Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Chronicles 26:1
Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who [was] sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah.
Ch. 2Ch 26:1-4 (= 2Ki 14:21-22; 2Ki 15:2-3). Uzziah’s Reign
1. all the people of Judah ] Cp. 2Ch 22:1.
Uzziah ] Called “Azariah” in 1Ch 3:12 and in 2 Kin. (eight times), but “Uzziah” in 2Ki 15:13; 2Ki 15:32 ; 2Ki 15:34; Isa 1:1; Isa 6:1; Hos 1:1; Amo 1:1; Zec 14:5. It has been supposed that this king is mentioned under the name of Az-ri-ja-a-u (i.e. “Azariah”) on an injured and obscure inscription of Tiglath-Pileser III. (reigned 745 727 b.c.) of Assyria, but the identification is doubtful. The two forms of the name when written in Heb. consonants closely resemble each other; the meanings moreover of the two are similar, “Jah is my strength” and “Jah hath given help.” Most likely the king bore both names; cp. “Abram” and “Abraham” “Eliakim and Jehoiakim” (2Ch 36:4).
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Uzziah – This form of the name is found uniformly in Chronicles (except 1Ch 3:12) and in the prophets. The writer of Kings prefers the form Azariah. Uzziah has been regarded as a phonetic corruption of the real name used by the common people.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
CHAPTER XXVI
Uzziah, the son of Amaziah, succeeds; and begins his reign
piously and prosperously, which continued during the life of
Zechariah the prophet, 1-5.
He fights successfully against the Philistines, and takes and
dismantles some of their chief cities, 6;
prevails over the Arabians and Mehunims, 7;
and brings the Ammonites under tribute, 8.
He fortifies Jerusalem, and builds towers in different parts
of the country, and delights in husbandry, 9, 10.
An account of his military strength, warlike instruments, and
machines, 11-15.
He is elated with his prosperity, invades the priest’s office,
and is smitten with the leprosy, 16-20.
He is obliged to abdicate the regal office, and dwell apart
from this people, his son Jotham acting as regent, 21.
His death and burial, 22, 23.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXVI
Verse 1. The people of Judah took Uzziah] They all agreed to place this son on his father’s throne.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Uzziah; called also Azariah, 2Ki 14:21; both names signifying the same thing, Gods strength, or help. See of this, and 2Ch 26:2-4, on 2Ki 14:21,22; 15:2,3.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. Then all the people of Judah tookUzziah(See on 2Ki 14:21; 2Ki15:1).
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Ver. 1-4. Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah,…. Of this and the three following verses, see the notes on 2Ki 14:21 where Uzziah is called Azariah.
[See comments on 2Ki 14:21] [See comments on 2Ki 14:22] [See comments on 2Ki 15:2] [See comments on 2Ki 15:3]
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The statements as to Uzziah’s attainment of dominion, the building of the seaport town Elath on the Red Sea, the length and character of his reign (2Ch 26:1-4), agree entirely with 2Ki 14:21-22, and 2Ki 15:2-3; see the commentary on these passages. Uzziah ( ) is called in 1Ch 3:12 and in 2 Kings (generally) Azariah ( ); cf. on the use of the two names, the commentary on 2Ki 14:21. – In 2Ch 26:5, instead of the standing formula, “only the high places were not removed,” etc.) Kings), Uzziah’s attitude towards the Lord is more exactly defined thus: “He was seeking God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God; and in the days when he sought Jahve, God gave him success.” In the infinitive with is subordinated to , to express the duration of his seeking, for which the participle is elsewhere used. Nothing further is known of the Zechariah here mentioned: the commentators hold him to have been an important prophet; for had he been a priest, or the high priest, probably would have been used. The reading (Keth.) is surprising. can only denote, who had insight into (or understanding for the) seeing of God; cf. Dan 1:17. But Kimchi’s idea, which other old commentators share, that this is a periphrasis to denote the prophetic endowment or activity of the man, is opposed by this, that “the seeing of God” which was granted to the elders of Israel at the making of the covenant, Exo 24:10, cannot be regarded as a thing within the sphere of human action or practice, while the prophetic beholding in vision is essentially different from the seeing of God, and is, moreover, never so called. would therefore seem to be an orthographical error for , some MSS having or (cf. de Rossi, variae lectt.); and the lxx, Syr., Targ., Arab., Raschi, Kimchi, and others giving the reading , who was a teacher (instructor) in the fear of God, in favour of which also Vitringa, proll. in Jes. p. 4, has decided.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| Uzziah’s Prosperity. | B. C. 800. |
1 Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah. 2 He built Eloth, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers. 3 Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. 4 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah did. 5 And 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. 6 And he went forth and warred against the Philistines, and brake down the wall of Gath, and the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod, and built cities about Ashdod, and among the Philistines. 7 And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians that dwelt in Gur-baal, and the Mehunims. 8 And the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah: and his name spread abroad even to the entering in of Egypt; for he strengthened himself exceedingly. 9 Moreover Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, and at the valley gate, and at the turning of the wall, and fortified them. 10 Also he built towers in the desert, and digged many wells: for he had much cattle, both in the low country, and in the plains: husbandmen also, and vine dressers in the mountains, and in Carmel: for he loved husbandry. 11 Moreover Uzziah had a host of fighting men, that went out to war by bands, according to the number of their account by the hand of Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the ruler, under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king’s captains. 12 The whole number of the chief of the fathers of the mighty men of valour were two thousand and six hundred. 13 And under their hand was an army, three hundred thousand and seven thousand and five hundred, that made war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy. 14 And Uzziah prepared for them throughout all the host shields, and spears, and helmets, and habergeons, and bows, and slings to cast stones. 15 And he made in Jerusalem engines, invented by cunning men, to be on the towers and upon the bulwarks, to shoot arrows and great stones withal. And his name spread far abroad; for he was marvellously helped, till he was strong.
We have here an account of two things concerning Uzziah:–
I. His piety. In this he was not very eminent or zealous; yet he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. He kept up the pure worship of the true God as his father did, and was better than his father, inasmuch as we have no reason to think he ever worshipped idols as his father did, no, not in his latter days, when his heart was lifted up. It is said (v. 5), He sought God in the days of Zechariah, who, some think, was the son of the Zechariah whom his grandfather Joash slew. This Zechariah was one that had understanding in the visions of God, either the visions which he himself was favoured with or the visions of the preceding prophets. He was well versed in prophecy, and conversed much with the upper world, was an intelligent, devout, good man; and, it seems, had great influence with Uzziah. Happy are the great men who have such about them and are willing to be advised by them; but unhappy those who seek God only while they have such with them and have not a principle in themselves to bear them out to the end.
II. His prosperity.
1. In general, as long as he sought the Lord, and minded religion, God made him to prosper. Note, (1.) Those only prosper whom God makes to prosper; for prosperity is his gift. (2.) Religion and piety are very friendly to outward prosperity. Many have found and owned this, that as long as they sought the Lord and kept close to their duty they prospered; but since they forsook God every thing has gone cross.
2. Here are several particular instances of his prosperity:– (1.) His success in his wars: God helped him (v. 7), and then he triumphed over the Philistines (those old enemies of God’s people), demolished the fortifications of their cities, and put garrisons of his own among them, v. 6. He obliged the Ammonites to pay him tribute, v. 8. He made all quiet about him, and kept them in awe. (2.) The greatness of his fame and reputation. His name was celebrated throughout all the neighbouring countries (v. 8) and it was a good name, a name for good things with God and good people. This is true fame, and makes a man truly honourable. (3.) His buildings. While he acted offensively abroad, he did not neglect the defence of his kingdom at home, but built towers in Jerusalem and fortified them, v. 9. Much of the wall of Jerusalem was in his father’s time broken down, particularly at the corner gate. But his best fortification of Jerusalem was his close adherence to the worship of God: if his father had not forsaken this the wall of Jerusalem would not have been broken down. While he fortified the city, he did not forget the country, but built towers in the desert too (v. 10), to protect the country people from the inroads of the plunderers, bands of whom sometimes alarmed them and plundered them, as ch. xxi. 16. (4.) His husbandry. He dealt much in cattle and corn, employed many hands, and got much wealth by his dealing; for he took a pleasure in it: he loved husbandry (v. 10), and probably did himself inspect his affairs in the country, which was no disparagement to him, but an advantage, as it encouraged industry among his subjects. It is an honour to the husbandman’s calling that one of the most illustrious princes of the house of David followed it and loved it. He was not one of those that delight in war, nor did he addict himself to sport and pleasure, but delighted in the innocent and quiet employments of the husbandman. (5.) His standing armies. He had, as it should seem, two military establishments. [1.] A host of fighting men that were to make excursions abroad. These went out to war by bands, v. 11. They fetched in spoil from the neighbouring countries by way of reprisal for the depredations they had so often made upon Judah, [2.] Another army for guards and garrisons, that were ready to defend the country in case it should be invaded, 2Ch 26:12; 2Ch 26:13. So great were their number and valour that they made war with mighty power; no enemy durst face them, or, at least, could stand before them. Men unarmed can do little in war. Uzziah therefore furnished himself with a great armoury, whence his soldiers were supplied with arms offensive and defensive (v. 14), spears, bows, and slings, shields, helmets, and habergeons: swords are not mentioned, because it is probable that every man had a sword of his own, which he wore constantly. Engines were invented, in his time, for annoying besiegers with darts and stones shot from the towers and bulwarks, v. 15. What a pity it is that the wars and fightings which come from men’s lusts have made it necessary for cunning men to employ their skill in inventing instruments of death.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
See note on 2Ki 15:1
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
THE SECOND BOOK OF CHRONICLES
IN discussing the First Book of Chronicles we called attention to the fact that according to Usshers chronology, the two Books, not reckoning the table of genealogy, covered a space of 468 years of history; the First Book only 41 of these, and this second, 427. As to the authorship of these Books, Ezra is commonly accepted.
The analysis of any book is largely the presentation of a personal view. One man divides this Second Book of Chronicles into two portions: The Reign of Solomon, chapters 1 to 9, and The Kings of Judah, chapters 10 to 36.
Scofield in his reference Bible, says of this Book: It falls into eighteen divisions, by reigns, from Solomon to the captivities; records the division of the kingdom of David under Jeroboam and Rehoboam, and is marked by an ever growing apostasy, broken temporarily by reformations under Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Hezekiah, and Josiah.
It is our purpose to follow neither of these divisions, however natural they may be, but to discuss the volume under three heads: Solomon and the Temple; Rehoboam and the Division, and the History of Judah.
SOLOMON AND THE TEMPLE
The Book opens with a declaration concerning the new king, And Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him, and magnified him exceedingly (2Ch 1:1).
The history that follows gives occasion to say several things concerning this marvelous man of immortal reputation:
First, Solomons kingship enjoyed an auspicious beginning. The man who ascends the throne under the favor of the Lord necessarily begins a reign of promise. If, as in Solomons case, he sensibly recognizes his responsibility and seeks wisdom from the only sufficient source, he adds greater certainty to his success. When, in addition to this, his objectives are high and God-honoring, the glory of his kingdom advances accordingly. Certainly, Solomons preparation to build the temple was not only a noble objective, but one in line with his kingly fathers purpose and prayers, and the great Heavenly Fathers will for him.
The interesting history here of gathering materials and appointing men for this marvelous construction is made more interesting still by the kings personal supervision and spiritual interest. It takes some courage to conduct war, and we believe it takes almost more courage and even a clearer sense of God, to build sanctuaries, make their appointments according to the Divine pleasure, and call the people to worship within the spacious rooms of the same. Yet, when you have read but five chapters of this Book, you find such a work complete, and are not in the least amazed or even surprised to read, The glory of the Lord had filled the house of God (2Ch 5:14).
It is doubtful whether any company of men have done more for the establishment of spirituality in the earth and for the strengthening of the souls of their fellows, than have those who brought sanctuaries into existence and led congregations of people to a genuine worship of the most high God.
The on-going of this Book reveals Solomons conscious dependence. When the altar was erected he stood by it with outstretched hands (2Ch 6:12). That is the attitude of prayer and possibly of adoration. When his lips parted to speak, he says,
O Lord God of Israel, there is no God tike Thee in the heaven, nor in the earth; which keepest covenant, and shewest mercy unto Thy servants that walk before Thee with all their hearts:
Thou which hast kept with Thy servant David my father that which Thou hast promised him; and spakest with Thy mouth, and hast fulfilled it with Thine hand, as it is this day.
Now therefore, O Lord God of Israel, keep with Thy servant David my father that which Thou hast promised him, saying, There shall not fail thee a man in My sight to sit upon the throne of Israel; yet so that thy children take heed to their way to walk in My Law, as Thou hast walked before Me (2Ch 6:14-16).
Now then, O Lord God of Israel, let Thy Word be verified, which Thou hast spoken unto Thy servant David (2Ch 6:17).
Then follows an appeal that Gods eyes should be open upon their house day and night; that His ears should hearken to the prayers made in that place, and if sin were committed, that forgiveness should be granted, and if the people fail before the face of the enemy because of sin that they also should be pardoned; that if heaven be shut up on the same ground, upon repentance the dearth should end.
Then he concludes in a more personal petition to Him:
Then what prayer or what supplication soever shall be made of any man, or of all Thy people Israel, when every one shall know his own sore and his own grief, and shall spread forth his hands in this house:
Then hear Thou from Heaven Thy dwelling place, and forgive (2Ch 6:29-30).
These are only samples of the long petition that followed the dedicatory sermon. They wind up with a sentence like this: O Lord God, turn not away the face of Thine anointed: remember the mercies of David Thy servant (2Ch 6:42). It is a model prayer; it is the petition of a sincere soul; it is the cry of one who knows that the mercy and love of God are the only grounds of hope.
The further text records Solomons fame and death. That fame was based upon Solomons wisdom, accentuated doubtless by the magnificence of the temple, but made more honorable still in the extent of his organization, the luxury of his court and the wealth of his treasury.
Evidently, among the rulers of the earth, the queen of Sheba held conspicuous place, and when the fame of Solomon reached her, she came to prove him with her questions, and impress him with her own riches and glory. The difficult questions were satisfactorily answered, the temple was adequately shown, the table of the king groaned with its good meats, the apparel of the servants was profoundly impressive, and the queen said to the king,
It was a true report which I heard in mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom:
Howbeit I believed not their words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me: for thou exceedest the fame that I heard.
Happy are thy men, and happy are these thy servants, winch stand continually before thee, and hear thy wisdom.
Blessed be the Lord thy God, which delighted in thee to set thee on his throne, to be king for the Lord thy God (2Ch 9:5-8).
The compliment to the king is followed with a statement of Solomons annual income, the magnificence of his throne, the rich appointments of the palace, the extensive commercial importance of his kingdom, and the willing tributes of the earths lesser lords.
Then, as if the task of telling all was too great, we have this record,
Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book of Nathan the Prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat?
And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years.
And Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead (2Ch 9:29-31).
It is a surprising end, and yet strangely true to human history. How many men spend all their days in preparing to live, and when the preparation seems almost complete, proceed to die? The last enemy is no respecter of persons. His bow is drawn against the great as well as the humble, the rich as well as the poor, the wise as well as the ignorant. Death respects neither thrones nor kings; he holds the key to the palace room, and even to the throne room. Kings may command their humbler fellows, and even counsel their equals; but where death calls, they also obey.
REHOBOAM AND THE DIVISION
The emptying of a throne is forever fraught with perils. The eternal and pertinent question is this, Who shall come after the king? The tenth chapter answered that concerning the throne of Israel. The answer was an ill omen! Rehoboams tyrannical spirit split the kingdom. When Jeroboam and all Israel came to him, saying, Thy father made our yoke grievous: now therefore ease thou somewhat the grievous servitude of thy father, and his heavy yoke that he put upon us, and we will serve thee (2Ch 10:4), they delicately referred to the increased taxation to which the luxurious court and the personal orgies of Solomon had given rise. They thought, as people commonly do, that the new rule would prove the peoples friend. Their hope was in vain.
