1 Chronicles 13-15: The Throne Comes Home

We trace David’s attempt to bring the Ark to Jerusalem, the shock of Uzzah’s death, and the long walk from hype to holiness. The story moves from fear to blessing as obedience replaces shortcuts and worship finds its footing in God’s commands.

• homecoming context for First Chronicles and identity after exile
• meaning of the Ark as God’s throne and presence
• the failed cart procession and Uzzah’s death
• David’s fear, pause, and Obed-Edom’s unexpected blessing
• consulting God in battle and obeying specific guidance
• Levites consecrate, poles carry, musicians lead rightly
• joy restored when obedience anchors worship
• practical call to build on obedience rather than excitement

Chapters

• 0:22 Homecoming Context And Purpose
• 1:20 What The Ark Of The Covenant Means
• 4:00 Uzzah’s Death And David’s Fear
• 5:35 David’s Reign And Philistine Battles
• 7:01 Preparing Rightful Carriers And Musicians
• 9:35 Joyful Procession And Michal’s Disdain
• 11:05 From Good Intentions To Obedience

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:11

Hey, welcome back to the Out Loud Bible Project Podcast. This is Mike. We're in the book of First Chronicles. If you're joining us for the first time, I know that's not necessarily your choice in how you would want to crack open the Bible and start reading. But we are in a season called Homecoming, where we're taking a look at the period of time when God's people were coming home from being exiled. And this book of First Chronicles isn't about those times. It's written to those people in those times to connect them with their past and to have a sense of identity as the people of God. Where did we come from? What have we been doing? How did we get here? What can we do now that we're going back home? That's what this book is about. And a significant part of that story is going back to the time of David, as we read last episode. We're still in the time of David. And this is when the Ark of the Covenant came home. Now, we gotta understand a little bit of the history if we don't remember exactly how it went in like 1 and 2 Samuel. We can remember that, well, if you want to go very far back, back to like Exodus, the Ark of the Covenant is what God had Moses design to be God's throne, kind of. Not that he would necessarily sit on it, but his presence would rest on the Ark of the Covenant. And that represented, this is where God sits with us. This is where we get to inquire of him. This is how we get to have a relationship with our God. Now that was all fine and good for a while, except around the time of the prophet Samuel starting his ministry, the Philistines were the big bad guys around Israel, and they came and they stole the Ark of the Covenant. They won a big battle. They took the Ark with them because they thought, oh, look, we get to own this God now. He works for us now. Well, that didn't work out well for them. Their lands and their cities got absolutely plagued because God was not going to be contained by the Philistine armies and live in their temples. So they sent it back. They just put it on a cart and just had some oxen pull it and just bring it where it belongs. And God brought it into a particular town called Kiriath Jirim at the house of a man named Abinadab. And that's where it sat for a while. Well, Saul became king and he died, and now David has become king, and the Ark of the Covenant is still at Abinadab's house. And that's not where it belongs. David wants better for God's throne, so he arranges to bring it home. That is where we pick up the story today in First Chronicles. We're going to start in chapter 13. We'll read through 15 in the New English translation. David conferred with each of his officers, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, and he said to the whole assembly of Israel, If it seems good to you, and if it's the will of the Lord our God, let's send word far and wide to the rest of our people throughout the territories of Israel, and also to the priests and Levites who are with them in their towns and pasture lands to come and join us. Let's bring the ark of our God back to us. For we didn't inquire of it during the reign of Saul. The whole assembly agreed to do this because it seemed right to all the people. So David assembled all Israel, from the Shehor River in Egypt to Lebo Hamath, to bring the Ark of God from Kirath Jirim. David and all Israel went to Bala of Judah, Kiriath Jirim, to bring up from there the Ark of God the Lord, who is enthroned between the cherubim, the Ark that's called by the name. They moved the Ark of God from Abinadab's house on a new cart, with Uzzah and Ahio guiding it. David and all the Israelites were celebrating with all their might before God with songs and with harps, lyres, timbrels, cymbals, and trumpets, and when they came to the threshing floor of Kaidon, Uzzah reached out his hand to study the ark because the oxen stumbled. And the Lord's anger burned against Uzzah, and he struck him down because he had put a hand on the ark. So he died there before God. Then David was angry because the Lord's wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day the place is called Peres Uzzah. David was afraid of God that day and said, How can I ever bring the ark of God to me? He didn't take the ark to be with him in the city of David. Instead he took it to the house of Obed Edom the Gittite. The Ark of God remained with the family of Obed Edom in his house for three months, and the Lord blessed his household and everything he had. Now Hiram, King of Tyre, sent messengers to David along with cedar logs, stone masons, and carpenters to build a palace for him, and David knew that the Lord had established him as king over Israel, and that his kingdom had been highly exalted for the sake of his people Israel. In Jerusalem David took more wives, and became the father of more sons and daughters. These are the names of the children born to him there, Shemua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon, Ibar, Elishua, Elpilet, Noga, Nepheg, Jafia, Elishamah, Biliada, and Eliphalet. When the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over all Israel, they went up in full force to search for him. But David heard about it and went out to meet them. Now the Philistines had come and raided the valley of Rephaim, so David inquired of God, Shall I go and attack the Philistines? Will you deliver them into my hands? The Lord answered him, Go, I will deliver them into your hands. So David and his men went up to Baal Parazim, and there he defeated them. He said, As waters break out, God has broken out against my enemies by my hand. So that place was called Baal Parazim. The Philistines had abandoned their gods there, and David gave orders to burn them in the fire. Once more the