1 Chronicles 13:10-11

13:10 The Lord was so furious with Uzzah, ¹  he killed him, because he reached out his hand and touched the ark. ²  He died right there before God. ³ 

13:11 David was angry because the Lord attacked Uzzah; ⁴  so he called that place Perez Uzzah, ⁵  which remains its name to this very day.

¹ tn Heb “and the anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah.”

² tn Heb “because he stretched out his hand over the ark.”

³ sn The modern reader might think God seemed to overreact here, but Israel needed a vivid object lesson of God’s holiness. By loading the ark on a cart, David had violated the instructions in God’s law (Exod 25:12-14; Num 4:5-6, 15). Uzzah’s action, however innocent it may seem, betrayed a certain lack of reverence for God’s presence. God had to remind his people that his holiness could not under any circumstances be violated.

⁴ tn Heb “because the Lord broke out [with] breaking out [i.e., an outburst] against Uzzah.”

⁵ sn The name Perez Uzzah means in Hebrew “the outburst [against] Uzzah.”