1 Chronicles 15:13

13 1Because you did not carry it the first time, the LORD our God broke out against us, because we did not seek him according to the rule."

1 Chronicles 15:13 Meaning and Commentary

1 Chronicles 15:13

For because ye did it not at the first
Did not sanctify themselves, as the supplement in our version directs; but rather the sense is, ye were not there at first, when the ark was brought from Kirjathjearim as far as the house of Obededom, as they should have been; they were not then employed, as was their business, and therefore

the Lord our God made a breach upon us;
by smiting Uzzah with death, who was no Levite, and touched the ark, which is called his "error", and for which God smote him, ( 2 Samuel 6:7 ) on which place Lud. Capellus observes, the word "shal", we there render "error", signifies a "disease" in the Arabic language, and might formerly design a sudden one with the Hebrew; as an apoplexy; and so the sense be, that God smote Uzzah with an apoplexy, of which he suddenly died:

for that we sought him not after the due order;
but, instead of employing the Levites to carry the ark on their shoulders, it was put upon a cart.

1 Chronicles 15:13 In-Context

11 Then David summoned the priests Zadok and Abiathar, and the Levites Uriel, Asaiah, Joel, Shemaiah, Eliel, and Amminadab,
12 and said to them, "You are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites. Consecrate yourselves, you and your brothers, so that you may bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel, to the place that I have prepared for it.
13 Because you did not carry it the first time, the LORD our God broke out against us, because we did not seek him according to the rule."
14 So the priests and the Levites consecrated themselves to bring up the ark of the LORD, the God of Israel.
15 And the Levites carried the ark of God on their shoulders with the poles, as Moses had commanded according to the word of the LORD.

Cross References 1

  • 1. 1 Chronicles 13:7; 2 Samuel 6:3
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.