The old men, former counselors of Solomon, advised kindness and compassion; but the young bloods, spoiled by their fellowship with royalty, counseled increased oppression; and under their influence he said,
My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add thereto: my father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions (2Ch 10:14).
It was enough. The war was on; and that war has never ended until this day, for Israel and Judah are not yet one. A man who divides brethren and sets them to battle, little understands the infinite reach of his mischief. The father of Modernism in America, when he fell asleep at a comparatively early age, little dreamed that he had set influences to work that would divide every denomination on the continent, destroy the fellowship of men who loved one another as twins are commonly supposed to love, wreck schools and churches by the thousand, and start a war that may easily exceed the famous Hundred Year War of history.
Israel and Judahblood brothersbecame the bitterest of enemies. For some reason Second Chronicles pays little attention to Israel, but proceeds to trace Judahs history to the year of Cyrus, king of Persia, or through a period of almost a half millennium. The family feud occasionally projects itself into the record, but for the most part, Israel is forgotten, and the doings of Judah are recorded in detail.
The explanation of this is found in the circumstance that Jeroboam rejected the worship of Jehovah (2Ch 11:14-15). When God is once put away, when Gods priest is disposed of, and His minister is heard no more, then degeneracy compels a declining record.
Unitarianism three quarters of a century ago denied the Lord. Its history has amounted to little; and if it were recorded, it would simply prove, as the Jeroboam movement, a breeding place of apostasy; and yet this record regards not one apostasy only, but two.
The man of many favors may forget God.
When Rehoboam had established the kingdom, and had strengthened himself, he forsook the Law of the Lord, and all Israel with him (2Ch 12:1).
What a sad commentary on the uncertainty and unstability of human nature! The explanation of Rehoboams failure has fitted thousands, yea millions of cases. He did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the Lord (2Ch 12:14). Of all disappointments, none exceed thisto begin well and end badly; to give promise and create disappointment; to be the subject of Divine favor, and become the slave of Gods adversary.
THE HISTORY OF JUDAH
Chapters 11 to 36 contain the roster of kings. The fortunes of the country answer accurately and inevitably to the characters of their rulers. On the whole, the history is a down-grade. In that respect, it runs true to form. The doctrine of evolution may find an illustration in national life if it goes from the simple to the complex, but in so far as it contends for improvement, history fails to illustrate it. Degeneracy of nations has more often taken place than has social and moral progress.
The foundations of Judah were laid under David; the kingdoms glory appeared under Solomon. From that moment until this, one word expresses Judahs coursedecline.
Africa was once an advanced nation, now a heathen one; Italy once ruled the world, now she holds an inconspicuous place; Greece once represented the climax of physical and mental accomplishment, now she boasts neither. The reasons for decline are varied, but in Judah they were one the God who had made her great was too often forgotten, too willingly offended. When the nations neglect the source of their strength, weakness naturally ensues. Judahs strength was in the Lord, and when her kings forgot Him, despised His Word, entered into unholy alliances that were followed by the people, her fame declined, and her land fainted.
The mixed social condition manifested her sinfulness. We have a phrase, Like people, like priest. We can paraphrase that, Like princes, like people. The study of these kings results in no compliment to human nature. Some of them were utterly evil; most of them were a mixture of the good and bad; two or three of them were sound. Among the utterly evil ones, Jehoram, Ahaziah, Athaliah, Manasseh, Amon and Jehoiakin held first place. The ones that represent a mixture of good and bad were Jeroboam, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Amaziah, Uzziah, Jehoiakim; while the truly good consisted of Jotham, Hezekiah and Josiah. In all probability the reign of each of these good kings was profoundly affected and made spiritually fruitful by the ministry of Isaiah, the greatest preacher among Old Testament Prophets. It is perhaps a fact of history that no rulers have ever proven faithful to God without the stimulating and salutary influence of the Gospel ministry.
The judgments and mercies of Second Chronicles alike vindicate Jehovah. In this record wickedness does not go unpunished; and yet it is a marvelous revelation of Divine mercy.
There is never the least sign of penitence on the part of the ruler and the people without an immediate and generous response from Jehovah.
When Jehoshaphat declined in his loyalty and effected a sinful coalition with Ahab, judgment fell; but instantly upon his repentance, mercy was shown. Judgment is always and everywhere Gods strange work, the work in which He takes no pleasure. As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked (Eze 33:11).
Mercy is His nature, His essential character, for to the Lord our God belong mercies and forgiveness. He that covereth his sins shall not prosper; but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy (Pro 28:13).
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
CRITICAL NOTES.] Uzziahs character (2Ch. 26:1-6). It is not too much to say that we are indebted to Chronicles for our whole conception of the character of Uz., and for nearly our whole knowledge of the events of his reign [Speak. Com.]. Uz.s fame and achievements (2Ch. 26:6-15); U.s sin (2Ch. 26:16-21); U.s end (2Ch. 26:22-23). Parallel to this in 2Ki. 14:21-22; 2Ki. 15:1-7.
2Ch. 26:1-5.Uz.s character. Azariah (help from Jehovah) in Kings. Uz. usual form (strength from Jehovah). Eloth, an important port (2Ki. 14:22). 2Ch. 26:5. Days of Z., who sustained relation Uz., as Jehoiada to Joash, exercising salutary influence and guiding.
2Ch. 26:6-15.Uzs. fame and achievements. Not in Kings. Jab., Jabneal (Jos. 15:11). Dismantling of these, and building of other cities among the Philistines, is a restoration of things in time of Jehoshaphat (2Ch. 17:11). 2Ch. 26:8. Ammonites. Countries east of Jordan became tributaries, and by rapid success of victories his kingdom advanced to Egyptian frontier (cf. Isa. 16:1-5 with 2Ki. 3:4). 2Ch. 26:9-10. Buildings, towers in the wildernessi.e., held pasturage on borders of Holy Land as refuges for flocks and herdsmen. Wells (cut out many cisterns) from rook. Low country between hills of Juda and sea. Plains east of Jordan. Carmel, not the mountain, but cultivated portions of hill tract. Husb., cultivated agriculture and arts of peace. 2Ch. 26:11-15. Army and engines of war. 2Ch. 26:11. Men, a body of militia divided into companies or regiments, which served in rotation. 2Ch. 26:12. Number of chiefs, heads of families, occupying positions over the army. 2Ch. 26:13. The number of troops does not exceed that in time of Amaziah (2Ch. 25:5). 2Ch. 26:14. Different weapons for different classes of men. 2Ch. 26:16. Engines, machines for discharging missiles; the balista for stones, and catapult for arrows or darts.
2Ch. 26:16-21.U.s sin and punishment. Lift up to do wickedly, in pride. Priests only permitted to enter holy place (Num. 18:7). U. presumed to act as neighbouring princes. High priest remonstrated, and intended to expel or hinder by force. 2Ch. 26:19. U. angry was struck suddenly with leprosy. 2Ch. 26:20. Hasted, in fear of death denounced upon those who invaded priests office. 2Ch. 26:21. Several, separate, lit, the house of liberation, an infirmary; he was excluded from communion.
2Ch. 26:22-23. U.s end. Isaiah took part in composing the records of the kingdom (chap 2Ch. 1:1; 2Ch. 6:6). He cannot have been contemporary with Uz. as an adult for more than a very small portion of his long reign. Most critics regard him as about twenty when Uz. died. He must then have written his history of Uz.s reign rather from documents and accounts of others, than from his own knowledge [Speak. Com.]. 2Ch. 26:23. Field, i.e., in the burial ground, but in a separate sepulchre, as the corpse of a leper would have polluted it.
HOMILETICS
UZZIAHS CHARACTER AND SUCCESSFUL REIGN.2Ch. 26:1-15
The reign of U. was vigorous, and signally blessed. He was successful as a king, though he failed as a man.
I. Uzziahs character is promising. Signs of ability and usefulness. Acts well as a ruler, and fills high office with credit to himself, and benefit to the nation.
1. He was active in promoting the interests of his kingdom. He overcame its enemies in south and west, strengthened its fortifications and commercial relations, was a patron of agriculture, cultivated vineyards, and protected flocks. He administered internal affairs with peace and prosperity.
2. For the greater part of his reign he lived in the fear of God. Did right in the sight of the Lord (2Ch. 26:4). Never deserted the worship of the true God, and was much influenced by the prophet Zachariah. Happy in his guardian, He sought God, who made him to prosper.
II. Uzziahs reign is successful. Success crowned all efforts and enterprises until fatal error blasted his life.
1. In its financial resources. Flocks, wells, husbandmen, vine-dressers, and foreign commerce.
2. In the extent of his dominion. He overcame the Philistines, and demolished their cities. God helped him against the Arabians. The Ammonites rendered tribute to him, and his conquest extended to the Egyptian frontier (2Ch. 26:8).
3. In the strength of his defences. Cities well fortified, military forces well organised, equipped, and commanded.
4. In the splendour of his fame. His name spread far and wide. Palmy days of David and Solomon seemed to return; failures of preceding reign wiped away. Judah possessed an active, enlightened, and prosperous king, who conducted himself as became viceroy of Jehovah, and prospered in all things. His name spread far abroad, for he was marvellously helped, till he was strong (2Ch. 26:15).
UZZIAHS SIN AND PUNISHMENT.2Ch. 26:16-21
Long and uniform prosperity a severe trial for any prince. Uzziahs goodness gave way. His heart was lifted up, and he committed grievous sins, for which he suffered severe punishment.
I. Uzziahs sins.
1. He was lifted up with pride. Elated with a splendid career, he forgot his position and was changed in spirit. When he was strong, his heart was lifted up. It is strength, not weakness, that makes proud and arrogant. Affliction and reverses humble. In Pharaoh, Sennacherib, and Nebuchadnezzar see fearful evils of pride. By that sin fell the angels.
2. He usurped the priestly function. He can do anything in his kingdom; perhaps thought priestly qualities were natural to royalty, and that in exercising them he revived suspended rights, and restored primitive custom. The intrusion a sin of great magnitude, for he transgressed against the Lord his God, and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense, &c.
3. He showed daring presumption. The act involved a claim to abrogate the priestly office, a defiance of ancient decree originating in rebellion of Korah: it was rebuked solemnly and signally, but U. defied and resisted opposition, was determined to minister, took the censer and was wroth with the priests.
Pride is still aiming at the blessed abodes,
Men would be angels, angels would be gods. [Pope].
II. Uzziahs punishment. The Lord had smitten him.
1. Retributive and severe. A lepera leper until the day of his death. The crown lost, and his forehead stained with marks of guilt.
2. Deprived of his own function by invading the province of others. U. was obliged to recognise the authority which he despised; compelled to leave the palace by venturing into the priesthood, and had to dwell in a separate house, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom Thou rememberest no more; and they are cut off from Thy hand. Be content with your own place. Discharge your own duties without seeking to intrude into others. The leprous king is a warning to all that we are not to minister to men in things pertaining to God without permission. Step out of your lawful calling, you create disorder, play the fool, and bring destruction upon yourselves and others.
God gives to every man
The virtue, temper, understanding, taste,
That lifts him into life, and lets him fall
Just in the niche he was ordaind to fill.
UZZIAHS SIN
Rightly to understand it remember what barriers he had to break before he could resolve to do it. He had to disregard the direct command of Jehovah, that priests alone could burn incense upon His altar; to despise the history of his people, to defy the holy name by which he himself was called. Therefore because his rebellion was so great, his defiance of correction and of God so flagrant, the Lord smote him, and he bore till death the mark of the curse that fell upon him.
I. We see here prosperity and pride. Mere worldly prosperity often the prelude to daring impiety. U., a good king, but a bad priest: not the priest whom God had chosen. Statecraft and policy have no claims to spiritual direction. Spirit of the gospel not that of a successful worldling, but that of a little child of the kingdom.
II. We see here pride and punishment. It is a part of Gods order of nature that bodily pains should often rebuke and reveal the workings of an ungodly soul. The solemn truth that pride and passion are destroyers of men, the remembrance of those destroyed by them, are admonitions to us. Verily he is a God that judgeth in the earth.
III. Punishment and shame. Hope of Uzziah given in record of his hasting to go out of the temple. His proud heart broken; he was smitten with shame. A man not altogether lost while he can feel shame. God quickens the sorrow of the world, which worketh death, into godly sorrow working repentance to salvation not to be repented of [Dr. A. Mackennal].
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
2Ch. 26:1. In this and the next ten chapters we have the histories of Uzziah and ten more kings of Judah, in whose days prophesied the most of the prophets, both major and minor; to whose writings these eleven chapters lend not a little light, and are therefore diligently to be read and heeded [Trapp].
2Ch. 26:15. Marvellously helped till strong. Two kinds of help, natural and supernatural.
1. A time when we cannot help ourselves. Infancy.
2. A time of growth when we can help ourselves. Youth, manhood.
3. When thus strong the supernatural help ceases. Not less provision made on that account. There is joy and co-operation with God. As an earthly father requires to be obeyed and served, beholds strength and disposition to co-operate, so the Heavenly Father, &c. [Dr. Matheson].
2Ch. 26:16. Lifted up.
1. By pride of money.
2. By pride of intellect.
3. By pride of wit [Thain Davidson]. LearnI. The abominable nature of pride. A rivalry and robbery of God. The sin of Satan and unregenerate men generally. Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, &c. II. The awful transgression to which it leads. Transgressed and went into the temple. Men would be angels, angels would be gods. III. The power of God to abase and punish the proud. Honour and dominion, mind and body under Gods control. Reason dethroned, the countenance stamped with idiocy, when he pleases. Madness, leprosy, and death at his bidding. Come, and it cometh. Most exalted insignificant atoms before Him. God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 26
2Ch. 26:8. His name spread abroad.
Unblemished let me live, or die unknown;
O grant an honest fame, or grant me none
[Pope].
2Ch. 26:16. Went into temple. We do not believe that the Christian ministry is any less Divine than the Levitical priesthood, or that the commission it bears is less clear and definite. The conclusion is, that the intrusion into it, an usurpation of its powers, or a violation of its order, be it by prince or peasant, by scholar or unlearned, by good men ignorantly, or by evil men presumptuously, cannot be anything else but offensive to God, and fruitful of mischief to mankind [R. Hallam, D.D.].
2Ch. 26:18. They withstood. When Theodosius, the Emperor, was at Thessalonica, in revenge for certain of his judges slain there, made a great slaughter among the people by his soldiers, who destroyed 7,000 citizens Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, heard to his great grief, and when the Emperor, afterwards returning to Milan, would have come, as his manner had been, to the holy assembly, he stoutly withstood him, saying, With what face canst thou look upon Him who is Lord of all? With what feet canst thou enter His house, whom thou hast so deeply displeased? How canst thou receive His body with those hands so drenched in Christian blood? or drink His blood with that mouth that commanded such inhuman slaughter? Depart, therefore, and go not about to add one wickedness to another, but stand thou excommunicate, till by repentance thou hast obtained pardon of God, and given satisfaction to his offended people. The good Emperorreligiously bred, knew well what was fit for a king to do and what for a bishopreturned to his palace, acknowledged the greatness of his sin, and spent eight months in weeping and lamentation; then coming to Ambrose, begged pardon and absolution, which, after many rebukes, he obtained [Trapp].
This is truth the poet sings,
That a sorrows crown of sorrow is remem bering happier things [Tennyson].
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
11. THE REIGN OF UZZIAH (Chapter 26)
TEXT
2Ch. 26:1. And all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah. 2. He built Eloth, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers. 3. Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem: and his mothers name was Jecholiah, of Jerusalem. 4. And he did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. 5. And he set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the vision of God: and as long as he sought Jehovah, God made him to prosper.
