As we saw last time, Uzzah died because he reached out his hand and touched the ark – or, to put it in the terms that the Chronicler uses, he died because the ark was being carried on a cart, rather than by the priests. He died because David and the priests failed to follow God's rules for worship.
This passage demonstrates a principle that is sometimes called the “regulative principle”: that in worship we must do only that which God has prescribed.
But this passage also demonstrates David's creativity in worship. In our passage today, David introduces musical instruments and song into the worship of God. But there is no reference in this passage (or elsewhere) to any divine command to introduce music into worship.
What should we make of this? Some have argued that this means that we have similar freedom in worship as well. But who is David?
It is one thing for the Lord's anointed – the Messiah – to introduce something. But few mortals have ever stood where David stands.
Even Solomon will simply follow the pattern that Moses and David established. And for that matter, David's liturgical innovations do not alter what Moses had said (he discovered that the hard way in the case of Uzzah), they simply expand on the pattern of Moses.
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