Month: April 2023

The shadow of death

David’s famous Psalm 23, which is titled, “The LORD Is My Shepherd,” contains a verse that refers to a dark period in David’s life that was likely near the end of his reign as King of Israel. David said:

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
    I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
    your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me. (Psalm 23:4)

The rod and the staff were familiar tools to David because of his own experience as a shepherd (1 Samuel 16:11). The rod in particular was significant due to its connection with the rule of Israel’s Messiah. The Hebrew word that is translated rod in Psalm 23:4, shebet (shayˊ-bet) appears in Genesis 49:10 in reference to the Messiah coming from the tribe of Judah. “Because of the association between smiting and ruling, the rod became a symbol of the authority of the one bearing it; thus, this word can also mean a scepter (Genesis 49:10; Judges 5:14; Isaiah 14:5). Also, the connotation of tribe is based on the connection between this term and the concept of rulership” (H7626).

David recognized that God’s rulership over his life meant he would have to submit to the Lord’s authority even when doing so might result in his death. Absalom’s conspiracy against David caused him to flee Jerusalem. After the Ark of the Covenant was brought to him, David told the priest Zadok to take it back, and said, “If I find favor in the eyes of the LORD, he will bring me back and let me see both it and his dwelling place. But if he says, ‘I have no pleasure in you,’ behold, here I am, let him do to me what seems good to him” (2 Samuel 15:25-26). David may have thought that God was going to deal with him the same way he had King Saul, whose reign over Israel ended when he was killed in battle (1 Samuel 31:1-4). The thought that he would never return to Jerusalem might have felt like death to David. The phrase the shadow of death implies that death was near enough that it was casting its shadow on David. It could be that David sensed the presence of evil spirits and was aware that they meant to do him harm. In response to walking through the valley of the shadow of death, David said, “I will fear no evil” (Psalm 23:4).

It says in 2 Samuel 15:30 that “David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, barefoot and with his head covered.” The Mount of Olives played a significant role in the ministry of Jesus. Jesus’ prominent Olivet Discourse was spoken on the Mount of Olives (Matthew 24:3-25:46) and his triumphal entry into Jerusalem was initiated on his way down from the Mount of Olives (Luke 19:37-38). The Mount of Olives was just east of the Old City of Jerusalem and was separated from it by the Kidron Valley. “Jesus crossed the valley many times traveling between Jerusalem and Bethany. The valley contains the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus prayed the night before he was crucified” (Wikipedia.org). David’s walk through the valley of the shadow of death likely included passing through the Garden of Gethsemane. It could be that as David fled Jerusalem and headed toward the Mount of Olives that he thought of his need for redemption and realized that his Messiah was using his experience to make him aware of what he would have to go though one day in order to save him. David said of his experience, “For you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

The shadow of death may be thought of as a grim reminder of the consequences of our sin nature. Isaiah said of Jesus:

He was despised and rejectedby men,
a man of sorrowsand acquainted withgrief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not. (Isaiah 53:3)

This may accurately convey David’s experience when Shimei cursed him as he came to Bahurim. Second Samuel 16:13-14 states, “So David and his men went on the road, while Shimei went along on the hillside opposite him and cursed as he went and threw stones at him and flung dust. And the king, and all the people who were with him, arrived weary at the Jordan.” Isaiah when on to say:

Surely he has borne our griefs
    and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
    smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions;
    he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
    and with his wounds we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
    we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:4-6)

David wrote about his experience when he fled from Jerusalem in Psalm 3. David said, “Many are saying of my soul, there is no salvation for him in God” (Psalm 3:2). Even though others may have thought that David had lost his salvation when he fled from Jerusalem, David continued to put his trust in the Lord. David said, “But you, O LORD, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. I cried aloud to the LORD and he answered me from his holy hill” (Psalm 3:3-4). David’s assurance of salvation was based on the fact that he had repented of his sins and was told by Nathan the prophet, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die” (2 Samuel 12:13). The Hebrew word that is translated put away, abar (aw-barˊ) means “to cross over” (H5674). David’s sin was put away when he walked through or rather, crossed over the valley of the shadow of death and experienced his Savior’s agony in the Garden of Gethsemene.

