Q. I heard a TV preacher say that David danced “stark naked” before the Ark. Is that true?

A. Of course not. The story is found in 2 Sam 6.1-23 so let’s look at that chapter. King David wanted to bring the Ark of the Covenant from Baal- Judah (Kiriat Jearim-Josh 15.9) to Jerusalem. They prepared a new cart for it which symbolizes the way man tries to improve on things God has already said (Replacement Theology for instance). They were singing and dancing thinking they were really offering God true worship when the road got rough and the Ark began to topple. A man named Uzzah reaches out to keep it from falling when he is struck dead. His name means “man’s strength” and it symbolizes the way we want to do things contrary to what the Lord has said. You see, God never said to transport the Ark on a new cart, or any cart. It was to be carried on the shoulders of the Levites and only with poles (1 Chr 15.2). What the Lord was saying in this is that the work of the Messiah (Ark) doesn’t need “man’s strength” or help and God was protecting the validity of what the Ark teaches. Many today have done the same thing with other Torah instructions by changing things like the Sabbath, Festivals, biblical diet restrictions by saying that has been “done away with.” Well, God never changed that and it was done away with by spiritual Uzzah’s and it doesn’t matter if you sing and dance your way to what you think God wants, the end result is death. In our passage they disregarded several commandments and people died, how much more when false teachers do away with whole chapters of the Torah ( Heb 10.28-29). David was very afraid to move it after this and the Ark was placed in the house and care of a man named Obed-Edom the Gittite. He was a Levite from one of the Levitical cities called Gath-Rimmon (Josh 21-20-25). God blessed the house of Obed-edom for three months when David went back to the Torah and moved the Ark according to the Scriptures. In v 13 it says that when the bearers of the Ark went six paces he offered sacrifices. Six is the number of man and sin but it also symbolizes that after six thousand years Yeshua will return to Jerusalem. In v 14 it says that David was dancing before the Ark wearing a linen ephod. This made it easier to move, having laid aside his kingly garments. Well his wife Michal, Saul’s daughter ,saw this and was very angry with him and says in v 20 “ How the king of Israel distinguished himself today! He uncovered himself (laid aside his kingly garments) in the eyes of his servants’ maids as one of the foolish ones shamelessly uncovering himself!” She was like her father in many ways and David says in v 20 that if you think this is bad I plan to be more so. As a result, David left her childless teaching that the seed of David did not “mix” with the seed of Saul (see Lev 19.19).A similar case can be seen in Jn. 21.7 where Peter is stripped for work, wearing what amounted to “swimming trunks” but he was not naked. He just laid aside his outer garment because it gave him free movement to work. So, as you can see, David was not “stark naked” but had laid aside his kingly outer garments so he could be free to move.