2 Samuel 6

Translator Notes

1. The verb vayyosef ('he again gathered') implies a prior military assembly; David is repurposing his military infrastructure for a sacred mission. The term bachur ('chosen, picked') is a military term for select warriors in their prime. Thirty thousand men to escort the Ark is a statement of national priority: this is not a private errand but a state event. David treats the Ark's transfer as an operation requiring the same scale as warfare.

Translator Notes

1. The location mibba'alei Yehudah is textually difficult. The parallel in 1 Chronicles 13:6 identifies this as Baalah, which is Kiriath-jearim (Joshua 15:9-10), where the Ark had rested since 1 Samuel 7:1. The phrase asher niqra shem shem ('over which a Name — the Name — is invoked') contains the unusual doubling of shem, likely for emphasis or as a scribal duplication. The divine title YHWH Tseva'ot ('LORD of Armies') appears for the first time in 1 Samuel 1:3 and becomes a dominant title in the prophets. The cherubim (keruvim) are the golden winged figures on the Ark's cover (Exodus 25:18-22) between which God's presence was understood to dwell.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase ba-giv'ah ('on the hill') identifies Abinadab's house as being on elevated ground — the same location described in 1 Samuel 7:1 where the Ark was brought after leaving Beth-shemesh. Uzzah (Uzza, 'strength') and Ahio (Achyo, 'his brother' or a proper name) are identified as Abinadab's sons — the family that has housed the Ark for approximately twenty years. The repeated emphasis on the cart being chadashah ('new') may echo the Philistine cart of 1 Samuel 6:7, subtly inviting the reader to notice that Israel is imitating pagan transport methods rather than following Mosaic protocol.

Translator Notes

1. The verse restates the departure, with the added detail that Ahio walked in front of the Ark — presumably guiding the oxen or clearing the path. The repetition of the departure scene (overlapping with v3) is characteristic of Hebrew narrative style, adding a new detail with each pass. Ahio's position in front of the Ark and Uzzah's implied position beside or behind it will become critical in verses 6-7.

Translator Notes

1. The verb mesachaqqim ('playing, celebrating, making merry') from the root s-ch-q conveys exuberant joy — this is not solemn liturgy but a street festival. The instruments listed form a complete ancient orchestra: kinnorot (lyres, stringed), nevalim (harps, larger stringed instruments), tuppim (tambourines, hand-drums), mena'an'im (rattles or sistrums — a shaken percussion instrument), and tseltselim (cymbals). The phrase bekhol atsei veroshim ('with all manner of cypress-wood instruments') likely refers to the wooden-bodied instruments. The parallel in 1 Chronicles 13:8 reads bekhol oz ('with all their might') instead, which some scholars consider the original reading. The celebration is wholehearted, full-bodied, and loud.

Translator Notes

1. The threshing floor of Nacon (goren Nakhon) is identified in 1 Chronicles 13:9 as the threshing floor of Chidon — the name differs between accounts. Nakhon may mean 'fixed, established' — possibly a proper name or a descriptive term. The verb shamtu (from sh-m-t, 'to release, slip, drop') describes the oxen losing their footing or the cart lurching. The verb vayyochez ('he grabbed hold') indicates a firm grip, not a light touch — Uzzah seized the Ark to prevent it from falling.

Translator Notes

1. The word hashal is a hapax legomenon — it occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible — and its meaning is debated. Proposals include 'rashness,' 'error,' 'irreverence,' and 'his stumbling' (taking it as related to the oxen's stumble). The Septuagint reads propetieia ('rashness'). The Chronicler's parallel (1 Chronicles 13:10) replaces this with 'because he stretched out his hand to the Ark.' The phrase vayyichar af YHWH ('the anger of the LORD burned') uses the standard idiom for divine wrath. The repetition of sham ('there') twice in the verse anchors Uzzah's death to the precise location — it becomes a place marked by death, which David will name in the next verse.

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The verb parats ('to breach, break through') gives us the place name Perets Uzza ('Breach of Uzzah'). The same root appears in the name Perez (Genesis 38:29) and in descriptions of God 'breaking out' against people (Exodus 19:22, 2 Samuel 5:20). David's anger (vayyichar) mirrors God's anger from the previous verse — the same verb charah is used for both, creating a startling parallel between divine wrath and human outrage. The phrase ad hayyom hazzeh ('to this day') is the narrator's voice, indicating the name persisted long after the event.

