1 Chronicles 13:11-12 records David's anger at the LORD's outburst against Uzza, the naming of Perez-uzza, and the fear that displaced his celebration: David was afraid of God that day, saying, "How can I bring the ark of God home to me?"
David's first response is anger: Then David became angry because of the LORD's outburst against Uzza; and he called that place Perez-uzza to this day (v 11). The name Perez-uzza, inspired from the "outburst against Uzza," comes from the Hebrew word for a breaking-through. David's anger reads as grief and bewilderment—a celebration he led in good faith had become a funeral, and the king who organized the joy now stood over the body of one of his men. Scripture is very blunt here. The story has a message for every believer who has been confused by God's severity: it records the anger of the great King David without polishing it away, and then shows that anger ripening, through fear of God, into instructed obedience.
The same king would later learn to love the meaning behind the name Perez-uzza. In the very next chapter, God breaks through David's enemies at Baal-perazim, and David says, "God has broken through my enemies by my hand, like the breakthrough of waters" (1 Chronicles 14:11)—the identical root as Perez-uzza. The power is one power; everything depends on which side of it a person stands. Breaking-through power turned against presumption at Chidon and turned against the Philistines at Baal-perazim. The God whose holiness is dangerous to the careless is the same God whose might is salvation to those aligned with Him.
Fear follows the king's anger: David was afraid of God that day, saying, "How can I bring the ark of God home to me?" (v 12). The question repeats Beth-shemesh's older cry, "Who is able to stand before the LORD, this holy God?" (1 Samuel 6:20), and it is the right question—the rest of the ark narrative exists to answer it. David took the question to the Scriptures and returned with the answer stated plainly: "No one is to carry the ark ofGod but the Levites; for the LORD chose them" (1 Chronicles 15:2), and, "Because you did not carry it at the first, the LORD our God made an outburst on us, for we did not seek Him according to the ordinance" (1 Chronicles 15:13). Fear that drives a person into God's word ends in restored fellowship; the how-can-I question has an answer, and God Himself wrote it down.
1 Chronicles 13:11-12
11 Then David became angry because of the LORD's outburst against Uzza; and he called that place Perez-uzza to this day.
12 David was afraid of God that day, saying, “How can I bring the ark of God home to me?”
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1 Chronicles 13:11-12 meaning
David's first response is anger: Then David became angry because of the LORD's outburst against Uzza; and he called that place Perez-uzza to this day (v 11). The name Perez-uzza, inspired from the "outburst against Uzza," comes from the Hebrew word for a breaking-through. David's anger reads as grief and bewilderment—a celebration he led in good faith had become a funeral, and the king who organized the joy now stood over the body of one of his men. Scripture is very blunt here. The story has a message for every believer who has been confused by God's severity: it records the anger of the great King David without polishing it away, and then shows that anger ripening, through fear of God, into instructed obedience.
To learn more about what the Bible says about anger, click here.
The same king would later learn to love the meaning behind the name Perez-uzza. In the very next chapter, God breaks through David's enemies at Baal-perazim, and David says, "God has broken through my enemies by my hand, like the breakthrough of waters" (1 Chronicles 14:11)—the identical root as Perez-uzza. The power is one power; everything depends on which side of it a person stands. Breaking-through power turned against presumption at Chidon and turned against the Philistines at Baal-perazim. The God whose holiness is dangerous to the careless is the same God whose might is salvation to those aligned with Him.
Fear follows the king's anger: David was afraid of God that day, saying, "How can I bring the ark of God home to me?" (v 12). The question repeats Beth-shemesh's older cry, "Who is able to stand before the LORD, this holy God?" (1 Samuel 6:20), and it is the right question—the rest of the ark narrative exists to answer it. David took the question to the Scriptures and returned with the answer stated plainly: "No one is to carry the ark of God but the Levites; for the LORD chose them" (1 Chronicles 15:2), and, "Because you did not carry it at the first, the LORD our God made an outburst on us, for we did not seek Him according to the ordinance" (1 Chronicles 15:13). Fear that drives a person into God's word ends in restored fellowship; the how-can-I question has an answer, and God Himself wrote it down.