UZZAH, Aza, or Oza, Son of Abinadab1 He, with his Brother Abio, conducted the new Cart, upon which the Ark of the Covenant was carried, when David ordered it to be brought from Kirjath-jearim to Jerusalem, When they were come as far as Nachon’s Threshing-floor, or, The floor that was prepared, (see NACHON, before,) Uzzah stretched out his Hand to hold up the Ark of God, which seemed to him in danger of falling, because of the stumbling of the Oxen.2 At the same time the Anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and he smote him because of his Rashness, his Mistake, and his Sin of Ignorance;3 and he died upon the Place before the Ark of the Lord.
Opinions are much divided about the occasion of the Death of Uzzah. Some think the Lord put him to Death, because he touched the Ark bare, and irreverently, without shewing sufficient respect to it. Others say, that the Lord was provoked by the Distrust he shewed upon this occasion, by holding up the Ark, as if God was not able to do it without his Assistance. But the true Cause of this Accident is sufficiently explained by David himself, when he says, it happened because there were no Priests to carry the Ark.4 Uzzah, who was not of the Race of Aaron, was so rash as to touch it, and was (as is presumed) the Author of the Advice to carry it in a Cart, instead of having it carried upon the Shoulders of the Priests. As to the Death of Uzzah upon this occasion, it is thought to be as an Expiation of the Fault he had committed by laying Hands upon the Ark of the Lord; and that God extended his Mercy towards him in another Life.
Read this article in its place on the printed pages
Footnotes
-
2 Sam. vi. 3, 4, 5, &c. In the Year of the World 2959, before Christ 1041, before the Vulgar Æra 1045. ↩
-
The Hebrew is, [Hebrew] Quoniam calcitra- bant boves, 2 Reg. vi. 7. Bos lasciviens inclinaverat eam, 1 Par. xiii. 9. The Force of the Hebrew Word is unknown. ↩
-
ויכהו על השל ↩
-
1 Chron. xv. 13. Vide & Joseph. Antiq. l. 7. c. 4. Theodoret. qu. 19. in 2 Reg. ↩