6. And he went forth and warred against the Philistines, and brake down the wall of Gath, and the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod; and he built cities in the country of Ashdod, and among the Philistines. 7. And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians that dwelt in Gur-baal, and the Meunim. 8. And the Ammonites gave tribute to Uzziah: and his name spread abroad even to the entrance of Egypt; for he waxed exceeding strong. 9. Moreover Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, and at the valley gate, and at the turning of the wall, and fortified them. 10. And he built towers in the wilderness, and hewed out many cisterns for he had much cattle; in the lowland also, and in the plain: and he had husbandmen and vinedressers in the mountains and in the fruitful fields; for he loved husbandry. 11. Moreover Uzziah had an army of fighting men, that went out to war by bands, according to the number of their reckoning made by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer, under the hand of Hananiah, one of the kings captains. 12. The whole number of the heads of fathers houses, even the mighty men of valor, was two thousand and six hundred. 13. And under their hand was an army, three hundred thousand and seven thousand and five hundred, that made war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy. 14. And Uzziah prepared for them, even for all the host, shields, and spears, and helmets, and coats of mail, and bows, and stones for slinging. 15. And he made in Jerusalem engines, invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and upon the battlements, wherewith to shoot arrows and great stones. And his name spread far abroad; for he was marvellously helped, till he was strong.
16. But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up, so that he did corruptly, and he trespassed against Jehovah his God; for he went into the temple of Jehovah to burn incense upon the altar of incense. 17. And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of Jehovah, that were valiant men: 18. and they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It pertaineth not unto thee Uzziah, to burn incense unto Jehovah, 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 honor from Jehovah God. 19. Then Uzziah was wroth; and he a censer in his hand to burn incense; and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy brake forth in his forehead before the priests in the house of Jehovah, beside the altar of incense. 20. And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out quickly from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because Jehovah had smitten him. 21. And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a separate house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of Jehovah: and Jotham his son was over the kings house, judging the people of the land. 22. Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, did Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, write. 23. So Uzziah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the field of burial which belonged to the kings; for they said, He is a leper: and Jotham his son reigned in his stead.
PARAPHRASE
2Ch. 26:1. The people of Judah now crowned sixteen-year-old Uzziah as their new king. 2. After his fathers death, he rebuilt the city of Eloth and restored it to Judah. 3. In all, he reigned fifty-two years, in Jerusalem. His mothers name was Jecoliah, from Jerusalem. 4. He followed in the footsteps of his father Amaziah, and was, in general, a good king so far as the Lords opinion of him was concerned. 5. While Zechariah was alive Uzziah was always eager to please God. Zechariah was a man who had special revelations from God. And as long as the king followed the paths of God, he prospered, for God blessed him.
6. He declared war on the Philistines and captured the city of Gath and broke down its walls, also those of Jabneh and Ashdob. Then he built new cities in the Ashdob area and in other parts of the Philistine country. 7. God helped him not only with wars against the Philistines but also in his battles with the Arabs of Gurbaal and in his wars with the Meunites. 8. The Ammonites paid annual tribute to him, and his fame spread even to Egypt, for he was very powerful. 9. He built fortified towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, and the Valley Gate, and at the turning of the wall. 10. He also constructed forts in the Negeb, and made many water reservoirs, for he had great herds of cattle out in the valleys and on the plains. He was a man who loved the soil and had many farms and vineyards, both on the hillsides and in the fertile valleys. 11. He organized his army into regiments to which men were drafted under quotas set by Je-iel, the secretary of the army, and his assistant, Ma-aseiah. The commander-in-chief was General Hananiah. 12. Twenty-six hundred brave clan leaders commanded these regiments. 13. The army consisted of 307,500 men, all elite troops. 14. Uzziah issued to them shields, spears, helmets, coats of mail, bows, and slingstones. 15. And he produced engines of war manufactured in Jerusalem, invented by brilliant men to shoot arrows and huge stones from the towers and battlements. So he became very famous, for the Lord helped him wonderfully until he was very powerful.
16. But at that point he became proudand corrupt. He sinned against the Lord his God by entering the forbidden sanctuary of the Temple and personally burning incense upon the altar. 17, 18. Azariah the high Priest went in after him with eighty other priests, all brave men, and demanded that he get out. It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense, they declared. That is the work of the priests alone, the sons of Aaron who are consecrated to this work. Get out, for you have trespassed, and the Lord is not going to honor you for this! 19. Uzziah was furious, and refused to set down the incense burner he was holding. But look! Suddenlyleprosy appeared in his forehead! 20. When Azariah and the others saw it, they rushed him out; in fact, he himself was as anxious to get out as they were to get him out, because the Lord had struck him. 21. So King Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death and lived in isolation, cut off from his people and from the Temple. His son Jotham became vice-regent, in charge of the kings affairs and of the judging of the people of the land. 22. The other details of Uzziahs reign from first to last are recorded by the prophet Isaiah (son of Amoz). 23. When Uzziah died, he was buried in the royal cemetery even though he was a leper, and his son Jotham became the new king.
COMMENTARY
Uzziah is also called Azariah (2Ki. 14:21, Isa. 6:1). When Amaziah was murdered, Uzziah, only sixteen years of age, was installed as king of Judah. There appeared to be no contest for the throne as there had been in the days of Joash. Eloth was located at the head of the Gulf of Aqaba. It was a very strategic port. Solomons Ophir navy used this as a home port. Jehoshaphat had attempted and failed to establish a navy at Eloth. Uzziah was concerned about the economic welfare of his people. He was granted a long reign of fifty two years. The queen mothers name was Jecholiah. From the time of Bathsehba, the queen mother exercised great authority in Jerusalem. Uzziah received a good report from the chronicler. The good in Amaziahs reign was remembered as a model for Uzziahs kingship. Amaziahs failures were not recalled. Zechariah appeared as a man of God. He had understanding in the vison of God. He was a seer like Samuel had been (1Sa. 9:9). Zechariahs relationship to Uzziah is not detailed. The prophet most likely served as a counsellor to the king. The historian knew the full record of the kings life. As long as Uzziah sought Jehovah his government was stable, but the day came when his heart was lifted up. A summary of Uzziahs achievements is given in 2Ch. 26:6-15. The Philistines were always insisting upon their right to control the coastal plain along the Mediterranean. Even Abraham and Isaac had encounters with this people in their day. More recently they had allied with the Arabians in conflict against Jehoram. Gath is renowned in Bible history as Goliaths home. It was about twenty five miles west of Bethelehem and about fifteen miles from the coast. Jabneh was about thirty miles northwest of Jerusalem and five miles from the coast. Ashdod was near the Great Sea about ten miles south of Jabneh. Uzziah attacked these three villages and brought them under subjection. Certain Arabians had taken control of territory at Maon, a village about fifteen miles south of Hebron. The Meunim lived at Maon. Nothing more is known about Gur-baal. The historian recorded the fact that God helped Uzziah in his conflict with the Philistines. The Ammonites lived on the border of the desert. Their capital, Rabbath, was about twenty five miles east of the Jordan river. These descendants of Lot were forced to pay tribute to Judah. The fame of Uzziah spread even to Egypt in these good years of his reign. He fortified Jerusalem. The gates of a walled city were very necessary and they were also vulnerable to attack. Towers or forts were built at the corner gate on the west side of the city and at the valley gate which probably opened on the valley of Hinnom on the west or south side of the city. The walls of Jerusalem were often extended and strengthened by enterprising kings. Uzziah was very sympathetic with the farmers and herdsmen among his people. Towers were necessary to protect against raiding bands. The wilderness area in Judah was the region west of the Dead Sea, the area around Bethlehem and Tekoa. The lowland was the foothill region (Shephelah) in Judah between the mountains and the coastal plain. Those who kept vineyards, cultivated barley, wheat, flax, and tended olive trees were especially blessed because Uzziah loved husbandry.
As Uzziah gave attention to the internal development of his kingdom, he did not neglect military provisions. He had an army of three hundred seven thousand five hundred men. Those were organized under twenty six hundred officers. Jeiel, Maazeiah, and Hananiah were responsible to the king for these military registrations. Uzziah is described as a strong military leader who had the respect of the soldiers. Not only did he provide for his men conventional weapons of war, such as spears, bows, and slings; he also produced machines designed to hurl great stones and propel arrows with super-human force.[68] He attained wide fame through the invention and use of these improved military tools. The chronicler leaves the impression that Uzziah was marvelously helped by Jehovah.
[68] Spence, H. D. M., The Pulpit Commentary, II Chronicles, p. 315
The sin of the king and the judgment that followed is the subject of 2Ch. 26:16-21. The great military leader, the strong friend of his country-men, the king who trusted God became proud and took upon himself liberties that did not pertain to him. He dared to presume to fill the office of priest by going into the Temple (he entered the Holy Place) and standing by the altar of incense just at the door of the Oracle to burn incense on the sacred altar.[69] Azariah was the chief priest (2Ch. 26:20). He, along with eighty regular priests, contested Uzziahs action and charged him with trespass against God. The historian observed that these were valiant men. They dared to accuse the king. They predicted that Jehovah would dishonor Uzziah. Instead of repenting and retreating, the king was furious against his accusers. As he proceded to burn the incense (the pot or pan was in his hand), the dread disease of leprosy erupted in his forehead. It rose like the sun. His anger turned to mortal fear. With the priests behind him the king hurriedly left the Temple. Lepers were forced to live apart from the regular community and outside the cities and villages. Since Uzziah was a king, he lived in a separate house. He was stricken by Jehovah. Very likely, leprosy caused his death. Never again could he go to the Temple. He was unclean. Jotham, Uzziahs son and prince regent, took over the official functions of government.
[69] Schukz, Samuel J., The Old Testament Speaks, p. 207
Uzziah had begun well. His life closed with the ex-king broken in body and spiritually bankrupt. In the very year of Uzziahs death Isaiah experienced his vision of God (Isaiah, chapter 6). The prophet Isaiah wrote an account of Uzziahs life. As he had to live apart from others in the latter years of his life, so in his death, even though buried in the royal cemetery, he was placed in a plot apart from the honored kings of Judah.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
XXVI.
REIGN OF UZZIAH-AZARIAH.
ACCESSION, AGE, AND CONDUCT OF UZZIAH. INFLUENCE OF THE PROPHET ZECHARIAH (2Ch. 26:1-5). (Comp. 2Ki. 14:21-22; 2Ki. 15:2-3.)
(1) Then.And.
Uzziah.So the chronicler always names him, except in one place (1Ch. 3:12), where the name Azariah appears, as in 2Ki. 14:21; 2Ki. 15:1; 2Ki. 15:6, &c. In 2Ki. 15:13; 2Ki. 15:30; 2Ki. 15:32; 2Ki. 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 transcribers 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. AzareelUzziel, 1Ch. 25:4; 1Ch. 25:18.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
2Ch 26:1-23 The Reign of Uzziah Over Judah (792-740 B.C.) (see 2Ki 15:1-7 ) 2Ch 26:1-23 records the reign of Uzziah over Judah.
2Ch 26:1 Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah.
2Ch 26:1
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Success of Uzziah
v. 1. Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah v. 2. He built Eloth, v. 3. Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.
v. 4. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, v. 5. And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God, v. 6. And he went forth and warred against the Philistines, and brake down the wall of Gath and the wall of Jabneh and the wall of Ashdod, v. 7. And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians that dwelt in Gurbaal, v. 8. And the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah, v. 9. Moreover, Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate and at the valley gate and at the turning of the wall, v. 10. Also he built towers in the desert, v. 11. Moreover, Uzziah had an host of fighting men that went out to war by bands, v. 12. The whole number of the chief of the fathers of the mighty men of valor, v. 13. And under their hand was an army, three hundred thousand and seven thousand and five hundred, that made war with mighty power, v. 14. And Uzziah prepared for them throughout all the host shields, and spears, and helmets, and habergeons, v. 15. And he made in Jerusalem engines, invented by cunning men, to be on the towers and upon the bulwarks, to shoot arrows and great stones withal,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
The twenty-three verses of this chapter, entirely occupied with the career of Uzziah, have to be content with a parallel of nine verses only, viz. 2Ki 14:21, 2Ki 14:22; 2Ki 15:1-7. Our chapter first glances at the usual prefatory particulars of the age, pedigree, length of reign, kind of character, and choice between virtue and vice of the new king (2Ch 26:1-5; but note the remarkable appearance of 2Ch 26:2, looking as though it had strayed). Next, of his good works (2Ch 26:6-15). Next, of his fall through most gratuitous “presumptuous sin,” and its decisive crushing visitation of punishment (2Ch 26:16-21). Lastly, of his death and burial (2Ch 26:22, 2Ch 26:23). The nine verses of the parallel instanced above answer respectively2Ch 26:21, 2Ch 26:22 to our 2Ch 26:1, 2Ch 26:2; 2Ch 26:1-3, to our 2Ch 26:1, 2Ch 26:3, 2Ch 26:4; 2Ch 5:1-14, to our verse 21; and 2Ch 5:6, 2Ch 5:7, to our verses 22, 23. That our chapter should abound in interest, and such solemn interest, awakens the more thought [as to the causes of the absence of so much of its most interesting matter in the Book of Kings.
2Ch 26:1
Uzziah; Hebrew, . (signifying “Strength of Jehovah”). Once in Chronicles, and once only (1Ch 3:12), this king’s name is given Azariah, Hebrew, (signifying “Help of Jehovah”) or ; and Isaiah (Isa 1:1, etc.), Hosea (Hos 1:1, etc.), and Amos (Amo 1:1, etc.) always use the word Uzziah. In the parallel, however, and in both the chapters in which the parallel clauses lie, the word Azariah is used, as well in other clauses as in those (e.g. 2Ki 15:1, 2Ki 15:6, 2Ki 15:8, 2Ki 15:23, 2Ki 15:27), yet Uzziah is also used in verses intermingled with them (e.g. 2Ch 26:13, 30, 32, 34). It is probable that Azariah was the first-used name, that the latter name was not a corruption of the former, but that, for whatever reason, the king was called by both names. Nevertheless, the apt analogy that has been pointed out of Uzziel (1Ch 25:4) and Azareel (18) is noteworthy. (See Keil and Bertheau on 1Ki 15:2 and 2Ki 14:21; and Keil on our present passage.) Sixteen years old. Therefore Uzziah must have been born just before the fatal outside mistake of his father’s life in the challenge he sent to Joash of Israel, and after the deadly inner mistake of his soul in turning aside to “the gods of the children of Seir.”
2Ch 26:2
Eloth; Hebrew, ; the parallel reads . This place was at the head of the Gulf Akaba (2Ch 8:17; 1Ki 9:26); Judah had lost hold of it at a past revolt of Edom, and Uzziah, after his father’s crippling of Edom, seizes the opportunity of making it Judah’s again and rebuilding it, thus finishing very probably a work that he knew had been in his father’s heart to do. This consideration may explain alike the following clause in our verse. and the placing of this here. Uzziah charged himself to do it the first thing.
2Ch 26:3
Jecoliah. This name is spelt Jecholiah in the parallel. The character, however, is kappa in both texts. The meaning of the name is, “Made strong of Jehovah.” Another unreliable form of the name is Jekiliah, the result probably of a mere clerical error.
2Ch 26:4
Right according to his father. His father’s comparatively long reign, sullied by two frightful stains, which were fearfully visited with a long punishment and a fatal end, is graciously recognized here for the good that was in it, and apparently credited even with a “balance to the good.”
2Ch 26:5
In the days of Zechariah. Twice in the foregoing chapter we have read of “a man of God” and “a prophet” whose names are not given. The chariness of the narrative in this exact respect is not very explicable, for if the simple reason be assumed to be that they were not of much repute, now when the name of Zechariah is given, all that we can say is that nothing else is known of him. Had understanding; Hebrew, . There seems no reason to divest this hiph. conjugation form of its stricter signification, “gave understanding “(see Isa 40:14). In the visions of God; Hebrew, . Some slight discrepancy in the usual fuller writing of the word in some manuscripts lends a little ground of preference for the reading, which a few manuscripts evidently had, of ; i.e. “in the fear of God” (Pro 1:7; Isa 11:3); either reading in either of these sub-clauses leaves an undisturbed good meaning to the description of Zechariah.
