Poole on 2 Samuel 6:6, 7: The Death of Uzzah

Verse 6:[1]  And when they came to Nachon’s (he is called Chidon, 1 Chron. 13:9) threshingfloor, Uzzah (see Num. 4:15) put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook (or, stumbled[2]) it.

[And after they came to the threshingfloor of Nachon (thus the Septuagint, Pagnine, Montanus, Junius and Tremellius), to the storehouse of Nachon (Munster), to Goren Nachon (Vatablus), ‎עַד־גֹּ֣רֶן נָכ֑וֹן]  ‎נָכוֹן/Nachon is the proper name of a man, or of a place; in the place of which is set ‎כִּידֹן/Chidon in 1 Chronicles 13:9 (Malvenda), the storehouse of כִּידֹן/Chidon; that is to say, the storehouse of the ruin[3] of Uzzah (Munster).  Therefore, two-named was this man (Tirinus), or place (Menochius, Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals).  I think that this place was thus called by anticipation; because Uzzah was smitten there:  נָכוֹן/smiting, from the verb נָכָה, to smite; in the form of רָצוֹן/favor,[4] יָגוֹן/grief,[5] שָׁאוֹן/roar,[6] etc.  In the Chronicles it is similarly the threshingfloor of Chidon, because כִּיד signifies destruction.  The Syriac has the threshingfloor of Ramin.  But I think that it is to be read דָּמִים/damin, so that it might be the threshingfloor of bloods, because the blood of Uzzah was shed there (Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals 1:2:37:372).  Others take נָכוֹן/nachon appellatively; unto the place prepared (Jonathan); into the threshingfloor prepared (Tigurinus, Aquila in Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals, similarly the Syriac, Arabic).  Ineptly, as it appears; for then it would be נְכוֹנֹה/ prepared,[7] because גֹּרֶן/threshingfloor is feminine.  Neither is it important for us to know, whether the threshingfloors, which were occurring in this way, were prepared, or not (Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals 1:2:37:372).  To the threshingfloor of equipment, or of preparation (Hebrews in Malvenda), that is, in which either the burnt offering was prepared; or the people were prepared to escort the ark; so that the smiting of Uzzah might be indicated at almost the first beginning of the procession.  Others:  to the threshingfloor appointed, where, by agreement, the assembly was to come together (Malvenda).

Nachon, otherwise called Chidon, 1 Chronicles 13:9.

[He put forth his hand to the ark]  In Hebrew it is only, and Uzzah sent to the ark of God,[8] etc. (Montanus).  [But all supply hand.]

[And he held it, ‎וַיֹּאחֶז]  And he restrained it, that is, that it might not fall (Vatablus).

[Because they were kicking, etc., ‎כִּ֥י שָׁמְט֖וּ]  What that word might signify, is quite uncertain; it occurs here and in Chronicles:  the ancient Interpreters are not consistent among themselves; for they render it differently in the two places; for here they have περιέσπασεν αὐτὴν, they drew it (the ark) around (Septuagint); they drove forward (Jonathan); they freed themselves from the reins (Arabic out of the Syriac).  But in Chronicles they have ἐξέκλινεν αὐτὴν, it turned it aside (Septuagint, thus the Vulgate, similarly Jonathan and Suidas).  [More recent interpreters thus translate it:]  They had displaced it (Rabbi Salomon in Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals, Junius and Tremellius).  But then it would have been written with the Affix, שָׁמְטוּהוּ (Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals 372).  They were turning aside (Tigurinus, Osiander, Pagnine), understanding, from the path, or from the royal way; and it seemed like the cart was about to crash (Osiander).  They were kicking, that is, it appeared that by their kicking they were going to cast the ark to the ground (Vatablus).  They shook themselves (Munster); they had broken forth out of the way (Strigelius); they were tottering (Montanus, similarly Eutychius[9] in Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals).  Of what I have seen to this point, nothing proper has been brought.  But it is satisfying to bring something else.  The Arabs quite frequently change the Hebrew שׁ/Shin into a ת/Thau [as Bochart shows by many examples].  And so I think that they are related:  the Hebrew שָׁמַט/SHAMAT and the Arabic תמט/ THAMAT, which signifies the soft mud, in which the beasts were stuck.  And so ‎שָׁמְטוּ will signify here that the oxen stuck in soft and restraining mud.  Therefore, so that the King and the people might not experience excessive delays there; or so that in the very exertion of the oxen the cart might topple; he applied his hand to it, and took hold of the ark:  perhaps with this intention, that with his brother he might bring it to mount Zion, from which, it is likely, that the threshingfloor, as we said, was not very far removed (Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals 372).

