Cornelius a Lapide
Table of Contents
Synopsis of the Chapter
David reverently transfers the ark of the covenant with solemn pomp from the house of Abinadab to the house of Obed-edom; thence, in verse 14, to Zion, playing and dancing before it: whence his wife Michal mocks him, verse 20, but David rebukes and silences her.
Vulgate Text: 2 Kings 6:1-23
1. And David again gathered all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. 2. And David arose and went, and all the people who were with him of the men of Judah, to bring up the ark of God, over which the name of the Lord of hosts, who sits upon the cherubim above it, is invoked. 3. And they placed the ark of God upon a new cart, and took it from the house of Abinadab, who was in Gibeah: and Uzzah and Ahio, sons of Abinadab, were driving the new cart. 4. And when they had taken it from the house of Abinadab, who was in Gibeah, Ahio guarding the ark of God went before the ark. 5. And David and all Israel were playing before the Lord, on all manner of instruments made of wood, and on harps, and lyres, and timbrels, and sistrums, and cymbals. 6. And when they came to the threshing floor of Nachon, Uzzah put out his hand to the ark of God and held it, because the oxen kicked and tilted it. 7. And the Lord was angry with indignation against Uzzah, and struck him for his rashness: and he died there beside the ark of God. 8. And David was grieved because the Lord had struck Uzzah, and the name of that place was called the Striking of Uzzah, unto this day. 9. And David feared the Lord on that day, saying: How shall the ark of the Lord come to me? 10. And he was unwilling to turn aside the ark of the Lord to himself in the city of David; but he turned it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. 11. And the ark of the Lord dwelt in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite for three months; and the Lord blessed Obed-edom and all his household. 12. And it was told King David that the Lord had blessed Obed-edom and all his things, because of the ark of God. David therefore went and brought the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the city of David with joy; and there were with David seven choirs, and a sacrificial calf. 13. And when those who were carrying the ark of the Lord had gone six paces, he sacrificed an ox and a ram. 14. And David danced with all his might before the Lord; moreover David was girded with a linen ephod. 15. And David and all the house of Israel were bringing up the ark of the covenant of the Lord with jubilation and with the sound of the trumpet. 16. And when the ark of the Lord entered the city of David, Michal the daughter of Saul looking through a window saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him in her heart. 17. And they brought in the ark of the Lord and placed it in its place in the midst of the tabernacle which David had pitched for it; and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. 18. And when he had finished offering the burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts. 19. And he distributed to the whole multitude of Israel, both to man and woman, to each one a cake of bread, and a piece of roasted beef, and fine flour fried in oil; and all the people departed, each one to his own house. 20. And David returned to bless his household; and Michal the daughter of Saul coming out to meet David, said: How glorious was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself before the handmaids of his servants, and was stripped as if one of the buffoons were to strip himself. 21. And David said to Michal: Before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father, and rather than all his house, and commanded me to be ruler over the people of the Lord in Israel; 22. and I will play, and I will make myself viler than I have been; and I will be humble in my own eyes, and with the handmaids of whom you speak, I shall appear more glorious. 23. Therefore to Michal the daughter of Saul no child was born unto the day of her death.
Verse 2: To Bring the Ark of God
2. TO BRING THE ARK OF GOD from Gibeah to Zion, both so that David would have the ark near him and before it could religiously worship and invoke God; and so that the ark and God in it would be more honored, being in the royal city; and to avert the great calamities which God had sent upon Israel because of the neglected ark in Gibeah, says Josephus, although Abulensis denies this.
OVER WHICH THE NAME OF THE LORD OF HOSTS IS INVOKED. It is a Hebraism, as if to say: Which is called the ark of the Lord, who was said to sit upon the wings of the Cherubim, or upon the mercy seat, so that He had the ark as the footstool of His feet; because from there an Angel in an assumed body from the cloud gave oracles and responses on behalf of God. So Abulensis, Vatablus, and others.
Verse 3: They Placed the Ark on a New Cart
3. AND THEY PLACED THE ARK OF GOD UPON A NEW CART. This was an error of David from ignorance, or rather a sin of the Levites; because the ark was not supposed to be carried on a cart, but borne on the shoulders of priests or Levites, as is clear from Numbers 4:15 and following.
AND THEY TOOK IT FROM THE HOUSE OF ABINADAB, WHO WAS IN GIBEAH. "Gibeah" was a place or hill in the city of Kiriath-jearim: for there was the house of Abinadab and the ark, as is clear from 1 Kings chapter 7, verse 1.
THEY WERE DRIVING (leading, guiding) THE CART, Uzzah and Ahio, brothers, because Abinadab their father had already died, as is gathered from this passage.
Verse 6: The Threshing Floor of Nachon
6. THEY CAME TO THE THRESHING FLOOR OF NACHON. So the Hebrews, Aquila, Angelomus, and others, although the corrected Roman Septuagint has Machor, for which in 1 Chronicles chapter 18, verse 9, one reads Chidon, because there Joshua placed his shield with which he routed the enemies, Joshua chapter 8:18, says St. Jerome in the Traditions; or because Nachon was the name of the man and owner of the threshing floor, who by another name was called Chidon.
