Don't Touch This

Scripture Reading: 1 Chronicles 13-16; Psalm 4

“And when they came to the threshing floor of Chidon, Uzzah put out his hand to take hold of the ark, for the oxen stumbled. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah, and he struck him down because he put out his hand to the ark, and he died there before God.”
—1 Chronicles 13:9–10

Years ago, I read R.C. Sproul’s reflection on this passage in The Holiness of God. He wrote that Uzzah’s error was in assuming his hand was cleaner than the ground the ark was about to fall on. With pastoral clarity, Sproul tied together the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man—and showed how lightly we tend to treat both. Like Uzzah, we often assume too much about ourselves and too little about God.

This story is striking. Like David, many people respond to it with a gut reaction: That doesn’t seem fair. Uzzah, after all, seems like a decent man with good intentions. But he was killed instantly—no warning, no second chance, just swift judgment.

I’m not here to defend God. He needs no defense. But I do want to set this Old Testament story beside a New Testament one to show how Uzzah’s tragedy actually helps us see the gospel more clearly.

Matthew, Mark, and Luke all tell us about a woman who had suffered from a chronic condition—likely a bleeding disorder—that made her ceremonially unclean for over a decade. She was desperate to be healed. Acting on a faith-born hunch, she came up behind Jesus and touched His cloak, believing that just that simple touch would make her well. And it did.
(Matthew 9:20–22; Mark 5:25–34; Luke 8:43–48)

So what’s the connection?

Uzzah touched a wooden box that symbolized God’s presence—a sacred object never to be handled carelessly. It was a shadow of something greater. Jesus is the substance—the living presence of God in human flesh.

This doesn’t downplay the holiness of the ark or God’s judgment on Uzzah. Rather, it magnifies the grace of God toward the woman. Uzzah touched and died. She touched and lived.

The fact that we can be brought into relationship with a holy God through Jesus Christ—that we will one day stand in His presence unafraid and unashamed—is staggering. We all deserve Uzzah’s fate. God is holy, holy, holy. We are sinful. Who among us can stand before Him and live?

How is it possible that this unclean woman wasn’t struck down the moment she touched the Holy Son of God?

Here’s the difference:
Uzzah acted on the belief that he was clean enough to touch what was holy.
She acted on the belief that she was unclean—and that only Jesus could make her whole.

Uzzah tried to save God.
She came to be saved by God.

He died.
She lived.

And so can we.

We don’t approach God because we are clean—but because Jesus can cleanse us. All who come to Him in faith, like that woman, can touch God and live.

The woman touching the hem of Jesus cloak from Mark's gospel