And the anger of the Lord was kindled against
Uzzah
And which was manifest by smiting him:
and God smote him there for [his] error;
committed at this time, which was complicated; as that the ark
was put upon a cart, to which he might be the chief adviser, as
Procopius Gazaeus notes, when it should have been carried on the
shoulders of the Levites; and that be touched it with his hand,
which none but priests might do, supposing him to be a Levite,
which it is not clear he was, however not a Kohathite; and he
took hold of it in order to carry it in his arms, which even
Levites, and those Kohathites, might not do, but with staves put
into it, which only they were to hold; and besides, as Abarbinel
observes, he showed little faith in the power and providence of
God, as if he could not take care of the ark without him:
and there he died by the ark of God;
directly, upon the spot, by the side of it; whether he was struck
by lightning, or in what way, cannot be said; however, he died by
the immediate hand of God, in token of his displeasure: and this
shows that it is dangerous in matters of worship to act contrary
to the command of God, even in things that may seem small and
trivial; and though what may be done may be done with a good
intention, as this was, yet that will not excuse the sin; nor are
those who are the most forward and zealous in religious matters
exempted from marks of God's displeasure when they go wrong.