For because ye did it not at the first. — The Hebrew seems to mean, for because on the first occasion it was not you (that is, the heads of the Levitical houses) — scil., who carried up the ark, but Uzza and Ahio, sons of Abinadab (2 Samuel 6:3). The phrase so rendered only occurs here (lĕmabbârîshônâh = “because at the first”).
Our God made a breach. — Broke out upon us; referring to the sudden death of Uzza (1 Chronicles 13:10). (Comp. Exodus 19:22; Exodus 19:24, same phrase.)
We sought him not (1 Chronicles 13:3) after the due order. — The Ark was carried on a cart, instead of being borne by the sons of Kohath “on their shoulders, with the staves thereon” (1 Chronicles 15:15; Numbers 4:15). Even the Kohathites themselves were forbidden to “touch any holy thing,” as Uzza had ventured to do. It has been said that the “sanctity of institutions,” as opposed to the “sanctity of a people under the government of a righteous God,” is the leading idea of the Chronicles. It would be difficult to show how the sanctity of a people is to be secured, and how the government of a righteous God is to be realised, except in and through Divine institutions. As there is a “due order” by which God rules the physical world, so is there a corresponding order whereby His will is fulfilled in the spiritual sphere. There are positive institutions in Christianity as well as in Mosaism; and if we abolish the Divine authority of the one, why not of the other also?