The oxen shook it; for they stumbled, 1 Chronicles 13:9.

Verse 7:[10]  And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and (1 Sam. 6:19) God smote him there for his error (or, rashness[11]); and there he died by the ark of God.

[He smote him over the temerity (thus Pagnine, Vatablus, Strigelius, Castalio, similarly Tigurinus), ‎עַל־הַשַּׁל]  Because of his error (Munster), or that error (Piscator), or this imprudent deed (Junius and Tremellius), or ignorance.  He is punished, who sins in ignorance (Vatablus).  Because he offended (Jonathan); because he had stretched forth his hand (Syriac, Arabic) to the ark (Arabic).  Question:  What was the sin of Uzzah?  Response 1:  That the ark, which was to be carried on the shoulders, he placed on a cart (thus Lyra, Menochius and Grotius on verse 3, Malvenda, Martyr, Tirinus).  This David manifestly signifies; when he, being about to correct this error, places the ark, not on a cart, but on shoulders, 1 Chronicles 15:2, 12 (Tirinus).  Exception:  But many joined in that work and counsel; and so destruction should have come to many (Sanchez).  Response:  Perhaps he was the author of that counsel (Tirinus out of Lyra, Theodoret and Procopius and Rabbis in Serarius).  Response 2:  That he touched the ark.  [But here they vary:]  1.  That he touched it, who ought not to have touched it, etc.  For, he was not a priest, nor a Levite; as Josephus appears to think, Antiquities 7:4.  So it appears to me, 1.  because Kirjath-jearim was not a Levitical city, nor is it numbered among them, Joshua 21.  2.  Out of 1 Chronicles 15:11-13, where he thus speaks to the priests and Levites, …because ye had not been present.  But Theodoret maintains that he is a Levite; because in 1 Samuel 7:1 Eleazar the son of Abinadab is said to have been sanctified, so that he might keep the ark.  Responses:  1.  To sanctify is often taken for to design for some use; and so it is said of the Persians and Medes, Isaiah 13:3:  the keeping of the ark was not a sacred function (Sanchez).  2.  He was indeed a Levite; yet not of the Kohathites, upon whom alone was imposed the duty of carrying the ark, Numbers 4 (certain interpreters in Serarius).  3.  He was a Levite, but not a priest.  But it belonged to the priests alone to touch the ark, Numbers 4:15; 18:3, Josephus’ Antiquities 7:4 (Lapide).  4.  That he touched the bare ark, which was not lawful for the Levites, Numbers 4:15 (Serarius); for, since in 1 Chronicles he is said to have touched the ark, it is understood in that manner in which the Levites are forbidden to touch it, that is, open, uncovered.  But Lyra and Tostatus object (indeed, most aptly [Sanchez]) object, that, when the ark was conveyed, it was always covered.  Response:  But the coverings had not been bound, but had been placed on top, in such a way that this way and that they might be blown by the wind or moved about by the shaking of the cart (Serarius).  But it is ridiculous to think that the ark came so easily uncovered, which by the priests would have been wrapped so carefully, and with a threefold veil (Sanchez).  5.  That he, being unclean in some manner, touched the ark, or with his conscience unexamined; or that he touched it irreverently (certain interpreters in Lapide and in Serarius).  6.  That he touched the ark out of unbelief, as if it were about to fall; neither was he having just sentiments concerning the ark and divine power (Hebrews in Sanchez).  7.  Because he touched it without necessity (certain interpreters in Serarius and in Lapide); or, if there was any necessity, Uzzah gave cause to it, in placing the ark on a cart (Martyr).  If anyone should think that in this place God punished Uzzah more grievously than was just, whose intention was pious; let him remember, 1.  That an intention is not able to be pious, which is against God’s law.  With good intention Saul spared the Amalekites, 1 Samuel 15:21, and the Jews killed both Christ and the Apostles, 1 Corinthians 2:8; John 16:2.  2.  That Uzzah sinned against a law clearly expressed, and that with a twofold offense; that he conveyed the ark, not on shoulders, but on a cart; and that he touched it with his hands (Bochart’s A Sacred Catalogue of Animals 375).  3.  That judgment begins at the house of God,[12] and God acts with more severity with those He loves, lest they be condemned with the world, 1 Corinthians 11 (Martyr).  We do not find that he was smitten in such a way that there was not time for him to acknowledge and destest his sin (Sanchez on verse 11).  4.  That God did this to establish discipline among His people (Martyr on verse 8).