UZZAH PUT OUT HIS HAND TO THE ARK OF GOD AND HELD IT, BECAUSE THE OXEN WERE KICKING. Uzzah was not a priest, as Angelomus and the Glossa claim, but a Levite, as St. Jerome teaches, epistle to Sabinianus; St. Gregory, book V of Moralia, chapter 10; the Author of the Wonders of Sacred Scripture, book II, chapter 12; Josephus, Serarius, and others, and this is sufficiently clear from 1 Chronicles chapter 26, verse 45. Therefore it is surprising that Dominic Soto, in distinction 4, chapter 13, question 3, whom Sanchez favors, asserts that Uzzah was not a Levite but a layman.
THE OXEN WERE KICKING, that is, by kicking they seemed about to throw the ark to the ground; the Septuagint, the young bull turned it around; the Chaldean, the oxen pushed it away; Vatablus, they tilted it. R. Kimchi following R. Jonah thinks the oxen, because of the holiness of the ark, began to lose their strength and weaken, so that their limbs and joints seemed to become dislocated, loosened, and separated, because not oxen but Levites were supposed to carry the ark on their shoulders. But in 1 Chronicles chapter 3, verse 9, another cause is given, where it says: "For the ox being frisky had slightly tilted it."
Verse 7: The Lord Was Angry with Uzzah
7. AND THE LORD WAS ANGRY WITH INDIGNATION (that is, was vehemently angry and indignant) AND STRUCK HIM FOR HIS RASHNESS. You ask, why was Uzzah killed by God, when he was supporting the tottering ark, which was a religious duty? R. Solomon answers that he was struck because of David's sin, who had placed the ark on a cart. But this is improbable. Again, Theodoret says he was killed because of some prior sin unknown and hidden to us, especially because while being in that state he dared to touch the ark, says the Author of the Wonders of Sacred Scripture, book II, chapter 12 (1).
But others assign a definite sin; but different authors different ones. First, St. Jerome, epistle 48, gives this reason: that Uzzah had not carried the ark on his shoulders, but transported it by cart. Others add that he did this in wicked imitation of the Philistines, about which see book I, chapters 6 and 7. So Theodoret, Procopius, Lyranus. Second, others cited by Abulensis, that he touched the ark on that day when the preceding night he had had relations with his wife, and was therefore unclean and irregular; for even the priests of the Gentiles, when they were offering sacrifice, were required to be chaste, according to Macrobius, book I of Saturnalia, chapter 23. Third, that he touched it without having first examined and purified his conscience, says Pacian in the Paraenesis. Fourth, others with Abulensis think he was struck for irreverence, because he touched the ark irreverently and without necessity; for the kicking of the oxen was slight, since as is said in 1 Chronicles 13: "The ox, etc., had slightly tilted the ark." The Rabbis add, or rather invent, that the ark was carrying its bearers rather than being carried. Fifth, others say he touched the ark when he was not wearing the Ephod and sacred vestments. Sixth and more truly, because Uzzah was not a priest but a Levite; but only priests were permitted to touch the ark, as Josephus, who was himself a priest and therefore eminently versed in the law, expressly states, book VII of Antiquities, chapter 4; and therefore it is clearly expressed in Numbers chapter 4, verse 15, and chapter 18:3, where the priests are commanded to wrap the ark in a veil and insert the poles through the corners of the ark, so that the Levites carrying the ark on their shoulders would not touch it, and this under pain of death. And this is what is meant by: "He struck him for his rashness." So Josephus and Ribera, book III On the Temple, chapter 3. Serarius adds that Uzzah touched the ark uncovered: for although it was draped with veils, yet these veils were not tied down, but laid on top in such a way that they were blown about and flapped by the wind or the shaking of the cart. Therefore when the oxen kicked, they shifted the covering to one side, and thus Uzzah running up through imprudence and incautious zeal touched the bare part of the ark. For priests ought to have been summoned and employed for this, who seem not to have been present, because none are named here; and David sufficiently indicates this, 1 Chronicles chapter 15, verse 13: whence Angelomus and the Glossa say he touched the ark presumptuously and incautiously. Salvian, book VI of Providence: "Uzzah," he says, "that Levite of God, was undutiful in his very duty, who presumed what was not commanded."
Moreover, Angelomus, Abulensis, Dionysius, and others think that Uzzah, punished with that temporal death, escaped eternal death. Finally, this place was called "the Striking of Uzzah" as follows, or "the Division of Uzzah" as is said in 1 Chronicles chapter 13, verse 11. "Division," by which God divided the soul of Uzzah from his body, and Uzzah from men and from the life of this world; but not that his arm withered and was divided from his shoulders, with which he should have carried the ark, as some Rabbis say; the Author of the Wonders of Sacred Scripture asserts he was suffocated.
