2 Chronicles 26:1

XXVI.
REIGN OF UZZIAH-AZARIAH.

ACCESSION, AGE, AND CONDUCT OF UZZIAH. INFLUENCE OF THE PROPHET ZECHARIAH (2 Chronicles 26:1). (Comp. 2 Kings 14:21; 2 Kings 15:2.)

(1) Then. — And.

Uzziah. — So the chronicler always names him, except in one place (1 Chronicles 3:12), where the name Azariah appears, as in 2 Kings 14:21; 2 Kings 15:1; 2 Kings 15:6, &c. In 2 Kings 15:13; 2 Kings 15:30; 2 Kings 15:32; 2 Kings 15:34, Uzziah occurs (though there also the LXX. reads Azariah, thus making the usage of Kings uniform); as also in the headings of the prophecies of Hosea, Amos, and Isaiah. It is not, therefore, to be regarded either as a popular abbreviation or a transcriber’s blunder, as Schrader and others suggest. In the Assyrian inscriptions of Tiglathpileser II this king is uniformly called Azriyahu, i.e., Azariah. Clearly, therefore, he was known by both names; but to foreigners chiefly by the latter. (Comp. Azareel — Uzziel, 1 Chronicles 25:4; 1 Chronicles 25:18.)