Steadying the Ark

In 2 Samuel 6, the story is told of the Israelites taking back the ark that had been captured by the Philistines. During the journey, they apparently encountered some rough terrain and Uzza (who was one of the men helping to carrying the ark), noticed the oxen were shaking the ark and decided to steady it so it wouldn’t fall. Upon doing this, God smote him “for his error” and he died. David is then scared to move the ark any further and it stays with a man named Obed-edom.

In LDS circles, the phrase “steadying the ark” is used a lot as an analogy that we should just let the work of God move forward and not question what is being said or done by the leadership (at any level). There is the belief, I guess, that Uzza didn’t really need to steady the ark because God would have taken care of it on His own. Today, when someone questions a church idea or program, people accuse them of “steadying the ark”, and tell them they should just let the church move forward, because, well, look what happened to Uzza. While I think there may be some truth in trusting in the leadership to know how manage their stewardship, I think the application of “steadying the ark” in this instance is wrong.

If we look a little deeper into this story we find out the real reason why Uzza was killed, and it wasn’t because he was trying to protect the ark. The story of Uzza is retold in 1 Chronicles 13:9-10, but this time further explanation is given. In 1 Chronicles 15, David has prepared a place to house the ark, and decides to bring the ark from Obed-edom’s house, but this time he says “None ought to carry the ark of God but the Levites: for them hath the LORD chosen to carry the ark of God, and to minister unto him for ever.” (1 Chronicles 15:2) He later tells them “Ye are the chief of the fathers of the Levites: sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel unto the place that I have prepared for it. For because ye did it not at the first, the Lord our God made a breach upon us, for that we sought him not after the due order.” (1 Chronicles 15:12-13)

Uzza was smitten, not because he tried to steady something that apparently didn’t need steadying, but because he was not a Levite, a member of the tribe of Israel who were called and appointed to officiate in matters of the temple and priesthood. So, I think the morale of the story isn’t necessarily to not question anything that doesn’t need questioning, but rather there is order to the priesthood and when something is done outside that order, there are consequences. Now, I don’t necessarily think that type of thing would happen today. Can you imagine if a deacon tried to bless the sacrament for the congregation, and was smitten because he wasn’t a priest?