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1 Again, David gathered together all the chosen men of Israel, thirty thousand. 2 And David arose, and went with all the people that were with him from Baale of Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God, whose name is called by the name of the LORD of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims. 3 And they set the ark of God upon a new cart, and brought it out of the house of Abinadab that was in Gibeah: and Uzzah and Ahio, the sons of Abinadab, drave the new cart. 4 And they brought it out of the house of Abinadab which was at Gibeah, accompanying the ark of God: and Ahio went before the ark. 5 And David and all the house of Israel played before the LORD on all manner of instruments made of fir wood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals. 6 And when they came to Nachon's threshingfloor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. 7 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God. 8 And David was displeased, because the LORD had made a breach upon Uzzah: and he called the name of the place Perez-uzzah to this day. 9 And David was afraid of the LORD that day, and said, How shall the ark of the LORD come to me? 10 So David would not remove the ark of the LORD unto him into the city of David: but David carried it aside into the house of Obed-edom the Gittite. 11 And the ark of the LORD continued in the house of Obed-edom the Gittite three months: and the LORD blessed Obed-edom, and all his household. 12 And it was told king David, saying, The LORD hath blessed the house of Obed-edom, and all that pertaineth unto him, because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the house of Obed-edom into the city of David with gladness. 13 And it was so, that when they that bare the ark of the LORD had gone six paces, he sacrificed oxen and fatlings. 14 And David danced before the LORD with all his might; and David was girded with a linen ephod. 15 So David and all the house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouting, and with the sound of the trumpet. 16 And as the ark of the LORD came into the city of David, Michal Saul's daughter looked through a window, and 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 set it in his place, in the midst of the tabernacle that David had pitched for it: and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD. 18 And as soon as David had made an end of offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD of hosts. 19 And he dealt among all the people, even among the whole multitude of Israel, as well to the women as men, to every one a cake of bread, and a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine. So all the people departed every one to his house. 20 Then David returned to bless his household. And Michal the daughter of Saul came out to meet David, and said, How glorious was the king of Israel to day, who uncovered himself to day in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovereth himself! 21 And David said unto Michal, It was before the LORD, which chose me before thy father, and before all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the LORD, over Israel: therefore will I play before the LORD. 22 And I will yet be more vile than thus, and will be base in mine own sight: and of the maidservants which thou hast spoken of, of them shall I be had in honour. 23 Therefore Michal the daughter of Saul had no child unto the day of her death.
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[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on 2 Samuel 6:3
Gabaa: The hill of Cariathiarim, where the ark had been in the house of Abinadab, from the time of its being restored back by the Philistines.
[AD 253] Origen of Alexandria on 2 Samuel 6:4-5
“Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them.” Strictly speaking, the word symphony is used by musicians for the voices of harmony. For among musical tones, some harmonize with each other and others do not. But the Gospel is also familiar with this term as applied to music where it says, “He heard music [symphōnias] and dancing.” For it was fitting that, at the harmony that resulted between the father and his son who had been lost but was now found through his repentance, a symphony should be heard on the occasion of the rejoicing of the house.… Akin to this kind of symphony is what is written in the second book of Kings [Samuel] when the brothers of Aminadab “went before the ark, and David and the sons of Israel were playing before the face of the Lord on well-tuned instruments and in power and in songs.” For the “well-tuned instruments in power and in song” have in them that harmony of tones which is of such power that if only two people bring before the Father in heaven any request with that symphony which is found in divine and spiritual music, the Father grants it to them—which is most remarkable.

Source: COMMENTARY ON THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW 14.1
[AD 391] Pacian of Barcelona on 2 Samuel 6:6-7
When the people of the Hebrews were bringing back the ark of the Lord to Jerusalem, Uzzah, from the house of Abinadab the Israelite, who had touched the side of the ark without having examined his conscience, was slain. And yet he had drawn near not to take anything from it but to hold it up when it was leaning because of the stumbling of a young ox. So great a concern was there of reverence toward God that God did not accept bold hands even out of help. The Lord also proclaims the same thing, saying, “Everyone who is clean shall eat of the flesh, and whichever soul touches the flesh of the sacrifice of well-being and has his uncleanness upon him, that soul shall be cut off from his people.” Are these things which existed long ago, and now they do not happen in this way? What then? Has God ceased to care for what concerns us? Has he withdrawn beyond the view of the world, and does he look down from heaven upon no one? Is his forbearance really ignorance? God forbid, you will say. Therefore he sees what we do but he waits, indeed, and endures patiently, and he grants an opportunity for repentance and holds out his own Christ to postpone [the end], so that they whom he has redeemed may not readily perish. Understand this well, you sinner: you are observed by God; you can appease him if you want to.

