Original - The Coptic Orthodox Church

the place wherein the Lord dwelleth , as He said unto Mo
ses, u I will appear unto thee in this place,
wings of the cherubim, and will speak with thee .
between the
For
a
12
word went forth from His mouth saying, No man seeth
knoweth this when he saith, n
my David
face and liveth .
Dreadful art thou, O God; who can stand before Thee?
And the prophet / David never ventured to draw nigh unto
the Lord or, like a priest, to offer sacrifice, albeit he longed
so to do, as he saith, H I love Thy dwellings, O Lord of
Hosts, and my soul longeth for the courts of the Lord .
His desire to approach the altar and to be a priest was
greater far than (his desire for) the glory of his kingdom.
For by no means have all men authority to approach the
altar, rather for him only whom the Lord hath chosen for
this duty; and he must (then) perform
his service in fear
and trembling. For David had (himself) seen how Saul,
who without right or authority // made an offering, instead
of a blessing, received therefor a curse and fell into great
grief. For God took from him his glory
to approach the sanctuary, being but a layman,
1< -
when he ventured
and to take
upon himself the office * of Samuel, the faithful priest, m For R f. 95
this cause did God take from him his kingdom and gave it
unto David, because that he reverenced the altar. He saw also
the destruction which God performed upon Uzzah, 1G because
Uzzah did without authority put forth his hand and lay
hold upon
the ark of the covenant of the Lord. For as the
calf which bore the ark caused it to lean aside, Uzzah laid
hold upon it; wherefore the Lord destroyed
him and he
died forthwith before the Lord. And when David beheld
that, his heart was oppressed n and albeit he desired to
/ M. the great prophet.
// r%iq. m R. >
11 Ex. XXV. 22. i 2 Ex. XXXIII. 20.
i* Ps. LXXXIV. i, 2. 5 i Sam. XIII. 9 14-
v, 2 Sam. VI. 8.
priest.
13 Ps. CXXX. 3.
1G J Chr - XIIL 9