Just like we have the same event covered in more than one Gospel, so we have the event of the moving of the Ark covered in more than one psalm and historical narrative.

We have looked mostly at the failed attempt to move the Ark. In the 2nd Samuel passage we get more details about that – for example that the place where the oxen stumbled was a threshing floor. 🐂

We also learn that after the first 6 steps carrying the Ark (and no one has dropped dead – yay!) they stop to sacrifice oxen (plural) and fattened calves (also plurals). 🔥Some scholars think that the wording might suggest that they did this EVERY six steps…all the way to Jerusalem! And that might just be so. Because there’s enough BBQ and food that everyone in Israel that showed up for this parade (thousands!) got a dinner plate!

🔥🥩🍖🍗

The 2nd Samuel 6 narrative is the one we have to thank for giving people the idea that “David danced before the Lord in a loincloth.”

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I will say it again. That NEVER happened. David was dressed in nearly identical linen attire as a priest. He wore “a ROBE of fine linen” and an ephod over that of linen.

And why is David dressed like a priest?

Because he is a picture of Jesus who fills all three of the divinely-appointed offices:

• Prophet
• Priest
• King

David’s psalms – particularly 22 – are prophetic. While we don’t think of him as “The Prophet David” he absolutely functioned like a prophet.

David is obviously famous for being Israel’s greatest king.

David could not be a priest because he was not a descendant of Aaron, but in this narrative we see him functioning like a priest – dressed in precisely garments, offering sacrifices, and bringing the Ark to its place within a sanctuary he set up. That’s ALL priestly stuff.

We’re meant to notice these details and connect the dots to Jesus, the Son of David who is the ultimate Prophet-Priest-King.

The loincloth myth was born because,

1. Readers couldn’t be bothered to look up what an Ephod was or read the parallel passage in 1st Chronicles 15:27 that clearly explains he was wearing a linen ROBE just like the Levites.
2. Michal says he “uncovered himself like a lewd fellow” and we immediately interpret that (like the westerners we are) to mean physical uncovering.

We are in the book of Psalms. Song of Songs is coming (heaven help me) and we’re going to need get used to the Hebrew idea of describing a thing’s essence. So let’s have a lesson here shall we?

There are people in society that have no filter. And no self-control. They apparently did not have a mom or dad to correct them as a child when they were in the checkout line and asked loudly (while of course staring and pointing), “Why is he so fat?” And to this day they say and do inappropriate things because they don’t know better. They’re the guys that paint their chests and faces and dye their hair and drink beer and yell loudly at sporting events. No class.

Those people are not generally running Fortune 500 Companies. The men running large businesses or countries generally at least look like they have it together. They know how to behave in public. They don’t “expose themselves to ridicule” by dancing on the bar like drunken hooligan. Not if they want to keep their jobs. A certain level of decorum is expected.

Two kinds of men. Are you following so far?

When David is leaping around wildly and spinning and waving his arms about, that is not the “buttoned up” behavior of royalty.

Can you imagine the tabloids if Prince William went to a party, took off his tie and jacket and started dancing like a fan whose team just won the World Cup?

Did you know that the royal ladies have a strict dress and grooming code? They can only do clear nail polish or French Tip for most occasions.

David’s unbridled enthusiasm is like that of a commoner (which he was). He is revealing (uncovering) his unfiltered feelings. And Michal who was raised as a princess is as humiliated as the wife of the guy who gets put on the Jumbotron for the whole football stadium to see because he’s making such a cake of himself.

The uncovering was not physical but in essence. He has uncovered what a dork he is for Yahweh. If he had just marched in a stately manner, that part of him would’ve been kept covered up. But he was reveling with the commoners and now everybody knows – David is a complete GEEK for God. He has exposed and uncovered himself.

Got it?

Feel that odd spot in your brain light up?

Good. You’re gonna need to do a lot more of that until it becomes natural.

😐 I’m not sure my brain lit up. 🤔 Am I supposed to feel something? Like a tingle maybe?

😑 (Sigh) No tingles. It just usually makes me feel like some spot in my brain lights up when I catch the meaning of a Hebrew concept.

😒 I wish there was a tingle to know if I got it.

🫤 Well, did it make sense?

🤔 I think so. Instead of streaking in his tighty-whities it just means David let everybody see that he’s Cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. Right?

😑 Yeah. That’s the basic idea.

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PSALM 132

This is another “Psalm of Ascent” meant to be sung by worshipers going up to Zion. It’s possible that Psalm 68 (which we looked at earlier this week) was sung when the Ark set out and Psalm 132 was the song they sang when they put the Ark in its place on Zion. It includes an invitation to the Lord to basically “come have a seat in our cozy tent.”

“Arise, O Yahweh, to your resting place, you and your mighty ark.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭132‬:‭8‬ ‭LEB‬‬

The psalm doesn’t claim to be by David but it includes his sentiments; namely his determination to not do anything else as king until he has the Ark with him in Zion (v3-7).

Verses 11-12 contain what is known as “The Davidic Covenant” which we will come to soon in the historical narrative. It is God’s covenant promise to David that one of his physical descendants will sit on his throne forever.

Verses 13-18 are about the Lord’s choice of Zion as His earthly dwelling place and v14-18 are actually the words of Yahweh Himself concerning Zion and “a horn” that will “sprout” or “bud” for David.

“There I will make a horn to sprout for David; I have prepared a lamp for my anointed. His enemies I will clothe with shame, but on him his crown will shine.”
‭‭Psalm‬ ‭132‬:‭17‬-‭18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

This horn is also a lamp or a light. This sounds very much like a Messianic prophecy concerning Jesus who is “the Branch from the stump of Jesse.”

It is Jesus’ enemies (not just David’s) that will be “clothed with shame.” And while David did wear a shining crown, in the context of this psalm and the Covenant with David, it seems that this crowned one is truly pointing to Christ.

Y’all, when Jesus enters Jerusalem to reign over all the earth with His resurrected saints, King David is probably gonna do a repeat performance of his wild dancing and harp shredding. What are you gonna do? You gonna stand there like a bump on a log and watch? Or, will you join in and “dance with all your might?” I plan to bust a move. Despise me if you dare.

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