Continuing reading Matt Redman’s “The Unquenchable Worshiper”, he mentions a story in Ch 3 that I’ve always loved. It comes from 2 Samuel 6. Redman doesn’t go into much detail, but it’s really an interesting story. I really love reading the Old Testament, and King David is one of my favorite characters. 2 Samuel 6 describes David’s attempts at bringing the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem. Here’s a summary:

King David gathers 30,000 of his best soldiers to join him in bringing the Ark home to Jerusalem. They built a fancy new cart to transport the Ark. Sounds good, but the problem is that transporting God’s Ark on a cart was against God’s command. The Ark was designed and commanded to be carried by Levites of the family of Koath. They also celebrated with lots of music, with David leading the celebration. As they were crossing the threshing floor of Nacon, the oxen stumbled and Uzzah reached out to touch the Ark, which was also strictly forbidden for God, and God struck him dead on the spot. This really bothers David, as you can imagine. So Davids changes his mind, and approaches a Levite named Obed-Edom. David says, Hey Big O.E., how would you like to keep the Ark for me until I find the right spot for it? Obed-Edom just happens to be a Levite of the family of Koath, and said, “uhhh… ok.” So O.E. had the Ark in his home for 3 months, and during those 3 months, God blessed O.E. greatly. So when King David was informed of this, he decides to go get it. Notice this time, they decide to CARRY the Ark; good choice. As they were bringing the Ark home, they once again celebrated before the Lord with much music and dancing, again led by King David himself. King David even strips off his royal robes to the point where he is just wearing a linen ephod, just like all the other guys in the procession. As they entered Jerusalem with all the hubub, David’s wife, Michal (Saul’s daughter), watched from a window, and was very angry that he was making a fool of himself acting like the common peoples. When she comes out to meet him, she says to David, “How the king of Israel has distinguished himself today, disrobing in the sight of the slave girls of his servants as any vulgar fellow would!” David’s response has become quite popular among todays younger generation, and even inspired a song written by Matt Redman. Here’s David’s response to Michal,

“It was before the LORD, who chose me rather than your father or anyone from his house when he appointed me ruler over the LORD’s people Israel—I will celebrate before the LORD. I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes. But by these slave girls you spoke of, I will be held in honor.”

Whoa! I think Michal struck a nerve. David even gave her a jab about her father’s failure as King. Redman’s song that he wrote is called, “Undignified”. David says, I’m celebrating before the Lord. Who do you think you are to criticize me for that? And if you think this is embarrassing, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet honey, because I’m gonna get a lot more undignified than this.

Lastly, the story ends with this statement, “And Michal daughter of Saul had no children to the day of her death”. It doesn’t specifically say that God prevented her from having any children. I guess it could have been that David never went near her after that. But either way, there seems to be some cause and effect between her being critical of King David’s celebratory worship, and her following barrenness.

So the next time you see somebody making a fool of themselves before God, you might think twice before criticizing them :-).