God smote him with some deadly disease or stroke, as it follows.  For his error; either, 1.  For his touching the ark, when he was no Levite, as Josephus reports; nor indeed was Kirjath-jearim a Levitical city; or, that being but a Levite, he touched the bare ark, which only the priests might do, Numbers 4:15; 18:3.  And though the ark was ordinarily covered, yet it is not impossible but the covering might be either loose, and so blown aside by the wind; or worn out, and so he might touch the ark itself.  Or, 2.  Because he put the ark into a cart, and thereby exposed it to the danger of falling, which would have been a great discouragement to the Israelites, and a reproach to, the ark.  And though Ahio also might have a hand in putting it into the cart, yet Uzzah only is smitten; either because he was the elder brother, and the person to whose care the ark was more especially committed; or because he was the chief author of this counsel of putting it into a cart; or because he added a new fault of touching the ark, and that out of distrust of God’s care over it.  There he died:  this may seem very severe, considering that his intention was pious, and his transgression not great.  But, besides that men are very improper judges of the actions of God, and that God’s judgments are always just, though sometimes obscure, there are many things to be said of this and suchlike cases.  1.  That it is fit and reasonable that God should make some persons examples of his just and high displeasure against sins seemingly small; partly for the demonstration of his own exact and impartial holiness; partly for the establishment of discipline, (for which very reason even earthly princes have ofttimes inflicted great punishments for small offences,) and for the greater terror and caution of mankind, who are very prone to have slight thoughts of sin, and to give way to small sins, and thereby to be led on to greater; all which is or may be prevented by such instances of severity; and consequently, there is more of God’s mercy than of his justice in such actions, because the justice is confined to one particular person, but the mercy and benefit of it public and common to mankind of that and all future ages.  2.  That God is justly most severe in those things which immediately concern his worship and service; and against those persons who have the nearest relation to him, and the greatest opportunities of knowing, and the highest obligation of careful practicing, those duties which they neglect:  see Leviticus 10:3.  3.  That this punishment possibly was not so great as it may seem to be; for as for his body, the disease, though dangerous, might not be exceedingly painful; and for his soul, the stroke probably was not so sudden as not to give him space of repentance.

[1] Hebrew:  ‎וַיָּבֹ֖אוּ עַד־גֹּ֣רֶן נָכ֑וֹן וַיִּשְׁלַ֙ח עֻזָּ֜א אֶל־אֲר֤וֹן הָֽאֱלֹהִים֙ וַיֹּ֣אחֶז בּ֔וֹ כִּ֥י שָׁמְט֖וּ הַבָּקָֽר׃

[2] Hebrew:  ‎שָׁמְטוּ.

[3] כִּיד appears to signify misfortune.

[4] Fromרָצָה , to be please with.

[5] From יָגָה, to suffer.

[6] From שׁאָה, to make a din.

[7] In the feminine gender.

[8] Hebrew:  ‎ וַיִּשְׁלַ֙ח עֻזָּ֜א אֶל־אֲר֤וֹן הָֽאֱלֹהִים֙.

[9] Eutychius (born 876) was a physician, who became the Patriarch of Alexandria.  His Annals begin with the creation of the world and end with the year 900.

[10] Hebrew:  ‎וַיִּֽחַר־אַ֤ף יְהוָה֙ בְּעֻזָּ֔ה וַיַּכֵּ֥הוּ שָׁ֛ם הָאֱלֹהִ֖ים עַל־הַשַּׁ֑ל וַיָּ֣מָת שָׁ֔ם עִ֖ם אֲר֥וֹן הָאֱלֹהִֽים׃

[11] Hebrew:  ‎הַשַּׁל.

[12] 1 Peter 4:17.