Context No. 3978 of 4322 · 2 Samuel

2 Samuel 6:1-5: in context

1David again gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. 2David arose and went with all the people who were with him from Baale Judah, to bring up from there God’s ark, which is called by the Name, even the name of the LORD of Armies who sits above the cherubim. 3They set God’s ark on a new cart, and brought it out of Abinadab’s house that was on the hill; and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drove the new cart. 4They brought it out of Abinadab’s house which was in the hill, with God’s ark; and Ahio went before the ark. 5David and all the house of Israel played before the LORD with all kinds of instruments made of cypress wood, with harps, with stringed instruments, with tambourines, with castanets, and with cymbals.

David sets out to bring the ark of God up to Jerusalem, and the scene is one of overflowing joy: David and all Israel celebrate before the LORD with all their strength, with songs and harps and tambourines and cymbals, a whole nation rejoicing before God. There is something beautiful in this wholehearted, exuberant worship, a king and his people pouring out their joy before the LORD with everything they have.

God is worthy of worship that is not stiff and grudging but glad, energetic, whole-hearted. Yet there is also a quiet lesson in the detail that they carried the ark on a new cart. However sincere their joy, this was not the way God had appointed the ark to be carried; it was meant to be borne by the Levites, and their well-meant but careless method would soon lead to tragedy. Two things are worth holding together. Worship of God should be joyful and wholehearted, offered with all our strength and gladness. And that joyful zeal must still be joined to obedience, doing things the way God has directed rather than however seems good to us.

Do I worship God with wholehearted, exuberant joy, and do I join that joyful zeal to careful obedience, offering him both my gladness and my faithful attention to how he has said to approach him?

Sources

2 Samuel 6:5: "David and all the house of Israel played before the LORD with all kinds of instruments made of cypress wood, with harps... and with cymbals."
2 Samuel 6:3: "They set God's ark on a new cart, and brought it out of Abinadab's house that was on the hill."
1 Chronicles 15:13: "The LORD our God broke out against us, because we didn't seek him according to the ordinance."