David was filled with unwarranted anger when Uzzah died, but God’s anger was well deserved.
The ark of God had been in the house of Abinidab for a very long time. We read in 1 Samuel 7:1-2, “The men of Kirjath Jearim came and took the ark of the Lord, and brought it into the house of Abinadab on the hill…So…it was there twenty years.” This only means it was 20 long years until Samuel once again rebuked the people, saying, “If you return to the Lord with all your hearts, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths from among you, and prepare your hearts for the Lord, and serve Him only” (v 3), then the Lord would deliver them from the Philistines. In fact, by this time, the ark had been in that house on the hill for over 40 years. And you know what can happen over a whole generation? We can take divine things for granted, and become careless with the treasures God has entrusted to us. So it seemed with the sons of Abinidab, “Uzzah and Ahio” (2 Sam 6:3). Before the day was out, Uzzah was a casualty. Here’s what happened. We know the ark was to be carried by Levites, not treated like luggage and placed on a cart. We know their house was on a hill. And we know the ark was being pulled by clumsy oxen. Abinidab’s boys were there to help, Ahio in front (v 4) and, seemingly, Uzzah in the rear. Suddenly, by “Nachon’s threshing floor,” most likely an uneven rocky outcrop at the hilltop, “the oxen stumbled.” Uzzah, just trying to help, “put out his hand to the ark of God and took hold of it” (v 6)—and dropped dead on the spot! Why was this so terrible? You recall what the Philistines did when their god fell over? Propped him up again! No, no, said God. I don’t need to be propped up. I’m the one who holds YOU up, and don’t ever forget that. Today we pray, “O Lord,…undertake for me!” (Isa 38:14 ).