{"id":1382,"date":"2012-09-08T07:52:08","date_gmt":"2012-09-08T14:52:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/?p=1382"},"modified":"2012-09-08T10:09:09","modified_gmt":"2012-09-08T17:09:09","slug":"uzza-and-the-christmas-tree","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2012\/09\/08\/uzza-and-the-christmas-tree\/","title":{"rendered":"Uzza and the Christmas Tree"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>1 Chronicles 13:7, <em>They carried the ark on a new cart<\/em>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Israelites in their zeal at having the ark (a symbol of the presence of YHVH) returned to Israel, they failed to inquire of YHVH as to how to properly transport the ark, and they unwittingly repeated the sin of the Philistines by transporting it on an ox-drawn cart instead of the prescribed manner (carried with poles by the Levites, Num 4:2\u201315). As a result, YHVH brought judgment against Uzzah who, though well-intentioned, but not being a Levite, illegally touched the ark.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2012\/09\/08\/1382\/uzza-2-25340523-2\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-1384\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-1384\" title=\"Uzza 2 25340523\" src=\"http:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Uzza-2-253405231.gif\" alt=\"\" width=\"750\" height=\"433\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Uzza-2-253405231.gif 750w, https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Uzza-2-253405231-300x173.gif 300w, https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/Uzza-2-253405231-500x288.gif 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>There is a lesson for us in this. YHVH has prescribed manners in which he is to be approached, ministered to and \u201ctouched.\u201d If we dare to approach him in a non-prescribed (or illegal) manner, though he is gracious, we may also suffer his angry judgments because we have failed to respect or fear his presence properly. Often, we, just like the Israelites, though unwittingly adopt pagan practices in our worship of him. We fail to consult the Word of Elohim as to <em>how<\/em> he desires to be approached or worshipped. For example, we assemble on days that he has not sanctified (Sunday and Christian holidays), and fail to meet with him on the days that he has sanctified (the Sabbath and biblical feasts), eat abominable foods (pork) before him, and put Christmas trees (a pagan sex symbol) in our church sanctuaries. We also bring in secular forms of worship into our services, fail to attire ourselves properly for such occasions, and do not prepare our hearts in humility and fear before approaching him. What\u2019s more, we are often given to gluttony and misuse of the tongue against our brother thus not discerning the Lord\u2019s body resulting in the judgments of sickness and premature death (1 Cor 11:29\u201332).<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps this is why we fail to experience his anointed presence and blessings individually and collectively more than we do.<\/p>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"evernoteSiteMemory\"><a href=\"javascript:\" onclick=\"Evernote.doClip({title: 'Uzza and the Christmas Tree',url: 'https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2012\/09\/08\/uzza-and-the-christmas-tree\/',contentID: 'post-1382',suggestTags: '1 Chronicles,Ark of the Covenant,Uzza',providerName: 'Hoshana Rabbah Blog',styling: 'text' });return false\" class=\"evernoteSiteMemoryLink\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.evernote.com\/article-clipper.png\" \nclass=\"evernoteSiteMemoryButton\" \/>\n\t\t\t\t<\/a>\t\t\t\t<div class=\"evernoteSiteMemoryClear\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>1 Chronicles 13:7, They carried the ark on a new cart.\u00a0 The Israelites in their zeal at having the ark (a symbol of the presence of YHVH) returned to Israel, they failed to inquire of YHVH as to how to &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/hoshanarabbah.org\/blog\/2012\/09\/08\/uzza-and-the-christmas-tree\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[64],"tags":[261,260,262],"class_list":["post-1382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-weekly-readings","tag-1-chronicles","tag-ark-of-the-covenant","tag-uzza"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized 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