[God] struck down some of the men of Beth-shemesh because they had looked into the ark of the LORD … The men of Beth-shemesh said, “Who is able to stand before the LORD, this holy God? And to whom shall He go up from us?”
(1 Samuel 6:19-20)

“Holy,” the word, clocks in as the quickest adjective that comes to mind when talking about religious things. It spills out easily in phrases like, “The church is a holy place.” I remember from my childhood, renaissance art picturing “holy” people with halos above their heads, or “holy” objects as glowing, as if somehow imbued with a spiritual energy. Like many spiritual terms, the word shows up in common vernacular expressions of exclamation, like “holy cow.”

The word itself “connotes the state of that which belongs to the sphere of the sacred” (TWOT). Something is holy if it is designed for use in relation to God. The word was not uncommon in ancient languages and dialects, and in some cases it was even used in reference to temple prostitution. Thus, the word is not specific to Judeo-Christian religion and does not necessarily carry a moral connotation, though it certainly may be used that way when rightly understood.

Our passage today contains an excellent example of a holy object, the Ark of the Covenant (not to be confused with Noah’s ark of hugely different size). During the Exodus period, this elaborate box occupied the central position in the Most Holy place of the Tabernacle. Ornate, golden artistry covered it, capped with a covering called the “Mercy Seat,” which was bookended by two gilded angel figures. The Ark represented the place of the Lord’s presence, and to this place the high priest came yearly to make atonement. The Ark epitomized holiness, for it was set apart for use in worship of God (see 1 Kings 8:4).

The Ark was made from earthly materials. Its holiness did not constitute any change in the material properties of its makeup. What made it holy was that God had pronounced to the Jews that it had a singular, special purpose. The Philistines had stolen the ark in a previous battle but were now returning it to the Jews. When the men of Beth-shemesh, who should have known better (Num 4:15), audaciously opened the ark, God took their lives. In fact, that judgment extended to 50,000-plus people. This was indeed a holy object, and the Jews were to treat it the way God commanded. This was because the LORD God of the Jews, Yahweh, is holy. We dare not treat Him as common or use His name simply as an exclamation. The name “Yahweh” or “Jesus Christ” must never fall from a Christian’s lips as an idle exclamation.

Lord Jesus, You are holy. I confess that too often I have taken You for granted, rather than treating You as more precious than gold or silver.