II Chronicles 26, Uzziah

The rulers of Judah, after Solomon, have been 

• Rehoboam, 
• Abijah, 
• Asa, 
• Jehoshaphat, 
• Jehoram, 
• Ahaziah, 

(and Queen Athaliah)

• Joash, 
• Amaziah, and now 
• Uzziah. 

The date is about 775 BC, almost two hundred years after the death of David.

2 Chronicles 26:1-5, The long reign of Uzziah

Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah. He was the one who rebuilt Elath and restored it to Judah after Amaziah rested with his fathers.
 

Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. His mother's name was Jecoliah; she was from Jerusalem. He did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, just as his father Amaziah had done. 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.

 

Uzziah is also called Azariah and that name is given in the Chronicler's list of kings at the beginning of this scroll (1 Chronicles 3:10-16.) Azariah is also the name given Uzziah in the parallel passages in 2 Kings 14:21-22 and 2 Kings 15:1-7.

Elath was a port on the Gulf of Aqaba far to the south and probably represented an attempt to rebuild the trade that occurred during Solomon's time.

2 Chronicles 26:6-8, Conquest of Philistines

He went to war against the Philistines and broke down the walls of Gath, Jabneh and Ashdod. He then rebuilt towns near Ashdod and elsewhere among the Philistines. God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabs who lived in Gur Baal and against the Meunites. The Ammonites brought tribute to Uzziah, and his fame spread as far as the border of Egypt, because he had become very powerful.

Also to the south (and west) were the Philistine towns and Uzziah's military strength reconquers Philistine cities like Gath, where David his while fleeing from Saul.

2 Chronicles 26:9-10, Renovations

Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate and at the angle of the wall, and he fortified them. He also built towers in the desert and dug many cisterns, because he had much livestock in the foothills and in the plain. He had people working his fields and vineyards in the hills and in the fertile lands, for he loved the soil.

Uzziah undertook a number of renovations and improvements to the infrastructure of Judah. Included is a comment about Uzziah's love "of the soil", of growing food and grapes in the hills of Judea.

The Corner Gate, on the northeastern side of Jerusalem, had been damaged by King Jehoash a few decades prior, when he attacked Jerusalem and captured Uzziah's father Amaziah (2 Chronicles 25:23.) The Valley Gate (says Payne) was on the southwestern side of Jerusalem and the "angle of the wall" on the east. All of this will be important when Nehemiah works to repair Jerusalem three centuries later, after the Babylonian exile (Nehemiah 3.) It is likely that the author of Ezra-Nehemiah was also the author of 1 & 2 Chronicles.

2 Chronicles 26:11-15, Well-trained army and machines

Uzziah had a well-trained army, ready to go out by divisions according to their numbers as mustered by Jeiel the secretary and Maaseiah the officer under the direction of Hananiah, one of the royal officials.  The total number of family leaders over the fighting men was 2,600. Under their command was an army of 307,500 men trained for war, a powerful force to support the king against his enemies. Uzziah provided shields, spears, helmets, coats of armor, bows and slingstones for the entire army.

In Jerusalem he made machines designed by skillful men for use on the towers and on the corner defenses to shoot arrows and hurl large stones. His fame spread far and wide, for he was greatly helped until he became powerful.

 

Details are given about Uzziah's building up of a significant army, along with innovative machines to protect fortifications. The exact nature of these machines is disputed. (See this blogpost "What Were Uzziah's Machines?", for example.)

2 Chronicles 26:16-20, Pride and fall

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. Azariah the priest with eighty other courageous priests of the LORD followed him in. They confronted him 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."

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. 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.

The king is not a priest. Uzziah's arrogance leads him to think he can burn incense in the temple. When the priest Azariah confronts him, followed by eighty (!) other priests ("courageous" priests), Uzziah gets angry. As he rants at the priests a visible skin disease breaks out on his forehead and the priests quickly usher him out and into isolation.

The adjective "courageous", attached to the eighty priests, signifies that confronting such an arrogant king risks death.

2 Chronicles 26:21-23, Isolated and impotent.

King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died. He lived in a separate house--leprous, and excluded from the temple of the LORD. Jotham his son had charge of the palace and governed the people of the land.

The other events of Uzziah's reign, from beginning to end, are recorded by the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz. Uzziah rested with his fathers and was buried near them in a field for burial that belonged to the kings, for people said, "He had leprosy." And Jotham his son succeeded him as king.

Uzziah, with his skin disease, is isolated in a separate house, as required of lepers. This isolation removes him of much power and so a coregency with his son Jotham is described.

Isaiah's ministry and visions begin in the reign of Uzziah and continue through several more Judean kings (Isaiah 1:1.) But the records of Isaiah alluded to here have been lost.