- After the death of King Amaziah, the people of Judah crowned his son Uzziah king, even though he was only sixteen at the time. Uzziah ruled fifty-two years from Jerusalem, the hometown of his mother Jecoliah. During his rule, he recaptured and rebuilt the town of Elath.
- (SEE 26:1)
- (SEE 26:1)
- He obeyed the LORD by doing right, as his father Amaziah had done.
- Zechariah was Uzziah's advisor and taught him to obey God. And so, as long as Zechariah was alive, Uzziah was faithful to God, and God made him successful.
- While Uzziah was king, he started a war against the Philistines. He smashed the walls of the cities of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod, then rebuilt towns around Ashdod and in other parts of Philistia.
- God helped him defeat the Philistines, the Arabs living in Gur-Baal, and the Meunites.
- Even the Ammonites paid taxes to Uzziah. He became very powerful, and people who lived as far away as Egypt heard about him.
- In Jerusalem, Uzziah built fortified towers at the Corner Gate, the Valley Gate, and the place where the city wall turned inward.
- He also built defense towers out in the desert. He owned such a large herd of livestock in the western foothills and in the flatlands, that he had cisterns dug there to catch the rainwater. He loved farming, so he had crops and vineyards planted in the hill country wherever there was fertile soil, and he hired farmers to take care of them.
- Uzziah's army was always ready for battle. Jeiel and Maaseiah were the officers who kept track of the number of soldiers, and these two men were under the command of Hananiah, one of Uzziah's officials.
- There were 307,500 trained soldiers, all under the command of 2,600 clan leaders. These powerful troops protected the king against any enemy.
- (SEE 26:12)
- Uzziah supplied his army with shields, spears, helmets, armor, bows, and stones used for slinging.
- Some of his skilled workers invented machines that could shoot arrows and sling large stones. Uzziah set these up in Jerusalem at his defense towers and at the corners of the city wall. God helped Uzziah become more and more powerful, and he was famous all over the world.
- Uzziah became proud of his power, and this led to his downfall. One day, Uzziah disobeyed the LORD his God by going into the temple and burning incense as an offering to him.
- Azariah the priest and eighty other brave priests followed Uzziah into the temple
- and said, "Your Majesty, this isn't right! You are not allowed to burn incense to the LORD. That must be done only by priests who are descendants of Aaron. You will have to leave! You have sinned against the LORD, and so he will no longer bless you."
- Uzziah, who was standing next to the incense altar at the time, was holding the incense burner, ready to offer incense to the LORD. He became very angry when he heard Azariah's warning, and leprosy suddenly appeared on his forehead!
- Azariah and the other priests saw it and immediately told him to leave the temple. Uzziah realized that the LORD had punished him, so he hurried to get outside.
- Uzziah had leprosy the rest of his life. He was no longer allowed in the temple or in his own palace. That's why his son Jotham lived there and ruled in his place.
- Everything else Uzziah did while he was king is in the records written by the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.
- Since Uzziah had leprosy, he could not be buried in the royal tombs. Instead, he was buried in a nearby cemetery that the kings owned. His son Jotham then became king.
We are most prone to fall victim to pride through power, success, and fame which often all go together. Uzziah had all three. We see with Uzziah the importance of having a godly mentor. Early in his reign, Zechariah was Uzziah's godly mentor and counselor, and while Zechariah lived Uzziah did what was right in the Lord's eyes. Undoubtedly Zechariah helped keep Uzziah's pride in check and keep his eyes instead on the Lord. But after his death, the king began to look away from God as the source of his success and credit it to himself. Verse 5 says that, "During the time that he sought the LORD, God gave him success." Uzziah, however, began to loose sight of the Lord's hand in his success.
Uzziah's success came on several fronts. Prominent among his successes was military success. The Lord helped him build up his army and arm them with advanced weaponry. He also fortified Jerusalem using new techniques. Despite his military strength, it was God who helped him against the Philistines, the Arabs, and the Meunites, and who spread his fame "as far as the entrance of Egypt." (26:7, 8) Besides a strong military he had "many cattle," and built up Judah's agriculture. (26:10)
But we read in verse 16 that "when he became strong, he grew arrogant and it led to his own destruction." His arrogance was probably displayed in a number of ways, but its most destructive act was when it led Uzziah to personally enter the Lord's sanctuary to burn incense. Only the Lord's priests were to enter the sanctuary or to burn incense. Azariah the priest, along with 80 other priests, bravely confronted the king and plainly told him he had acted unfaithfully. This enraged Uzziah, but before he could take action against the priests the Lord struck him with leprosy. His rage was immediately replaced with fear and he was rushed out of the sanctuary for he was now unclean and prohibited from being in the Lord's sanctuary.
Uzziah lived out the remainder of his days under quarantine because of his disease and his son Jotham ruled in his place. When he died he was not buried with the kings because of his disease.
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