Last night I was reading chapter six "Holy Justice" and came across the story of Uzzah. Uzzah was the one who reached down to steady the ark of the covenant while it was being transported and was struck dead by God. This has been a point of contention and struggle for many as it is seen an unjust punishment for an innocent act of trying to keep the ark from being defiled by touching the ground. I'm not going to list the whole explanation but this one part really hit home with me and I wanted to share it from pages 130-131.
Uzzah knew that he was forbidden to touch the ark
"He touched it anyway. He stretched out his hand and placed it squarely on the ark, steadying it in place lest it fall to the ground. An act of holy heroism? No! It was an act of arrogance, a sin of presumption. Uzzah assumed that his hand was less polluted than the earth. But it wasn't the ground or the mud that would desecrate the ark; it was the touch of man. The earth is an obedient creature. It does what God tells it to do. It brings forth its yield in its season. It obeys the laws of nature that God has established. When the temperature falls to a certain point, the ground freezes. When water is added to the dust, it becomes mud, just as God designed it. The ground doesn't commit cosmic treason, There is nothing polluted about the ground.
God did not want His holy throne touched by that which was contaminated by evil, that which was in rebellion to Him, that which by its ungodly revolt had brought the whole creation to ruin and caused the ground and the sky and the waters of the sea to groan together in travail, waiting for the day of redemption. Man. It was man's touch that was forbidden."It is not the earth that defiles but the Man and his sinfulness.
