Did Uzzah Go To Hell?

[Brakeman]

2 Samuel 6:6-7 states:

 

6:3 And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that [was] in Gibeah: and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart.

 

6:4 And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab which [was] at Gibeah, accompanying the ark of God: and Ahio went before the ark.

 

6:5 And David and all the house of Israel played before the LORD on all manner of [instruments made of] fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals.

 

6:6 And when they came to Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth [his hand] to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook [it].

 

6:7 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for [his] error; and there he died by the ark of God.

 

6:8 And David was displeased, because the LORD had made a breach upon Uzzah: and he called the name of the place Perezuzzah to this day.

 

 

So a faithful christian(?) Uzzah didn't want his god's ark to be smashed by falling on the road, and is killed by preventing it. Yet it says he angered god, and anything that angers god probably won't get to heaven, right? Why is smiting god's weapon of choice anyway? Did he not have a better way of evilly punishing poor Uzzah?

 

Uzzah had no bad intentions in his heart, so why was he punished? Did god send a righteous man to hell?

 

[Shyone]

2 Samuel 6:6-7 states:

 

6:3 And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that [was] in Gibeah: and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart.

 

6:4 And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab which [was] at Gibeah, accompanying the ark of God: and Ahio went before the ark.

 

6:5 And David and all the house of Israel played before the LORD on all manner of [instruments made of] fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals.

 

6:6 And when they came to Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth [his hand] to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook [it].

 

6:7 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for [his] error; and there he died by the ark of God.

 

6:8 And David was displeased, because the LORD had made a breach upon Uzzah: and he called the name of the place Perezuzzah to this day.

 

 

So a faithful christian(?) Uzzah didn't want his god's ark to be smashed by falling on the road, and is killed by preventing it. Yet it says he angered god, and anything that angers god probably won't get to heaven, right? Why is smiting god's weapon of choice anyway? Did he not have a better way of evilly punishing poor Uzzah?

 

Uzzah had no bad intentions in his heart, so why was he punished? Did god send a righteous man to hell?

 

No, of course not. The Good News is that there are no gods, and no one gets smitten for anything, but accidents happen.

 

Remember that if you're next to an arc of the covenant. Or if you happen to have heart disease.

[Dagan]

As far as I know, there was no concept of hell at that time. People just died, the end.

 

We have the Persians to thank for the spectacular vision of a fiery hell we're all so familiar with.

[Brakeman]

Yeah, Shyone, I know that. I'm an Atheist (and an Athiest too!) To me it's just like arguing if Toto in the "Wizard of OZ" had fleas. Fun, but only because the fundies take it SOO seriously.

[mwc]

Uzzah went to the "good" part of hell which from the NT we know is/was called "Abraham's Bosom." From there he could see all the "evil" people going into the "bad" part of hell but since there was this nifty chasm put between the "good" and "bad" parts of hell no one could cross over to a place they did not belong.

 

Why couldn't they get across? I don't know. It seems that while "spirits" or "ghosts" float about all over the place as their means of locomotion they seem to be tied to the ground beneath them as if they have little legs and feet with working muscles and all. So they don't sink into the ground and they can't just float over giant holes or chasms. They don't know any better. They can, however, go through vertical surfaces, like walls. I don't know what might happen if they decided to repel up the wall. I don't know if they'd go through the wall or if their little ghost legs would perform as if they were on a horizontal surface and allow them to walk up the side of the wall without going through it.

 

As you might imagine the dead people over in the little paradise area, even though they were in hell, are all quite happy. They get the best service you can get in hell and they get to watch all the "evil" people get tortured in the pre-judgment day torture rituals. Add to that there is a steady stream of little ghosts running off the edge of the "bad" side into the chasm as they try to get into the "good" side as well as the banter they get to have with those poor old souls that choose to stay along the side of the pit and it occupies the time.

 

Ultimately, this dead fellow came down (as they all do), but he had a special message that was unlike all others. Uzzah gave it a close listen. For 3 days and nights he listened (it was really closer to a day and a half but who's counting?). At the end of that time all those people who were in "Abraham's Bosom" went flying away out of there along with this stranger. Up they went into heaven. Uzzah looked around to find this man to thank him but he wasn't there. He didn't know where he was. Odd. The guys down in the "evil" part of hell now noticed that the "good" part of hell was empty so they tried all the harder to get across that chasm but their little imaginary legs still didn't work right on horizontal surfaces and they kept falling in that hole. Silly ghosts.

 

And that's the story of Uzzah.

