Ark

The laws concerning the holy things, including the ark, were quite strict, and though Moses was told to have the Kohathites carry the ark on their shoulders using poles (Num. 7:9), David’s men were using a cart drawn by oxen, an inappropriately informal attitude which was compounded by Uzzah’s well-intended but reprehensible action.  Michal’s disgust with the anointed of the Lord also elicited judgment, which leads us to assert that the questioned acts of censorship (v. 7 & 23) served to establish the high position of God and of His chosen vessels.  One might conclude that God chose to make an example of Uzzah and Michal (remember the argument for dethroning Queen Vashti on her refusal to dance – namely, that it would set a precedent for all wives in the kingdom to become disobedient (Esther 1:16-18)), not so much out of vengeance but out of a desire to discourage general irreverence of the sacred.