2 Samuel 6:7 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

God smote him there for his error, &c.— "The ark," says Dr. Chandler, "ought not to have been drawn by oxen, but carried by the Levites on their shoulders, as we find it afterwards, 2 Samuel 6:13. Beside this, the Levites were prohibited from touching the ark, under the express penalty of death, Numbers 4:15-20. As this was the first instance that we have of violating this prohibition, the penalty of death was incurred, and therefore justly inflicted by him who threatened it, as a warning to others to preserve a due reverence for the institution; it also shews, that the prohibition was divine: and, as David himself and the whole house of Israel were present at this solemnity, the nature of the death, and the reason why it was inflicted, could not be concealed."