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Gods freakout in old testament, freaks me out,

kevin256

Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2012
Messages
12
Hey so random question, I was reading in 1 chronicles 13:10, in the passage the ark is being brought to jeruselam or the city of david. On the way everyone is singing and dancing celebrating the Lord then all of a sudden a guy drops dead! The oxen pulling the ark had stumbled and a guy name Uzza tried to help out and uphold the ark and God freaked out and killed him!!! This drives me crazy!!!! Everyone always talks about God being unchanging and merciful but as i read the old testament He is always ticked off at something, someone, or having a fit like he did with Uzza killing some poor guy who is trying to help out. Scares me because i wonder when God of mercy has a bad day and becomes bipolar and flips out on me. I know the law said that only certain people could transport the ark but really?? input needed, i seriously get so frustrated with some of the highly questionable things God pulls in the old testament. Dont get me wrong i love God and want to know that he is true to his word and faithful not all over the place like he seems in the OT.
 
John 10:8 All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.

Jesus instructs us in this verse that the writers of the old testament did not have had a clear understanding of the nature of God.Scripture says that there is no death at all in God.

Hebrews 2:2 For if the word spoken by angels was stedfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompence of reward;


Hebrews 3:1 Who have received the law by the disposition of angels, and have not kept it.

Moses saw God in a bush but this says that the law was given by angels and in Hebrews 2:2 we see that they are the enforcers of that law.
Sooo. was Moses mistaken?
These angels came in the authority of God so to Moses they were God,but they may not always act like God.

Hebrews 3:1 Behold, he put no trust in his servants; and his angels he charged with folly:

Was it God who told people to go and slaughter entire cities or was it an angel or men claiming to understand God.Either way God is the good Father who takes the blame for his children's and angels folly since only he could pay the price of their
murderous ways.
 
Let's read in context. Bible Study Tools are very helpful (commentaries, scofield notes, study bible)

1 Chronicles 13:1-14

1 David conferred with each of his officers, the commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds. 2 He then said to the whole assembly of Israel, "If it seems good to you and if it is the will of the LORD our God, let us send word far and wide to the rest of our brothers throughout the territories of Israel, and also to the priests and Levites who are with them in their towns and pasturelands, to come and join us. 3 Let us bring the ark of our God back to us, for we did not inquire of<sup style="display: inline;" class="footnote">a</sup> it<sup style="display: inline;" class="footnote">b</sup> during the reign of Saul." 4 The whole assembly agreed to do this, because it seemed right to all the people. 5 So David assembled all the Israelites, from the Shihor River in Egypt to Lebo<sup style="display: inline;" class="footnote">c</sup> Hamath, to bring the ark of God from Kiriath Jearim. 6 David and all the Israelites with him went to Baalah of Judah (Kiriath Jearim) to bring up from there the ark of God the LORD, who is enthroned between the cherubim--the ark that is called by the Name.

7 They moved the ark of God from Abinadab's house on a new cart, with Uzzah and Ahio guiding it. 8 David and all the Israelites were celebrating with all their might before God, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, cymbals and trumpets. 9 When they came to the threshing floor of Kidon, Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the ark, because the oxen stumbled. 10 The LORD's anger burned against Uzzah, and he struck him down because he had put his hand on the ark. So he died there before God. 11 Then David was angry because the LORD's wrath had broken out against Uzzah, and to this day that place is called Perez Uzzah.<sup style="display: inline;" class="footnote">d</sup> 12 David was afraid of God that day and asked, "How can I ever bring the ark of God to me?"

Matthew Henry Commentary (Complete)


Verses 9-14 This breach upon Uzza, which caused all the joy to cease, we had an account of, 2 Sa. 6:6 , etc.
1. Let the sin of Uzza warn us all to take heed of presumption, rashness, and irreverence, in dealing about holy things (v. 9), and not to think that a good intention will justify a bad action. In our communion with God we must carefully watch over our own hearts, lest familiarity breed contempt, and we think God is in any way beholden to us.

