Humility Vs. Pride

 Everyone deals with disaster in different ways. Some people go into denial. They try to block out what happened as protectively as possible so as not to face the overwhelming emotions of the situation and the sense of failure. Others get angry and find someone or something to blame for what happened, while others are overwhelmed with sadness.

David felt all these emotions after his first attempt to bring the ark of the covenant to Jerusalem after it had lain in obscurity for seventy years. Still, unfortunately, his attempt was unsuccessful (1 Samuel 6). The disaster at the first attempt to retrieve the ark took the life of one man as the anger of the Lord broke out against Uzzah for touching the ark. David ceased his efforts to bring the ark to Jerusalem at this point and left it at the house of a foreigner. The ark remained at the home of Obed-edom for three months.

God blessed the house of Obed-edom because the ark was there. This inspired David to try again. On the second attempt to retrieve the ark, no cart was used to transport the ark. Instead, the Levites carried the ark. The presumption of the earlier attempt is gone. They did their homework on how to move the ark. This time, they moved forward with extreme caution. After six steps, the procession stopped and offered a sacrifice. David was dancing “before the LORD with all his might (2 Sam 6:14).

The trappings of pomp and dignity were absent. Displays of power and prestige were nowhere to be seen. This was not about David. “David danced before the LORD”. It was the joy of humility; there were no royal robes, no encouragement for the crowd to cheer or bow to David. Instead, “David wore an ordinary linen ephod”. It was not the trappings of greatness.

As this extraordinary procession approached the city, Michal, David’s wife, looked out the window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord. She despised him (2 Samuel 6:16). Michal did not like what she saw. Michal is identified not as “the wife of David” but as “the daughter of Saul.” To her, it was undignified. No king should be acting like this before his people. Where was the royal dignity? Michal saw his conduct as unbecoming of a king. “She despised him in her heart”.

The dignity, power, and splendor of the King were too important to the daughter of Saul. David had put aside these things, joyfully humbling himself “before the LORD.” Saul’s daughter could not accept this. To her, it was simply uncouth. David had abandoned his royal dignity “before the LORD” as an act of glad humility. He knew who was the real King. David was making himself nothing. He was not counting his own dignity as something to protect.  Michal was embarrassed. David’s humility brought him joy, while Michal’s pride brought her misery and pain.