Source: ON PENITENTS 6.3
[AD 407] John Chrysostom on 2 Samuel 6:6-7
They [the Galatians] had, in fact, only introduced one or two commandments, circumcision and the observance of days, but he [Paul] says that the gospel was subverted, in order to show that a slight adulteration vitiates the whole. For as he who but partially pares away the image on a royal coin renders the whole spurious, so he who swerves ever so little from the pure faith soon proceeds from this to graver errors and becomes entirely corrupted. Where then are those who charge us with being contentious in separating from heretics and say that there is no real difference between us except what arises from our ambition? Let them hear Paul’s assertion, that those who had but slightly innovated, subverted the gospel. … Don’t you know that even under the old covenant, a man who gathered sticks on the sabbath, and transgressed a single commandment, and that not a great one, was punished with death? And that Uzzah, who supported the ark when on the point of being overturned, was struck suddenly dead, because he had intruded upon an office which did not pertain to him? Wherefore if to transgress the sabbath and to touch the falling ark drew down the wrath of God so signally as to deprive the offender of even a momentary respite, shall he who corrupts unutterably awe-inspiring doctrines find excuse and pardon? Assuredly not. A lack of zeal in small matters is the cause of all our calamities; and because slight errors escape fitting correction, great ones creep in. As in the body, a neglect of wounds generates fever, mortification and death; so in the soul, slight evils overlooked open the door to graver ones.

Source: COMMENTARY ON GALATIANS 1
[AD 500] Salvian the Presbyter on 2 Samuel 6:6-7
We read in the law that even those who seem to have acted lightly against the sacred commandments have, nevertheless, been punished most severely. This is that we might understand that nothing which pertains to God must be considered lightly, because even what seems to be very little in fault is made great by the injury to God. What did Uzzah, the Levite of God, do against the heavenly command when he tried to steady the tottering ark of the Lord? There was nothing on this point prescribed by the law. Yet, immediately when he steadied the ark, he was struck down. Not that he was insolent in manner or undutiful in mind. Yet he was undutiful in his very act, because he went beyond his orders.

Source: THE GOVERNANCE OF GOD 6.10
[AD 420] Jerome on 2 Samuel 6:8-9
When the ark of the Lord was being transferred to Jerusalem, and the oxen kicked and made the wagon lean to one side, Uzzah, the Levite, reached out his hand to support the ark that had been tipped, and there follow immediately these words: “And the indignation of the Lord was enkindled against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his ignorance, and he died before the ark of God. And David was grieved because the Lord had struck Uzzah, and he was afraid of the Lord that day and said, ‘How shall the ark of the Lord come to me?’ ” When David, who was a just man and a prophet and had been anointed as king, whom the Lord chose according to his own heart that he might do his will in all things, saw ignorance punished by the wrath of the Lord, he was afraid and was grieved; nor did he ask the Lord his reason for striking a man who was ignorant, but he feared a similar judgment happening to him.

Source: Against the Pelagians 1.33
[AD 1781] Richard Challoner on 2 Samuel 6:12
Choirs: Or companies of musicians.
[AD 258] Novatian on 2 Samuel 6:14
And that David danced before the Lord does in no way encourage faithful Christians to take seats in the theater. He did not distort his body in obscene movements and dance out the drama of Grecian libido.… Therefore, no approval whatever is given for spectators of illicit things.

Source: ON THE SPECTACLES 3.2
[AD 465] Maximus of Turin on 2 Samuel 6:14
For our vows are celebrated when the church is united to Christ, as John says: “The one who has the bride is the bridegroom.” Because of this marriage, therefore, it behooves us to dance, for David, at once king and prophet, is also said to have danced before the ark of the covenant with much singing. In high rejoicing he broke into dancing, for in the Spirit he foresaw Mary, born of his own line, brought into Christ’s chamber, and so he says, “And he, like a bridegroom, will come forth from his chamber.” Thus he sang more than the other prophetic authors because, gladder than the rest of them, by these joys he united those coming after him in marriage. And, by inviting us to his own vows in a more charming way than usual, having danced with such joy in front of the ark before his marriage, he taught us what we ought to do at those other vows. The prophet David danced, then. But what would we say that the ark was if not holy Mary, since the ark carried within it the tables of the covenant, while Mary bore the master of the same covenant? The one bore the law within itself and the other the gospel, but the ark gleamed within and without with the radiance of gold, while holy Mary shone within and without with the splendor of virginity; the one was adorned with earthly gold, the other with heavenly.

