Uzziah Of Judah (2 Chronicles 26)

Did Uzziah start well, but fail like his father? Is faithfulness to the end important? Will we endure? Let’s begin in 2 Chronicles 26.

Did king Uzziah of Judah start out right like his father Amaziah?

And all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah. He built Eloth and restored it to Judah, after the king slept with his fathers. Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. He set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God, and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper. (2 Chr 26:1-5 ESV)

Did God help Uzziah to prosper both in military and civil projects?

Uzziah went out to wage war against the Philistines, and he tore down the wall of Gath, the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod. Then he built cities in the vicinity of Ashdod and among the Philistines. God helped him against the Philistines, the Arabs that live in Gur-baal, and the Meunites. The Ammonites gave Uzziah tribute money, and his fame spread as far as the entrance of Egypt, for God made him very powerful. Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, the Valley Gate, and the corner buttress, and he fortified them. Since he had many cattle both in the Judean foothills and the plain, he built towers in the desert and dug many wells. And since he was a lover of the soil, he had farmers and vinedressers in the hills and in the fertile lands. (2 Chr 26:6-10 HCSB)

How large was Uzziah’s standing army and how was it equipped?

Uzziah kept a standing army, equipped for battle, garrisoned in divisions according to an organizational structure devised by his royal secretary Jeiel and his officer Maaseiah, who reported to Hananiah, one of the king’s commanders. The number of senior leaders of the ancestral houses of his elite forces numbered 2,600. Uzziah commanded an army of 307,500 who could fight formidably on behalf of the king against any enemy. In addition, Uzziah equipped the entire army with shields, spears, helmets, body armor, bows, and stones for use in slings. He also had various siege engines built by skilled designers and placed them on the towers and on the corner ramparts that could fire arrows and very large stones. His reputation spread far and wide, and he was marvelously assisted until he grew very strong. (2 Chr 26:11-15 ISV)

Did Uzziah’s arrogance lead him to do what only priests should do?

But when he 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. And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the Lord, that were valiant men: And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the Lord, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honour from the Lord God. (2 Chr 26:16-18 KJV)

While Uzziah was angry at the priests for chiding him, what did God do to him?

But Uzziah, with a censer in his hand for burning incense, was enraged; and while he was enraged with the priests, the leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in the house of Yahweh, beside the altar of incense. And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous on his forehead; and they hurried him out of there, and he himself also hastened to get out because Yahweh had smitten him. So King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death; and he lived in a separate house, being a leper, for he was cut off from the house of Yahweh. And Jotham his son was over the king’s house, judging the people of the land. (2 Chr 26:19-21 LSB)

How long did Uzziah’s leprosy last? Did he die with it?

Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, the first to the last, the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amoz, has written. So Uzziah lay down with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the grave which belonged to the kings, for they said, “He had leprosy.” And his son Jotham became king in his place. (2 Chr 26:22-23 NASB)