2Ch 26:6
The Philistines. It has been seen how the Philistines, humbled to tribute under Jehoshaphat (2Ch 17:10-13), had lifted up their heads repeatedly since, as on one occasion in alliance with Arabians (2Ch 21:16, 2Ch 21:17) against Jehoram. Brake down the wall (see 2Ch 25:23, the first occasion of this exact expression). Gath (see the parallel to our 2Ch 24:23, 2Ch 24:24 in 2Ki 12:17). Jabneh. A city on the coast, northwest of Judah, now Jebna (see Jos 15:10-12). Ashdod. Also on the coast, about eight miles south of Jabneh (Jos 15:47). It is now a large village in Philistia, called Esdud, answering to the Azotus of Act 8:40 (see Topographical Index to Conder’s ‘Handbook to the Bible;’ and Dr. Smith’s ‘Bible Dictionary,’ sub voc; 1.119). Built cities about Ashdod; Revised Version supplies in italic type” in the country of Ashdod.” However, the force of the preposition before “Ashdod” in this case speaks for itself; on account of the great importance of the place, in respect of its situation, on the road to Egypt, the strength of its position and perhaps the memory of the fact that, allotted to Judah, it had never really been appropriated by her, and incorporated with her, Uzziah saw it expedient to surround it with other fortified cities, or strong forts, which should be a watch upon it.
2Ch 26:7
Gur-baal. Though nothing is known of this place (the meaning of which is “abode of Baal,” perhaps from some temple of Baal), yet its companion Maon, the city of the Mehunim (2Ch 22:1; Jdg 10:12), shows whereabouts it was.
2Ch 26:8
The Ammonites. This nation lay east of Jordan, north-east of Moab. Note the interesting references, Num 21:24; Deu 2:37. Gave gifts. This expression was found in our 2Ch 17:11; 1Ki 4:21; 1Ki 10:25. The reference to tribute-payment is evident. The entering in of Egypt. This, of course, marks the breadth of the land, and describes the breadth of Uzziah’s sway or influence.
2Ch 26:9
Built towers in Jerusalem. The excellent map, above alluded to (2Ch 25:23), in Conder’s ‘Handbook to the Bible’ (2nd edit.), facing p. 334, furnishes a very clear idea alike of these towers and of the walls of Jerusalem, as we can make them out, for Uzziah’s times. For the corner gate, see our note, 2Ch 25:23. Valley gate. This is called by some the Gehenna gate. As many as three sites, reducible perhaps to two, are proposed for this gate:
(1) the west gate, called somewhile the “Jaffa” gate; or
(2) a gate over the valley of” Hinnom;” or, if it be not the same,
(3) that at the valley of Tyropoeon.
And at the turning; Hebrew, . This word occurs eleven times, viz. twice in Exodus, four times in Nehemiah, four times in Ezekiel, and in this place, and is always rendered “corner” or” turning;” the word wanted is angle. The site of this gate cannot very certainly be pronounced upon. Perhaps the angle that marks the gate is that at the south-east corner of the temple plateau. The language of Neh 3:19 is our best clue: “Next to him Ezer repaired a piece over against the going up to the armoury at the turning.“
2Ch 26:10
Towers in the desert; Hebrew, ; the rendering should be the usual one of “wilderness.” This was the cattle-pasture west and south-west of the Dead Sea. The towers were needed for forts of observation against marauding and cattle-robbing incursions, as well as for shelter in some attacks. Many wells; Hebrew, . These were not springs, but rather, as in the margin, tanks and cisterns. Carmel. It is not probable that this is the proper name. The translation of Carmel is “fertile field.” As a proper name it occurs about twenty times, from Jos 12:22; Jos 15:55; Jos 19:26; on to Amo 1:2; Amo 9:3; and perhaps Mic 7:14; and as not a proper name it occurs about twenty times also; the “fruitful field,” e.g; of Isa 29:17 and Isa 32:15 shows in the Hebrew text . The aspect of this verse is very picturesque, and the picturesqueness very pleasant, with its low country and pasturing cattle, its plains and their herds, its hills and their vines, all quickened into life by the mention of towers and wells, husbandmen and vine-dressers, and finished off by the home-touch that this king’s partiality looked to agricultural and pastoral pursuits.
2Ch 26:11
That went out to war by bands; Hebrew, . The last of these words occurs thirty-three times, and is rendered “troop” ten times, “company” four times, “band” fourteen times, and (too generically) “army “five times. The middle word occurs above four hundred times, is rendered “host” an immense preponderance of these times, and probably should have been so rendered without exception. The first word is the pool participle kal of the familiar verb , and compels the translation (given literally),’ the goers out of the host by hands.” Meantime, if the persons here spoken of were leaders, as seems possible, the hiph. participle is required (which would postulate an initial mem for the present initial yod), and a most typical example among some thirty others essentially similar may be quoted from Isa 40:26. Their account by the hand of Jeiel; i.e. their muster tabulated by Jeiel, whose office is mentioned before in our 2Ch 25:11. Under the hand of Hananiah. That is, Hananiah was head of the whole matter of the registering, etc.
2Ch 26:12
Of the mighty men of valour. The “of” here is incorrect; the former sub-stautive is not necessarily in construct state, and this word has the prefix of the preposition ; nor is the rendering “valour” for our Hebrew text so likely a rendering as that found in the foregoing verse, “host.” Render, The whole number of the chief of the fathers in the mighty men of the host was, etc. So in the next verse. “with mighty power” will be better rendered “with the strength of a host.“
2Ch 26:13
An army; Hebrew, . “A force of host” would render this expression, though by an ambiguous use of the word , construct state of . This verse gives the number of the body of the army proper, which shows it seven thousand five hundred more than that of Amaziah in the foregoing chapter (2Ch 26:5).
2Ch 26:14
Habergeons slings to cast stones. Revised Version right in rendering, coats of mail and stones for slinging. On the Israelites’ employment of the sling, note Jdg 20:16; 1Sa 17:40; 2Ki 3:25.
2Ch 26:15
Engines; Hebrew, ; used only here and Ecc 7:29 (where it is rendered “inventions”), but the related word is found three times: Ecc 7:25 (the “reason”), 27 (the “account”); Ecc 9:10 (“device”); while the verb root , to “devise,” occurs about a hundred and thirty times, as in next sub-clause . A strict rendering of the clause would make it read, “He made inventions, the inventing of an inventive man;” and the force of the words might be to appraise very highly the virtue of the invention or machine, while to himself may have been due the credit thereof. The balista which discharged stones is depicted on Assyrian sculptures; not so the machine for discharging darts and arrows, the catapult. Although, as just suggested, it were conceivable that to Uzziah himself was due in part the invention or the great improving of the machines in question, yet the verse may be regarded as simply saying that the introduction of them into Jerusalem was his work. He was marvellously helped (see Ecc 9:7).
2Ch 26:16
To (his) destruction; Hebrew, , hiph. conjugation infin, of . This conjugation frequently occurs in the sense of “destroying,” but also as well without an accusative as with, in the sense of “doing corruptly” (Gen 6:12 with accusative; but without Deu 4:16; Deu 31:29; Jdg 2:19; Isa 1:19; and next chapter, Isa 1:2). He transgressed. The “transgression” of a heart that had waxed wanton through prosperity took that peculiarly aggravated form of sinning against holy things and a holy ceremonial. Although, in the daily service of the second temple, the duty of offering incense attached to one chosen by lot each morning and evening of the inferior priests, yet originally the high priest was solemnly appointed for this office. The following are among the most important references to the matter of the incense and its offering (Exo 25:6; Exo 30:1, Exo 30:7, Exo 30:8, Exo 30:34, Exo 30:37, Exo 30:38; Le Exo 16:13; Luk 1:21; Num 6:24-26; Num 16:1-35; Num 18:1-7; 1Ki 4:20).
2Ch 26:17
Azariah the priest. Verse 20 states what was otherwise to be supposed, that he was the chief priest (). We fail to identify his name with any in the typical list of 1Ch 6:4-15, where the Azariah of verse 11 is too early, and the Azariah of verse 13 too late, for our present Azariah. With him four score priests. This passage suggests to us an idea of how many deeply interesting details are wanting, which would fill in the interstices of Old Testament history. Probably the intention of the king, ambitious to simulate the self-assumed religious ways of neighbouring Gentile kings, was no secret; and possibly the king may have given time for the chief priest to collect his auxiliaries, through some ostentatious display on his own part, in the very performance of his desecration. The number and the character of these helping priests () give the idea that they had their work to do, and purposed doing it promptly, or that they would over-awe, and obviate the use of actual force, by their imposing number.
2Ch 26:18
They withstood. A somewhat more forcible rendering would be justified by the Hebrew text, such e.g. as, “They confronted Uzziah to his face,” or “They stood in the way of Uzziah,” since our “withstood” almost always conveys the idea of argumentative confronting only. There was expostulation here, as we are immediately told, but there was something else also, as 2Ch 26:20 makes very plain, “They thrust him out.”
2Ch 26:19
Render, Then Uzziah was wrath, and in his hand (at that moment) was a censer to burn incense, etc. From the most literal rendering of the Hebrew text, not unfrequently the most forcible Bible English results. From beside; render, at the very side of (comp. Num 12:10; 2Ki 5:27).
2Ch 26:20
They thrust him out. This hiph. conjugation of kal does not point to the force adopted, but to the trembling anxiety with which, for horror’s sake of such a monstrous catastrophe, as a leper by the altar and with a censer in his hand, etc; the priests urged him out. Evidently, from the next clause, no great force in the ordinary sense was needed. Yea, himself hasted. The Hebrew verb is niph. conjugation of . It is interesting to note that this root occurs only here and three times in Esther, viz. Est 3:15; Est 6:12; Est 8:14. Uzziah can scarcely have been ignorant that he had been daring the utmost penalty of the Law (Num 16:31, Num 16:35; Num 18:7).
2Ch 26:21
And dwelt in a several house. The Hebrew for “several house” is : the parallel (2Ki 15:5) showing yod instead of van in the last syllable. The verbal root is , and occurs once (Le 19:20, with the Authorized Version rendering “was free;” in the same verse is also found a feminine noun derived from it, and rendered in the Authorized Version “freedom”). The adjective occurs sixteen times, and is always rendered in the Authorized Version “free,” except once “at liberty” (Jer 34:16). The “freedom” conveyed by the word is that of separation, in the use of it as found here. The leper and the house in which he lived were kept free from contact with others (Le 13:46). Gesenius appears, however, to prefer the idea of “infirmity,” “sickness,” as determining the cast of the meaning of the word in our text, and goes so far as to translate it an “hospital,” quoting the word of Suidas, .
2Ch 26:22
Isaiah the prophet. Isaiah the prophet asserts that his prophetic inspiration was in Uzziah’s time (Isa 1:1; Isa 6:1), or we should have taken for granted that, as he was alive in the time of Hezekiah, grandson to Uzziah, he wrote of Uzziah only from hearsay and previous records. It must be concluded, accordingly, that Isaiah’s inspiration as a prophet was early in his own life, that the beginning of it dated not long before the end of Uzziah’s career, and that his life was a prolonged one, while still the most part of the acts first and last of Uzziah, which he wrote, must have consisted of a compilation from other treatises and perhaps partly from tradition.
2Ch 26:23
In the field of the burial which belonged to the kings. The parallel simply says,” with his fathers in the city of David.” Judging, however, both from the somewhat remarkable words in our text, “the field of the burial” (i.e. the burial-field), and from the following clause, for they said, He is a leper, we may understand that, though it was in the “city of David” that he was buried, and “with his fathers” so far forth, and also that he lay near them, yet his actual sepulchre was not one with theirs, any more than his house of late had been one with the house he had known so well.
HOMILETICS
2Ch 26:1-23
The reign of fifty-two years spoiled in an hour.
Many a reign, indeed, was a spoiled reign which had begun well, promised well, and continued well for some length, of time. But the reign of Uzziah, of all the reigns of Judah and of Israel the longest with the one exception of that of Manasseh, and particularly full of prosperity, and remarkably varied prosperity within, of success in just foreign wars, and of that which led to these things, viz. the most gracious tokens of the Divine approval and helpwas all to be wrecked in an hour apparently, so far as King Uzziah was concerned. His people, indeed, were not stricken for his sin. Nor were his priests, whose loyal fidelity to their high office and sacred charge and whose faithful courage shone out to great advantage; but for the king himself, whenever his defection occurred, all the harvest of many years of a well-spent and hitherto glorious reign was “blown quite away” bysurely only such it can have been”one cunning bosom sin”! The preacher may fix close and detailed attention on
I. THE VARIED BENEFICENCE AND SUCCESS OF MANY YEARS OF UZZIAH‘S REIGN. All this left little to Uzziah to desire, and little to be desired for him. They should have paved the way for an honourable, peaceful, restful old age, with the blessings of a nation and a nation’s God upon him.
II. THE PLACE IN THE KING WHERE THIS SIN LODGED. It was not a sin of the world, nor a sin of the flesh, and though undoubtedly it was a sin of the devil, it must rather be written, the sin of the devil. It was akin to the sin of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (Num 16:1-35). It was akin to the turning sin of the life of the first king, Saul. It was, we may perhaps say, akin to the sin of those “angels who lost their first estate.” It was a sin particularly legislated against (Num 18:1-7). It is one, probably in our own days, and through all Christendom’s past ages of history, more largely at work and more malignant, and of more dire disaster to priests even and people, than may be generally imagined. It harbours itself, not in the flesh, and not in the heart, but in the spirit. It is ambition ecclesiastical, and unbridled! It is a snatching at spiritual function, domination, and claim of authority, unauthorized! It is a zeal of self-exaltation and self-display, where self’s very vesture should be the vesture of purity and of obedience! With Uzziah it was technical sacrilege. It none the less surely covered real sacrilege, which his spirit desired, sought, and defiantly dared. The opportunity here may be well utilized by the preacher for dwelling on and explaining the scripturally described triple designation of human nature, “body, soul, and spirit.”
III. THE CUNNINGNESS AND SUBTLENESS OF THIS SIN OF THE SPIRIT. We do not, indeed, know the birth of this sin in Uzziah at allwhen it was, what favoured it, when or how it peeped out first to view. Though it seems, as we read it, as though it were absolutely the evil suggestion of an hour in Uzziah, yet the preparation so easily matured by Azariah, when he followed “into the temple after Uzziah, and with him fourscore priests of the Lord, valiant men,” seems to indicate that those true ministers of the temple were to some degree forewarned and apprised of what was going to be attempted. The cunningness was that this particular disposition and impulse to sin had lain dormant for many a year of useful, good, and perhaps holy work. And the subtleness of it ranges with the truth that higher intellects and higher intelligences are exposed to higher, finer, and more refined forms of temptation, the highest to the highest, Let men say what they wilt in derogation and superficial disparagement of the inviolable sacredness of the offices and services and sacraments of the Churchdifferencing them from the older typical dispensation, when they differ not at all, except in demand of higher reverence and more spiritual unfeigned observanceit is indisputable that the most solemn warnings of apostles and Epistles point in this same direction of protest against all the offspring and widespread family of sacrilege. It is, indeed, in and of the very genius of Christianity to hallow intentions, vows, determinations, and works of religion with a sacredness all their own. The rush and rage of modern national life may overwhelm and sweep away many an old and many a sacred boundary, but the might is not the right. And the might that seems to usurp successfully, as Uzziah’s was not given to do, is inflicting only the deadlier blow and more inly wound.
IV. THE CONDIGN PUNISHMENT OF UZZIAH. The disease of leprosy meant, marked, sin’s last, typical chastisement for the body. And sin’s last daring attempt of the spirit is stricken down with this loathsome stroke and scourge. It made the sinner hasten away to make if he could his escape; it makes the sinner loathe himself; it is the dread earnest of his shut-off, “let-alone,” solitary condemnation. And one thing onlythe blood of Jesus Christhas efficacy to cleanse that leper. Though the principle cannot safely be applied either by Job’s comforters or any modern successors of them, yet the nature and severity of a punishment roughly measure the significance of the sin, the steps of which it tracks. And Uzziah’s sin and punishment, startling as they are in their own connection, have been also written as admonition that might be greatly needed as the wayward ages should flow onward, even to our own, and perhaps to the end.
HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON
2Ch 26:1-5
Premature responsibility, etc.
In these verses we have a picture or a suggestion of
I. PREMATURE RESPONSIBILITY. “All the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king.” They all agreed to set a lad upon the throne. Events seem to have justified their course; and if Zechariah the prophet, or, what is more likely, some prominent “prince of Judah,” acted as prime minister or protector, he may have succeeded even in the earlier years of his administration. But it is a very great mistake to devolve large responsibilities upon the young.
1. It is bad for the estate they have to administer, whatever that may be. “Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child,” is a curse which has a wide application. The very young, with minds that must be immature, judge without knowledge, are swayed by persons rather than governed by principles, fall into serious and often into disastrous mistakes.
2. It is bad for themselves. It exposes them to several temptations which it is not right they should encounter, and it loads them with a weight of duty and difficulty they are not strong enough to carry. In most cases they break down, in some direction, under their burden. Responsibility is not for youth; it is for prime and for the ripe experience of later life.
II. THE INEQUALITIES OF CONDITION WHICH THE PROVIDENCE OF GOD ASSIGNS US. Uzziah “reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem.” To him God gave more than half a century of power and wealth and their attendant advantages. To others he denies these larger gratifications altogether, and grants very limited comforts, and these for a very brief hour. How do we account for this? All is plain if we consider:
1. That neither justice nor kindness requires that God should give to one man as large a heritage as he has given to another; it is no injury to me to whom he has given one talent that it has pleased him to bestow ten talents on my neighbour. I had no claim to that one talent which, of his pure goodness, he has conferred upon me.
2. That the chief value of human life depends neither upon its surroundings nor upon its duration, but upon its moral and spiritual characteristics.
3. That if there be any inequalities that, in the cause of righteousness, require adjustment, there remains the long future for redress.
III. THE INFLUENCE OF MOTHERHOOD ON OUR CHARACTER AND OUR COURSE. It is not without meaning that we have the record, “his mother’s name was Jecoliah.” To much too large a degree in the East all that the mother contributes is maternity. But “woman, beloved of God in old Jerusalem,” gave much more than this. She was not a cipher in the home; she was an intelligent, active sharer in the thought and history of her country and her time. Jesus Christ owed much to her truer appreciation, and to her more faithful ministry. It is likely that Uzziah owed as much to his mother as to his father in the way of godly training and good home influence. A very considerable number of the great and good men who have rendered conspicuous services to their race became what they were because they grew up in the atmosphere of a mother’s gentle and beautiful life. “No mother knows who or what she has in her cradle,” or can tell how great a share she may have, by the training of the little child that is slumbering there, in the enrichment or the reformation of the world.
IV. THE INFLUENCE OF THE CHRISTIAN MINISTRY ON OUR CHARACTER AND COURSE. “He sought God in the days of Zechariah” (verse 5). No doubt this seeking of the Lord was very largely due to the prophet’s influence over him. The true Christian minister is, like the Hebrew prophet, “one that speaks for God” to men. And he who speaks for his Divine Master with faithfulness, with earnestness of spirit, in true and pure affection, speaking “the whole counsel of God” as he is able to learn and utter it, has a work to do and an influence to exert second to none in the hearts and lives of men. From the court to the cottage-home the gracious power of such ministry is felt in the land.
V. THE PROSPERITY OF PIETY. “As long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper” (verse 5). (See homily on 2Ch 25:15,” The folly of irreligion.”)
1. There is no prosperity worthy of the name, or worthy of our ambition and pursuit, outside the fear and the favour of God. “Who hath hardened himself against him and prospered?” Many have seemed to do so, and have imagined that they did. But, in the light of Divine wisdom, they have miserably failed.
2. There can be no failure in the faithful service of the Supreme. What looks like it, there may be, there often is; but not the thing itself. For he who walks with God, and is the friend of Jesus Christ, must be what is right and good; must stand where he is secure from harm; must be witnessing for the truth of God; must be moving on towards deeper wisdom, purer joy, and a glorious estate beyond.C.
2Ch 26:5
Seeing God.
Zechariah “had understanding in the seeing of God” (marginal reading). In what way did the prophet, and in what respects may we now, have such special “understanding”?
I. THE PROPHETIC PRIVILEGE OF SEEING GOD. It might seem, at first sight, that there would be no degrees in such capacity. If God enabled a man to see him and to know his truth by granting him a vision, or by specially enlarging his natural faculty, it must be of no consequence (or of very little) what his individual capacities may be. But, thus reasoning, we should be wrong. God did not then, as he does not now, grant his Divine enlightenment independent of all human conditions. He had regard to:
1. Purity and sanctity of character.
2. Natural intellectual faculty.
3. Special training.
We cannot say that God never revealed his mind to any one who did not possess the first of these qualifications in a high degree. Remembering Balsam and Jonah, it would be impossible to maintain that view. Yet we may be quite sure that such men as Samuel and Elijah were preferred to others because of the elevation of their characters. Nor can we suppose that the second qualification was indispensable; but we may well believe that Balaam was employed as he was partly because he was a man of considerable intellectual endowment, and that Isaiah and Amos were among the “chosen” partly for the same reason. We know that there was special training for the work of prophecy, for there were “schools of the prophets” in the time of the judges. Whether Zechariah had one or all of these three advantages we do not know, but be was a man, on some such grounds, peculiarly adapted to receive communication from God, and, having received them, to deliver them.
II. THE FACULTY OF ALL SPIRITUAL MEN. We also, as those who stand among the multitude of godly men undistinguished by any office, may have “understanding in the seeing of God.” What are its conditions?
1. Docility of spirit. If we would “enter the kingdom of God,” i.e. if we would see God and know him as he desires to be seen and known by us as our forgiving Father, we must “become as little children” (Mat 18:3; Mat 19:14). Much “understanding” in the way of human learning may, as in the case of the scribes and lawyers, keep us out of that atmosphere of docility without which we shall not learn of Christ, and shall not know God as we urgently need to know him (see 1Co 1:26-29). It is the man that has come to understand his own spiritual ignorance and incapacity who will be willing to learn of God, and thus to “have understanding in the seeing of God.”
2. Purity of heart. This, we know from the great Teacher himself, is an essential (Mat 5:8). This purity of which Christ speaks includes:
(1) Simplicity and sincerity of spirit; that which is not content with passing through fleshly rites, but desires to know God himself, to come into communion with him, to gain his loving favour.
(2) A freedom from degrading affections; and therefore from debasing acts and associationsa heart that is not worn with selfish ambitions, or worried with corroding cares, or blemished by injurious excitements.
(3) Consequent elevation of affection and aimthe love of Christ, the love of man, the earnest desire to be of service to our generation.
3. Patient continuance in well-being and in well-doing. To those who thus “continue in the grace of God” will be granted “eternal life”‘ They who are faithful unto death shall wear “the crown of life” (see Rom 2:7; Rev 2:10). And we are sure that this life which is consummated beyond includes such a vision of God as we do not now enjoy, even when it is most true that “the eyes of our understanding are opened,” and even when we are “blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” Then, with purer heart than we now possess, and with a holiness (Heb 12:14) to which we do not now attain, we shall “have understanding [and experience] in the seeing of God.” Surely every one that hath this hope in him will “purify himself, even as Christ the Lord is pure.”C.
2Ch 26:6-15
A victorious career.
Perhaps it is not well understood that Uzziah was one of the strongest of the kings of Judah, and ran a remarkably successful course. Had not his sun set in some dark clouds, his name and fame would probably have stood far higher than they do. But when we have made necessary allowances, there remains before our eyes the picture of
I. A VICTORIOUS CAREER. This, whether we have regard to:
1. The extension of his kingdom; he prevailed against the Edomites, the Philistines, the Arabians (2Ch 26:2, 2Ch 26:6-8). Or to:
2. The strengthening of his kingdom by military meansby building fortifications (2Ch 26:9, 2Ch 26:10), by ordering and equipping his army (2Ch 26:11-13), by inventing or adopting the latest weapons of warfare (2Ch 26:14, 2Ch 26:15). Or to:
3. His attention to the national produce. It speaks very highly indeed for a monarch of that period that he dug wells, that he had much cattle, that he encouraged the vine-dressers, that he “loved husbandry. These are things which in that age of the world were too often disregarded and even despised by men in high places, especially by monarchs. But it was on such things as these that national prosperity very largely rested. Much of the power of a country comes from its wealth; and its wealth comes from the soil. No wise ruler will be indifferent to the question of the produce of the land. The king that “loves husbandry” is, other things being present, a king that loves his people, and rules for the happiness of their homes. It is probable that Judah never spent so contented and prosperous a half-century as during the long reign of Uzziah.
II. ITS EXPLANATION.
(1) It was partly due to the fact that he came under good human influence; that of his father in his better days, that of Zechariah all through that prophet’s life; (perhaps) that of a godly mother.
(2) It was due in part to his own capacity and energy. Had he been a weak prince, giving way to base flatteries and to corrupt companionship, he could not have played the admirable part he did.
(3) It was due, chiefly and primarily, to the favour of Jehovah. “God made him to prosper” (verse 5). From the Divine resources came intelligence, strength, sagacity, statesmanship. He might well have said, “Thou art the glory of my strength, and in thy favour has my horn been exalted.” This is the explanation of every victorious career.
1. There goes toward it individual character and energy. Every man must “bear his own burden,” and “have rejoicing in himself alone” (Gal 6:4, Gal 6:5). In some sense and to some degree we must all “fight the good fight” for ourselves, if we would gain the victory and win “the prize of our high calling.”
2. There is included in it helpful influence from without; all kindly human help from the home and from the sanctuary, from the father and from the friend.
3. The all-decisive force is the power that works from above on our behalf. God must make us to prosper if we are to gain the victory in the great strife of life. From him must come the guidance and the guardianship, the inspiration and the control, without which we shall faint and fall. And this is to be secured by
(1) submission to the gracious sway, and
(2) living in the holy service of a Divine Saviour.C.
2Ch 26:16-21
A clouded close.
We could have wished that the end of Uzziah’s life had answered to the beginning; that a reign which began so well, which had so commendable and even distinguished a record, bad closed in light and honour. But it was not to be. That powerful temptation which assails the strong and the victorious proved too powerful for the Hebrew king; he fell beneath its force, and he paid a heavy penalty for his fall. We have
I. A PAINFUL SPECTACLE in the person of a leprous king. In Uzziah the leper we have one who occupied the highest place in the kingdom brought to an estate which the meanest subject in the realm, who had the hue of health in his cheeks, would not have accepted in place of his own; we have one in whose presence it was once an honour to stand, and whose face it was a high privilege to behold, reduced to such a condition that it was a kindness for any one to be with him, a pain for any eye to regard him, a sacrifice and defilement for any one to touch him; we have a man whose presence once brought highest honour to the home the threshold of which he might condescend to cross, now brought so low that no humblest householder in the land could or would permit him to pass his door; we have a man who did stand foremost in every religious privilege, debarred from entering the outer court of the sanctuary; we have one who had spent his manly energies in all forms of happy and useful activity, shut up in a separate house and secluded from affairs; we have an instance of complete humiliation, and we cannot fail to be affected by it if we dwell upon all that it meant to the unhappy subject of it.
II. AN APPARENTLY HEAVY SENTENCE FOR ONE OFFENCE. We inquireWhy this terrible visitation? And we find that it was because the king invaded the temple of God and attempted, to do that which was not permitted by law. To any one judging superficially, the sentence may seem severe and indeed excessive. It may seem unjust to visit one day’s wrong-doing, one act of guilt, with a heavy penalty for lifea penalty that disabled and disqualified, as leprosy did, for all the duties and all the enjoyments of human life. But we have not to look far to find
III. THE EXPLANATION Or THE SEVERITY. This is twofold.
1. It was of the first importance that the royal power should not presume upon ecclesiastical functions. It was not a mere question between king and priest; that would have been small enough. It was a question whether God should continue to rule, through his chosen officers, over the. nation, or whether the king should set aside the divinely given Law, and practically make himself supreme. To defy and disobey one of the clearest and one of the most emphatic precepts in the Law, and to assume a prerogative which God had strictly confined to the priestly order, was a step that was revolutionary in its character and tendency, that was calculated to overturn the most sacred traditions, and to break up the ancient usage as well as to lessen that sense of the Divine separateness and sanctity which it was the first object of the great Lawgiver to fasten on the mind of the people. It was a daring and a dangerous innovation, which nothing but overgrown presumption would have attempted, and which demanded the most striking and impressive rebuke that could be administered. The sentence was judicial, and was intended to warn all others from acts that were injurious, and from an ambition that was unholy.
2. It was the punishment, not merely of one sinful action, but also of a guilty state of heart. Uzziah would not have done this sacrilegious action if he had not fallen from the humility, which is the first condition of true piety, into a state of condemnable spiritual pride. “His heart was lifted up;” “his heart was haughty, and his eyes were lofty,” and therefore he wanted to “exercise himself in things too high for him” (Psa 131:1). Much success had spoiled him, as it spoils so many in every land and Church. It had made him arrogant, and human arrogance is a moral evil of the first magnitude, displeasing in a very high degree to the Holy One of Israel, utterly unbecoming in any one of the children of men, exposing the soul to other sins, requiring a strong and sometimes even a stern discipline that it may be uprooted from the heart and life. It may be hoped, and perhaps believed, that in the “several house” (2Ch 26:21) in which Uzziah afterwards lived, he learned the lesson which God designed to teach him, humbled his heart before his Maker, and came to bless that pruning hand which dealt so severe a stroke to save the vine from fruitlessness and death.
1. Shrink from intruding where God does not call you. But, more particularly:
2. Recognize the fact that success in any sphere is a “slippery place,” and calls for much self-examination and much earnest prayer for humility and simplicity of spirit.C.
HOMILIES BY T. WHITELAW
2Ch 26:1-15
Uzziah the prosperous.
I. A YOUTHFUL SOVEREIGN. (2Ch 26:1-3.)
1. His names. Uzziah, “Might of Jehovah” (2Ki 15:13, 2Ki 15:30, 2Ki 15:32, 2Ki 15:34; Isa 1:1; Isa 6:1; Amo 1:1; Zec 14:5); Azariah, “Whom Jehovah aids” (2Ki 14:21; 2Ki 15:1, 2Ki 15:6, 2Ki 15:8, 2Ki 15:17, 2Ki 15:23, 2Ki 15:27; 1Ch 3:12);the former, the designation taken by or conferred upon him at or soon after his accession (Thenius, Bahr); the latter, his name before that event. But if the two appellations should not be regarded as equivalent (Keil), the likelihood is that Uzziah was his personal and Azariah his kingly title (Nagelsbach in Herzog, and Kleinert in Riehm), as the latter, Azri-jahu, is the name he ordinarily bears on the Assyrian monuments.
2. His parents. Amaziah the son of Joash, and Jecoliah of Jerusalem. Of the latter nothing is known beyond her name and residence, except that she had been the wife, and was the mother, of a king. That Uzziah was not his father’s firstborn son has been inferred (Bertheau, Ewald, Bahr), though precariously, from the statement that “all the people took him and made him king” (verse 1).
3. The date of his accession. After his father’s death, in the fifteenth year of Jeroboam II. of Israel (2Ki 14:23). The theory that Uzziah’s accession should be dated from his father’s capture by Joash (Sumner) is not without support from certain circumstances stated in the narrative, as e.g. that Amaziah lived (not reigned) after the death of Joash fifteen years (ch. 25:25), and that Uzziah built Eloth after the death of his father (ch. 26:2), as if he had been sovereign before that event, Nevertheless, it is not adopted by Josephus (‘Ant.,’ 9.9. 3), and does not appear demanded by the text (consult Exposition).
4. The length of his reign. Fifty-two yearswith one exception (ch. 33:1) the longest throne-occupancy of any sovereign of Judah. Its close synchronized with the accession of Pekah to the throne of Israel by means of conspiracy and assassination (2Ki 15:23-25).
