The Bible In Paintings: DAVID JOYOUSLY RETRIEVES THE ARK

[Hebrews 11:6]

The Bible In Paintings 2
ENCOURAGEMENT FOR APPRECIATING AND APPLYING GOD'S MESSAGE

2nd SAMUEL
CHAPTER 6

David again brought together out of Israel chosen men, thirty thousand in all. He and all his men set out to bring up the ark of God, which is called by the Name, the name of the LORD Almighty, who is enthroned between the cherubim that are on the ark. They set the ark of God on a new cart. Uzzah and Ahio were guiding the new cart with the ark of God on it, and Ahio was walking in front of it.

David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the LORD, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals.

When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled. The LORD’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God.

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GIULIO QUAGLIO The Younger
"Death of Uzzah"

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JAMES TISSOT
"The Chastisement of Uzzah"

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Then David was angry because the LORD’s wrath had broken out against Uzzah.

David was afraid of the LORD that day and said, “How can the ark of the LORD ever come to me?” He was not willing to take the ark of the LORD to be with him in the City of David. Instead, he took it aside to the house of Obed-Edom the Gittite. The ark of the LORD remained in the house of Obed-Edom for three months, and the LORD blessed him and his entire household.

Now King David was told, “The LORD has blessed the household of Obed-Edom and everything he has, because of the ark of God.” So David went down and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-Edom to the City of David with rejoicing. When those who were carrying the ark of the LORD had taken six steps, he sacrificed a bull and a fattened calf. David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might, while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets.

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DOMENICO GARGIULO
"David Bearing the Ark of Testament into Jerusalem"

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JAMES TISSOT
"Bringing the Ark to Jerusalem"

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JAMES TISSOT
"David Dancing before the Ark"

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"David Dancing before the Ark"

As the ark of the LORD was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the LORD, she despised him in her heart.

They brought the ark of the LORD and set it in its place inside the tent that David had pitched for it, and David sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings before the LORD. After he had finished sacrificing the burnt offerings and fellowship offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD Almighty. And all the people went to their homes.

When David returned home to bless his household, Michal daughter of Saul came out to meet him and said, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!”

David said to Michal, “It was before the LORD, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the LORD’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the LORD. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”

And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death.

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"David Bringing the Ark to Jerusalem"

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JAMES TISSOT
"Michal Watching David from a Window"

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JULIUS SCHNORR VON CAROLSFELD

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→ a n d... f i n a l l y ←

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FRANCESCO DE' ROSSI
"El Rey David Danzando en Éxtasis frente al Arca de la Alianza"

New International Version ©1984, Abrdgd, EMPHASES Added
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[Hebrews 11:6]

R E S O U R C E S
Read 2nd SAMUEL 6 in full
Hear MAX McLEAN reading it
Hear a DRAMATIZATION of it
Read J-F-B's COMMENTARY
BIBLE TIMELINE

Click for 112 prior episodes in THIS series:
The Bible In Paintings 2
Click for 434 links in the FIRST series:
The Bible In Paintings 1


HOW GOD PROMPTED
THIS BIBLE-ART SERIES

"The Bible comes alive so much more with all the
illustrations, paintings, sculptures and stained glass windows.
Through them the stories are crystallized in our minds."

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6-MINUTE OVERVIEW OF
2nd SAMUEL

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[Hebrews 11:6]

SAUL, OR DAVID?
FEARFUL SAUL CONSULTS A WITCH
SAUL DIES, JUST AS FORETOLD
D A V I D
DAVID, THE NEW KING
DAVID JOYOUSLY RETRIEVES THE ARK
DAVID AND BATHSHEBA
DAVID MURDERS TO COVER ADULTERY

[Ciexyz]

I always felt sorry for poor Uzzah. Just trying to do his best.

[null and void]

Would it be better for Uzzah to let The Ark fall onto the dirt? Keep in mind that at the time the roads were literally paved with sh!t, the droppings of every draft animal that ever trudged along them.

The zotting of Uzzah has always bothered me

[Hebrews 11:6]

Good point. David and the priests should have known and obeyed God's instructions for using the poles to carry the ark. "Why do you call me 'Lord Lord' and do not do what I say?"