The consequences of sin

David’s affair with Bathsheba not only resulted in the conception and subsequent death of a child, but also in the introduction of evil into David’s family. When he rebuked David, Nathan the prophet stated:

“Thus says the Lord, the God of Israel, ‘I anointed you king over Israel, and I delivered you out of the hand of Saul. And I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. Why have you despised the word of the Lord, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and have killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’ Thus says the Lord, ‘Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.’” (2 Samuel 12:7-12)

Nathan indicated that David had done what was evil in God’s sight and that God would raise up evil against David out of his own house. The Hebrew word raʿ (rah), which means bad or evil, “combines together in one the wicked deed and its consequences. It generally indicates the rough exterior of wrongdoing as a breach of harmony, and as breaking up of what is good and desirable in man and in society. While the prominent characteristic of the godly is lovingkindness (H2617), one of the most marked features of the ungodly man is that his course is an injury both to himself and to everyone around him” (H7451).

The moral degeneration that followed David’s transgression was first noticed in the rape of his daughter Tamar. David’s oldest son Amnon was in love with his step-sister and “was so tormented that he made himself ill because of his sister Tamar, for she was a virgin, and it seemed impossible to Amnon to do anything to her” (2 Samuel 13:2). Amnon’s cousin Jonadab helped him to craft a plot to trap Tamar and rape her in his own house (2 Samuel 13:5-6). Afterward, 2 Samuel 13:15 tells us, “Then Amnon hated her with very great hatred, so that the hatred with which he hated her was greater than the love with which he had loved her. When David was told what had happened, it says in 2 Samuel 13:21-22, “he was very angry. But Absalom spoke neither good nor bad, for Absalom hated Amnon because he had violated his sister Tamar.” Two years later, Absalom invited his half-brother to a party, and when his heart was merry with wine, Absalom ordered his servants to kill Amnon (2 Samuel 13:28-29).

An actively bad person is referred to in the Bible as the wicked or the ungodly. This kind of person is “guilty enough to deserve punishment (Deuteronomy 25:2)” (H7563). The rashaʾ is guilty of hostility to God and His people. Writing about the wicked in Psalm 36, David said:

Transgression speaks to the wicked
    deep in his heart;
there is no fear of God
    before his eyes.
For he flatters himself in his own eyes
    that his iniquity cannot be found out and hated.
The words of his mouth are trouble and deceit;
    he has ceased to act wisely and do good.
He plots trouble while on his bed;
    he sets himself in a way that is not good;
    he does not reject evil. (Psalm 36:1-4)

David said that the wicked sets himself in a way that is not good and he does not reject evil. What David meant was that the wicked like the idea of hurting other people. The wicked want to cause pain and suffering.

Jesus differentiated the wicked from members of God’s kingdom and used the example of a tree bearing fruit to identify the way you can tell the condition of a person’s heart (Matthew 12:33). Jesus said, “The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil” (Matthew 12:35). Jesus said “on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified and by your words you will be condemned” (Matthew 12:36). The Greek word that is translated give account, logos (logˊ-os) means “something said” (G3056) and is used in John 1:1-18 to refer to Jesus’ divine nature. Logos is the reasoning faculty as that power of the soul which is the basis of speech.

In order to deal with the eternal aspect of the consequences of sin, Jesus told two parable that specifically mentioned a wicked or evil one who was competing for ownership of believers’ hearts. Jesus said “When anyone hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart” (Matthew 13:18). Jesus went on to explain in his parable of the weeds that an intentional effort was being made to disrupt the establishment of the kingdom of heaven. In his explanation, Jesus specifically stated that the evil one is the devil and that he is trying to hinder the development of God’s kingdom by sowing his followers among God’s people (Matthew 13:37-39). Even though both were allowed to grow side by side until the harvest, the wicked were removed at harvest time. Jesus said, “Just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all law-breakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:40-42)

No regrets

David’s prominent position in the kingdom of Israel made it possible for him to abuse the power that God had given him. 2 Samuel 11:1 tells us that, “In the spring of the year, the time when kings go out to battle, David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel. And they ravaged the Ammonites and besieged Rabbah. But David remained at Jerusalem.” Even though it was David’s responsibility to lead his men in battle, he remained in Jerusalem. Essentially, what David was doing was taking a vacation from the wars that his country was engaged in. We aren’t told why David remained behind, but it is clear in the next verses that David was not acting according to God’s will. It says in 2 Samuel 11:2-5:

It happened, late one afternoon, when David arose from his couch and was walking on the roof of the king’s house, that he saw from the roof a woman bathing; and the woman was very beautiful. And David sent and inquired about the woman. And one said, “Is not this Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?” So David sent messengers and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her. (Now she had been purifying herself from her uncleanness.) Then she returned to her house. And the woman conceived, and she sent and told David, “I am pregnant.”

David knew that the woman he was attracted to was the wife of another man, and yet, he “sent messengers and took her” (2 Samuel 11:4). David’s sin might not have been discovered except that Bathsheba got pregnant. In an attempt to cover up what he had done, David sent for Uriah and tried to get him to have sex with his wife, so that it would appear that he had gotten Bathsheba pregnant instead of David (2 Samuel 11:6-13). When that failed, David sent Uriah back to the battle with a note to Joab, his commander, stating, “Set Uriah in the forefront of the hardest fighting, and then draw back from him, that he may be struck down and die” (2 Samuel 11:15).

It says in 2 Samuel 11:26-27, “When the wife of Uriah heard that Uriah her husband was dead, she lamented over her husband. And when the mourning was over, David sent and brought her to his house, and she became his wife and bore him a son. But the thing that David had done displeased the LORD.” The Hebrew word that is translated displeased, raʿaʿ (raw-ahˊ) means “to spoil (literally, by breaking to pieces); (figurative) to make (or be) good for nothing” (H7489). A word that is derived from raʿaʿ is raʿ (rah) which means “bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral)” (H7451). Raʿ appears three times in 2 Samuel 12:7-23 which deals with the consequences of David’s sins. When the LORD sent Nathan to confront David, he used a parable “to skillfully bring David to condemn himself, and David painfully realized the consequences of his sin. He had violated four of the ten commandments in one rash sin: you shall not commit murder, you shall not steal, you shall not commit adultery, and you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. Although it was about a year later, David sincerely repented of his sin (cf. Psalm 32:5; 51:1-19)” (note on 2 Samuel 12:1-14).

Psalm 51 gives us an intimate look at the consequences of David’s sins from a moral perspective. David began Psalm 51 with a petition for mercy. David prayed:

Have mercy on me,O God,
    according to your steadfast love;
according to your abundant mercy
    blot out my transgressions.
Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity,
    and cleanse me from my sin!

For I know my transgressions,
    and my sin is ever before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned
    and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you may be justified in your words
    and blameless in your judgment. (Psalm 51:1-4)

David was aware of his need for God’s mercy and admitted, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” (Psalm 51:4). David went on to say:

Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me.
Behold, you delight in truth in the inward being,
and you teach me wisdom in the secret heart. (Psalm 51:5-6)

David indicated that truth in his inward being and wisdom in his secret heart were the result of him being confronted by Nathan about his sin. The secret heart may have been a reference to David’s conscience, which was intentionally pricked by the parable that Nathan told him. The figurative meaning of the Hebrew word satham (saw-thamˊ) is “to keep secret” (H5640). One way of thinking of the secret heart is that it’s the part of us that we are unwilling to share with God. The things that we do that we don’t want anyone to know about. It’s likely that David was ashamed of what he had done and knew that he needed forgiveness before Nathan confronted him with his sin, but David was too proud to admit his failure. It wasn’t until the wisdom of God’s parable got into his soul and made him aware of the truth in his inward being that David was willing to repent and ask God for mercy.

David’s insight into the process of sanctification is revealed in verses 7-17 of Psalm 51. David prayed:

Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
    wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
    let the bones that you have broken rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins,
    and blot out all my iniquities.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and renew a rightspirit within me.
Cast me not away from your presence,
    and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and uphold me with a willing spirit.

Then I will teach transgressors your ways,
    and sinners will return to you.
Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God,
    O God of my salvation,
    and my tongue will sing aloud of your righteousness.
O Lord, open my lips,
    and my mouth will declare your praise.
For you will not delight in sacrifice, or I would give it;
    you will not be pleased with a burnt offering.
The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit;
    a broken and contrite heart, O God, you will not despise.

David asked God to create in him a clean heart, to renew a right spirit within him, and to restore the joy of his salvation. David was already saved, but he wasn’t experiencing life the way he was supposed to. David understood that his sin had affected his inner being and that he needed God to make it right again. David described his condition as “a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart” and indicated that they were “the sacrifices of God” (Psalm 51:17). The Apostle Paul referred to this as “godly grief” and said that it “produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret” (2 Corinthians 7:10).

