God is holy and it's hard to understand

1 Samuel 6:19-20, "And he struck some of the men of Beth-shemesh, because they looked upon the ark of the LORD. He struck seventy men of them, and the people mourned because the LORD had struck the people with a great blow. Then the men of Beth-shemesh said, "Who is able to stand before the LORD, this holy God? And to whom shall he go up away from us?"

Have you ever seen one of those mobster or cowboy movies where the bad guy just shoots someone just because they looked at them the wrong way? There was no rightness to it, no sense of the killing, just an irritation with the other character. I suppose that is how we must initially feel about the Lord from this passage. However, drawing the conclusion that the two parties are the same would be shortsighted.

First, the context of the story. The ark of God was captured by the Philistines. After God, for lack of a better word, "cursed/wacked" the Philistines, they sent it back to the Israelites. At first, the folks who found this were very happy. Then they got the stupid idea to look into the Ark. Some versions say God killed over 50,000 and this version, (ESV), says seventy.

But why? Was God cold, thoughtless, uncompassionate? Did he just do this on a whim?

No.

The reason why God killed those people was becuase they approached him directly, casually, and without righteousness. They treated God as if he was just like them, not that he was distinct, separate; in other words, holy. He is not a God that can be approached directly without righteousness. Think of the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned. They had to be cast out after one sin becuase of the holiness of God. Sin cannot stay in the presence of the Almighty.

Be thankful that we have a God who is separate from us, who is worthy, and who is righteous. Be mindful that we cannot come to God anyway we want, but only through his righteous mediator, Jesus Christ, who provides the righteousness we need to approach a holy God.