"David was afraid of the Lord that day and said, 'How can the ark of the Lord ever come to me?' He was not willing to take the ark of the Lord to be with him in the city of David. Instead, he took it to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite." (2 Samuel 6:9-10) Have you ever messed up badly and in frustration and disappointment declared the task too difficult to accomplish even though it isn't too difficult if more thought and more care is put into it? I think that's what happens to David. His mood takes a very negative turn and in fear and sadness and frustration he says, "This can't be done! This is too hard! How can I possibly fulfill my hopes and dreams of having the center of worship be in the same city as the center of government?"
His heart was in the right place in wanting to move the ark to Jerusalem---to what is now the capital of the nation. It's important for there to be a centralized, accessible location of worship for all the people instead of having the ark stored at someone's house as it was for several decades at the home of Abinadab. So David's intentions were good; it was his methods that were bad. We can have all the good intentions in the world but that doesn't excuse carrying out our intentions in a disobedient way. Earlier in the Old Testament the Lord described in great detail how the ark was to be transported and who was to do the transporting. Even if by some chance David didn't know the proper procedure, (since it's been a long time since the ark was regularly being moved from place to place), there's no reason why the priests should not have known. And since the priests could be expected to know such things, David should have consulted them before planning the journey to Kiriath-Jearim to retrieve the ark. The instructions for moving the ark should have been gone over with a fine tooth comb. Every step of this endeavor should have been carefully planned out so the task could be completed in the obedience of the Lord's word.
In verse 10 above there is a clue that David did know at least some of the rules regarding the ark. In 1 Chronicles 26 we find a genealogy record for the Kohathites to whom the Lord entrusted the sacred articles of the tabernacle, such as the Ark of the Covenant. It is not clear why Obed-Edom is referred to as a "Gittite", which is what citizens of the Philistine city of Gath were usually called, but if Obed-Edom ever resided in Gath it doesn't mean he isn't an Israelite. In the genealogy of 1 Chronicles 26 he is clearly identified as a descendant of Kohath (Kohath was the son of Jacob's son Levi; Kohath was the father of Amram who was the father of Israel's first high priest Aaron) and we know it's the same Obed-Edom from our text today because the passage speaks of how the Lord blessed him. We learn in today's text that the Lord blessed Obed-Edom abundantly while the ark was in his care. "The ark of the Lord remained in the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite for three months, and the Lord blessed him and his entire household." (2 Samuel 6:11) The fact that David sends the ark to Obed-Edom's house and entrusts him with its care indicates that he is aware that only the Kohathites are commissioned by the Lord with the care of the ark and the other objects that were formerly housed in the tabernacle.
David was afraid death would fall on more people if he continued trying to get the ark to Jerusalem but nothing bad happens to Obed-Edom and his family. On the contrary, the Lord blesses these people for their reverent awe of the object that symbolizes His presence among the people. "Now King David was told, 'The Lord has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.' So David went to bring up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing." (2 Samuel 6:12) There is no curse associated with possessing the ark; the loss off life in yesterday's text occurred because the ark was moved in the wrong way. This is a not a case like the one where the Philistines captured the ark and a plague fell on every city where they attempted to house it. In the three months since Uzzah died, David has had time to study the proper method of transporting the ark and a passage from 1 Chronicles proves that he did not take time the first time to make sure it was done right. He says to the Levites that the Lord's anger broke out because, "We did not inquire of Him about how to do it in the prescribed way." (1 Chronicles 15:13)
In tomorrow's study we'll blend the information from 2 Samuel 6 with information from 1 Chronicles in order to get the whole picture of everything that is done when the ark is successfully transported to Jerusalem on David's second attempt. Today we'll close by reminding ourselves that, in addition to doing the Lord's will, we must do His will in the right way and at the right time. On David's first attempt to bring the ark to Jerusalem, he only checked off two out of three of these requirements. I believe He was in the Lord's will in bringing the ark to Jerusalem. I believe it was the right time to bring the ark to Jerusalem. He just didn't go about it in the right way. It's a human tendency to feel like we've done a good enough job when we get the majority of a task done correctly. That's why we have the saying, "Two out of three ain't bad." But when it comes to spiritual matters, two out of three ain't good! We need to check off all three of these boxes: being in the Lord's will, obeying the Lord's will at the right time, and obeying the Lord's will in the right way.
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