Day 105 - 2 Samuel 5-7


 So much in these three chapters is rich with potential for application for me and my family. First is the joyful dancing David exhibits while bringing the Ark to Jerusalem. I’ve read this passage many times, and understand that the Uzzah passage is a common sticking point. It was for David! David was angry about Uzzah (2 Samuel 6:8) "And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and said, How shall the ark of the LORD come to me?" (2 Samuel 6:9 KJV) So the way it’s rendered, it says “David was afraid.” Are there two ways to read this text? You could also read the (proper) fear of the LORD into this passage. Either one works, to be honest. Where did the “new cart” (2 Samuel 6:3) come from? Not from the Law; that’s the Philistine way to transport the Ark. (1 Samuel 6:7) David and the people were being careless of how they transported the Ark of the Covenant. But then asked how he could get the Ark to him. (2 Samuel 6:9) It doesn’t formally say that the priests told him to go look up Numbers 4:5-6 and read about the covering and the poles, but (2 Samuel 6:13 makes it sound like that’s exactly what they did. ) No, I think the proper fear of the LORD might actually set up the next scene and the next chapter. The word “fear” is the same word translated “fear” in this passage: "Thou shalt… fear thy God: I [am] the LORD." (Leviticus 19:32 KJV) If David realized it was their carelessness that resulted in Uzzah’s death when he offended the LORD, repentance and a restored joy fit the 1 John 1:9 pattern exactly. Sin, and the shame of it, should be understood to be cleansed entirely and the relationship with God restored when we confess and repent. The next chapter shows David’s tender heart for God - God never asked him or anyone else for a house—but it clearly was in His plan. So God honors David with his own covenant of blessing, which identifies him as an ancestor of the Messiah. Reading Galatians 3:16 has primed us English speakers to be sensitive to the singular word “seed” (instead of “seeds”) in 2 Samuel 7:12 as well as the singular pronouns. They refer to Jesus personally. So what about verse 14? 'I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men: ‘ (2 Samuel 7:14) Adam Clarke’s commentary may offer the answer. The passive voice of the verb for committing iniquity signifies suffering for iniquity and not personally committing it, putting it in harmony with Isaiah 53.

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