Allegorically, learn from this with what purity and reverence one ought to approach the Holy Eucharist, in which there is not earthly manna, which was in the ark, but heavenly and divine manna, indeed Christ Himself, God and man. Hear St. Pacian in the Paraenesis: "I address you who, having committed crimes, refuse penance; you, I say, timid after your impudence, ashamed after your sins, who with a guilty conscience touch the holy things of God, and do not fear the altar of the Lord, who approach the hands of the priest in the sight of Angels under the pretense of innocence, etc.; so great was the care of divine providence, that it would not tolerate bold hands, not even for the purpose of assistance." Similarly Angelomus.
Tropologically, the Fathers draw various lessons from this: first, St. Dionysius the Areopagite, epistle 8, that laypeople should not involve themselves in sacred things; second, that virgins, who are the spiritual ark of Christ, are not to be touched. Hear St. Jerome, epistle 22 to Eustochium on the preservation of virginity: "I beseech you before God and Christ Jesus, and His elect Angels, that you not easily bring into public view the vessels of the Lord's temple, which only priests are permitted to see; let no profane person look upon the sanctuary of God. Uzzah, touching the ark which it was not lawful to touch, was struck down with sudden death; for neither a golden nor silver vessel was so dear to God as the temple of the virginal body. The shadow has preceded; now the reality is here." The same, epistle 48 to Sabinianus the seducer of a virgin: "Uzzah the Levite," he says, "tried to support the ark of the Lord, which he himself should have been carrying, as though it were about to fall, and was struck; what do you think will happen to you, who have tried to topple the standing ark of the Lord?" Third, that sacred vessels are not to be touched recklessly. So St. Ephrem, treatise On the Priesthood, volume 1. Fourth, that the deeds of superiors and saints, even if they seem to deviate somewhat from what is right, are not to be judged by subordinates and others. Hear St. Gregory, book V of Moralia, chapter 10: "What is," he says, "the mind of a just man, if not the ark of the covenant? Which, carried by kicking oxen, is tilted: because sometimes even one who governs well, when he is shaken by the confusion of his subject peoples, is moved to a condescension of dispensation out of love alone. But in what is done by way of dispensation, the very inclination itself is thought by the impertinent to be a fall from strength. Whence some subordinates raise their hand of reproach against this, but by their own rashness they immediately fall away from life. Therefore the Levite, as if helping, extended his hand, but sinning, lost his life; because when the weak criticize the deeds of the strong, they themselves are rejected from the lot of the living." Then applying the same to the saints: "What is it," he says, "to want to correct a just man for his condescension, except to lift up the tilting ark with the proud hand of reproach? What is it to criticize a just man for an unknown manner of speaking, except to consider his courageous act a fall into error? But he loses his life who proudly lifts up the ark of God; because no one would presume to correct the right actions of saints unless he had first thought better of himself. Whence rightly the same Uzzah is also called Levite, which is interpreted 'strong of the Lord'; because the presumptuous, and those who unless they boldly believed themselves strong in the Lord, would by no means judge the deeds or words of their betters as weak."
Symbolically, the ark of the covenant is Sacred Scripture, which we are bound to touch reverently, that is, to read and hear; and consequently the ark is the soul of a man learned and holy in it. Whence St. Anthony of Padua, on account of his remarkable citation and explanation of Sacred Scripture in preaching, was called by the Pontiff "the ark of the covenant." So also Gennadius, in the Catalogue of Honoratus, Bishop of Marseilles, calls the mouth "a library of the Scriptures." And Cassian, Conference XIV, chapter 10: "Continuous," he says, "meditation on the Scriptures makes the mind an ark of the covenant." And St. Jerome, at the end of chapter 2 on Ephesians: "Let there be established in us," he says, "the ark of the covenant, the guardian of the Lord's law, and the Cherubim of the multitude of knowledge, and let the interior of our breast pass into a new name, and let us be called debir, that is, oracle, or hilasterion, that is, the place of speaking."
Finally, the ark of the covenant is the Blessed Virgin, who, having embraced in her womb Christ, the author of the new covenant and testament, brought Him into the world: whoever touches her irreverently will certainly be struck by God. Thus Nestorius, denying that she was the Mother of God, was struck, when his blasphemous tongue was eaten by worms and rotted away. Thus Constantine Copronymus, comparing her to a purse which, when the gold is removed, is nothing but a worthless purse, was struck with a carbuncle and cried out that he had been handed over alive to inextinguishable fire because of Mary the Mother of God, commanding from then on that she be honored and celebrated as the Mother of God, says Glycas from Cedrenus. See Paul the Deacon, book 21, and Zonaras, book 3. Thus Cajanus, a mime who blasphemed the Blessed Virgin, was rebuked by her in a dream, and when he did not reform, in the morning found himself with his hands and feet cut off, as John Moschus relates in the Spiritual Meadow, chapter 4.