2. Let the punishment of Uzza convince us that the God with whom we have to do is a jealous God. His death, like that of Nadab and Abihu, proclaims aloud that God will be sanctified in those that come nigh unto him (Lev. 10:3 ), and that the nearer any are to him the more displeased he is with their presumptions. Let us not dare to trifle with God in our approaches to him; and yet let us, through Christ, come boldly to the throne of grace; for we are under the dispensation of liberty and grace, not of bondage and terror.

3. Let the damp this gave to the joy of Israel be a memorandum to us always to rejoice with trembling, and to serve the Lord with fear, even when we serve him with gladness.

4. Let David’s displeasure upon this occasion caution us to take heed to our spirits when we are under divine rebukes, lest, instead of submitting to God, we quarrel with him. If God be angry with us, shall we dare to be angry with him?

5. Let the stop thus put to the solemnity caution us not to be driven off from our duty by those providences which are only intended to drive us from our sins. David should have gone on with the work notwithstanding the breach made upon Uzza; so might the breach have been made up.

6. Let the blessing which the ark brought with it to the house of Obed-edom encourage us to welcome God’s ordinances into our houses, as those that believe the ark is a guest that nobody shall lose by; not let it be less precious to us for its being to some a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence. If the gospel be to some a savour of death unto death, as the ark was to Uzza, yet let us receive it in the love of it and it will be to us a saviour of life unto life.
 
This wasn't just the God of the old Testament.

Acts 5:1 But a man named Ananias, with his wife Sapphira, sold a piece of property,
Acts 5:2 and kept back some of the price for himself, with his wife's full knowledge, and bringing a portion of it, he laid it at the apostles' feet.
Acts 5:3 But Peter said, "Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and to keep back some of the price of the land?
Acts 5:4 "While it remained unsold, did it not remain your own? And after it was sold, was it not under your control? Why is it that you have conceived this deed in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God."
Acts 5:5 And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came over all who heard of it.
Acts 5:6 The young men got up and covered him up, and after carrying him out, they buried him.
Acts 5:7 Now there elapsed an interval of about three hours, and his wife came in, not knowing what had happened.
Acts 5:8 And Peter responded to her, "Tell me whether you sold the land for such and such a price?" And she said, "Yes, that was the price."
Acts 5:9 Then Peter said to her, "Why is it that you have agreed together to put the Spirit of the Lord to the test? Behold, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out as well."
Acts 5:10 And immediately she fell at his feet and breathed her last, and the young men came in and found her dead, and they carried her out and buried her beside her husband.

Acts 12:22 The people kept crying out, "The voice of a god and not of a man!"
Acts 12:23 And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.

God is love yes. But he is also Holy and just. Too many Christians are trying to drag him down to their standards instead of trying live more Godly lives. He will forgive us for our sins yes, but we shouldn't take that as a license to do whatever we want. The nature of God didn't change between the testaments, only the grace of the cross did. Remember grace is an "undeserved" gift. We all deserve death. (Rom 3:23; Rom 6:23)

A non-believer asked me once, how come your God is so weak he can't be in the presence of sin. Would the sin kill him?
I explained it to him like this, we are a small ice cube ( an inch or two across ) drifting toward the sun, which is billions of times bigger than us. The ice cube will never make it to the sun. It will be evaporated/disintegrated/annihilated etc... before it ever gets close to the sun. It isn't God who is weak, it's us. If we were ever in the presence of his Holiness (without the blood of Christ) in our sinful nature, we would surely be as annihilated as that ice cube.
The Ark of the covenant was how God met and spoke to Moses (Exod 25:22) I believe Uzza got a little too close to the sun (without the son).
 
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Those people in the new testament were stealing money!! this guy just tried to help out! And if he got to close to the sun without the "Son" then its Gods fault for not showing up earlier to free him of sin and forgive the guy for helping out.
 
Acts 5:5 And as he heard these words, Ananias fell down and breathed his last; and great fear came over all who heard of it.

Nowhere does it say God killed them,they could have very well died from their own fear.

