Why Did Uzzah Die For Touching the Ark?

[polar bear]

so the moral of the story is similar to Dirty Dancing-Nobody puts Baby in a corner

Nobody puts gawd in a box (and lives)

[Metis]

Oh yeah people kill children all the time to teach them not to mess with things.  

[downbeatplumb]

Oh yeah people kill children all the time to teach them not to mess with things.  

I would argue with that statement.
Fred and Rose West were rather naughty.



Still, less annoying than their nephew, Kanye.

[Pyrrho]

This story is from Samuel, chapter

http://biblehub.com/2_samuel/6.htm

David decided to move the ark and used a new cart guided by two men, Uzzah and Ahio. When one of the oxen pulling the cart stumbled, Uzzah-naturally- put his hand on the ark. God, according to the story, killed Uzzah for trying to stop the ark from falling.

Then the LORD's anger burned against Uzzah, and God struck him dead on the spot for his irreverence, and he died there next to the ark of God

The bible describes god as being very angry because he tried to steady the ark. To Christians, why do you believe god punished Uzzah for trying to keep the ark from falling to the ground? I know that not every Christian on this site believes that the stories are literal. If you believe that this story is just an allegory then what is it teaching?

The meaning is the same as the Abraham and Isaac story in Genesis 22:

http://biblehub.com/genesis/22.htm

You are supposed to have blind obedience to God's commands, no matter what they are.  You are not supposed to be thinking for yourself and doing what you think best; you are supposed to just do as you are told.  No matter how capricious, evil, perverted, insane the command may be, you are supposed to obey the command no matter what.

[LastPoet]

And then, free will. Ta dahhh...

[Longhorn]

Bottom line: god is an asshole, don't touch his shit

[Thackerie]

From Randy's post.



The Hebrew god is supposed to be well, a god. Why does such a powerful being, who was routinely doing miracles, need to make people fear him? His presence, if it is as Christians describe, should have been able to do that without any silly rituals or killing people for innocently touching his relics.

It was better for one man to die so that the others learned to obey God TO THE LETTER than for people to believe that they were free to do whatever they wanted with God's commands.

You ever punish one child knowing that the others would learn from the example?

Of course not. What a dick move!

Does a company ever fire one employee for taking excessively long lunch breaks in order to get the others to shape up?

Another dick move -- and any company that would do so deserves to be sued.

It happens all the time, and God did what anyone of us would do to teach the people not to mess.

Anyone of us? Speak for yourself. I am not a dick.

[Jenny A]

I've always loved this historical tidbit:

In the late stages of the Second World War, Evelyn Waugh was trapped in Europe in the company of Randolph Churchill, the boorish son of the wartime prime minister. "In the hope of keeping him quiet," he wrote to Nancy Mitford, "Freddie and I bet him £20 that he cannot read the whole Bible in a fortnight. Unhappily it has not had the result we hoped. He has never read any of it before and is hideously excited; keeps reading quotations aloud... or merely slapping his side & chortling 'God, isn't God a shit!'."

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/thi...92761.html

And yes indeed the OT god is one helluva SOB.

[Nope]

From Randy's post.



The Hebrew god is supposed to be well, a god. Why does such a powerful being, who was routinely doing miracles, need to make people fear him? His presence, if it is as Christians describe, should have been able to do that without any silly rituals or killing people for innocently touching his relics.

It was better for one man to die so that the others learned to obey God TO THE LETTER than for people to believe that they were free to do whatever they wanted with God's commands.

You ever punish one child knowing that the others would learn from the example?

Does a company ever fire one employee for taking excessively long lunch breaks in order to get the others to shape up?

It happens all the time, and God did what anyone of us would do to teach the people not to mess.

Correcting someone is not the same as killing them. Uzzah was not sent away or fired from his job; god killed him.

[Faith No More]

A dude tries to touch the ark. Incineration.

Gay marriage is legalized and sanctioned by our government. Silence.

He seems to have lost some power over the centuries.