Translator Notes

1. The verb vayyira ('he feared') marks a sharp emotional turn from the anger of verse 8. David moves from charah (burning anger) to yare (fear, awe, dread) — the two responses are sequential, not contradictory. The question eikh yavo elai aron YHWH ('how can the Ark of the LORD come to me?') echoes the Beth-shemesh question of 1 Samuel 6:20 and anticipates the resolution in verse 12, when David hears that God has blessed Obed-edom's house and finds the courage to try again.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase lo avah David ('David was not willing') expresses a deliberate refusal born of fear. The verb hissir ('to turn aside, divert') indicates the Ark was redirected from its intended destination. Obed-edom (Oved-Edom, 'servant of Edom') is called haGitti ('the Gittite'), which could mean he was from Gath (a Philistine city) or from Gath-rimmon (a Levitical city in Dan, Joshua 21:24). The Chronicler identifies him as a Levite (1 Chronicles 15:18, 21), which would explain why the Ark could legitimately rest at his house. If he was a Philistine convert from Gath, the irony is striking: the Ark that devastated Gath now blesses a Gittite's household.

Translator Notes

1. The verb vayyeshev ('it remained, sat, dwelled') is the same verb used for human habitation — the Ark 'dwells' in Obed-edom's house as a guest. The phrase vayevarekh YHWH ('the LORD blessed') does not specify the nature of the blessing, but the context suggests material prosperity, fertility, and general flourishing. Three months is the same duration the Ark spent in each Philistine city during its captivity (cf. 1 Samuel 5), but now the result is blessing rather than plague.

Translator Notes

1. The report that reaches David — berekh YHWH et beit Oved-Edom ('the LORD has blessed the house of Obed-edom') — is the turning point. What broke David's fear was not a theological argument but evidence: the Ark can bring life, not just death. The phrase besimchah ('with joy, gladness') marks a recovery from the terror of verse 9. David's fear has been replaced not by recklessness but by informed confidence. The Chronicler's account (1 Chronicles 15) specifies that David also corrected the transport method, appointing Levites to carry the Ark on their shoulders — he learned from Uzzah's death.

Translator Notes

1. The key detail is nos'ei aron YHWH ('the bearers of the Ark of the LORD') — the verb nasa ('to carry, bear') indicates the Ark is now on human shoulders, not a cart. This corrects the error of verse 3. The phrase shishah tse'adim ('six steps') uses tsa'ad ('step, pace'), a specific measure of walking. The sacrifice of a shor umerio ('bull and fattened calf') is lavish — these are premium animals. Whether the sacrifice was a one-time confirmation or repeated at every six steps is grammatically ambiguous; the Chronicler mentions seven bulls and seven rams as the total (1 Chronicles 15:26).

Key Terms

Translator Notes

1. The verb mekharker (from k-r-r) is rare in the Hebrew Bible and denotes whirling, spinning, or dancing in circles. It appears again in verse 16. The phrase bekhol oz ('with all his strength/might') emphasizes total physical commitment — this is not symbolic swaying but exhausting, full-body movement. The efod bad ('linen ephod') was a priestly undergarment (1 Samuel 2:18, 22:18) — lighter and less ornate than the high priest's decorated ephod of Exodus 28. That David wears only this garment means he has removed his royal clothing and dressed as a servant of God.

Translator Notes

1. The word teru'ah ('shout, blast, war cry, acclamation') is the same term used for the shout at Jericho (Joshua 6:5) and the blasts on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 25:9). It is not polite applause but a roar — the sound of a nation greeting its God. The shofar (ram's horn) is the quintessential instrument of divine encounter: it sounded at Sinai (Exodus 19:16), it will sound at the final ingathering (Isaiah 27:13). The combination of human voice (teru'ah) and sacred instrument (shofar) creates a wall of sound accompanying the Ark into Jerusalem.

Translator Notes

1. Michal is called bat Sha'ul ('daughter of Saul') rather than 'wife of David' — a deliberate narrative choice that frames her reaction as an extension of Saul's house and its values. The verb nishqefah ('she looked down through') implies looking downward from an elevated position, reinforcing the spatial and emotional distance between her observation and David's participation. The verb mefazzez (from p-z-z, 'to leap, spring') is combined with mekharker ('whirling') to create a picture of wild, full-body movement. The verb bazah ('to despise') is the same verb used when Esau 'despised' his birthright (Genesis 25:34) — it indicates a fundamental devaluation of something.