1 John 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.


Death is related to darkness and came through Adam not God.

John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have
it more abundantly.

Who comes to kill and who comes to give life?

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

God is not a killer,he is not a God of the dead but of the living.
 
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On the way everyone is singing and dancing celebrating the Lord then all of a sudden a guy drops dead! The oxen pulling the ark had stumbled and a guy name Uzza tried to help out and uphold the ark and God freaked out and killed him!!! This drives me crazy!!!

The Old Testament was a type and shadow of Christ and the New was the revealing of Christ. God is (and always will be) Love but He is also Holy and no sin can stand in His presence. He has not changed.
That being said, to violate God's commands about handling the Ark was to go outside of the one prescribed way of entering His presence which was the equivalent of trying to enter the manifest presence of God without the blood of Christ. This was fatal then and is still fatal now as no man may touch God in his own works and righteousness and live.
 
God is not a killer,he is not a God of the dead but of the living.

This is a small sampling of God's wrath. There are many more verses not included.

Gen 6:5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
Gen 6:6 The LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart.
Gen 6:7 The LORD said, "I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky; for I am sorry that I have made them."

Gen 7:21 All flesh that moved on the earth perished, birds and cattle and beasts and every swarming thing that swarms upon the earth, and all mankind;
Gen 7:22 of all that was on the dry land, all in whose nostrils was the breath of the spirit of life, died.
Gen 7:23 Thus He blotted out every living thing that was upon the face of the land, from man to animals to creeping things and to birds of the sky, and they were blotted out from the earth; and only Noah was left, together with those that were with him in the ark.

Exo 32:26 then Moses stood in the gate of the camp, and said, "Whoever is for the LORD, come to me!" And all the sons of Levi gathered together to him.
Exo 32:27 He said to them, "Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, 'Every man of you put his sword upon his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate in the camp, and kill every man his brother, and every man his friend, and every man his neighbor.'"
Exo 32:28 So the sons of Levi did as Moses instructed, and about three thousand men of the people fell that day.

Num 25:1 While Israel remained at Shittim, the people began to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab.
Num 25:2 For they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods, and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.
Num 25:3 So Israel joined themselves to Baal of Peor, and the LORD was angry against Israel.
Num 25:4 The LORD said to Moses, "Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the LORD, so that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel."
Num 25:5 So Moses said to the judges of Israel, "Each of you slay his men who have joined themselves to Baal of Peor."
Num 25:6 Then behold, one of the sons of Israel came and brought to his relatives a Midianite woman, in the sight of Moses and in the sight of all the congregation of the sons of Israel, while they were weeping at the doorway of the tent of meeting.
Num 25:7 When Phinehas the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he arose from the midst of the congregation and took a spear in his hand,
Num 25:8 and he went after the man of Israel into the tent and pierced both of them through, the man of Israel and the woman, through the body. So the plague on the sons of Israel was checked.
Num 25:9 Those who died by the plague were 24,000.

Gen 19:12 Then the two men said to Lot, "Whom else have you here? A son-in-law, and your sons, and your daughters, and whomever you have in the city, bring them out of the place;
Gen 19:13 for we are about to destroy this place, because their outcry has become so great before the LORD that the LORD has sent us to destroy it."
Gen 19:14 Lot went out and spoke to his sons-in-law, who were to marry his daughters, and said, "Up, get out of this place, for the LORD will destroy the city." But he appeared to his sons-in-law to be jesting.
Gen 19:24 Then the LORD rained on Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven,
Gen 19:25 and He overthrew those cities, and all the valley, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground.

Exo 12:29 Now it came about at midnight that the LORD struck all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the dungeon, and all the firstborn of cattle.
Exo 12:30 Pharaoh arose in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians, and there was a great cry in Egypt, for there was no home where there was not someone dead.