The regrets that David had were an indicator that he was going through the process of sanctification and provided evidence that he had actually repented of his sins, but that wasn’t the end result that God was looking for. David’s repentance was intended to lead him “to salvation without regret” (2 Corinthians 7:10). What that means is that God wanted David’s salvation to become irrevocable. In other words, there would be no turning back after that. David was fully committed to his walk with the Lord. The end result of David’s sanctification was that he was willing to testify to others about the grace of God (Psalm 51:15). David promised God that he would use his experience to help others. When the joy of his salvation was restored, David said, “Then I will teach transgressors your ways, and sinners will return to you” (Psalm 51:13).

The kingdom of heaven

Israel’s demand for a king (1 Samuel 8:5) was a sign of their rejection of God and their desire to be like other nations. “God knew that the Israelites would someday desire a king. He had previously given guidelines that were to be followed by the people and by the kings that would reign over them (Deuteronomy 17:14-20)…The people were no longer satisfied with the system of judges that had been established. They improperly attributed the failures during that time to the system itself, not to their sin. They rejected God because they wanted to be like the other nations, not a peculiar people, set apart as the chosen ones of God. They wanted a visible deliverer in whom they could place their trust (cf. Judges 8:22). They wanted to walk by sight, not by faith” (note on 1 Samuel 8:5-7). Initially, God gave the Israelites the kind of king they were looking for. “From a human perspective, Saul fully satisfied the desires of the people. He was a man of great stature from the most military-minded tribe in all Israel and was considered capable of leading the people in battle against their enemies. Saul was also a man whose own spiritual life mirrored that of the majority of the Israelites; it was not long until he disobeyed the Lord (1 Samuel 13:8, 14)” (note on 1 Samuel 10:20-24). After Saul offered an unlawful sacrifice to the LORD, Samuel told Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the LORD your God, with which he commanded you. For then the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom shall not continue. The LORD has sought a man after his own heart, and the LORD has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the LORD commanded you” (1 Samuel 13:13-14).

Samuel anointed David king approximately twenty years before he began his thirty-three year reign over all Israel and Judah (2 Samuel 5:4-5). During Jesus’ ministry, “The Jews recognized that the Messiah would come from David’s descendants (cf. John 7:42). One of the titles applied to Jesus during his earthly ministry was ‘Son of David’ (Matthew 9:27; 12:23; 15:22), emphasizing his heirship of all David’s royal prerogatives as well as his fulfillment of the messianic promises to David (2 Samuel 7:8-16, cf. Matthew 22:41-45; Luke 1:32, 33, 69)” (note on 1 Samuel 16:13). The LORD’s covenant with David is recorded in 2 Samuel 7:8-16. Speaking through the prophet Nathan, God said:

“I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.’” (2 Samuel 7:12-16)

The statement God made about David’s son building a house for his name referred initially to Solomon but was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the ‘Son of David’ (Luke 1:31-33; Acts 2:25-35). Jesus told his disciples, “In my Father’s house are many rooms: if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (John 14:2-3).

Jesus’ departure from the earth is recorded in the gospels of both Mark and Luke. Mark tells us, “So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God” (Mark 16:19). In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul elaborated on Mark’s statement and indicated that Jesus received God’s authority when he sat down at his right hand (Ephesians 1:20-23), but we know that his reign hasn’t yet started because he told his disciples, “Truly, I say to you, in the new world, when the Son of Man will sit on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matthew 19:28). Jesus referred to the future kingdom that he would reign over as the kingdom of heaven and used numerous parables to describe it to his followers. Based on Jesus’ parables, the kingdom of heaven appears to be a place that is hidden from our view (Luke 17:21), but is a part of our current earthly existence (Matthew 6:33) and will be inhabited by both Old and New Testament believers at some point in the future (Matthew 8:11). Jesus indicated in his conversation with a ruler of the Jews named Nicodemus that “unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3) and then, explained, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit” (John 3:6-8).