Philistines raided the valley, so David inquired of God again, and God answered him, Don't go directly after them, but circle around them and attack them in front of the poplar trees, and as soon as you hear the sound of marching in the tops of the poplar trees, move out to battle because that will mean God has gone out in front of you to strike the Philistine army. So David did as God commanded him, and they struck down the Philistine army all the way from Gibeon to Gazer. So David's fame spread throughout every land, and the Lord made all the nations fear him. After David had constructed buildings for himself in the city of David, he prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched a tent for it, and then David said, No one but the Levites may carry the Ark of God, because the Lord chose them to carry the Ark of the Lord and to minister before him forever. David assembled all Israel in Jerusalem to bring up the Ark of the Lord to the place he had prepared for it. He called together the descendants of Aaron and the Levites, from the descendants of Kohath, Uriel the leader and one hundred and twenty relatives, from the descendants of Marari, Asaia the leader and two hundred and twenty relatives, from the descendants of Gershon, Joel the leader, and one hundred and thirty relatives, from the descendants of Elizaphan, Shemiah the leader, and two hundred relatives, from the descendants of Hebron, Eliel the leader and eighty relatives, from the descendants of Uziel, Aminadab the leader, and one hundred and twelve relatives. And then David summoned Zadok and Abiathar the priests, and Uriel, Asal, Joel, Shemiah, Eliel, and Aminadab the Levites, and he said to them, You are the heads of the Levitical families. You and your fellow Levites are to consecrate yourselves and bring up the Ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, to the place I've prepared for it. It was because you, the Levites, didn't bring it up the first time that the Lord our God broke out in anger against us. We didn't inquire of him about how to do it in the prescribed way. So, the priests and Levites consecrated themselves in order to bring up the Ark of the Lord, the God of Israel, and the Levites carried the ark of God with the poles on their shoulders, as Moses had commanded in accordance with the word of the Lord. David told the leaders of the Levites to appoint their fellow Levites as musicians to make a joyful sound with musical instruments, lyres, harps, and cymbals. So the Levites appointed Heman, son of Joel, from his relatives, Asaph, son of Barakiah, and from the relatives of the Merorites, Ethan, son of Cushea, and with them their relatives next in rank, Zechariah, Jaziel, Shemiramoth, Jehel, Uni, Iliab, Beniah, Masaia, Matathiah, Elephalehu, Mikneh, Obed Edom, and Jael the gatekeepers. The musicians Himan, Asaph, and Ethan were to sound the bronze cymbals. Zechariah, Jaziel, Shemira Moth, Jehil, Uni, Iliab, Masaya, and Baniah were to play the lyres, according to Alamath, and Matathiah, Elephilu, Mikneh, Obed Edom, Jael, and Azaziah were to play the harps, directing according to Sheminith. According to what? I don't know, Alamoth, Shemenith, probably some musical terms that the musicians knew about, and we just don't. That's okay. Kenaniah, the head Levite, was in charge of the singing, and that was his responsibility because he was skillful at it. Barekiah and Alkanah were to be doorkeepers for the ark. Shebaniah, Joshaphat, Nethanel, Amasiah, Zechariah, Beniah, and Eliezer the priests, were to blow trumpets before the Ark of God. Obed Edom and Jehaiah were also to be doorkeepers for the Ark. So David and the elders of Israel and the commanders of units of a thousand went to bring up the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord from the house of Obed Edom with rejoicing, because God had helped the Levites who were carrying the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, seven bulls and seven rams were sacrificed. Now David was clothed in a robe of fine linen, as were all the Levites who were carrying the ark, and as were the musicians and Kenaniah who was in charge of the singing of the choirs, David also wore a linen ephid. So all Israel brought up the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord with shouts, with the sounding of rams' horns and trumpets and of cymbals and the playing of lyres and harps. And as the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord was entering the city of David, Michael, daughter of Saul, watched from a window, and when she saw King David dancing and celebrating, she despised him in her heart. All right, well, let's pause there. Let's consider that scenario when the ark was being transported the first time, and it was explained later why God had a problem with it. It was not being transported by the Levites, and they were not using poles as God had prescribed. God had made very specific instructions about how to treat this ark, his throne, and by extension, how they would treat and respect and honor him. And they were not doing that, and that had consequences. Consider how this might relate to you today. Because David and all the people were singing, they were playing music, they were very excited. Hey, the Ark is coming home! God is coming back into our lives, God is with us, and we're doing this really great thing for the Lord. We are gonna honor him and we're going to praise him and all of these things. It looked right. They felt like they were doing the right thing by this outward expression of worship and praise, and they had good intentions, but they weren't actually doing what God wanted them to be doing. We can find ourselves in the very same situation when we think we're doing the sort of things that God wants us to do, go to church and r say our prayers, read our Bible, sing the songs in church, go to Bible study, whatever these things may be. All those things are good, but if we are neglecting to obey, then we are going to find ourselves like the man that Jesus talks about in Matthew 7, who hears what he says, but he doesn't do it, and builds a house on sand so that when the storms of life come, everything that we think that we're doing well come crumbling down. How do we build a house that does not crumble and fall? How do we carry the presence of God with us in our lives in a way that does not cause us to stumble and put our hand out, try to catch ourselves, and we find ourselves suffering and perishing because of it? Well, we obey what the Word of God says. How do we know what it says? We get into it, we read it, and most importantly, we ask God to help us obey and do it. God does not primarily want your praise. He does not primarily want your excitement and your emotion. He wants your obedience. And that's the thinking out loud thought for the day.