Hi all,
Did you know King David violated a whole section of Mosaic law at least twice, walking in a New Testament grace no one else ever did in the Old Testament? Why did God allow it, and what does it mean for you and I?
We will look at each instance and then look at why David was allowed to break the Mosaic law without penalty of death, and from that we will know the Father’s heart and how we can walk in a grace that has perhaps eluded us to this point.
He should have died
When David became King he wanted to restore the worship of God as prescribed in the laws of Moses. Those instructions given by God to Moses included an altar for sacrificing animals to the Lord which was a type of the cross. Then a laver which was a large basin of water so the priests could clean up, and which is a type of the washing away of the old by the Person of the Word in the born again experience.
(Do not take the auditorium church stance that a person must be born again and get into the written Word, this example show us the born again experience includes the cross and being washed by the Person who is the Word. Too many Christians know the written Word but don’t know the Person who is the Living Word and from whom the printed Word comes. The printed Word is secondary, flowing from our walk with the True Word. The application of this is rather than run first to the printed scripture for prayer or an answer, lay that aside and run to the Person of the Living Word for advice.)
The altar of sacrifice and the wash basin (laver) were in front of the tabernacle/temple in full view of the people, representing the born again experience. The rest of the objects of worship were hidden from view as is the ongoing work of the Lord in our hearts and minds. They were kept out of view behind 2 veils.
First veil
Behind the first veil was an oil lamp with multiple lamps (menorah) fueled by olive oil. The lamp is a type of the Holy Spirit and gifts lighting the inner space, followed by a table with bread which is a type of the ongoing growth and dependence a believer has on the Person who is Word of God (not the written Word, but the Person of the Word).
For man does not live by bread alone, but by every word (rhema – a direct word to us) that proceeds out of the mouth of God, indicating it isn’t the print, it’s the Person we first seek. The 3rd article was a table of incense, which we are told in Revelation 5: 8 is the prayers of the saints. These 3 things are contained within the tent/temple, hidden from view. The Holy Spirit and His empowerment, the dependence on the Person of the Living Bread/Word, and prayers to the Father.
But there is another veil, deeper within, separating the holy place from this area. The ‘holy of holy’ place contained the Ark of the Covenant which was a gold covered box topped with gold cherubs facing each other in worship. David knew God as ‘the One who lives between the cherubs’. (II Samuel 6:2, I Chronicles 13: 6, also I Samuel 4:4). It is where His presence was manifest, and correlates to our spirit man.
The priest would only go within that veil to see the Ark of the Covenant once a year on the Day of Atonement. (Hebrews 9: 25)
All these things are prescribed in the Law of Moses and the penalty is death for all those who would do otherwise. An example of this is when David brought the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem, mistakenly setting it on an ox cart rather than being carried on priests’ shoulders via poles through the rings on the sides of it. A man named Uzza reached out to steady the Ark on the ox cart and was immediately struck dead. (I Chronicles 13: 1-10)
David learned his lesson, studied up on the situation, and stated in I Chronicles 15: 2 &13 that only the Levitical priests were to move the Ark in the prescribed way.
But then David did something worthy of death, and lived to tell the tale.
Both I Chronicles 16: 1 and II Samuel 6: 17 record David simply pitched a tent, set the Ark of the Covenant in it, and danced before it as he made multiple sacrifices to the Lord. II Samuel 6 records more detail of that day, telling us while bringing the Ark they would walk 6 paces and then sacrifice, dance, shout, then walk another 6 paces, and repeat. Then he put the Ark in the tent and danced some more!
II Chronicles 6: 4 tells us once he was done he appointed Levites to oversee the Ark, including Asaph who was also a worship leader, and who wrote 12 of our Psalms (Psalms 50, and 73-83)
But why was David allowed to by-pass the altar of sacrifice, laver, veils, menorah, table of bread, altar of incense – and just worship before the open Ark of the Covenant? Why wasn’t he struck dead?
And that my friends, is for next week. I’ll let you think that through…until then! Blessings,
John Fenn
