2 Kings 15:1-7

B. THE REIGN OF AZARIAH (UZZIAH) IN JUDAH 15:1-7

TRANSLATION

(1) In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah the son of Amaziah king of Judah began to reign. (2) He was sixteen years old when he began to reign and fifty-two years he reigned in Jerusalem; and the name of his mother was Jecholiah of Jerusalem. (3) And he did that which was upright in the eyes of the LORD according to all which Amaziah his father had done. (4) Only he did not remove the high places. (5) But the LORD smote the king and he became a leper until the day of his death, and lived in the house of separation; and Jotham the son of the king was over the house, judging the people of the land. (6) And the rest of the acts of Azariah and all which he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? (7) And Azariah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David; and Jotham his son reigned in his place.

COMMENTS

Azariah's reign, which in Kings occupies only seven verses, in Chronicles fills an entire chapter of twenty-three verses (2 Chronicles 26). Uzziah began his independent reign over Judah in the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam of Israel, i.e., 767 B.C. (2 Kings 15:1). He had reigned as coregent with his father from the time he was sixteen years old and had already served in this capacity for some twenty-three years before the death of his father. The total length of his reign was fifty-two years, and thus Azariah (Uzziah) died in 739 B.C. at the age of sixty-eight (2 Kings 15:2). The author of Kings rates Azariah as a good king (v, 3) with the one exception that he failed to confine the worship of Yahweh to the place which the Lord had designated (2 Kings 15:4). The Chronicler (2 Chronicles 26:5) mentions the positive influence of a prophet by the name of Zechariah upon his life.

Eighth King of Judah
UZZIAH (AZARIAII)
767-739 B.C.*

2 Kings 15:1-7; 2 Chronicles 26

Synchronism
Uzziah 1 = Jeroboam 27
Contemporary Prophets

Zechariah (2 Chronicles 26:5);

Isaiah; Hosea; Amos

Mother: Jecholiah

Appraisal: Good

He (the LORD) shall cut off the spirit of princes: He is terrible to kings of the earth. Psalms 76:12

*coregent from 790 B.C.

The Chronicler provides the details which explain why the Lord smote King Azariah (Uzziah). The marvelous prosperity which this king enjoyed caused him to be filled with pride. Azariah (Uzziah) attempted to usurp the position and prerogatives of the priesthood. He took a censer, entered into the Temple, and proceeded to burn incense on the golden altar before the veil (2 Chronicles 26:16-18). A number of priests tried to persuade the king to turn back, but he persisted in this proud act of defiance of the Law of Moses. It was then that God smote him with leprosy. Due to this dread disease, the king was forced to spend the final years of his reign in a house of separation isolated and alone. Probably this house was built especially for the king out in the open country apart from other houses. His son Jotham then assumed the royal functions of administrating the affairs of the palace and judging the people (2 Kings 15:5). According to the best authorities, Azariah's sin and the beginning of Jotham's coregency took place in 750 B.C.

With these brief notices the author of Kings closes his account of the mighty King Uzziah. The Chronicler relates further information about him: that he recovered Elath from the Edomites (2 Chronicles 26:2); that he waged successful war with the Philistines and took from them Gath, Jabneh and Ashdod and dismantled them (2 Chronicles 26:6); that he defeated the Arabians and the Maonites (2 Chronicles 26:7); that he forced the Ammonites to pay him tribute and caused his power to be known and feared far and wide (2 Chronicles 26:8); that he had a standing army which numbered 307,500 men and which was well-trained and well-armed (2 Chronicles 26:12-14). Upon his death, Azariah (Uzziah) was buried with his fathers, i.e., in the same sepulchre (2 Chronicles 26:23). No doubt it was because of his leprosy that he was buried apart from the other kings. Naturally Jotham, who had for about eleven years been serving as coregent, succeeded his father as king of Judah (2 Kings 15:7).