Verse 10: The Ark Goes to Obed-Edom's House
10. HE TURNED IT ASIDE INTO THE HOUSE OF OBED-EDOM THE GITTITE. This house was either in the city of Jerusalem itself, or in a place near the city, as Josephus says, who also adds that Obed-edom was initially poor, but righteous; and a Levite, and this is clear from 1 Chronicles chapter 16, verse 3, and chapter 16, verse 15. You will ask: How then is he called here a Gittite, that is, a Philistine, or, as Theodoret and Procopius say, an Allophylus, that is, a foreigner? I answer, by nation he was a Jew, but by domicile he was a Gittite, because he was born or had lived in Gath, just as Elimelech, a Jew, lived in Moab, Ruth chapter 1. So Serarius. Moreover, Obed-edom in Hebrew means the same as serving, worshipping, or working red, says Pagninus in the Hebrew Names, and this aptly, to denote his red and burning devotion, piety, and charity.
Mystically, Gath in Hebrew means the same as winepress, which signifies the cross, on which Christ the true vine, says Eucherius, deigned to be trodden and pressed out, from which the entire people of the nations can rightly be called Gittite, when he says: "God forbid that I should glory, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ;" the ark of God, therefore, and God Himself rests in the soul of the Gittite, that is, of the faithful person who loves the cross and mortification.
Verse 11: The Lord Blessed Obed-Edom
11. AND THE LORD BLESSED OBED-EDOM AND ALL HIS HOUSEHOLD, that is, He prospered him, and suddenly heaped upon him great wealth and an abundance of goods. So Josephus. The Hebrews cited by St. Jerome relate that all his wives, handmaids, and daughters-in-law bore males, and his animals bore twins.
Verse 12: David Brings the Ark from Obed-Edom
12. HE WENT (attracted by the blessing and prosperity that Obed-edom had received from the ark) AND BROUGHT THE ARK OF GOD FROM THE HOUSE OF OBED-EDOM INTO THE CITY OF DAVID, into Zion, for this, built by David as a city, was called the city of David, just as Rome was founded and named by Romulus, Nineveh by Ninus, Alexandria by Alexander the Great, Antioch by Antiochus, Seleucia by Seleucus, Ptolemais by Ptolemy, and Constantinople by Constantine.
AND THERE WERE WITH DAVID SEVEN CHOIRS, of musicians, which are described in 1 Chronicles chapter 15, namely the first, verse 17; the second, verse 18; the third, verse 19; the fourth, verse 20; the fifth, verse 21; the sixth, verse 22; the seventh, verse 24; where those Levites who went before and after the ark are called "doorkeepers," because they cleared the way for the crowd and opened a path for the Levites who were carrying the ark; likewise those who were afterward to be placed in charge of the doors of the tabernacle and temple on Zion in which the ark was kept.
AND A SACRIFICIAL CALF. The Septuagint adds, and a lamb. These words are lacking in the Hebrew and Chaldean. It is a change of number: "sacrifice of a calf," that is, sacrifices of calves; for there were more, as is clear from what follows.
Verse 13: They Sacrificed an Ox and a Ram
13. AND WHEN THOSE WHO WERE CARRYING THE ARK HAD GONE SIX PACES, HE SACRIFICED AN OX AND A RAM. Here, on the advice of the priests who were now present, the ark was not carried on a cart, as had been done by mistake in verse 3, but was borne on the shoulders of the Levites, namely the Kohathites, as God had commanded in Numbers 4:15.
HE SACRIFICED, in thanksgiving for the safety of all, that no one was struck by God, as Uzzah had been struck, and in supplication, that God would continue His care toward the ark, the priests and companions, with protection and clemency. Whence 1 Chronicles 15:26 says: "And when God had helped him to walk, they sacrificed seven bulls and seven rams," namely one bull and one ram for each of the seven choirs of Levites who were singing. For there were seven choirs. They therefore offered fourteen victims, and for this reason they erected several altars, on which all were sacrificed at once, burning only the fat, which was done according to the law in peace offerings, which these were; for otherwise, in slaughtering, skinning, cutting up, and burning so many victims, the delay of so great a procession would have been far too long. So Abulensis. Finally, Serarius thinks these sacrifices were repeated at every six paces. But Scripture says nothing of the sort, and if so, this procession would have had to last the whole day, indeed several days; for the distance from the house of Obed-edom to the citadel of Zion was great.
Moreover, in the cited passage in Chronicles, the pomp and jubilation of this procession and translation of the ark is described more fully. Read it there: here I will only explain certain obscure things that are said there. There, in verse 20, it is said of the Levites: "On lyres they sang arcane things;" which Abulensis and others take as meaning they sang arcane mysteries, and therefore in a subdued voice, with involved and obscure words. Our author Sanchez more aptly understands by arcana the Psalms whose title is alamoth, that is, secret and hidden things, such as Psalms 9 and 14, which so aptly suit this solemn translation of the ark that they seem to have been composed by David on that occasion; whence in place of arcana in the book of Chronicles the Hebrew likewise has alamoth.
