Parashat Bamidbar: How Close to God is Too Close?

The Parasha this week is Bamidbar, and our jumping off point for discussion is this small set of verses, placing the Aaronite clan in charge of the Tabernacle, and warning outsiders against drawing too near.

Bamidmar 3:5-10

וידבר יהוה אל־משה לאמר׃ הקרב את־מטה לוי והעמדת אתו לפני אהרן הכהן ושרתו אתו׃ ושמרו את־משמרתו ואת־משמרת כל־העדה לפני אהל מועד לעבד את־עבדת המשכן׃ ושמרו את־כל־כלי אהל מועד ואת־משמרת בני ישראל לעבד את־עבדת המשכן׃ ונתתה את־הלוים לאהרן ולבניו נתונם נתונם המה לו מאת בני ישראל׃ ואת־אהרן ואת־בניו תפקד ושמרו את־כהנתם והזר הקרב יומת׃

Numbers 3:5-10

The Lord spoke to Moses saying: 'Bring near the tribe of Levi and place them before Aaron the Priest to serve him. They shall perform duties for him and duties for all the people before the Tent of Meeting, in order to do the work of the Tabernacle. They shall take charge of all the tend of Meeting, and all the duties of the children of Israel to perform the work of the Tabernacle. You shall give the Levites to Arron and to his sons: they are surely appointed to him from among the children of Israel. Aaron and his sons you shall appoint, and they will guard their priesthood, and the outsider who approaches shall die.'

We pick up a story about the travels of the Ark from the books of Samuel. In I Samuel 4, the Ark was captured by the Philistines in battle. They decided it was too dangerous to keep (I Sam 5-6) and they send back to the tribes of Israel. The following details what happens in the first place the Ark appears on its return trip to Israel.

I Sam 6:19-20

ויך באנשי בית־שמש כי ראו בארון יהוה ויך בעם שבעים איש חמשים אלף איש ויתאבלו העם כי־הכה יהוה בעם מכה גדולה׃ ויאמרו אנשי בית־שמש מי יוכל לעמד לפני יהוה האלהים הקדוש הזה ואל־מי יעלה מעלינו

I Samuel 6:19-20

The Lord struck the people of Beit Shemesh because they looked into the Ark of the Lord, he struck down seventy men, fifty thousand men, and the people mourned for the Lord had inflicted a great slaughter among the people. And the the people of Beit Shemesh said: who is able to stand before the Lord, the Holy God, and to whom shall He go up from amongst us?

After David conquers Jerusalem from the Jebusites and routs the Philistines (II Sam 5) he decides to bring the Ark to his new capital. The following incident occurs on the Ark's journey to Jerusalem.

II Sam 6:6-11

ויבאו עד־גרן נכון וישלח עזא אל־ארון האלהים ויאחז בו כי שמטו הבקר׃ ויחר־אף יהוה בעזה ויכהו שם האלהים על־השל וימת שם עם ארון האלהים׃ ויחר לדוד על אשר פרץ יהוה פרץ בעזה ויקרא למקום ההוא פרץ עזה עד היום הזה׃ וירא דוד את־יהוה ביום ההוא ויאמר איך יבוא אלי ארון יהוה׃ ולא־אבה דוד להסיר אליו את־ארון יהוה על־עיר דוד ויטהו דוד בית עבד־אדום הגתי׃

וישב ארון יהוה בית עבד אדם הגתי שלשה חדשים ויברך יהוה את־עבד אדם ואת־כל־ביתו׃

II Samuel 6:6-11

When they came to the threshing floor at Nachon,Uzzah reached out his hand to the Ark of the Lord, and he grasped it, because it had begun to slide off the oxen. The Lord's anger burned against Uzzah, and the Lord stuck him there on account of his indiscretion, and he died there with the Ark of the Lord. David was distressed (angry?) on account of the breach which God had breached on Uzzah, and he called the place Peretz-Uzzah ("The Breach of Uzzah") , as it is called to this day. David was afraid of the Lord on that day and he said, "How can I allow the Ark of the Lord to come to me. So David did not allow the Ark of the Lord to be brought to the City of David, instead, he diverted it to the home of Obed-edom the Gittite. The Ark of the Lord sat in the home of Obed-edom the Gittite for three months, and the Lord blessed Odeb-edom and his whole household.

Lastly, we could always check out this well known example of the dangers inherent in the Ark of Covenant.

Questions:

How does modern Judaism deal with (or not) the Biblical notion that certain people, by virtual of their birth family, are able to closer to God than others.

In a world where we have no Temple, and therefore God has no "dwelling place" do we still accept the notion that certain places are, in fact, closer to God than others?

Is there a modern parallel to being too close to God?