II. A PROMISING RULER. (Verses 4, 5.)
1. A worshipper of Jehovah. “He did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that his father Amaziah had done,” i.e. until he declined into idolatry (2Ch 25:14). “He was a good man, and by nature righteous and magnanimous, and very laborious in taking care of the affairs of his kingdom” (Josephus, ‘Ant.,’ 9.10. 3); but his devotion to religion, while sincere, was, like his father’s, imperfect (2Ch 25:2). “The high places were not removed: the people sacrificed and burnt incense still on the high places” (2Ki 15:4). See the confirmation of this in the minor prophets (Hos 8:14; Hos 12:2; Amo 2:4).
2. A seeker after God. “And he sought God.”
(1) How? By observing his worship, keeping his commandments, honouring his prophets, and studying his Lawthe only true way of seeking God still.
(2) When? In the days of Zechariah, “who had understanding,” or “gave instruction”, “in the vision of God.” Nobler distinction than the former, better employment than the latter, can no man have.
(3) How long? Until Zechariah died, after which his fervour declined, the remembrance of his teacher faded, his devotion to Jehovah and the true religion diminished. So Joash behaved wisely and religiously while Jehoiada lived (2Ch 24:17). Human goodness too often short-lived (Hos 6:4).
(4) With what result? Prosperity, which kept pace with his piety. “As long as he sought Jehovah, Elohim made him to prosper” (verse 5)a remarkable combination of words, which perhaps teaches that, whilst prosperity or success is from God, the Supreme Being as such, it is never conferred upon good men except on the ground that they are worshippers of him as the covenant God of grace and salvation.
3. A pupil of Zechariah. “Zechariah had understanding,” and perhaps gave him instruction “in the vision [or, ‘seeing’] of God.” That this Zechariah was neither the priest whom Joash slew (2Ch 24:20), nor the prophet who lived in the second year of Darius (Zec 1:1), is apparent. That he possessed that special gift or capacity of beholding God in vision which pertained to the prophetic calling cannot be inferred from the Chronicler’s statement, “since this beholding of God, of which the prophets were conscious only in moments of highest inspiration, cannot be thought of as a work of human activity and exercise” (Berthcau). Most probably he was one who, like Daniel (Dan 1:17), “had understanding in all visions and dreams,” and who acted as Uzziah’s counsellor and teacher.
III. A BRILLIANT WARRIOR. (Verses 2, 6, 7, 8.)
1. The fortification of Eloth. (Verse 2.) His father’s conquest of Edom (2Ch 25:11, 2Ch 25:12) had either not been pushed as far as this important harbour-town upon the Red Sea (see on 2Ch 8:17), or the town, though taken, had been given up and not annexed to Judah in consequence of Joash’s defeat of Amaziah (2Ch 25:23). On attaining to the throne, Uzziah rectified his father’s oversight by capturing the town, erecting it into a fortress, and restoring it to Judah. Without it Edom was of little consequence to Judah. This exploit, which happened in the early part of Uzziah’s reign, was probably that from which he derived his name Azariah (2Ki 14:21, 2Ki 14:22); while its introduction at this stage in the narrative, before the chronological statement which follows it (verse 3), may have been due to a desire on the part of the Chronicler to introduce Uzziah to his readers as the well-known monarch who had conquered, recovered, and fortified Eloth (Berthcau).
2. The war against the Philistines and Arabians. (Verses 6, 7.) These had together invaded Judah upwards of eighty years previously (2Ch 21:16), and Uzziah may have purposed to inflict upon them chastisement for that aggression (Keil); but the assumption is as rational that Uzziah either dreaded or experienced a combination against himself similar to that which had assailed Jehoram, and that, either (in the former case) taking time by the forelock, he fell upon his enemies ere they could strike at him, or (in the latter case), meeting the emergency with courage, he repelled the attacks they made upon him. His success in dealing with the Philistines was complete. He broke down the walls of Gath (see on 2Ch 11:8), which, formerly taken from the Philistines by David (1Ch 18:1), had latterly been recovered, most likely in the reign of Jehoram; the wall of Jabneh, here mentioned for the first time, but probably the town in Judah named Jabneel in the days of the conquest (Jos 15:11), Jamnia in the period of the. Maccabees, at the present day Jabneh, eighteen miles north-west of Gath, “situated on a slight eminence on the west bank of the valley of Sorek (Wddy es Surar), about four miles from the sea coast” (Warren, in ‘Picturesque Palestine,’ 3:161); and the wall of Ashdod, one of the principal cities of the Philistines (1Sa 5:1), and now a village called Esdud, after which he erected cities in the domain of Ashdod and in other parts of Philistia. In like manner, he was entirely victorious over the Arabians in (Gur-baalnot the city Petra (LXX.), but perhaps the town of Gerar (Targum)and the Meunims, who dwelt in Mann (1Ch 4:41).
3. The submission of the Ammonites. These, whose settlements lay east of the Dead Sea, and who, in Jehoshaphat’s time, had come up against Judah (2Ch 20:1), were now so reduced that they rendered tribute to Judah, as the Moabites did under David (2Sa 8:2), and the Philistines and Arabians under Jehoshaphat (2Ch 17:11).
4. The extension of his fame to Egypt. Not merely the report of his splendid victories travelled so far as the land of the Pharaohs, but the boundaries of his empire reached to its vicinity. An inscription of Tiglath-Pileser II. shows that the northern people of Hamath attempted to free themselves from the Assyrian yoke by going over to Azariah.
IV. A GREAT BUILDER. (Verses 9, 10.) In addition to the fortress at Eloth and the cities in Philistia, he erected towers.
1. In Jerusalem.
(1) At the corner-gate, i.e. at the north-west corner of the city (2Ch 25:23).
(2) At the valley-gate, i.e. on the west side, where the Jaffa gate now is.
(3) At the turning of the wall, i.e. at a curve in the city wall on the east side of Zion, near the horse-gate. This tower commanded both the temple hill and Zion against attacks from the south-east.
2. In the desert, or wilderness. The place was “the steppe-lands on the west side of the Dead Sea” (Keil); the object, the protection of his flocks and shepherds against attacks from robber-bands, whether of Edomites or Arabians.
V. AN ENTHUSIASTIC HUSBANDMAN. (Verse 10.)
1. An extensive cattle-breeder. He had much cattle in the re,on just mentioned, in the lowland between the mountains of Judaea and the Mediterranean, and in the fiat district on the east of the Dead Sea, from Arnon to near Heshbon in the north. For the use of these animals he hewed cisterns in each of these localities.
2. An ardent agriculturist. He kept farmers and vine-dressers upon the mountains and in the fruitful fields. “He took care to cultivate the ground. He planted it with all sorts of plants, and sowed it with all sorts of seeds” (Josephus).
VI. AN ABLE GENERAL. (Verses 11-15.)
1. He organized the army.
(1) The number of fighting men was reckoned up by Hananiah, one of the king’s captains, assisted by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the steward, two officials practised in writing and the making up of lists. The total force, according to their estimation, was 307,500 (370,000, Josephus)able-bodied and thoroughly disciplined troops, with 2600 heads of fathers’ houses, mighty men of valour, who acted as superior officers or divisional commanders.
(2) The entire host was arranged into bands, detachments, or army corps, each father’s house, perhaps, composing a regiment, and a group of these a battalion.
(3) Whether these army corps served in rotation (Jamieson) is not stated.
2. He armed the soldiers. For all the host he prepared the necessary weapons for offensive and defensive warfarefor the first, spears, bows, and slings; for the second, shields, helmets, and coats of mail; or perhaps, for the heavy-armed troops, shields, spears, and helmets; and for the light infantry, bows and sling-stones. The mention of “sling-stones,” it has been thought (Bertheau), was intended to indicate the completeness of his preparations, as in the late France-German war Marshal Leboeuf declared the French army to be ready for the projected campaign down to the “shoe-buckle.” Besides furnishing each soldier with a set of weapons, Uzziah collected a store of such “that he might have them in readiness to put into the hands of his subjects on any exigency” (A. Clarke)
3. He fortified the capital This, which Joash of Israel (2Ch 25:23) had weakened, he strengthened by placing on the towers and battlements of its walls ingenious machines”engines invented by cunning men”to shoot arrows and great stones withal, like the catapultae and ballistae of the Romans.
LESSONS.
1. The beneficial influence of parental pietyit tends to reproduce itself in the children.
2. The true Source of all prosperity, whether temporal or spiritualGod.
3. The necessary condition of all permanent prosperity for individuals or communitiesreligion, seeking God.
4. The unspeakable advantage to kings and subjects of having as their counsellors men who have understanding in the visions of God.
5. The obvious wisdom of sovereigns and their people devoting attention to the cultivation of the soft.
6. The lawfulness, in nations as in individuals, of taking due pre- cautions for safety.W.
2Ch 26:16-23
Uzziah the leprous.
I. UZZIAH‘S TRANSGRESSION.
Pride. “His heart was lifted up.” This the inevitable tendency of too much material and temporal prosperity (Deu 8:13, Deu 8:14). Exemplified in Amaziah (2Ch 25:18, 2Ch 25:19; 2Ki 14:9), Sennacherib (2Ch 32:31; 2Ki 18:19-35), Nebuchadnezzar (Dan 4:30-34; Dan 5:20).
(2) Ignorance. He perceived not that his heart was being lifted up “to his destruction.” Had he foreseen the consequences of his rash act, he might have paused. But questions of right and wrong must be determined without regard to temporal results. Only none need remain in ignorance of this, that the path of holiness is the path of safety (Pro 3:17), whatever be its external issues; and that the way of disobedience, however promising to appearance, is and must be the way of peril and doom (Pro 4:19).
2. The nature of it. “He went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense,” i.e. he took upon himself the priestly function of ministering before Jehovah in the holy place. Whether in doing so he conceived himself to be following in the steps of David and Solomon (Thenius, Ewald, Stanley) may be doubted. It is not clear that either of these sovereigns ever offered incense in the sanctuary proper, though they frequently officiated at the offering of sacrifices in the outer court on the occasion of religious festivals (Bertheau, Keil, Bahr). More likely is the view that Uzziah desired to ape the potentates of the world generally, as e.g. those of Egypt, who, as supreme priests (pontifices maximi), with other priests to aid them, conducted temple-worship in honour of the gods. In any case, what he did expressly violated the Divine Law, which reserved the privilege of entering the holy place and ministering therein exclusively for the priests (Exo 30:7, Exo 30:8; Le Exo 16:2, Exo 16:12, Exo 16:13; Num 18:1-10). The statement of Josephus (‘Ant.,’ 9.10. 4) may well be authentic, that the occasion which tempted Uzziah to forget himself was the celebration of some high national festival.
3. The aggravations of it. He committed this offence:
(1) When he was strong; when his empire was at the height of its splendour, and himself at the top of his fame; when his kingly magnificence was in full bloom, and his regal heart had everything it could desirein short, when he ought to have been supremely contented and happy, without aspiring after more.
(2) Against that God through whose assistance he had climbed to the pedestal of earthly renown on which he stood, thereby furnishing a proof of monstrous ingratitude quite on a level with that of his father Amaziah (2Ch 25:14).
(3) In spite of the remonstrance of Azariah the priest and eighty colleagues, who, going into the sanctuary after him, courageously reminded him of the heinous character of his proposed action, as an invasion of the province Jehovah had set apart for the Aaronic priesthood, fearlessly commanded him to leave the sacred edifice, and warned him of the peril he incurred in thus defying the ordinance of God. Men who have God upon their side have no need to be afraid of kings. Nothing emboldens the human spirit like a consciousness of right (Psa 27:1).
(4) With ebullitions of kingly rage. According to Josephus, he threatened to kill Azariah and his colleagues unless they held their peace (Pro 19:12; Pro 16:14). Wrath often leads to murder.
II. UZZAIAH‘S PUNISHMENT. (Verses 19-23.)
1. Sudden. The Lord smote him (2Ki 15:5)where he stood, within the holy place, censer in hand, attired in a priestly robe, fuming at Azariah and his eighty assistants, ready, in defiance of one and all, to go through with the unhallowed project he had in hand. Foolish Uzziah! Jehovah, who all the while was looking on (2Ch 7:16; Hab 2:20), simply stretched forth his invisible finger, and the daringly sacrilegious act was arrested. According to Josephus (‘Ant.,’ 9.10. 4), at that moment a great earthquake shook the ground, splitting the mountain on which the city stood, and making in the temple dome a rent, through which the sun’s rays, shining, fell upon the king’s face, insomuch that the leprosy seized on him immediately (cf. Amo 1:1; Mic 1:4; Zec 14:5).
2. Severe. The leprosy brake forth (or rose as the sun) in his forehead. The same punishment inflicted on Miriam for speaking against Moses (Num 12:10), and on Gehazi for lying to Elisha (2Ki 5:27). The severity of the stroke measured the greatness of the sin for which it fell.
3. Conspicuous. “The chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous.” The signs and tokens of this plague had been laid down in the Law of Moses (Lev 13:1-59.). Like the mark upon Cain’s brow (Gen 4:15), the spot upon Uzziah’s forehead proclaimed him an object of Divine wrath. Many suffer on account of their transgressions whose chastisement is not visible to their fellow-men; that Uzziah’s was perceptible to Azariah and his colleagues was a woof of the heinous character of his offence, while it served as a warning to others. One of Jehovah’s purposes in inflicting punishment on evil-doers is to convince beholders of the horrible iniquity of sin, and deter them through “the terror of the Lord” (2Co 5:11.) from its commission.
4. Humiliating. The priests thrust the stricken king from the sacred dwelling; yea, the king himself “hasted to go out.” Moreover, he was henceforth as an unclean person, out off from the congregation of Jehovah (Le 13:45, 46; Num 5:2), and, because of the infectious nature of his malady, lodged in “several house,” i.e. a lazar-house, or infirmary. As the leprosy, in its spreading, wasting, corrupting, loathsome, contagious, incurable character, was a hideous emblem of sin, so the exclusion of the leper from the congregation, and his isolation from the society of his fellows, was an impressive picture of the fate reserved for unpardoned sinners (Psa 1:5, Psa 1:6). It must not, however, be assumed that Uzziah died in impenitence.
5. Fatal. It ended in death, as all sin does (Eze 18:4; Rom 6:23). Yet sin is not incurable by Divine power any more than leprosy was. As Miriam, Naaman, and the man who came to Christ (Mat 8:2) were cleansed, so may the sinful soul be renewed (1Jn 1:7).
6. Posthumous. Uzziah’s punishment followed him after death. His people buried him, indeed, but not in the royal mausoleum, only in its neighbourhood, in the field of burial which belonged to the kings, lest his leprous dust should defile that of his fathers.
LESSONS.
1. The danger of prosperity.
2. The sin of pride.
3. The unlawfulness of will-worship.
4. The certainty that God can punish sin.
5. The hopelessness of those who die in sin.W.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
h. Joash: the Prophet Zechariah Son of Jehoiada.Ch. 24
. Reign of Joash under the Guidance of Jehoiada: Repair of the Temple: 2Ch 24:1-14
2Ch 24:1.Joash was seven years old when he became king; and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem: and his mothers name was Zibiah of Beer-sheba. 2And Joash did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord all the days of 3Jehoiada the priest. And Jehoiada chose for him two wives; and he begat sons and daughters.
4And it came to pass after this that it was in the heart of Joash to renew the house of the Lord. 5And he gathered the priests and the Levites, and said to them, Go out into the cities of Judah, and gather of all Israel money to repair the house of your God from year to year, and hasten ye the matter: but the Levites hastened it not. 6And the king called for Jehoiada the chief, and said unto him, Why hast thou not required of the Levites to bring in out of Judah and Jerusalem the tax of Moses the servant of the Lord, and of the 7congregation of Israel, for the tent of witness? For Athaliah the wicked doer [ and] her sons1 have broken up the house of God, and bestowed all the 8consecrated things of the house of the Lord upon Baalim. And the king commanded, and they made a chest, and set it without at the gate of the 9house of the Lord. And they proclaimed in Judah and Jerusalem, to bring in to the Lord the tax of Moses the servant of God upon Israel in the wilder ness. 10And all the princes and all the people were glad, and they brought 11and cast into the chest, till it was full. And at the time when the chest was brought to the survey of the king by the Levites, and when they saw that there was much money, then went the kings scribe and the officer of the head priest and emptied the chest, and took it, and carried it to its place again: thus they did day by day, and gathered money in abundance. 12And the king and Jehoiada gave it to the work-master of the service of the house of the Lord, and they hired masons and carpenters to renew the house of the Lord, and also smiths in iron and brass to repair the house of the Lord. 13And the workmen wrought, and furtherance was given to the work by their hand: and they set the house of God in its form, and strengthened it. 14And when they had finished, they brought before the king and Jehoiada the rest of the money, and they made of it vessels for the house of the lord, vessels for ministering and offering, and cups, and vessels of gold and silver: and they offered burnt-offerings in the house of the Lord continually all the days of Jehoiada.