Again, verse 21 says: "On harps for the octave they sang a victory hymn," that is, a triumphal song for the victories over the Philistines achieved by David. Such songs are the Psalms inscribed To the Victor, that is, dedicated to God and David, such as Psalms 6 and 11. For their titles according to the Septuagint are, For the end, for the octave, where in Hebrew it is lamnatseach, that is, to the victor, or to the conqueror, as St. Jerome and others translate; but more on these in the Psalms. It seems therefore that they then sang the aforementioned psalms as a victory hymn to God for David's victories. Then in verse 22 it says: "And Chenaniah, the leader of the Levites, was in charge of the prophecy; of the prophecy," that is, of the melody; whence explaining he adds: "For leading the music;" for to prophesy often means the same as to praise and rejoice in God. For thus Samuel and Saul are said to have prophesied, book I, chapter 19, verse 24. Consider how great was the harmony and concord of so many instruments and singers. Then verse 26 says: "And when God had helped the Levites who were carrying the ark of the covenant of the Lord, seven bulls and rams were sacrificed." The Hebrews explain "had helped" thus, as if to say: God lifted the ark above the shoulders of the Levites, so that they felt no burden from it, but the ark seemed to carry and move itself. But I say that God helped the Levites in carrying the ark, because the ark with the stone tablets of the Decalogue enclosed within it, as well as the gold with which it was covered, was heavy and weighty, and the ascent up Mount Zion was steep and difficult: God therefore animated and strengthened the Levites, so that they would carry the ark joyfully and vigorously up into the very citadel of Zion. So Abulensis, Salianus, Sanchez, and others. Let us now return to our text and verse.
AND A RAM. In Hebrew it is meri, which like bari means a fat and fattened animal, whether ox or sheep; here it cannot be an ox, because one preceded: therefore it is a sheep; whence the Septuagint here and elsewhere often translates lamb, which is a young ram.
Verse 14: David Danced with All His Might
14. AND DAVID DANCED WITH ALL HIS MIGHT. Some manuscripts add: "And David played on armed instruments," that is, fastened to the arms or shoulders, as if to say: On portable instruments: for since David was simultaneously dancing and playing instruments, they had to be suspended from his shoulder, being heavy, so as not to hinder the leaping or playing. But these words should be deleted following the Hebrew, Chaldean, Septuagint, Roman edition, Rabanus, manuscripts, and others everywhere. It seems that "armed" crept in from the Septuagint, which has in organis hermosmenois, that is, harmonious and harmoniously modulating instruments.
HE DANCED (Vatablus, he leapt for joy) WITH ALL HIS MIGHT (Hebrew and Chaldean, with all his strength) BEFORE THE LORD, that is, before the ark of the Lord. What would David have done if he had beheld the true ark of God, namely the Holy Eucharist, and Christ the Lord Himself in it? And what is it fitting for Christians to do when they see the same being consecrated in churches and solemnly carried through the streets? If David with such pomp, with so many musical instruments playing, so many choirs of Levites singing, with so many victims and the concourse and applause of the entire people, carried the ark around, what is it fitting for us to do when Christ Himself is carried around in the Eucharist?
Note and imitate here David's remarkable humility, as well as the fervor of devotion by which he deserved to become the father of Christ; because in the typical ark he beheld and honored with the eyes of his mind Christ the antitype who was to be born from him. So Eucherius: "Here," he says, "humility is shown to be approved, pride condemned, and rashness punished; because David himself was not ashamed to dance humbly before the ark of the Lord, and soon deserved to receive the promise of the Son of God to be born from his line, while his wife who despised that same humility of his, not deserving to be made fruitful by his seed, suffered the penalty of perpetual barrenness."
St. Ambrose, sermon 25 On the Saints, assigns a lofty but mystical reason for this dance: "Carried away with joy," he says, "he burst into dancing. For he foresaw in the spirit that Mary from his line would be joined to the bridal chamber of Christ. Whence he says: And He Himself as a bridegroom coming forth from his chamber. Therefore he sang more than the other authors of prophecies, because more joyful than all he was uniting his posterity through these joys; and inviting them to his own desires more sweetly than usual, he taught us what we ought to do at weddings, since he danced before the ark with such exultation before the wedding. Therefore the prophet David danced before the ark. And what shall we say the ark is, if not holy Mary? For the ark bore within itself the tablets of the covenant, while Mary bore the heir of the covenant itself. The one held the law within itself, the other the Gospel. The one had the voice of God, the other the Word. And yet the ark shone within and without with the brightness of gold, but holy Mary also shone within and without with the splendor of virginity. The one was adorned with earthly gold, the other with heavenly." Hear St. Gregory, book 27 of Moralia, chapter 27 (whose words Angelomus and Eucherius transcribed word for word according to their custom): "It is worth considering how many gifts of virtue David had received, and in all these how strongly he preserved himself in humility. For whom would it not exalt to break the jaws of lions, to tear apart the arms of bears, to be chosen when his elder brothers were passed over, to be anointed to rule the kingdom when the king was rejected, to fell the dreaded Goliath with a single stone, to carry back numerous foreskins of the slain Philistines as the reward proposed by the king, finally to receive the promised kingdom, and to possess the entire Israelite people without any opposition? And yet when he brings back the ark of God to Jerusalem, as if forgetting that he was set above all, he mingles with the people and dances before the ark. And because dancing before the ark was, as is believed, the custom of the common people, the king whirls himself in the divine service through the dance." And not many lines later he adds: "I am more amazed at David dancing than at David fighting. For by fighting he subdued enemies, but by dancing before the Lord he conquered himself."