 

mwc

[par4dcourse]

You heathens aren't getting the lesson of the story, which is that if you have faith in god......no, wait....if you perform your earthly duties.......no, that isn't it. The message is god is all loving and.....ah, hell, Uzzah got screwed royally.

[Petrel]

Uzzah had no bad intentions in his heart, so why was he punished? Did god send a righteous man to hell?

 

No hell at that time, you just ended. You can see some of this in the OT (David's comment on Bathsheba's son's death, suggestions in Ecclesiastes of death being an ending), not that Christians take it seriously.

 

As for why he died, it was kind of like touching an electric transformer or stepping off a cliff. Motive didn't matter, he was human and thus not allowed to touch the ark. He did, so he got zapped. It's another one of those OT stories that Christians try to draw a lesson from (like Samson and his involuntary haircut illogically removing his strength), but the morale is really "Don't have crappy luck," or maybe "If you drop a sharp knife or an Ark of the Covenant, jump back."

[par4dcourse]

Uzzah had no bad intentions in his heart, so why was he punished? Did god send a righteous man to hell?

 

No hell at that time, you just ended. You can see some of this in the OT (David's comment on Bathsheba's son's death, suggestions in Ecclesiastes of death being an ending), not that Christians take it seriously.

 

As for why he died, it was kind of like touching an electric transformer or stepping off a cliff. Motive didn't matter, he was human and thus not allowed to touch the ark. He did, so he got zapped. It's another one of those OT stories that Christians try to draw a lesson from (like Samson and his involuntary haircut illogically removing his strength), but the morale is really "Don't have crappy luck," or maybe "If you drop a sharp knife or an Ark of the Covenant, jump back."

 

Interesting. Welcome to the site, Petrel. Look forward to your input on the board.

[dB-Paradox]

If the story of Uzzah was an actual event in history (and it very well could have been in some form) it most certainly did not involve any god striking Uzzah down. I've come to the belief that being a very superstitious nation, the Israelites often had heart attacks when they feared they did something that would have made their god angry. In essence, Uzzah killed himself through superstitious belief. Many other OT stories might be interpreted in the same way, while a vast majority of them are greatly exaggerated.

[dagnarus]

Uzzah had no bad intentions in his heart, so why was he punished? Did god send a righteous man to hell?

 

I think their is some verse stating that only special persons could touch the ark, Uzzah wasn't one of them, obviously YWHW can be a bit of a dick about those sorts of things. As to whether he was sent to hell, I'm guessing that depends on your denomination, it doesn't say so their free to interpret as they like, something which they certainly would have done anyway.

[Shyone]

Uzzah had no bad intentions in his heart, so why was he punished? Did god send a righteous man to hell?

 

I think their is some verse stating that only special persons could touch the ark, Uzzah wasn't one of them, obviously YWHW can be a bit of a dick about those sorts of things. As to whether he was sent to hell, I'm guessing that depends on your denomination, it doesn't say so their free to interpret as they like, something which they certainly would have done anyway.

Let's hope that Uzzah was in the right denomination.

[Guest Babylonian Dream]

Do you prefer the old or new testament? If the Old Testament, then no, we don't know, as Qoheleth states, we don't know what happens, and as Genesis says, he just goes into the ground. Possibly a place like Sheol.

 

If you're a NT kinda person, well, Uzzah went to touch the Holy of Holies, he's in Hell.

 

But who knows, the myth never said.

[centauri]

Poor Uzzah was in a classic no-win situation.

He touched the Ark to keep it from tipping over and he gets killed by God.

One can only imagine what would have happened if he had stood there and watched it tip over and hit the ground.

The Bible God killed two of Aaron's sons for burning unauthorized fire in their censers and killed 70,000 people because David didn't take a census properly.

The unconditional love of God is a wonderful thing.

[Big.blue.nation]

 

 

But who knows, the myth never said.

 

Good point, we just don't know! We can speculate. You would think that a poor soul such as Uzzah with good intentions didn't enter eternal torment, but then again you've got a rather cranky deity in heaven above who wouldn't hesitate to send billions upon billions into the lake of fire over many other trivial matters. I hope he passed the grade, but if he didn't over something like that, then we certainly don't have a snowballs chance in hell (sorry for that pun) ourselves!

[Seeking]

My mother completely believes God was justified in zapping Uzzah! I asked her about this a couple months ago. Her answer: Uzzah was merely a sinful human, yet he had the arrogance to touch the Ark, thinking that it was better for the Ark to feel his vile, sinful touch than to fall onto the perfect dirt that God created. Because of that arrogance - in putting himself above God's law - he was killed.

 

I don't know if she thinks he was sent to hell or not....