Jesus’ mother, Mary, was visited by the angel Gabriel and was informed about her son’s future kingdom. Gabriel said:

“Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!”But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:28-33)

The unique thing about the throne of David was that God promised him it would be “established forever” (2 Samuel 7:16). David’s royal dynasty was intended to be built up or made sure by the eternal life that only Jesus could provide through his substitutionary death on the cross. The Hebrew word that is translated made sure in 2 Samuel 7:16 is ʾaman (aw-manˊ), which means “have belief” (H539). ʾAman is used in Genesis 15:6 where it says that Abraham “believed the LORD and he counted it to him as righteousness.” “This is one of the key verses of the entire Old Testament. It is an important witness to the doctrine of justification by faith and to the doctrine of the unity of believers in both Old and New Testaments. Abraham’s faith was credited to him for righteousness before he was circumcised and more than 400 years before the law was given to his descendants. Therefore neither circumcision nor the law had a part in Abraham’s righteousness. Abraham’s faith was not merely a general confidence in God nor simple obedience to God’s command; Paul stressed that it was indeed faith in the promise of redemption through Christ (Romans 3:21, 22; 4:18-25; Galatians 3:14-18)” (note on Genesis 15:6).

Jesus’ conversation with Pilate, the governor who gave the order for him to be crucified, ended with Jesus being asked the question, “What is truth?” John tells us:

So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” Pilate said to him, “What is truth?” (John 18:33-38)

Jesus told Pilate that his kingdom was not of this world. The world that Jesus was talking about was not the physical planet that we live on, but the kosmos (kosˊ-mos), “the present order of things, as opposed to the kingdom of Christ; and hence, always with the idea of transience, worthlessness, and evil both physical and moral, the seat of cares, temptations, irregular desires” (G2889). Jesus distinguished his kingdom from Pilate’s by pointing out to him that another world existed. The new world Jesus mentioned in Matthew 19:28 refers specifically to “Messianic restoration…In the sense of renovation, restoration, restitution to a former state; spoken of the complete eternal manifestation of the Messiah’s kingdom when all things are to be delivered from their present corruption and restored to spiritual purity and splendor” (G3824).

The reason why Jesus wanted Pilate to know that another world existed may have been so that he wouldn’t feel threatened by him being identified as the King of the Jews. When Pilate was told that Jesus had made himself “the Son of God” (John 19:7), “He entered his headquarters again and said to Jesus, ‘Where are you from?’” (John 19:9). It’s possible that at that point Pilate understood what Jesus was talking about when he said his kingdom was not of this world, but more than likely, Pilate assumed that Jesus was out of his mind. It says in John 19:10-11, “So Pilate said to him, ‘You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?’ Jesus answered him, ‘You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above. Therefore, he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin.’” The phrase from above is “spoken of whatever is heavenly or from heaven, and since God dwells in heaven, it signifies from God, in a divine manner” (G509). Jesus clearly wanted Pilate to know who he was dealing with and didn’t hide the fact that God was allowing him to crucify his own Son. Perhaps, in an attempt to bring the people to their senses, Pilate said to the Jews, “’Behold your King!’ They cried out, ‘Away with him, crucify him!’ Pilate said to them, ‘Shall I crucify your King?’ The chief priests answered, ‘We have no king but Caesar.’ So he delivered him over to them to be crucified” (John 19:14-16).

Jesus’ final conversation was with a man who was hanging on a cross next to his. Luke tells us, “When they came to the place that is called The Skull, there they crucified him, and the criminals, one on his right and one on his left” (Luke 23:33). Luke went on to say, “One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, ‘Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!’ But the other rebuked him, saying, ‘Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.’ And he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ And he said to him, ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise’” (John 23:39-43). The second criminal realized the Jesus’ reign over the kingdom of heaven was not going to be prevented by his death or more specifically, by his crucifixion. The expression kingdom of heaven “often embraces both the internal and external kingdom and refers both to its commencement in this world and its completion in the world to come…In this latter view it denotes especially the bliss of heaven which it to be enjoyed in the Redeemer’s kingdom, i.e. eternal life” (G932).

Enthusiastic disobedience

The Ark of the Covenant was an important part of the sanctuary where the people of Israel met with God because it contained the mercy seat which was necessary for atonement of sins to be made (Leviticus 16:15-17). God told Moses, “There I will meet with you, and from above he mercy seat, from between the two cherubim that are on the ark of the testimony, I will speak with you about all that I will give you in commandment for the people of Israel” (Exodus 25:22). In the early years of Samuel’s ministry, “The Israelites treated the ark as a kind of magic charm instead of the testimony of God’s presence and power” (note on 1 Samuel 4:3). The Israelites brought the Ark of the Covenant into their camp during a battle with the Philistines thinking it might save them from the power of their enemies (1 Samuel 4:3), but “there was a very great slaughter, for thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell. And the ark of God was captured” (1 Samuel 4:10-11). The ark was in the country of the Philistines seven months (1 Samuel 6:1) and then, it was voluntarily returned to the Israelites because “the LORD was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and he terrified and afflicted them with tumors” (1 Samuel 5:6). First Samuel 7:1-2 states, “And the men of Kiriath-jearim came and took up the ark of the LORD and brought it to the house of Abinadab on the hill. And they consecrated his son Eleazar to have charge of the ark of the LORD. From the day that the ark was lodged at Kiriath-jearim, a long time passed, some twenty years and all the house of Israel lamented after the LORD.”

