In First Chronicles, chapter thirteen, verse ten, Uzza unfortunately dies because of his action contrary to God’s command. This story teaches that worship and service unto God must be to His revelation and Word. Let the sin of Uzza warn all to take heed of presumption, rashness, and irreverence in dealing with holy things. And let none think that a good design will justify immoral action either. Let the punishment of Uzza teach us not to dare to trifle with God in our approaches to him, yet let us, through Christ, come boldly to the throne of grace. If the gospel is to some a savor of death unto death, as the ark was to Uzza, let us receive it in the love of it, and it will be to us a savor of life unto life.
There seems little uncertainty as to why Uzza was to blame in a desire that would appear both praiseworthy and instinctive to steady the ark or save it from falling. Uzza was probably not a priest or Levite, and his sin consisted in putting his hand to the ark, that perhaps the direction of Numbers four, verse fifteen may be a sufficient account of the matter. The injunction had been given in Exodus twenty-five, verses fourteen and fifteen, that the poles which bear the ark should not be out of the rings but be stationary there. If we suppose that it was not a question of the ark overthrown but simply of its riding unsteadily, his presumptuousness would not have the further defense of an impulse.
Uzza’s reaction was out of care for the ark. The oxen, or cow, stumbled, causing the ark to shake or rattle, as in verse nine of the same chapter. David was displeased in verse eleven. The place is called Perez-Uzza until today. The beginning of Hosea four, verse six, can be applied to this situation with Uzza.