Life of David: 21. The Ark of God is Returned to Jerusalem

This is week 21 if the Life of David Series. It is found in 2 Samuel 5-7. There are several things to learn from this lesson. One is doing exactly as God says like Uzzah learned. I decided to use this lesson to study more about the Ark of the Covenant. There is a worksheet that can be used with any Ark of the Covenant study. There is also a poster included.

David was king over Judah for 7 ½ years. When Ishbosheth was killed, David was made king over Judah and Israel. He was 30 years old when he became the king, and he was a king for a total of over 40 years.

David took control of the stronghold of Zion, He lived there and called it the City of David. God was with him, and he became great.

Hiram was the king of Tyre. He sent messengers to David with cedar trees, carpenters and masons. They built David a house. David knew that God made him the king over Israel. David added more wives to the seven he already had. He had more children; including Solomon who would be the next king.

The Philistines geared up for battle when they heard that David was the king. David asked God if he should go fight them. God told him to go fight; because God without a doubt, would give David the battle. God told him to circle around behind the Philistines and come up in front of the mulberry trees. When David hears the sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, he should move fast. God said He would go in front of David and strike at the Philistine camp. David did as God said and drove the Philistines back to Gezer.

(Chapter 6) David gathered 30,000 of the best men and went to get the Ark of God (Ark of the Covenant). It was on a hill in the house of Abinadab. They put the ark on a new cart. Uzzah and Ahio were Abinadab’s sons, and they were driving the cart with the Ark of God.

They were happy, playing music and celebrating. When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, the oxen stumbled. Uzzah thought the Ark of God was going to fall. God’s rules were “Do not touch the Ark of the Covenant!” Uzzah put his hand on the Ark of God to support it and God struck him dead.

This made David angry, and he was also afraid of God that day. David didn’t take the Ark of God into the city. He took it to Obed-edom the Gittite’s house. It stayed there for three months, and God blessed him and his household.

David was told that Obed-edom’s house was blessed since the Ark of God was there. David decided to move it to the City of David. They were rejoicing, happy and praising God.

Michal was watching from a window as David celebrated with the people. David had put the Ark of God in a special tent he had set up for it. David offered sacrifices to God. The people ate and then went home. When David went home, Michal went to meet him. Remember, this is Saul’s daughter and David’s wife. She commented on David’s activities and David replied that “God had chosen him over her father to be the king of Israel. If he wants to be happy before God, then he will. Since she has spoken these things, he will add more for her to think about.” She did not have any children because of her angry words.

(Chapter 7) David wasn’t fighting battles with his enemies for a while. He told Nathan the prophet (speaker for God) that he wanted to build a cedar building to put the Ark of God in. Nathan told David to go ahead and build it.

God went to Nathan in a dream that night and said that the Ark of God has always been moving around in a tent. God didn’t want David to build a cedar house. God said He had taken David from being a shepherd in the field to being the king of Israel. God said He was with David and would make his name great.

God said when David dies, his son will be the next king and he will build the house for the Ark of God. Nathan told David everything God had said. When David talked to God, he said “You are great, Oh Lord! There is none like You. You are the only God. Your name will be magnified forever.”

The printables for David in this series are for an older age group than I usually post. Although this is, most of these lessons about David are not appropriate for early elementary. But David is a great study. So, as you can see from the above picture, there is a Q&A. This could be used with younger groups by using the answer sheet and just asking the questions for discussion. Each post in this series will have a maze and some type of puzzle.

The additional application added in this pack is a brief overview to study the Ark of the Covenant. This worksheet was created so it can be used with any Ark of the Covenant study and not just labeled for this lesson. There is a posted included to include in the discussion of why God struck down Uzzah.

 Click here to download.

Click here to download the lesson.

 

Click here to download the visuals.

Click here to download the pictures to color.

 

Bible Verse:  2 Samuel 5:10 

Click here for this Ark of the Covenant worksheet.

Click here to see more about the Ark of the Covenant

Click here to see the entire list and links for the Life of David series.

 

  Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson.