[Uz’za] [Uz’zah]
1. Son of Abinadab: he was smitten by God for touching the ark when it shook. Though he did it with a good motive, it was against the law, which forbad even the Kohathites to touch the ark. 2Sa 6:3-8; 1Ch 13:7-11. See PEREZ-UZZAH.
2. One in whose ’garden’ Manasseh and Amon, kings of Judah, were buried. 2Ki 21:18; 2Ki 21:26.
3. Son of Shimei, a Merarite. 1Ch 6:29.
4. Son of Ehud, a Benjamite. 1Ch 8:7.
5. Ancestor of some Nethinim who returned from exile. Ezr 2:49; Neh 7:51.
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By: Emil G. Hirsch, Schulim Ochser
Table of Contents
1. —Biblical Data:
Son of Abinadab. Together with his brother Ahio, he drove the new cart on which was placed the Ark of the Covenant when, accompanied by David and all the house of Israel, it was brought from Abinadab's house at Gibeah to Jerusalem. When they came to the thrashing-floor of Nachon, the oxen which drew the cart stumbled, and Uzza took hold of the Ark to steady it; whereupon he was slain by God "'al ha-shal" (= "for his error"). David, in memory of the event, called the place "Perezuzzah" (II Sam. vi. 3-8; I Chron. xiii. 7-11, where the thrashing-floor is called "Chidon"; comp. the commentaries of Budde, Löhr, and Nowack, ad loc.).
—In Rabbinical Literature:
The Rabbis made various attempts to explain and palliate the death of Uzza. By an "argumentum a majore ad minus" proof is offered that if the Ark could bear those who bore it, so much the more could it bear itself. By not perceiving this, and thinking that the Ark might be prevented from falling by stopping the oxen, Uzza had brought death on himself. R. Johanan thought that "'al ha-shal" implied that he had died as a result of his act, while R. Eleazar drew from "shal" the inference that Uzza had eased himself near the Ark. He was, nevertheless, to share in the world to come: for it is expressly stated that he died "by" the Ark; and as the latter belonged to eternity, Uzza in like manner must be immortal (Soṭah 35a; Yalḳ., I Sam. 142, ed. Wilna, 1898).
2. Grandson of Ehud, and a member of the tribe of Benjamin (I Chron. viii. 7).
3. Head of a family of Nethinim who returned to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel (Ezra ii. 49; Neh. vii. 51).
4. Garden attached to the royal palace. According to Stade, "Gesch. des Volkes Israel," i. 569, ii. 679, "Uzza" should be corrected to "Uzziah," thus implying that the garden had been laid out by the king. It apparently contained a tomb in which Manasseh and his son Amon were buried (II Kings xxi. 18, 26).
Location in the print edition Volume: 12 Page: 393
(1) One of those who accompanied the ark on its journey from Kiriath-jearim toward David’s citadel (2Sa 6:3-8, “Uzzah” = 1Ch 13:7-11, “Uzza”). From the text of 2Sa 6:3-8, as generally corrected with the help of Septuagint, it is supposed that Uzzah walked by the side of the ark while Ahio (or “his brother”) went in front of it. The word which describes what happened to the oxen is variously translated; the Revised Version (British and American) has “stumbled”; others render it, “They let the oxen slip,” “The oxen shook (the ark).” Uzzah, whatever it be that took place, caught hold of the ark; something else happened, and Uzzah died on the spot. If the word translated “rashness” (Revised Version margin) in 2Sa 6:7 (not “error” as English Versions of the Bible) is to be kept in the text, Uzzah would be considered guilty of too little reverence for the ark; but the words “for (his) rashness” are lacking in the Septuagint (Codex Vaticanus), while 1Ch 13:10 has “because he put forth his hand to the ark,” and further no such Hebrew word as we find here is known to us. The older commentators regarded the death as provoked by non-observance of the provisions about the ark as given in the Pentateuch, but it is generally believed today that these were not known in David’s time.
What is clear is that Uzzah’s act led to an accident of some kind, and the event was regarded by David as inauspicious, so that the journey with the ark was discontinued. We know how the Old Testament writers represent events as due to divine intervention where we would perhaps discern natural causes.
(2) The garden of Uzza (2Ki 21:18, 2Ki 21:26). Manasseh the king is said (2Ki 21:18) to have been “buried in the garden of his own house, in the garden of Uzza”; and Amon (2Ki 21:26) “was buried in his sepulchre in the garden of Uzza.” It has been suggested that “Uzza” - “Uzziah” (
(3) Son of Shimei, a Merarite (1Ch 6:29 (Hebrew 14)), the Revised Version (British and American) “Uzzah,” the King James Version “Uzza.”
(4) A descendant of Ehud, and head of a Benjamite family (1Ch 8:7, “Uzza”). Hogg, JQR, 102 ff (1893) (see Curtis, Chron., 156-59), finds a proper name “Iglaam” in 1Ch 8:6, and so reads “and Iglaam begot Uzza and Abishabar.”
(5) Head of a Nethinim family that returned from Babylon (Ezr 2:49) = “Uzza” of Neh 7:51.