[Hebrews 11:6]

You point to the consequences if it fell, but the ark had just returned from being completely profaned by the Philistines. What do you imagine they had done to it? Soaked by urine, just for starters....

The Israelites were sinning profoundly in reclaiming the ark by their disobedient manner of transporting it. God has always allowed Himself to be humiliated in order to expose human sin. Sending His only Son to die in our place was the greatest manifestation of that willingness.

[null and void]

Fair point.

I still feel sorry for Uzzah, though. I rather doubt he was the one who made the decision to put The Ark on a humble ox cart.

Were you him, would you have let The Ark fall? I wouldn’t, any more than I wouldn’t try to catch a toddler that squirmed out of a shopping cart!

[etabeta]

Nice compilation of illustrations and paintings. Thanks, Dan!

[Hebrews 11:6]

Actually, believers face "Uzzah's Dilemma" frequently. The tension between God's Word and societal norms and laws is a grinding rubber-meeting-the-road catastrophe encountered by all real Christians.

So, yes, if I knew God's mandate and I'm Uzzah, I let it fall. But, like you, I catch the toddler, because God has no law against that.

[Hebrews 11:6]

Just for you, Alba.

[null and void]

Too true.

If I'm Uzzah I stop it from falling. Some things are worth dying for. Protecting The Ark, or even a mere child fall into that category.

*shrug* No good dead goes unpunished. That's the nature of situations with no good resolution.

[Hebrews 11:6]

The Ark was merely a transitory object. God's Eternal Word was what was important, and they were flouting it. Let it fall, so they will realize their sin and have the opportunity to repent.

[Big Red Badger]

Thanks Dan.

[Hebrews 11:6]

You’re very welcome.

[left that other site]

Good Morning, Dan!

As usual, Tissot shines.

[Ezekiel]

When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon (that's correct..), Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen [בקר] stumbled. The LORD’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God.

It was natural, and accidental.

Chutzpah is like mowing the lawn. If the grass is longer than when you started, yer doing it wrong. The Mosaic Law, OTOH...

Patsy Cline -- I Fall To Pieces

[Hebrews 11:6]

Mary-Lou, you remind me of Jesus’ saying: He made Tissot shine, and He certainly did not cover that marvelous shining!

[Hebrews 11:6]

It was natural, and accidental.

"Nature", "accident", and "coincidence" don't fit into my theology. The racing boat "accident" 59 years ago, two months before I started high school, when it ran over me at 70mph and which cost me my left hand and 220 stitches, was permitted by God and has been used by Him to bless me and others. My college roommate saw how I lived with my "disability", considered it a revelation, and fifteen years later was emboldened by it to adopt a boy with much more profound disabilities who was otherwise unadoptable.

God is not mocked. Even Israel's king cannot tear to pieces The Mosaic Law. He came to fulfill the Law, and His Word never passes away.

[Ezekiel]

"Nature", "accident", and "coincidence" don't fit into my theology

It was a word play on the oxen [בקר] in the incident. As was provided in the links,

a natural [♮] is a בקר from the French "bécarre" meaning a square b, which is... an accidental.

There are no coincidences. A number of the works selected for today's topic (DAVID JOYOUSLY RETRIEVES THE ARK) include David attached to his beloved harp.

The modern accidental signs derive from the two forms of the lower-case letter b used in Gregorian chant manuscripts to signify the two pitches of B, the only note that could be altered. The "round" b became the flat sign, while the "square" b diverged into the sharp and natural signs.

Sometimes the black keys on a musical keyboard are called "accidentals" (more usually sharps), and the white keys are called naturals.[1]

Accidental (music)

"The two sets of tablets in the Ark offer a striking metaphor. Namely, that brokenness and wholeness coexist side by side, even in Judaism’s holiest spot – in the heart of the holy Ark."

https://aish.com/the-broken-tablets/

And there was evening and there was morning [בקר], day one. (Gen 1:5)

[Hebrews 11:6]

Sorry you felt the need to walk me through that. But I just felt like grabbing the opportunity to lay out my view of God. That is our eternal joy....