13
Bringing back the Sacred Chest
1 One day David talked with all his army officers. Some of them were commanders of 100 soldiers and some were commanders of 1,000 soldiers.
2 Then he summoned the other Israeli leaders and said to all of them, “If it seems to you to be a good thing for us to do, and if it is what Yahweh our God wants, let’s send a message to our fellow Israelis in all the areas of our country, including the priests and other descendants of Levi who are living among them in their towns and in the nearby pasturelands, to come and join us,
3 because we want to bring the Sacred Chest of our God back to us. While Saul was the king, we did not go to God’s presence to ask him what we should do.”
4 All the people agreed with David, because they all thought that it was the right thing to do.
5 So David gathered all the Israeli people, from the Shihor River in Egypt to Lebo-Hamath town in the north, and told them that he wanted them to help bring the Sacred Chest of God back to Jerusalem from Kiriath-Jearim city.
6 David went with all the Israeli people to Baalah town, which is another name for Kiriath-Jearim, to get the Sacred Chest. The people believed that God ruled from between the statues of winged creatures that was above the lid of the Sacred Chest [MTY].
7 The people put the Sacred Chest on a new cart and transported it from Abinadab’s house. Uzzah and Ahio were guiding the oxen that were pulling the cart.
8 David and all the Israeli people were celebrating in God’s presence with all their strength. They were singing and playing lyres, harps, tambourines, and cymbals, and blowing trumpets.
9 But when David’s men came to the place where Kidon threshed grain, the oxen stumbled. So Uzzah reached out with his hand to prevent the Sacred Chest from falling off the cart.
10 Yahweh immediately became very angry with Uzzah, and he caused Uzzah to suddenly die there because he had put his hand on the Sacred Chest, and Yahweh had commanded that only the descendants of Levi who help the priests should touch the Sacred Chest.
11 David was angry because Yahweh had punished [MTY] Uzzah. And now that place where Uzzah died is called ‘The Punishment of Uzzah’.
12 That day, David was afraid of God. He asked himself, “◄How can I bring God’s Sacred Chest to my city?/I am afraid to bring God’s Sacred Chest to my city.►” [RHQ]
13 So the men with David did not take the Sacred Chest to Jerusalem. Instead, they took it to the house of Obed-Edom, who was from Gath city.
14 The Sacred Chest stayed with Obed-Edom’s family in his house for three months. And during that time Yahweh blessed Obed-Edom’s family and everything that he owned.