Moreover, this dance of David was a military one, as of a soldier fighting, exulting, and triumphing for the ark of God. The Salii (dancing priests) of Rome imitated David; they were priests of Mars, so called because they were accustomed to dance when carrying the sacred shields; for a leap denotes a vigorous, nimble, and spirited soldier. Whence Ovid, book III of Fasti: Already the Salii had received names derived from leaping.
Hence also by Virgil, book VIII of the Aeneid, they are called "the exulting Salii." Hear Livy, book I: "Numa likewise chose twelve Salii for Mars Gradivus, and gave them the distinction of an embroidered tunic, and over the tunic a bronze breastplate, and commanded them to carry heavenly arms (which are called ancilia) and to go through the city singing songs with war dances and solemn leaping."
Finally, our Serarius here says: Those who today come to us from Syria, testify that Christians who live in those regions, on the day of the Lord's Resurrection, and also on other celebrated feasts, come to the church with lyres and harps, and sing psalms among themselves, and dance together, yet soberly and modestly; they say the men dance apart, and the women apart. Likewise in Spain and India, boys perform sacred dances and choruses dancing before the Blessed Sacrament.
Weariness overcame those leading the dances, while they were making their way to the temple."
Allegorically, the ark signified the Church of the New Testament militant, which Christ established on Zion, and to which He brought all nations through the Apostles, and will bring the Jews at the end of the world. Hear Eucherius: "David brings the ark into the city of David; because the Lord, with Enoch and Elijah preaching, will turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, sacrificing oxen and rams, that is, crowning with the blood of martyrdom those who thresh at the Lord's ark and lead His sheep, and He Himself also openly manifesting the example of His incarnation and passion, not believed by the Jews until then. For this is what is signified by the fact that David himself was girded with a linen ephod, which, produced from the earth through much labor, attained the whiteness of a garment, and thus showed the truth of His human flesh triumphing amid the scourges."
Anagogically, the ark signified the Church of the Blessed triumphant, which Christ led with triumph into heavenly Zion, especially when He Himself gloriously ascended into it with all the holy Patriarchs and Prophets on the fortieth day after the resurrection. Indeed, the ark of the Covenant represented the glorious humanity of Christ, in which as in an ark His divinity was contained and hidden. Again, the ark signified the Blessed Virgin, whom the true David, that is, Christ, led and assumed into heaven with the jubilation of all the Angels and Saints.
Verse 15: Bringing the Ark with Jubilation
15. THEY WERE BRINGING THE ARK OF THE COVENANT OF THE LORD WITH JUBILATION AND WITH THE SOUND OF THE TRUMPET. Josephus adds, book 8, chapter 2, and says: "They went up there with victims, both the king and the entire people and the Levites, drenching the road with libations and much blood of sacrifices, and burning an infinite quantity of incense, so that the whole air all around, filled with sweetness, could be perceived even by those far away." And he adds, "all were so strengthened by divine help in this procession that no one grew weary, from which it was the firm opinion of all that God was coming to inhabit the recently built and dedicated place for Him; for neither for those singing hymns, nor for
Verse 17: The Ark Placed in the Tabernacle
17. AND THEY PLACED IT IN ITS PLACE IN THE MIDST OF THE TABERNACLE WHICH DAVID HAD PITCHED FOR IT. This tabernacle of David was new and different from the one that Moses had made, Exodus 25. For the Mosaic tabernacle was in Gibeon. It was therefore erected by David on Zion, so that he might honorably place the ark in it, and at the same time he erected before it the altar of burnt offerings, on which to sacrifice victims; for the altar made by Moses remained with the tabernacle in Gibeon, and was afterward transferred by Solomon into the temple he had built, as is clear from 1 Chronicles chapter 16, verses 36 and 40.
AND DAVID OFFERED BURNT OFFERINGS AND PEACE OFFERINGS BEFORE THE LORD, namely before the ark of the Lord. Moreover, David then composed and had sung Psalm 28: "Bring to the Lord, O sons of God, bring to the Lord young rams," as is clear from the psalm's title, which is: At the dedication of the tabernacle. At the same time he appointed Levites to sing before the ark the psalm: "Give thanks to the Lord, and call upon His name," which is recorded in 1 Chronicles 16:8, and is compiled from Psalms 104 and 95, and additionally other psalms.
