Christian Pure

Did Uzzah’s Good Intentions Lead Him to Heaven?

Christian Pure Team

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Summary

  • Scripture does not say whether Uzzah went to heaven, and it does not state his intentions.
  • Uzzah, a son of Abinadab, took hold of the ark when the oxen stumbled, and God struck him down beside it (2 Samuel 6:6–7; 1 Chronicles 13:9–10).
  • The law let the Kohathite Levites carry the holy things on their shoulders but forbade them to touch them, “lest they die” (Numbers 4:15; 7:9).
  • David later said the Lord broke out against them “because we did not seek him according to the rule,” and had the Levites carry the ark with poles (1 Chronicles 15:13–15).
  • Scripture does not say whether Uzzah was a Levite; Josephus called his father a Levite and said Uzzah died because he was not a priest.
  • In the Talmud, Rabbi Yohanan held that Uzzah entered the world to come, and Matthew Poole thought he may have had time to repent.

Scripture does not say. Second Samuel 6 records that Uzzah took hold of the ark of God when the oxen pulling it stumbled, and that God struck him down “because of his error.” Neither that chapter nor 1 Chronicles 13 speaks of his soul or states his intentions. Jewish and Christian commentators have offered opinions on both. The story of Uzzah When David set out to bring the ark to Jerusalem, it was still in the house of Abinadab at…

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Bibliography (Click to show)
  • Scripture quotations from the English Standard Version (1 Samuel 6:19; 7:1; 2 Samuel 6:3–11; 1 Chronicles 13:9–14; 15:2, 13, 15; Exodus 25:14–15; Numbers 4:15; 7:9; Leviticus 10:1–2), with the New International Version, NET Bible and New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition for 2 Samuel 6:7.
  • NET Bible translators’ note on 2 Samuel 6:7 (the phrase is absent from the Septuagint). https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=2+Samuel+6%3A7&version=NET
  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, on 2 Samuel 6:7. https://biblehub.com/commentaries/2_samuel/6-7.htm
  • Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 2 Samuel 6. https://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc2.iiSam.vii.html
  • John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible, on 2 Samuel 6:7. https://www.biblestudytools.com/commentaries/gills-exposition-of-the-bible/2-samuel-6-7.html
  • Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible, on 2 Samuel 6:7. https://biblehub.com/commentaries/2_samuel/6-7.htm
  • R. C. Sproul, The Holiness of God (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House, 1985).
  • Babylonian Talmud, Sotah 35a, William Davidson edition. https://www.sefaria.org/Sotah.35a
  • Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews 6.1.4 and 7.4.2, trans. William Whiston. https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2848
  • Catechism of the Catholic Church, paragraph 1861. https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P6C.HTM

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