Dancing before the Lord
2 Samuel Chapter 6 – 7:17
Much of what we’ve read in the last four or five months has been centered on the ark of God. Throughout the journey through the wilderness it was literally the center of the community, traveling with the people and housed in its own elaborately described tent.
Now we meet up with the ark again as David sets out to have it brought up into his capital city, placing God at the center of the nation.
On the journey, though, came a sobering reminder of the ark’s power. One of the oxen drawing the cart the ark is on stumbles, and a man named Uzzah reaches out and takes hold of the ark, perhaps to steady it. He is struck dead for touching it.
David becomes angry and delays bringing it into Jerusalem.
After three months, though, he is ready to bring it into the city and does so, rejoicing with wild abandon. His wild dancing displays more than just his happiness, causing his wife, Michal, to despise him for his lack of dignity.
David is unrepentant, saying he will celebrate before the Lord, who has made him ruler over God’s people. “I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes,” he said. This suggests a lack of pride and a lack of concern for his own reputation that God appreciates.