Verse 18: He Blessed the People
18. HE BLESSED THE PEOPLE, that is, he prayed blessings on the people. It is likely that Abiathar the high priest in so great a solemnity likewise blessed the people, saying: "The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord show His face to you, and have mercy on you. The Lord turn His countenance to you, and give you peace," as God had prescribed, Numbers 6:23.
Verse 19: He Distributed Food to the People
19. AND HE DISTRIBUTED, etc., TO EACH ONE A CAKE OF BREAD. A collyrida was a twisted loaf of bread or a cake, with sweets mixed in for the delight of the palate. Hear Rhodiginus, book 9 of Antiquities, chapter 16: "Collyra were called small loaves of bread, which were customarily given to children. In some places, however, collyria are called lalangia; whence also the verb kollyridsein, which signifies the cooking of lalangia in a frying pan."
AND ONE PIECE OF ROASTED BEEF (that is, bovine; therefore the reading "buffalo" in the Regii is incorrect; for this passage is about cattle, not buffalo) MEAT. So also the Septuagint here as well as in 1 Chronicles 16:3. In Hebrew it is espar, which is composed of esh, that is, fire (as if to say, roasted by fire) and par, that is, a young bull; or, as Marinus in his Lexicon says, blended from echad, that is, one, shishshah, that is, six, and par, that is, a young bull, as if to say: One-sixth of a young bull; Pagninus translates, a fine piece of meat.
AND FINE FLOUR FRIED IN OIL. In Hebrew asisah, which Vatablus, Pagninus, Arias, and other Hebraists translate as a flask of wine. For David gave this to them as drink along with the food. But our translator here as well as the Septuagint, both here and in 1 Chronicles chapter 16, verse 3, consistently translate, fine flour fried in oil, and being ancient and most skilled in the Hebrew language, they should be believed more than modern conjecturers. See what was said on Song of Songs chapter 2, verse 5, and Hosea chapter 3, verse 1. David therefore did not give them a drink, but allowed each one to take it at home at his pleasure, or if he gave it, it is not expressed here.
Verse 20: Michal Reproaches David
20. AND DAVID RETURNED TO BLESS HIS HOUSEHOLD, so that just as he had prayed blessings on the people, he would likewise pray blessings on his own household members who had remained in the citadel on guard duty. Again, "to bless," that is, to do good by distributing to them the same or more gifts than he had given to each person of the people on account of the celebration and joy of the translation of the ark. So Serarius, Cajetan, Abulensis, and others.
AND HE WAS STRIPPED AS IF ONE OF THE BUFFOONS WERE TO STRIP HIMSELF. "Stripped," not that David was completely naked; for this would have been indecent and shameful, but that he had put off his outermost royal garment to put on the ephod; just as if today a king, having put off his royal mantle and dressed in a breastplate and leggings only, were to put on over them a linen surplice-like garment, and thus appear in a procession or at the sacrifice of the Mass, and dressed in a surplice were to sing with the singers. So Cajetan. Michal was the daughter of King Saul and the wife of King David; whence she thought it unworthy of her royal dignity and David's majesty that he should dance before the ark. "She did not know," say Theodoret and Procopius, "the goads of divine love, which stir up even the great to small things."
Allegorically, Angelomus: David transferring the ark was mocked by Michal. "So the Lord Jesus Christ," he says, "when He wished to transfer the testament of God into His Church, that is, the Gospel precepts from the Old Testament, as if establishing new ones, was seized by the Jewish people and hung on the cross, and became a mockery to them. On which cross He appeared as if naked to them, while hiding from them the power of His divinity, He showed only the weakness of His flesh."
Verse 22: David's Reply to Michal
22. AND I WILL PLAY AND I WILL MAKE MYSELF VILER (St. Ambrose, book I of the Apology of David, chapter 6, reads: "I will be a fool before your eyes") THAN I HAVE BEEN; AND I WILL BE HUMBLE IN MY OWN EYES, AND WITH THE HANDMAIDS OF WHOM YOU SPEAK, I SHALL APPEAR MORE GLORIOUS; for true glory is humility, which made David and the saints glorious, when through the heroic virtue of self-abasement they associate themselves with and virtually equal those beneath them, and with them undertake lowly and seemingly worthless duties for the honor and worship of God. Hear St. Gregory (whose words Eucherius and Angelomus transcribe), book 27 of Moralia, final chapter, where he explains David's meaning thus: "I desire to be despised before men, because I seek to preserve myself noble before the Lord through humility. There are indeed some who think humbly of themselves, because placed in honors they consider themselves to be nothing but dust and ashes; yet they shrink from appearing despised before men, and against what they think of themselves interiorly, they cloak themselves outwardly with a kind of rigid elegance. And there are some who desire to appear worthless to men, and displaying themselves as cast down, they despise everything they are; yet inwardly in themselves they swell up, as it were, from the very merit of their displayed worthlessness, and the more they suppress the appearance of exaltation, the more they are exalted in heart. Both these battles of the one pride, David detected with great circumspection and overcame with wonderful virtue." He proves the same point when he adds: "Because feeling humble things about himself interiorly, he does not seek outward honor, he indicates by saying: I will play and I will make myself viler. And because through showing himself outwardly vile, he by no means swells with pride interiorly, he adds: And I will be humble in my own eyes; as if to say: Just as I show myself outwardly despising myself, so I also regard myself interiorly. What then will those whom learning exalts do, if David, who knew the Redeemer would come from his flesh, and prophetically proclaimed His joys, yet crushed in himself the pride of his heart with the powerful heel of discretion, saying: And I will be humble in my own eyes."
