Then David conferred with all his leaders, the commanders of hundreds and of thousands. And he said to the whole assembly of Israel, “If it seems good to you, and if this is of the LORD our God, let us send word far and wide to the rest of our brothers in all the land of Israel, and also to the priests and Levites in their cities and pasturelands, so that they may join us. Then let us bring back the ark of our God, for we did not inquire of Him in the days of Saul.” And because this proposal seemed right to all the people, the whole assembly agreed to it.
David again assembled the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand in all. And he and all his troops set out for Baale of Judah to bring up from there the ark of God, which is called by the Name—the name of the LORD of Hosts, who is enthroned between the cherubim that are on it. They set the ark of God on a new cart and brought it from the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were guiding the new cart, bringing with it the ark of God. And Ahio was walking in front of the ark. David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the LORD with all kinds of wood instruments, harps, stringed instruments, tambourines, sistrums, and cymbals. When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen had stumbled. And the anger of the LORD burned against Uzzah, and God struck him down on the spot for his irreverence, and he died there beside the ark of God. Then David became angry because the LORD had burst forth against Uzzah; so he named that place Perez-uzzah, as it is called to this day. That day David feared the LORD and asked, "How can the ark of the LORD ever come to me?" So he was unwilling to move the ark of the LORD to the City of David; instead, he took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. Thus the ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite for three months, and the LORD blessed him and all his household.
Significance
These are parallel accounts of David's first attempt to bring the ark of God to Jerusalem. The Chronicler expands on 2 Samuel 6 by adding David's consultation with "the whole assembly of Israel" (1 Chr 13:1-4), a detail absent from Samuel, emphasizing corporate participation. Both accounts record the transport on a new cart, Uzzah's death for touching the ark, and the ark's diversion to the house of Obed-edom. The Chronicler's addition of the all-Israel assembly motif underscores his theological emphasis on unified national worship centered on the ark (aron) as the locus of God's presence. Both accounts also record the divine outburst in the same terms—וַיִּחַר אַף יְהוָה (vayyichar af YHWH, "the anger of the LORD burned")—naming the site Perez-uzzah, a mishap rooted in the violation of the Torah's requirement that only Levites carry the ark (Num 4:15).
Found via
Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Reference Type
Direct Quotation
Connection Method(s)
Redemptive-Historical Progression — the Chronicler retells Samuel's first ark transport with an added all-Israel consultation (1 Chr 13:1-4) and, in the sequel, an explicit Torah diagnosis of Uzzah's death; the source narrative is carried forward into Chronicles' program, where the ark's journey is the first movement toward the temple that dominates the book's horizon.
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