Translator Notes

1. The tent (ohel) David pitched is not the Mosaic Tabernacle (mishkan), which was at Gibeon (1 Chronicles 16:39, 2 Chronicles 1:3). David has prepared a new tent specifically for the Ark — a provisional shelter anticipating the permanent Temple he will later propose (2 Samuel 7). The verb vayyatssigu ('they set it') means to station or establish in a fixed position. The Ark now has bimqomo ('its place') — for the first time since leaving Shiloh, the Ark has a designated, permanent home. David offers olot (burnt offerings, entirely consumed) and shelamim (peace offerings, shared between God and worshipers) — a complete liturgy of dedication combining total consecration and communal celebration.

Translator Notes

1. David performs a priestly function: vayevarekh et ha'am ('he blessed the people'). The blessing is given beshem YHWH Tseva'ot ('in the name of the LORD of Armies') — the same divine title used in verse 2 to describe the God enthroned above the Ark's cherubim. David acts as both king and mediator, bridging the people and God. The priestly blessing was normally a Levitical prerogative (Numbers 6:22-27), but David's assumption of this role fits the broader pattern of this chapter: he wears a priestly ephod, he offers sacrifices, and he blesses the assembly. He is acting as priest-king, a role that will later be theologized in Psalm 110.

Translator Notes

1. The distribution covers kol hamon Yisra'el ('the entire multitude of Israel') and explicitly includes both men (me'ish) and women (ve'ad ishah) — a notable specification in ancient Near Eastern royal generosity. The three items are: challat lechem (a ring-shaped bread loaf), eshpar (a debated term — possibly a portion of meat, a date cake, or a measured portion; the exact meaning is uncertain), and ashishah (a raisin cake, pressed dried fruit). These are festival foods, not staples — David is not feeding the hungry but celebrating with the nation. The final clause vayyeylekh kol ha'am ish leveito ('all the people went each to his house') sets up the domestic confrontation that follows: everyone goes home satisfied, and David goes home to Michal.

Translator Notes

1. Michal is again identified as bat Sha'ul ('daughter of Saul'), reinforcing the dynastic tension. The verb niglah ('he uncovered himself') from g-l-h is loaded with connotations of nakedness and shame — the same root used for sexual exposure in Leviticus 18 and 20. The comparison kehiggalot niglot achad hareqim ('as one of the worthless men shamelessly exposes himself') uses the infinitive absolute for emphasis: thorough, complete exposure. The word reqim ('empty, worthless') is a social judgment — Michal sees David's behavior as beneath his station. Her objection is not moral but aristocratic.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase asher bachar bi me'avikh ('who chose me over your father') uses the verb bachar ('to choose, elect'), the same verb used for God's election of Israel. David locates his authority not in royal dignity but in divine election. The title nagid ('ruler, designated leader') is the same title given to Saul at his anointing (1 Samuel 9:16) and to David at his (1 Samuel 25:30) — David is claiming Saul's title by divine right. The verb sichaqti ('I celebrated, played') from s-ch-q is the same root used in verse 5 for Israel's celebration — David identifies his dancing as continuous with the nation's worship.

Translator Notes

1. The verb neqalloti (from q-l-l, 'to be light, trivial, cursed') is the opposite of nikhbad (from k-v-d, 'to be honored, heavy') — David accepts being 'light' in order to be 'heavy' with God. The phrase vehayiti shapal be'einai ('I will be lowly in my own eyes') anticipates a theology of humility that runs through the Psalms attributed to David. The final clause immam ikkaveda ('by them I will be honored') uses the same k-v-d root: the slave girls will give David the kavod that Michal withholds. David is redefining where honor comes from: not from royal bearing but from abandoned worship.

Translator Notes

1. The phrase lo hayah lah yaled ('she had no child') uses the simple existential construction — there was no child for her. The text does not specify whether this was divine punishment, David's decision to stop relations with her, or natural infertility — the ambiguity is deliberate. The phrase ad yom motah ('until the day of her death') makes the barrenness permanent and final. Michal is called bat Sha'ul one last time — her identity as Saul's daughter, not David's wife, is the lens through which the narrative frames her fate. The verse functions as a closing verdict on the Saulide dynasty: it produces no future.