Tropologically, St. Bernard, epistle 87 to Ogerius: "I will play," he says, "so that I may be mocked. Good is the play at which Michal is angry and God is delighted. Good is the play that provides men indeed with something ridiculous, but Angels with a most beautiful spectacle. Good, I say, is the play by which we become a reproach to those who have abundance and a contempt to the proud. For in truth, what else do we seem to the worldly but to be playing, when what they desire in this world, we by contrast flee; and what they flee, we desire." And after some intervening remarks: "This is not a childish game; it is not something from the theater, which provokes lust with womanly and foul twistings, representing sordid acts. But it is a joyful game, honorable, weighty, admirable, which can delight the gaze of heavenly spectators. With this chaste and religious play was playing he who said: We have been made a spectacle to Angels and to men. With this play let us too in the meantime dare to be mocked, confused, humbled, until He comes who puts down the mighty and exalts the humble, who may gladden us, glorify us, exalt us forever."
23. THEREFORE TO MICHAL THE DAUGHTER OF SAUL NO CHILD WAS BORN UNTO THE DAY OF HER DEATH. Michal, says St. Ambrose, book IV, epistle 30 to Sabinus, "condemned to barrenness, did not produce royal offspring, lest she create" those similar to herself in pride, being herself proud. Interpreters commonly teach that Michal bore no children either to David, or to Phalti, or to any other man. Michal seems to have been barren by nature; for in eleven years of marriage to David she had given him no sons up to this point, which defect of barrenness God here confirmed as a penalty for mocking David. Pineda adds, book 7 On the Affairs of Solomon, chapter 4, that David thereafter abstained from her use and marital union; but this is uncertain.
You will object: In chapter 21, verse 8, five sons of Michal are counted. The Rabbis foolishly say that Michal was only barren at the time she mocked David. More truly, the ancient Hebrews cited by St. Jerome and Abulensis respond that those children were from her sister Merab, but adopted by her; Josephus, however, holds they were produced not from David but from another man. For if, say Theodoret and Procopius, sons had been born from David and her, they would more easily have been later enrolled as kings, since they would have had both a king for a father and a king's daughter for a mother. But the first Hebrew answer is truer, as will be evident in chapter 21, verse 8.
Symbolically, Michal represents the Pagans, Jews, Heretics, and other wicked people who mock and slander the faith and ceremonies of the Church and the deeds of pious men. So Eucherius, Angelomus, and St. Ambrose, book I of the Apology of David, chapter 6. Whence Michal in Hebrew means the same as all water, says Eucherius; and water is a symbol of persecution and of persecutors, who like water flow into carnal vices, and therefore persecute the truly devout, pious, and spiritual as if they were their diametrically opposed adversaries.
Finally, the attitude of Michal was the attitude of the Gentiles, who considered it unworthy of the majesty of both kings and gods to sing, play psalms, and lead dances. The common saying is: "Jupiter does not sing, nor play the harp." King Philip rebuked his son Alexander the Great because he had sung. Nero also received a bad reputation for singing, according to Suetonius. And the contrary was the zeal and practice of the faithful, even great men, in divine matters. To pass over others in silence, a hundred years ago Thomas More, Chancellor of England and martyr, imitated David. Hear what Thomas Stapleton writes about him in his Life, chapter 6, page 87: "And even in his own church, wearing a surplice, he sang along with the priests who were singing. When he was doing this even as Chancellor of the kingdom, he was warned by the Duke of Norfolk, who once coming upon him had found him singing in the choir wearing a surplice, that this manner of his would undoubtedly displease the king, as too humble and not befitting the dignity he held; he replied: It cannot displease my lord the king that I render service to the Lord of the king himself. Moreover, he served the priest at the altar when sacrificing (supplying the role of a layperson); and sometimes in public processions according to custom, but of his own parish, he carried the cross before the priest, refusing nothing, declining nothing, ashamed of nothing of the duties of a common cleric or sacristan, indeed rejoicing greatly; and as if dancing with David before the ark of the Lord and saying: I will make myself viler than I have been, and I will be humble in my own eyes." So far Stapleton.