Family Learns About Uzzah After Son Gives Unscheduled Demonstration
SUBURBAN LIVING ROOM — A nine-year-old boy reportedly fell to the floor within seconds of completing and lifting the Ark of the Covenant included in his family’s new Bible Bricks® Wilderness Tabernacle Set, producing the most theologically intense product demonstration ever witnessed between a coffee table and a basket of unfolded laundry.
The child, identified only as Caleb due to his parents’ stated desire to “avoid bringing reproach upon the covenant-building community,” had spent three hours meticulously assembling the tabernacle, altar, laver, courtyard, veils, and miniature Ark before asking if he could “make it travel to Jerusalem.”
“He had just finished the last gold-colored brick,” said his father, who had entered the room halfway through the project to ask whether there were “supposed to be this many tiny pieces.” “Then Caleb picked up the Ark, took two steps, tripped over a zebra brick, and went down like he had been struck for irreverence.”
Bible Bricks describes its Wilderness Tabernacle Set as a Scripture-guided, LEGO-compatible build for ages 8 and up, with more than 1,300 pieces and a companion family devotional. The set includes tabernacle-related elements such as the Ark of the Covenant, altar, laver, courtyard, veils, and Ten Commandments.
Caleb’s mother said the family initially panicked.
“I shouted, ‘Nobody touch him!’” she said. “Then my husband shouted, ‘Nobody touch the Ark!’ Then our toddler shouted, ‘I touch gold box!’ and we all experienced what I can only describe as a very Reformed parenting moment.”
Caleb was unharmed, though he later confirmed that the fall “felt dramatic enough to make the lesson memorable.”
The family devotional had been scheduled to cover the Old Testament’s commands concerning the Ark and the holiness of God. Numbers 4 says the Kohathites were to carry the holy furnishings only after they were covered and were not to touch the holy things. In 2 Samuel 6, Uzzah reached out to steady the Ark when the oxen stumbled and was struck down for his irreverent act.
“We had planned to teach the children that God is holy and is not approached casually,” Caleb’s father said. “Instead, our son gave a full-body illustration before I had even opened the discussion guide.”
A local Reformed pastor praised the parents for handling the moment with what he called “appropriate seriousness, followed by appropriate awareness that this was a toy.”
“The Ark in the set is plastic, the gold is decorative, and no child is under Mosaic ceremonial regulations in his living room,” said Rev. Theodore Covenantson. “But it is actually an excellent opportunity to teach that the real Ark was not a religious prop. God’s holiness is not something sinners manage with casual familiarity, careful craftsmanship, or good intentions.”
The pastor added that the ultimate answer to humanity’s inability to approach a holy God is not “better tabernacle assembly technique.”
“The point is not: ‘Be careful around tiny Ark pieces or you may fall over,’” Covenantson explained. “The point is that God Himself provides the way for sinners to draw near—ultimately through Christ, our greater High Priest. Also, parents should consider building the Ark after snack time.”
At press time, Caleb had recovered sufficiently to announce plans to build a second miniature Ark “with carrying poles this time,” while his father placed a handwritten label beside the completed set reading: “DO NOT TOUCH HOLY THINGS—ESPECIALLY AFTER LEG DAY.”
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