Lord up to Jerusalem, where it ought to be, the first attempt proving
fatal because he was foolish enough to try to handle it as the
Philistines did, instead of doing it strictly by the rules God had
made--rules which David should have known very well, because they were
in his Bible (Num. 4:4-6, 15; also 1 Chron. 15:11-15). The rules
required that the ark should be carried on poles resting on the
shoulders of certain men set apart for that service, but David
permitted them to put it on an ox cart, attended by Ahio and Uzzah,
two well-meaning fellows, no doubt, but not according to the rules.
One of the oxen stumbled, the ark jostled, and Uzzah put his hand on
it to steady it. Presto! Uzzah a dead man on the side of the road!

They called David from where he was marching at the front of the
procession, and when he got back there and saw what had happened, it
gave him an awful shock, for he knew he was just as guilty as
Uzzah--and perhaps more so. He ordered the men to take the ark into
Obed-edom's house beside the road and be careful to pick it up by the
poles. Then he went on back to Jerusalem without it. He got out the
Book of Numbers and went over the rules about the ark very carefully.
For three months he studied the matter. Then he went after the ark
again--this time in God's way. He called for the priests and the men
appointed to carry the ark; he organized a band and a great choir of
singers, and went to Obed-edom's house. There they picked up the ark
by the poles and started. Still David was scared, and when they had
moved forward only ten yards ("six paces") he made them stop, while a
sacrifice of oxen and rams was made to the Lord.

David was overjoyed when he saw everything going well, and he began to
dance and to sing. All the way to Jerusalem he danced and shouted for
joy.