One of the first things that David did after he became king over all Israel was to bring up the ark of God from the house of Abinadab. It says in 2 Samuel 6:3-10:

And they carried the ark of God on a new cart and brought it out of the house of Abinadab, which was on the hill. And Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart, with the ark of God, and Ahio went before the ark.

And David and all the house of Israel were celebrating before the Lord, with songs and lyres and harps and tambourines and castanets and cymbals. And when they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it, for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God struck him down there because of his error, and he died there beside the ark of God. And David was angry because the Lord had broken out against Uzzah. And that place is called Perez-uzzah to this day. And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and he said, “How can the ark of the Lord come to me?” So David was not willing to take the ark of the Lord into the city of David. But David took it aside to the house of Obed-edom the Gittite.

“The severe judgment on Uzzah, despite his good intentions, served notice to the people of Israel that God must be revered and obeyed. Uzzah showed disrespect for the Lord by touching the ark (Numbers 4:15). Furthermore, as one of the priests, he was disobeying God by letting the ark be carried on a cart. The ark was supposed to be carried by priests upon staves or poles (Exodus 25:12-15). Uzzah’s actions illustrate that one is often led into additional error and disastrous consequences by disobeying God’s specific instructions” (note on 2 Samuel 6:7).

David was angry because the LORD had broken out against Uzzah (2 Samuel 6:8), but later realized that his enthusiasm to bring the ark of God to Jerusalem didn’t excuse him from doing it the right way. David explained to the priests and the Levites before they made a second attempt, “Because you did not carry it the first time, the LORD our God broke out against us, because we did not seek him according to the rule” (1 Chronicles 15:13). The New Living Translation of 1 Chronicles 15:13 indicates that the problem with David’s attempt to move the ark was that he didn’t ask God how to do it properly. When the Philistines returned the ark to Israel, they transported it to Beth-shemesh on a new cart pulled by two milk cows that had never been yoked and had just had their calves taken away from them (1 Samuel 6:7). The Philistines did this so that they would know if the hand of the LORD had struck them or “it happened to us by coincidence” (1 Samuel 6:9). “It is normally difficult for even cows who have been trained to be driven straight down a road when their calves have just been taken away from them. In this case, the cows did follow a straight line, carrying the ark back to the Israelites, which revealed that their behavior was controlled by God” (note on 1 Samuel 6:7-12). The Philistines success in transporting the ark on a new cart may have influenced David’s decision to do the same, but the mistake that David made was assuming that he didn’t have to transport the Ark of the Covenant the way that God had instructed the people of Israel to do it.

The Hebrew word that is translated seek in the phrase “we did not seek him according to the rule” (1 Chronicles 15:13) is darash (daw-rashˊ), which means to consult or ask. “One of the most frequent uses of this word is in the expression ‘to inquire of God,’ which sometimes indicates a private seeking of God in prayer for direction (Genesis 25:22), and often it refers to the contacting of a prophet who would be the instrument of God’s revelation (1 Samuel 9:9; 1 Kings 22:8). At other times the expression is found in connection with the use of Urim and Thummim by the high priest as he sought to discover the will of God by the throwing of these sacred stones (Numbers 27:21)” (H1875). David inquired of the LORD on numerous occasions (1 Samuel 23:2, 4; 30:8; 2 Samuel 2:1; 5:19, 23), and yet, he did not do so in this instance. It could be that his enthusiasm to bring the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem overshadowed David’s sense of dependence upon God. 2 Samuel 6:20-23 suggests that David was humbled by his tragic mistake. It says in 2 Samuel 6:14 that David “danced before the LORD with all his might” as the ark came into the city of David. Afterward, David’s wife Michal accused him of being one of the vulgar fellows who shamelessly uncovers himself (2 Samuel 6:20), but David responded, “I celebrate before the Lord. Yes, and I am willing to look even more foolish than this, even to be humiliated in my own eyes!” (2 Samuel 6:21-22, NLT)