. Death of Jehoiada: Stoning of his Son, the Prophet Zechariah: 2Ch 24:15-22
15And Jehoiada was old and full of days, and he died; he was a hundred and thirty years old when he died. 16And they buried him in the city of David with the kings; for he had done good in Israel, and for God and His 17house. And after the death of Jehoiada came the princes of Judah, and bowed down before the king: then the king hearkened unto them. 18And they left the house of the Lord God of their fathers, and served the Asherim and the idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their 19trespass. And he sent prophets among them, to bring them back to the Lord; and they testified against them, and they did not give ear. 20And the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest2; and he stood up before the people, and said unto them, Thus saith God, Why transgress ye the commandments of the Lord, and do not prosper? for ye have forsaken the Lord, and He has forsaken you. 21And they conspired against him, and stoned him by command of the king in the court of the house of the Lord. 22And Joash the king remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada had done to him, and slew his son: and when he died, he said, The Lord shall see and require.
. Distress of Joash by the Syrians, and his End: 2Ch 24:23-27
23And it came to pass in the course of a year, that the host of Syria came up against him; and they came to Judah and Jerusalem, and destroyed all the princes of the people out of the people,3 and sent all the spoil of them 24unto the king to Damascus.4 For the host of Syria came with few men; and the Lord gave into their hand a very great host, because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers: and they executed judgments upon Joash. 25And when they went from him, for they left him with many wounds, his servants conspired against him for the blood of the sons5 of Jehoiada the priest, and slew him on his bed, and he died: and they buried him in the 26city of David, but they buried him not in the sepulchres of the kings. And these were the conspirators against him: Zabad son of Shimath the Ammonitess, 27and Jehozabad son of Shimrith the Moabitess. And his sons, and the greatness6 of the burden upon him, and the building of the house of God, behold, they are written in the commentary of the book of the Kings: and Amaziah his son reigned in his stead.
i. Amaziah.Ch. 25
. Duration of his Reign, and its Spirit: 2Ch 25:1-4
2Ch 25:1.Amaziah became king when twenty and five years old; and he reigned twenty and nine years in Jerusalem: and his mothers name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. 2And he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, but 3not with undivided heart. And it came to pass, when the kingdom was established to him, that he slew his servants who smote the king his father. 4But he put not their sons to death, but as it is written in the law in the book of Moses, as the Lord commanded, saying, The fathers shall not die for the sons, nor shall the sons die for the fathers; but every one shall die for his own sin.
. The Conquest of the Edomites in the Valley of Salt: 2Ch 25:5-13
5And Amaziah gathered Judah, and arranged them by father-houses, by captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, for all Judah and Benjamin: and he mustered them from twenty years old and upwards, and found them three hundred thousand choice men, going out to war, holding spear and 6shield. And he hired out of Israel a hundred thousand mighty men of valour 7for a hundred talents of silver. And a man of God came to him, saying, O king, let not the army of Israel go with thee; for the Lord is not with 8Israel, with all the sons of Ephraim. But go thou; do, be strong for the battle; [ otherwise7] God shall make thee fall before the enemy; for with God is power to help and to cast down. 9And Amaziah said to the man of God, But what shall we do for the hundred8 talents which I have given to the host of Israel? And the man of God said, It rests with the Lord to give 10thee much more than this. And Amaziah separated them, to wit, the host that was come to him from Ephraim, to go to their place: and their anger was greatly kindled against Judah, and they returned to their place in hot 11anger. And Amaziah took courage, and led forth his people, and went to 12the valley of Salt, and smote of the sons of Seir ten thousand. And the sons of Judah took ten thousand alive, and brought them to the top of the rock, and cast them down from the top of the rock, and all of them 13were broken in pieces. And the men of the host which Amaziah sent back from going with him to battle, fell upon the cities of Judah, from Samaria even to Beth-horon, and smote of them three thousand, and took much spoil.
. Amaziahs Idolatry, War with Joash of Israel, and End: 2Ch 25:14-28
14And it came to pass, after Amaziah was come from smiting the Edomites, that he brought the gods of the sons of Seir, and set them up for him as gods, 15and bowed down before them, and burnt incense to them. And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Amaziah, and He sent unto him a prophet, who said to him, Why hast thou sought after the gods of the people, who did not deliver their own people out of thy hand? 16And it came to pass as he talked with him, that he said unto him, Have we made thee councillor to the king? Forbear; why should they smite thee? And the prophet forbare, and said, I know that God hath resolved to destroy thee, because thou hast 17done this, and hast not hearkened to my counsel. And Amaziah king of Judah took counsel, and sent to Joash son of Jehoahaz, son of Jehu king of Israel, saying, Come,9 let us look one another in the face. 18And Joash king of Israel sent to Amaziah king of Judah, saying, The thorn that was in Lebanon sent to the cedar that was in Lebanon, saying, Give thy daughter to my son to wife; and a beast of the field that was in Lebanon passed by and trampled on the thorn. 19Thou sayest, Lo, thou hast smitten Edom; and thy heart hath lifted thee up to boast: now abide at home; why provokest thou evil, that thou mayest fall, and Judah with thee?
20And Amaziah hearkened not; for it was of God that they might be given 21up, because they sought after the gods of Edom. And Joash king of Israel went up, and they looked one another in the face, he and Amaziah king of Judah, at Beth-shemesh, which is of Judah. 22And Judah was smitten before 23Israel; and they fled every man to his tent. And Joash king of Israel took Amaziah king of Judah, son of Joash, son of Jehoahaz, at Beth-shemesh, and brought him to Jerusalem, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem from the 24gate of Ephraim to the corner gate,10 four hundred cubits. And all the gold and the silver, and all the vessels that were found in the house of God with Obed-edom, and the treasures of the kings house, and the hostages; and he 25returned to Samaria. And Amaziah son of Joash king of Judah lived after 26the death of Joash son of Jehoahaz king of Israel fifteen years. And the rest of the acts of Amaziah, first and last, behold, are they not written in the 27book of the kings of Judah and Israel? And from the time that Amaziah turned away from the Lord, they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem; and he fled to Lachish: and they sent after him to Lachish, and there put him to death. 28And they brought him upon horses, and buried him with his fathers in the city of Judah.11
k. Uzziah.Ch. 26
. His early Theocratic Inclination and Prosperous Reign: 2Ch 26:1-15
2Ch 26:1.And all the people of Judah took Uzziah, when sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah. 2He built Eloth, and restored it to Judah, after the king had slept with his fathers. 3Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he became king; and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem: and his mothers name was Jechiliah12 of Jerusalem. 4And he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that 5Amaziah his father had done. And he continued to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who understood the visions13 of God: and so long as he sought the Lord, God made him prosper.
6And he went out and fought with the Philistines, and brake down the wall of Gath, and the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod, and built cities about Ashdod and among the Philistines. 7And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabs that dwelt in Gur-baal,14 and against the Meunites. 8And the Ammonites15 gave gifts to Uzziah: and his name 9went even to Egypt; for he became very mighty. And Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem, at the corner gate and at the valley-gate, and at the corner, and 10fortified them. And he built towers in the wilderness, and dug many wells; for he had much cattle in the lowland and in the plain; husbandmen and vine-dressers in the mountains and in Carmel; for he was a lover of land. 11And Uzziah had a host of fighting men, that went out to war in troops, by the number of their muster at the hand of Jeuel16 the scribe, and Maaseiah the officer, at the hand of Hananiah, one of the captains of the king. 12The whole number of the chiefs of the fathers for the mighty men of valour 13was two thousand and six hundred. And at their hand was an army of three hundred thousand and seven thousand and five hundred fighting men in full strength, to help the king against the foe. 14And Uzziah prepared for them, for the whole army, shields and spears, and helmets and coats of mail, and 15bows and sling-stones. And at Jerusalem he made engines, the invention of craftsmen, to be on the towers and battlements, to shoot arrows and great stones: and his name went forth far abroad; for he was marvellously helped till he was strong.
. His Boasting, and Divine Chastisement by Leprosy: his End: 2Ch 26:16-23
16And when he became strong, his heart was lifted up to do corruptly, and he transgressed against the Lord his God; and he went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense. 17And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him eighty priests of the Lord, men of valour. 18And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It pertaineth 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 transgressed; and it shall not be for thine honour from the Lord 19God. And Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy burst forth on his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord from beside the incensealtar. 20And Azariah the head priest and all the priests looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they drove him out thence; and even he himself hasted to go out, because the Lord had smitten him. 21And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a sick-house as a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the Lord: and Jotham his son was over the kings house, judging the people of the land.
22And the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, Isaiah son of Amos the 23prophet wrote. And Uzziah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the burial field of the kings; for they said, He is a leper: and Jotham his son reigned in his stead.
l. Jotham.Ch. 27
Chap 2Ch 27:1.Jotham was twenty and five years old when he became king; and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: and his mothers name was Jerushah daughter of Zadok. 2And he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father Uzziah did; only he entered not into the temple of the Lord: and the people did yet corruptly. 3He built the high gate of the house of the Lord; and on the wall of Ophel he built 4much. And he built cities in the mountains of Judah, and in the forests he 5built castles and towers. And he fought with the king of the sons of Ammon, and prevailed over them: and the sons of Ammon gave him in that year a hundred talents of silver, and ten thousand cors of wheat, and ten thousand of barley: this the sons of Ammon paid him also in the second and third 6year. And Jotham strengthened himself; for he established his ways before the Lord his God.
7And the rest of the acts of Jotham, and all his wars and his ways, lo, 8they are written in the book of the kings of Israel and Judah. He was twenty and five years old when he became king; and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. 9And Jotham slept with his fathers; and they buried him in the city of David: and Ahaz his son reigned in his stead.
m. Ahaz: The Prophet Oded.Ch. 28
. Idolatry of Ahaz: his Defeat by the Syrians and Ephraimites: 2Ch 28:1-8
2Ch 28:1.Ahaz was twenty17 years old when he became king; and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem: and he did not that which was right in 2the eyes of the Lord, like David his father. And he walked in the ways of 3the kings of Israel, and made also molten images for Baalim. And he burnt incense in the valley of Ben-hinnom, and burnt his sons in the fire, after the abominations of the nations, whom the Lord had cast out before 4the sons of Israel. And he sacrificed and burnt incense in the high places, 5and on the hills, and under every green tree. And the Lord his God gave him into the hand of the king of Syria; and they smote him, and took from him a great many captives, and brought them to Damascus:18 and he was also given into the hand of the king of Israel, and he inflicted on him a great 6blow. And Pekah son of Remaliah slew in Judah a hundred and twenty thousand in one day, all sons of valour, because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers. 7And Zichri, a mighty man of Ephraim, slew Maaseiah the kings son, and Azrikam, the governor of the house, and Elkanah the 8vicegerent of the king. And the sons of Israel took captive of their brethren two hundred thousand, women, sons, and daughters, and stripped them of great spoil, and brought the spoil to Samaria.
. Oded the Prophet procures the Release of the Captives: 2Ch 28:9-15
9And a prophet of the Lord was there, of the name of Oded; and he went out before the host that came to Samaria, and said unto them, Behold, in the wrath of the Lord God of your fathers against Judah He hath given them into your hand; and ye slew of them with a rage that reacheth unto heaven. 10And now ye purpose to subject the sons of Judah and Jerusalem for bondsmen and bondsmaids to you: are there not even with you yourselves trespasses against the Lord your God? And 11now hear me, and release the captives which ye have taken of your brethren; for the hot anger of the Lord 12is upon you. Then arose men of the chiefs of the sons of Ephraim, Azariah son of Johanan, Berechiah son of Meshillemoth, and Hezekiah son of Shallum, and Amasa son of Hadlai, against those who came from the war, 13And said unto them, Ye shall not bring the captives hither; for with the trespass of the Lord upon us ye intend to add to our sins and to our trespass: for great 14is our trespass, and there is hot anger against Israel. And the armed host left the captives and the spoil before the princes and all the congregation. 15Then there rose up the men who were expressed by name, and took the captives, and clothed all that were naked of them from the spoil, and gave them clothes, and shoes, and food, and drink, and anointed them, and carried them on asses, all the weary, and brought them to Jericho, the city of palms, beside their brethren: and they returned to Samaria.
. Further Visitations of Ahaz on account of his Idolatry: his End: 2Ch 28:16-27
16At that time King Ahaz sent unto the kings of Assyria to help him. 17, 18And again the Edomites came and smote Judah, and took captives. And the Philistines invaded the cities of the lowland and of the south of Judah, and took Beth-shemesh, and Ajalon, and Gederoth, and Socho with her daughters, and Timnah with her daughters, and Gimzo with her daughters: and they 19dwelt there. For the Lord humbled Judah on account of Ahaz king of Israel, because he had revolted in Judah, and transgressed greatly against the 20Lord. And Tilgath-pilneser king of Assyria came against him, and distressed 21him, and strengthened him not. For Ahaz had plundered the house of the Lord, and the house of the king and the princes, and given it to the king of Assyria; and it was not a help to him. 22And in the time of his distress he 23transgressed yet more against the Lord, this king Ahaz. And sacrificed to the gods of Damascus that smote him, and said, Because the gods of the kings of Syria, they help them, I will sacrifice to them, that they may help me: and they were the downfall of him and of all Israel. 24And Ahaz gathered the vessels of the house of God, and cut up the vessels of the house of God, and shut the doors of the house of the Lord; and he made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem. 25And in every single city of Judah he made high places to burn incense to other gods, and provoked to anger the Lord God of his fathers.
26And the rest of his acts and all his ways, first and last, behold, they are written in the book of the kings of Judah and Israel. 27And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city in Jerusalem: for they brought him not into the sepulchres of the kings of Israel: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead.
EXEGETICAL
We take together the reports, contained in 2 Chronicles 24-28, of the five reigns from Joash to Ahaz, partly on account of their general similarity, partly because in 2 Kings 12, 14-16, we have pretty full and nearly literal parallels to them.
1.Reign of Joash under the Guidance of Jehoiada: Repair of the Temple: 2Ch 24:1-14The parallel account in 2Ki 12:1-17 is more detailed in the statement of several circumstances, especially with regard to the repair of the temple, but yet receives many important supplements from the present narrative, which is derived from the same sources, but constructed on different views and principles.
2Ch 24:2. All the days of Jehoiada the priest. Somewhat different in 2 Kings: during all his days, while Jehoiada instructed him.
2Ch 24:3. And Jehoiada chose for him two wives. here obviously expresses this sense, not as in 2Ch 13:21 : took to himself; for it refers to this, that the young king soon married and begat an heir to the throne.
2Ch 24:4-14. The Repair of the Temple; comp. Bhrs exposition of 2Ki 12:5-17.To renew the house of the Lord; comp. 2Ch 15:8, and the synonym to repair (properly, strengthen, make strong again) in 2Ch 24:5; 2Ki 12:6.And hasten ye the matter, properly, with respect to the matter. On the relation of the following statement, according to which the Levites hastened not, to the apparently different narrative in 2 Kings, comp. Bhr.
2Ch 24:6. And the king called for Jehoiada the chief, namely, of the priesthood, by which, however, is not necessarily meant the high priest; the phrase , head-priest, supreme priest, may (as, for example, above 2Ch 19:11 of Amariah, or beneath 2Ch 26:20 of Azariah, under King Uzziah) denote the legal high priest, but has not necessarily this meaning; comp. on 23.8.Why hast thou not required of the Levites to bring in, literally, asked of the Levites, etc. (comp. Job 5:8; Psa 142:3) ? The tax or assessment of Moses (, as 2Ch 24:9; comp. Eze 20:40) is that of the sanctuary (heaveoffering) imposed, Exo 30:12-16; Exo 38:25, by Moses, and willingly paid by the community of Israel, of half a shekel a head.