Matt 10:28 "Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Rev 20:15 And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

Heb 10:30 For we know Him who said, "VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY." And again, "THE LORD WILL JUDGE HIS PEOPLE."
Heb 10:31 It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

2Pet 2:4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;
2Pet 2:5 and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly;
2Pet 2:6 and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example to those who would live ungodly lives thereafter;
2Pet 2:7 and if He rescued righteous Lot, oppressed by the sensual conduct of unprincipled men
2Pet 2:8 (for by what he saw and heard that righteous man, while living among them, felt his righteous soul tormented day after day by their lawless deeds),
2Pet 2:9 then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,
2Pet 2:10 and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despise authority. Daring, self-willed, they do not tremble when they revile angelic majesties,


It is his will that none should die. But many will die in spite of this.
If you reject his son, you will burn in eternity.
 
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GOD never loses self-control but it is the people who lose self-control.

GOD is Always in absolute control!

When The Lord Jesus Christ made a whip of cords and smashed over tables He did not lose self-control it was a very righteous act.

If God decides to do judgement on people it is always a righteous act.

How much i love GOD for He Alone is The Righteous Judge!

FEAR GOD!
 
Those people in the new testament were stealing money!! this guy just tried to help out! And if he got to close to the sun without the "Son" then its Gods fault for not showing up earlier to free him of sin and forgive the guy for helping out.

Nothing is ever GOD's fault. Please stop assuming and study / pray. You cannot just say anything you desire just because that's how you understand it. Learn. You asked a question, listen to others who understand the answer and trying to help you.
 
Here is something to consider:

Read numbers 25

Numbers 25:
1 And Israel abode in Shittim, and the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab.
2 And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods: and the people did eat, and bowed down to their gods.
3 And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor: and the anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel.
4 And the LORD said unto Moses, Take all the heads of the people, and hang them up before the LORD against the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel.
5 And Moses said unto the judges of Israel, Slay ye every one his men that were joined unto Baal-peor.
6 And, behold, one of the children of Israel came and brought unto his brethren a Midianitish woman in the sight of Moses, and in the sight of all the congregation of the children of Israel, who were weeping before the door of the tabernacle of the congregation.
7 And when Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, saw it, he rose up from among the congregation, and took a javelin in his hand;
8 And he went after the man of Israel into the tent, and thrust both of them through, the man of Israel, and the woman through her belly. So the plague was stayed from the children of Israel.
9 And those that died in the plague were twenty and four thousand.

So Phinehas had great zeal for God Almighty and what did God say about Phinehas and what he did with the javelin that he did thrust through both their belly?

It is not what you would think....

Here it is:

10 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
11 Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy.
12 Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace:
13 And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel.

(emphasis mine added)Think about this... God actually rewarded Phinehas! It is something that is not often preached about in the churches. God likes us to be bold for Him and His righteousness and to make no compromise!
 
Also the people had a choice:
Deu_30:19 I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

Life or death was is the palm of their hands and yet all to frequently they chose to abandon God and sought only to satisfy the lust of their own flesh. All this was done in spite of both multiple warnings and the loving draw of the Holy Spirit.

Isa 66:4 I also will choose their delusions, and will bring their fears upon them; because when I called, none did answer; when I spake, they did not hear: but they did evil before mine eyes, and chose that in which I delighted not.

Basically and sadly, they got just what they asked for.
 
It is not possible to know exactly what Uzzah's intentions were, but consider this: What if he wanted to be known as the great man who saved the Ark from being thrown onto the road. If this man was prideful and wanted to be prominent, that would be justification form God's point of view to strike him dead. After all God hates insincerity and a self serving nature.

It should also be noted, the ark was to be carried on poles on the shoulders of men when being transported, this was a violation of God's commandments, as Exodus 25:13-16, NASB: "You shall make poles of acacia wood and overlay them with gold. You shall put the poles into the rings on the sides of the ark, to carry the ark with them. The poles shall remain in the rings of the ark; they shall not be removed from it. You shall put into the ark the testimony which I shall give you." If they were obedient to God's commandments and carried the ark properly, this accident would have never happened! Perhaps that is another reason why God's anger blazed against the man who touched the Ark.
 
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