 Chronicles 13:9); “Nachon” may mean prepared or firm. Threshing floors were flat, exposed, and often sacred places; David’s altar at the end of the book is built on one (24:18). The oxen stumbled, and the cart lurched.

“Error” translates shal, found only here, so its sense is uncertain. Numbers 4:15 had warned that even the Kohathites who carried the holy things must not touch them, “lest they die”. Uzzah’s name means strength, and the ark needed none of his.

“Displeased” is literally “it was hot to David”, the same verb as the LORD’s anger being kindled in verse 7. Divine anger and royal anger sit in consecutive verses. Perez-uzzah means “breach of Uzzah”, the name taking up Baal-perazim of 5:20.

David’s question recalls the men of Beth-shemesh after the ark killed many among them: “Who is able to stand before this holy LORD God? and to whom shall he go up from us?” (1 Samuel 6:20). The ark has again become something people want moved away.

Obed-edom means “servant of Edom”. “The Gittite” usually means a man of Gath, and David had Gittite followers (15:18); but Chronicles makes him a Levite singer and doorkeeper (1 Chronicles 15:18), perhaps from the Levitical town of Gath-rimmon. The ark is parked in the house nearest to hand.

Three months is long enough for blessing to become visible to the neighbours. First Chronicles 26:4–5 lists Obed-edom’s eight sons and adds, “for God blessed him”. The LORD who breached Uzzah blesses the household that simply hosted the ark.

The report gives a reason, “because of the ark of God”, and that reason is what moves David. The Greek version adds that David said, “I will turn the blessing to my house”. The word “gladness” is the same used for the joy of the great feasts.

“They that bare the ark” is the change: the cart is gone, and men are carrying it on poles. First Chronicles 15:26 says seven bullocks and seven rams were offered “when God helped the Levites that bare the ark”. After the first six steps nobody has died, and the sacrifice marks that.

“Danced” is a rare word, found only here and in verse 16, and probably means whirling round. The linen ephod was a priest’s garment; the boy Samuel wore one at Shiloh (1 Samuel 2:18), and the priests of Nob wore them (1 Samuel 22:18).

“Shouting” is teru’ah, the great cry Israel raised when the ark entered the camp at Aphek, so loud “that the earth rang again” (1 Samuel 4:5). That shout was followed by disaster; this one leads the ark into its own city.

She is called “Saul’s daughter”, not David’s wife. Women watching from windows appear at bleak moments: Sisera’s mother (Judges 5:28) and Jezebel (2 Kings 9:30). Michal once let David escape through a window (1 Samuel 19:12); now she looks down at him from one.

The ark goes into a tent, an ohel, which David pitched for it; the old tabernacle of Moses stood at Gibeon (1 Chronicles 16:39). Burnt offerings were given wholly to God; peace offerings were shared as a meal, which is why food follows.

A king blessing the people in the LORD’s name is something Solomon will do at the dedication of the temple (1 Kings 8:14). The title “the LORD of hosts” brackets the day, heard in verse 2 when the ark set out and here when it arrives.

The cake is a round loaf. “A good piece of flesh” renders a rare word, possibly a portion of meat or a date cake. The “flagon of wine” is an ashishah, which most now take as a pressed cake of raisins (Hosea 3:1). Women receive the same share as men.

“Glorious” is kavod, from the root for weight and honour, spoken with contempt. “Vain fellows” are empty men, the kind Abimelech and Jephthah hired (Judges 9:4; 11:3). Michal goes out to meet David before he reaches his house, so the blessing he came to give never arrives.

“Before thy father” means in preference to him. David makes the LORD’s choice the answer, and the title he uses is nagid, the leader designated by God. He ends by repeating “play”, the very verb of the celebration Michal despised.

“Vile” is qalal, to be light or of little weight, the exact opposite of kavod, heavy with honour, which Michal used sarcastically in verse 20. David says he will be lighter still, and the maids will count him weighty.

Michal is “the daughter of Saul” again in the last verse. The King James at 21:8 names “the five sons of Michal”, but many Hebrew manuscripts and the Greek read Merab there, which fits 1 Samuel 18:19 and this verse.