2 Chronicles 26 (NIV)✞: Uzziah King of Judah
Passage
In this passage we have another example of a king, Uzziah, who did well early in his reign but ended up too proud, leading to his downfall. He takes the throne at only 16 years of age, reigning for 52 years overall.
Verses 4–5✞ sum things up nicely:
4 He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father Amaziah had done. 5 He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God. As long as he sought the LORD, God gave him success.
That emphasized part is a bit of foreshadowing…
Much of the focus on Uzziah’s reign is on his army and his military successes:
- At this time Judah is still warring with the Philistines, and Uzziah does well against them, scoring some wins
- He fortifies some of Judah’s cities against their enemies (Philistine and otherwise)
- He receives tribute from the Ammonites
- His fame spreads across the region, as far as Egypt.
- There’s a long-ish description of the size of his army and some of the technology available to him
However, we then get to the turning point:
16 But after Uzziah became powerful, his pride led to his downfall. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God, and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense. 17 Azariah the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the LORD followed him in. 18 They confronted King Uzziah and said, “It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD. That is for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful; and you will not be honored by the LORD God.”
As one might expect, when dealing with a King, Uzziah didn’t like this very much. So the next part would be almost comical, if it wasn’t so serious:
19 Uzziah, who had a censer in his hand ready to burn incense, became angry. While he was raging at the priests in their presence before the incense altar in the LORD’s temple, leprosy broke out on his forehead. 20 When Azariah the chief priest and all the other priests looked at him, they saw that he had leprosy on his forehead, so they hurried him out. Indeed, he himself was eager to leave, because the LORD had afflicted him.
And that pretty much becomes the end to Uzziah’s pride! He lives the rest of his life with leprosy, cut off from the people (and not allowed to enter the Temple), in a separate house, and (if I’m reading it correctly), doesn’t even get buried in the usual place where kings get buried! Verse 23✞ says, “Uzziah rested with his ancestors and was buried near them in a cemetery that belonged to the kings, for people said, ‘He had leprosy.’ And Jotham his son succeeded him as king” (emphasis added). I’m reading that part about being buried “near” his ancestors as meaning that he’s not in the usual place where they bury kings – as if Uzziah’s leprosy might infect the other bodies!
Thoughts
One thing that occurs to me is to call out the bravery of Azariah the priest (along with the eighty other priests with him), who tried to prevent Uzziah from burning incense. When you’re confronted with royalty, it feels to me like it would be very easy to just let the king do what he wants to do. What’s the big deal about letting him burn some incense?
“But wait,” you might be thinking. “What is the big deal about letting him burn some incense?” Put simply, it’s just due to the fact that Uzziah was a king, not a priest; God had delegated specific roles and responsibilities for kings, and others for priests. Uzziah wasn’t burning incense in the Temple just because he thought it would be fun, this was Uzziah’s pride overcoming him: why shouldn’t he be allowed to burn incense in the Temple? He’s the king! He should be able to do whatever he wants to do, regardless of any rules God might have set down!
But he wasn’t allowed to do whatever he wanted to do: he was restricted by what God had for him to do or not do. It was God Uzziah was rebelling against, not Azariah or the priests.
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