Source: SERMON 42.5
[AD 604] Gregory the Dialogist on 2 Samuel 6:14
But because secret pride of heart is reproved by this which Elihu says, “All who seem to themselves to be wise will not dare to contemplate him,” it seems good to observe what great gifts of virtues David had obtained, and in all these with how firm a humility he maintained himself. For whom would it not puff up to break the mouths of lions, to rend asunder the arms of bears, to be chosen, when his elder brothers had been despised, to be anointed to the government of the kingdom when the kings had been rejected, to slay with a single stone Goliath who was dreaded by all, to bring back, after the destruction of the aliens, the numerous foreskins proposed by the king, to receive at last the promised kingdom, and to possess the whole people of Israel without any contradiction? And yet, when he brings back the ark of God to Jerusalem, he dances before the ark, mingled with the people, as though forgetful that he had been preferred to them all. And because, as is believed, it had been the custom of the common people to dance before the ark, the king wheels round in the dance, in service to God. Behold how he whom the Lord preferred specially above all despises himself beneath the Lord, both by equaling himself to the least and by displaying abject behavior. The power of his kingdom is not recalled to his memory. He does not fear to be of low stature in the eyes of his people by dancing. He does not remember, before the ark of him who had given him honor, that he had been preferred in honor above the rest. Before God he acted with the most extreme lowliness, in order to strengthen by his humility the bold deeds he had performed in the sight of people. What others think of his doings, I do not know; I am more surprised at David dancing than fighting. For by fighting he subdued his enemies; but by dancing before the Lord he overcame himself. And when Michal, the daughter of Saul, still mad with pride at her royal descent, despised him when humbled, saying, “How glorious was the king of Israel today, uncovering himself before the handmaids of his servants, and made himself naked, as though one of the buffoons were naked,” she immediately heard, “As the Lord lives, I will play before the Lord, who has chosen me rather than your father.” And a little later he says, “And I will play and I will become more lowly than I have been, and I will be humble in my own eyes,” as if he had said, I seek to become lowly before people because I seek to keep myself noble before the Lord through my humility.

Source: MORALS ON THE BOOK OF JOB 27.46
[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on 2 Samuel 6:16
But we also find praiseworthy bodily dancing in honor of God, for David danced before the ark of the Lord. Michal, however, the daughter of Saul, saw him dancing and beating a drum in the presence of the Lord and asked him, after receiving him into her home, “How is it honorable for the king of Israel to dance naked today in the presence of his maidservants?” And David answered Michal in the presence of the Lord: “Blessed be the Lord who chose me above your father and above his entire house to be established as prince over his people Israel. I will make merry in the presence of the Lord and run naked, and I will be lighthearted in your presence, and I will be honored by the maids with whom you called me naked.” “And Michal,” it says, “the daughter of Saul, had no children until the day she died.” Thus, this is a clear lesson that the prophet who beats a drum and dances before the ark of the Lord is justified, whereas the one who reproves him is condemned to sterility.

Source: EXPOSITION ON PSALM 118
[AD 215] Clement of Alexandria on 2 Samuel 6:19
So it is that he who of all philosophers so praised truth, Plato, gave new life to the dying ember of Hebrew philosophy by condemning a life spent in revelry. “When I arrived,” he said, “what is here called a life of pleasure, filled with Italian and Syracusan meals, was very repulsive to me. It is a life in which one gorges oneself twice a day, sleeps not only during the night, and engages in all the pastimes that go with this sort of life. No one upon earth could ever become wise in this way, if from his youth he had followed such pursuits as these, nor would he ever attain in that way any reputation for an excellent physique.” Surely, Plato was not unacquainted with David, who, when he was settling the holy ark in the middle of the tabernacle of his city, made a feast for all his obedient subjects and “before the face of the Lord, distributed to all the multitude of Israel, both men and women, to everyone, a cake of bread and baked bread and pancakes from the frying pan.” This food sufficed, this food of Israel; that of the Gentiles is extravagance.

Source: CHRIST THE EDUCATOR 2.1.18
[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on 2 Samuel 6:20-23
David was not ashamed when he danced before the ark of the covenant in the presence of all the people.… Yet, these actions of the body, though unseemly when viewed in themselves, become reverential under the aspect of holy religion, so that those who censure them drag their own souls into the net of censure. Thus, Michal censured David for dancing.…David did not blush at a woman’s censure, nor was he ashamed to meet with reproach, because of his devotion to religion. He played before the Lord as his servant and pleased him the more in so humbling himself before God and laying aside his royal dignity, performing the humblest tasks for God like a servant. She who censured such dancing was condemned to barrenness and had no children by the king lest she should beget the proud. In truth, she had no continuance of posterity or of good deeds.

Source: LETTER 28
[AD 601] Leander of Seville on 2 Samuel 6:20-23
You will be blessed if you give thanks to God both in adversity and in prosperity and if you consider the prosperity of this life as smoke and vapor that immediately vanishes. David was a king, yet, in spite of having numerous treasures and ruling countless peoples with a strong hand, he sang of himself as humble and said, “I am afflicted in an agony from my youth.” And again, he said to the daughter of Saul, “I shall walk humbly, and I shall appear humbly before the Lord, who chose me rather than your father.” Likewise, he also said, “I am a wayfarer of earth and a pilgrim like all my fathers.”

Source: THE TRAINING OF NUNS 23