Scripture Reading – 2 Kings 15; 2 Chronicles 26
Once again, our study of 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles are parallel passages of the same historical events. While the names of the various kings might be confusing and their acts forgotten, what we should take from our Scripture reading is the way and manner in which God sovereignly deals with his servants and people.
2 Kings 15 – Time marches on and kings rise and fall, but the reign of the LORD endures forever.
His father having been assassinated in a conspiracy (2 Kings 14:19), Azariah (also known as Uzziah in 2 Kings 15 and 2 Chronicles 26) became king of Judah. Only sixteen years old when he ascended to Judah’s throne, Azariah would reign as king for fifty-two years (15:1-2).
2 Kings 15:5 states with no explanation that Azariah (i.e. Uzziah), was smitten with leprosy by the LORD and was forced to live in a separate house from the palace (2 Kings 15:5a). The king’s son, Jotham, handled the administrative matters of the palace, “judging the people of the land” (2 Kings 15:5b).
2 Chronicles 26 – Stricken with Leprosy for Usurping the Priesthood
King Uzziah’s (i.e. Azariah) remarkable accomplishments are recorded in 2 Chronicles 26 and the secret to his successes is stated: “He sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper” (2 Chronicles 26:5).
Uzziah was a warrior (26:6-8), builder (26:9), and a farmer (26:10). He was also a gifted administrator who numbered and organized his army, and provided them the necessary implements for war (26:11-15).
Why would God afflict King Uzziah (i.e. Azariah) with leprosy, a dreadful disease that would follow him to his grave?
The king was afflicted with a malady more dreaded than leprosy; one that affects and infects the soul: PRIDE (26:16).
2 Chronicles 26:16 – But when he [Uzziah; i.e. Azariah] was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense.
In an act of sinful pride, the king usurped the role and office of the priest and foolishly entered “the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense” (26:16; Numbers 16:40; 18:7).
Bloated with pride from his successes, the king trampled upon ground that was reserved for the priesthood. The chief priest Azariah and eighty priests with him, confronted Uzziah (26:17-18). Rather than humble himself and confess his sin, the king was enraged and the LORD immediately struck him with leprosy on his forehead (26:19).
The law concerning leprosy demanded the leper be put out from the living (Leviticus 13:45-46). Seeing the leprosy on the king’s face, the priests moved to expel Uzziah from the Temple, even as he sought to flee (26:20). Uzziah lived the rest of his life as a leper in exile from the palace. As a leper, he was denied burial in the royal tomb, and was buried in a field near to the place where kings were buried.
What a tragedy! The great king whose legacy should have been that he was a great warrior, builder, and administrator, dies with his testimony in tatters. What lesson might we take from this sad historical record? What would Uzziah advise us if he could speak?
I believe he would warn, “Trifle with the pulpit, usurp the role of a spiritual leader, and you do so at the risk of your legacy, if not your life.”
Copyright 2020 – Travis D. Smith