2Ch 24:7. For Athaliah . . . (and) her sons. By these sons of Athaliah are scarcely meant the priests of Baal (Jerome) or certain bastard sons of the queen (Ewald, Gesch. iii. 1, 290), but probably Ahaziah with his brothers and brothers sons (comp. 2Ch 21:17, 2Ch 22:3 f.), that might have shown their zeal for idolatry at a very early age (comp. Berth., also Hitz. Gesch. p. 203).Broken up the house of God; , as 1Ch 13:11; Job 30:14; Ecc 10:8.All the consecrated things of the house of the Lord; all the gold and silver vessels, weapons, etc., preserved there as gifts. Of such profanation of the temple treasures by the idolatrous sons of Athaliah, moreover, the Chronist only reports, who here supplements the statements of 2 Kings.
2Ch 24:10. Cast into the chest till it was full. , as 2Ch 21:1 (comp. also , 2Ki 13:17; 2Ki 13:19); literally, even to making full, whereby may be meant either the fulness of the number of givers, or even the fulness of the chest that received the gifts. The latter sense, which the Sept and Vulg. express, commends itself most, as 2Ch 24:11 shows, and should not therefore have been questioned by Berth., Kamph., etc.
2Ch 24:11. And at the time, etc., literally, and it came to pass at the time when one brought the chest to the survey of the king, that is, for the royal surveillance or keeping (, as in 2Ch 23:18).And when they saw that there was much money, properly, and on their seeing, etc.Thus they did day by day, literally, to day by day (comp. 1Ch 12:22), that is, every day when it was necessary, every time that the chest was full.
2Ch 24:12. And the king . . . gave it to the work-master of the service of the house of the Lord. here, not service in the house of the Lord, as 1Ch 23:24, but labour, repair of the house of the Lord.And they hired, literally, and they were hiring, continually from day to day; comp. Mat 20:1 ff. Masons and carpenters; so in 1Ch 22:14; comp. Ezr 3:7.
2Ch 24:13. And furtherance was given to the work by their hand, literally, there went up (was laid, Jer 8:22) binding on the work; on , binding, healing, comp. Neh 6:1; Jer 30:17.And they set the house of God in its form; literally, on its measure (Exo 30:32), that is, in the original proportions.
2Ch 24:14. And they made of it vessels, literally, made it vessels (into vessels); comp. Ezr 1:7.Vessels for ministering and offering, altar vessels (comp. Num 4:12), from which cups (Exo 25:29) and other gold and silver vessels are there distinguished.And they offered burnt-offerings . . . all the days of Jehoiada: as long as he had the direction of the temple worship, it was conducted in a regular and legal way; that it had quite ceased after Jehoiadas death, neither the present phrase nor the subsequent narrative affirms.
2. Death of Jehoiada: Stoning of his Son: the Prophet Zechariah: 2Ch 24:15-22. There is no parallel to this section in 2 Kings 12; but it is of no less importance for the pragmatic understanding of that which is related underneath, 2Ch 24:23 ff., concerning the last events in the life of Joash.And Jehoiada was old and full of days. as otherwise only of the patriarchs Abraham and Isaac, of David (1Ch 24:1; comp. 2Ch 29:28), and of Job (Job 42:17), so in general is it used only of five men of God in the Old Testament; comp. Achelis, Das Zeitalter der Patriarchen, a contribution to the understanding of Scripture (Barm. 1871), p. 46. From the following statement of his age as 130 years at his death, it follows that he must have been about 100 years old when he helped his nephew by a successful revolution to the throne (877 b.C. by the common chronology); for the repair of the temple carried on by Joash and him (which he survived for a time, according to 2Ch 24:14 of our chapter), fell, according to 2Ki 12:7, in the twenty-third year of that king.
2Ch 24:16. And they buried him . . . with the kings. With this honourable distinction bestowed upon him at his death, the directly following record of the slaughter of his like-minded son stands in the same contrast as that presented by Christ, Mat 23:29 ff., over against the Pharisees.
2Ch 24:17. Bowed down before the king, earnestly entreating; for what? The following words show that it was for permission to worship strange gods along with the Lord. That Joash himself forthwith took part in this worship of idols is not affirmed, but that he bore the full responsibility of it, and afterwards took a direct part in the impiety, is plain from 2Ch 24:21 f.; comp. 2Ch 24:25.
2Ch 24:18. Served the Asherim, etc.; comp. on 2Ch 16:2. For the flame of wrath () which this enkindled, comp. 2Ch 19:2; 2Ch 19:10, 2Ch 29:8.
2Ch 24:19. Testified against them, by way of warning, pointing to the inevitable consequences of their apostasy; comp. 2Ki 17:13; Psa 50:7; Neh 9:26; Neh 9:29. Was Joel also among these prophetic monitors? As we may conjecture from his book that his age nearly coincided with the reign of Joash, it is not improbable; comp. Wnsche, Die Weissagung des Proph. Joel, Introd. p. 13 ff.; also Keil, Introd. to the O. T. p. 322 f.
2Ch 24:20. And the Spirit of God clothed Zechariah son of Jehoiada the priest. On , clothe, comp. 1Ch 12:18. The identity with the Zechariah mentioned by Christ, Mat 23:35, Luk 11:51, as slain between the temple and the altar, who is called in the former passage the son of Barachias, is to be assumed the more certainly, as1. The place of his death quite agrees there and here (the is the altar of burnt-offering, which stood in the court; comp. 2Ch 24:21); 2. An allusion is made in the speech of Christ to our passage before mentioning the martyrdom of Zechariah; see above on 2Ch 24:16; 2 Chronicles , 3. The Barachias named in Mat 23:35 as the father of Zechariah may have been the son of Jehoiada, and Zechariah his grandson, which is highly probable, from the great age to which Jehoiada attained.Stood up before the people, properly, above the people ( , as in 2Ch 13:4); the inner court, from which he spoke, and where he was afterwards slain, was higher than the outer, where the people stood.And do not prosper, or: and will be unfortunate, will have no success. The two things are, in a theocratico-prophetical point of view, inseparably connected: the forsaking of the Lord (comp. 2Ch 12:5, 2Ch 15:2, etc.), and becoming unfortunate; comp. 2Ch 26:5 (Uzziah).
2Ch 24:21. And they conspired against him; comp. 2Ch 24:25; 1Ki 15:27, and also 2Ch 23:13. The true witness of God is slain by stoning, the very penalty which is in the law (Lev 20:2; Lev 24:23) imposed on idolaters, to which therefore his murderers were doomed.
2Ch 24:22. And Joash . . . remembered not the kindness; , as in Mic 6:8. Joash appears here designated as the murderer of the son (or grandson) of Jehoiada, certainly not for mere silent connivance at the wicked deed, but for positive and direct participation in it; comp. 2Ch 24:21.The Lord shall see and require, or will see (comp. Psa 84:10) and require (, here seek revenge, punish; comp. Psa 9:13; 1Sa 20:16).
3. Distress of Joash by the Syrians, and his End: 2Ch 24:23-27. Here again 2Ki 12:18-21 affords a parallel, where that which relates to the invasion of the Syrians is narrated more particularly, and their king, Hazael (Haza-ilu of the Assyrian inscriptions), is named as executor of this judgment on Joash.And it came to pass in the course of a year, in the circuit of a year, the year beginning with the death of the prophet Zechariah.That the host of Syria, as in 2Ch 24:24.And destroyed all the princes of the people out of the people, out of the mass of the people (comp. Psa 89:20), so that these were spared, but their chiefs, who were the authors of the religious and moral evil (2Ch 24:17 f.), were overtaken by the doom of extermination. On the variants in the old versions with respect to out of the people, see Crit. Note.With few men, literally, with smallness of men; comp. Job 8:7.And they executed judgments upon Joash. , as in Exo 12:12; Num 33:4; Eze 5:10; Eze 5:15; elsewhere with , here with (comp. , 1Sa 24:19).The judgment upon Joash refers especially to the mortal wound which he received.
2Ch 24:25. For they left him with many wounds. , less suitably translated diseases by Luther, occurs only here; but comp. the similar 21:19 With respect to the somewhat surprising sons of Jehoiada (instead of son), see Crit. Note.And slew him on his bed; narrated more particularly 2Ki 12:21. The burial was not in the tombs of the kings, but in another place, as in the case of Joram; see 2Ch 21:20.
2Ch 24:26. On the names of the conspirators, of which one is different in 2 Kings 12 (Jozachar for Zabad), see Bhr on this passage.
2Ch 24:27. And his sons, and the greatness of the burden upon him, the greatness of the treasure which he had to send as tribute to Hazael in Syria; comp. 2Ki 12:19. So it is perhaps to be explained (with Then. and Kamph.) on the basis of the Kethib . Possible also is the interpretation adopted by Cleric., Keil, and others: and the multitude of prophetic oracles concerning him (comp. 2Ch 24:19), though in this case the singular is somewhat strange. On the contrary, the reference, attempted by the Vulg., Luther, and others, of the to the temple tribute (2Ch 24:6; 2Ch 24:9) imposed by Joash would require a change into , and the would not suit this view (for which we should rather expect . The Keri gives rise to the sense: and with regard to his sons the oracle (that of the dying Zechariah, 2Ch 24:22 b) multiplied itself in them, which is obviously much too obscure, and could scarcely be intended by the Masoretes themselves. The Sept. alters the text quite arbitrarily, ( for ), and so the Syriac.Behold, they are written in the commentary of the book of Kings, the elaboration of this book; comp. on 2Ch 13:12, and Introd. 5, ii.
4. Amaziah: a. Duration of his Reign, and its Spirit: 2Ch 25:1-4; comp. the essentially parallel verses, 2Ki 14:1-6.
2Ch 25:2. And he did. . . but not with undivided heart. For this is in 2 Kings: yet not like David his father, he did according to all that his father Joash did. This more particular statement our author avoided, perhaps, on account of the less favourable light in which he had exhibited Joash. The following also: only the high places were not removed, etc., he omits; perhaps he intended sufficiently to indicate this partial continuance of idolatry by his not with undivided heart (comp. 2Ch 16:9).
2Ch 25:4. Put not their sons to death, according to the law, Deu 24:16; comp. Bhr on 2Ki 14:6.
5. Continuation: b. The Conquest of the Edomites in the Valley of Salt: 2Ch 25:5-13. Again a section peculiar to the Chronist, for which nothing is found in 2Ki 14:7 but the brief notice that Amaziah smote the Edomites in the valley of Salt, took their city Sela, and gave it the name Joktheel.And he mustered them (comp. Num 1:3) and found them 300,000 choice men; thus almost a million less than the force of Judah and Benjamin under Jehoshaphat, 2 Chronicles 17, and, if the numbers there are to be considered incorrect, even much less than the sum total of the troops of the south kingdom given in 2Ch 14:7 for the time of Asa. But it is obvious that the number of troops must be shown to be much diminished by defeats sustained during the last reigns and other calamities, and therefore in need of being strengthened by foreign mercenary soldiers, as the following verse clearly proves.Going out to war (comp. 1Ch 5:18), holding spear and shield; comp. 1Ch 13:9; Jer 46:9.
2Ch 25:7. With all the sons of Ephraim. This is a more definite addition to Israel (comp. Isa 17:3; Isa 28:1) that appears not unnecessary, because the author often designates the kingdom or people of Judah also as Israel (comp. on 2Ch 12:1).
2Ch 25:8. But go thou alone, do, or execute it; comp. 1Ch 22:16; Ezr 10:4.Be strong for the battle, (otherwise) God shall make thee fall before the enemy. The sense is obvious; be strong, then will God not let thee fall. Before is to be supplied , with Ew., Berth., Keil, Kamph., etc.; for the can neither be taken (with Cleric.) = sin minus, nor (with Seb. Schmidt, Ramb., etc.) = alioquin. That the text certainly needs emendation is manifest from the arbitrary and diverse interpretations presented by the old translators; for example, the Sept. ; Vulg. quod si vultis in robore exercitus bella consistere; Luther, For so thou comest as to show a boldness in fight, God will let thee fall before thy enemies.For with God is power to help and to cast down, literally, present is might in God, etc. For the sentence, comp. 1Ch 29:12; 2Ch 20:6; also the well-known verse of G. Neumark, He is the only wonder-man, who now lift up, now cast down can.
2Ch 25:9. What shall we do for the 100 talents? In the mouth of a prudent ruler, who counts the cost in all his steps, certainly a very pardonable question, even as the answer given to it is highly worthy of a trustful man of God. , troop, that is, a body of mercenaries; comp. 2Ch 22:1; 2Ki 13:20 f.
2Ch 25:10. To wit, the host, etc. before is the defining =namely (comp. 2Ch 25:5 a); the whole is in apposition to the suffix in And they returned to their place in hot anger, literally, in the glow of anger (comp. Exo 11:8), enraged at the bad usage they had received, and at the prospect of booty being first held out to them and then withdrawn (comp. Act 16:9).
2Ch 25:11. And Amaziah took courage., as in 2Ch 15:8; comp. also the of the prophet in 2Ch 25:8. On the situation of the valley of Salt (south-east of the Dead Sea), see Bahr on 2Ki 14:7.
2Ch 25:12. And brought them to the top of the rock ( ), probably the rock on or at which the Edomite capital Sela lay, so that the rendering on the top of Sela (Kamph., etc.) is admissible. The passage in 2Ki 14:7, where the taking of Sela after the victory in the valley of Salt is recorded, and the present one thus complete one another. That the present report of the Chronist is merely derived from a misunderstanding of the text of the old source, somehow become illegible (Then, on 2Ki 14:7), appears an inadmissible assumption on this account, that our writer would not have imputed so frightful and barbarous a proceeding as the throwing of thousands of captive Edomites down a precipice (comp. for the matter of fact, Psa 137:9; Luk 4:29), on light grounds or on a mere misunderstanding, to a king like Amaziah (comp. on 1Ch 18:2; 1Ch 20:3). Besides, the number 10,000 here, as in the previous verse, is a round number, and not to be pressed in its literal sense.
2Ch 25:13. And the men of the host (literally, sons of the host, that is, the troops belonging to it) fell upon the cities of Judah; comp. for construction, Gen 22:24. This pillaging raid of the mercenaries is to be regarded as simultaneous with the absence of Amaziah in Idumea, and favoured thereby; comp. the similar events in the thirty years and the seven years wars; also the invasion of Switzerland by the Armagnacs, and of Elsass under the Emperor Frederic III. (1444), etc.From Samaria even to Beth-horon, that is, with Samaria as starting-point, and Beth-horon (see for its site on 1Ch 7:24) as the termination of their raid, so that all the towns between these two, so far as they belonged to Judah, were exposed to pillage.
6. Close: c. Amaziahs Idolatry, War with Joash of Israel, and End: 2Ch 25:14-28. The second book of Kings presents no parallel to the statements regarding the desertion of Amaziah to the gods of the conquered Edomites, 2Ch 25:14-16. On the contrary, the report of the war with Joash of Israel (2Ch 25:17-24) agrees almost literally with 2Ki 14:8-14, as also the following 2Ch 25:25-28 with the closing remarks there, 2Ch 25:17-20After Amaziah was come from smiting the Edomites; comp. 2Sa 1:1.The gods of the children of Seir are naturally their idols (otherwise or ); and the conquered Edomites are here called children of Seir, not because they were identical with the tribe of Seirites or Meunites (2Ch 20:1; 2Ch 20:10; 2Ch 20:22) who dwelt with them, but because here, where the peculiarity of their gods as hill-gods came into view (comp. 1Ki 20:23), it was very natural to designate them according to the hill-country in which they dwelt.
2Ch 25:16. Have we made thee counsellor to the king? properly, given; the plural is of communicative import, spoken from the position of the king and his council. With the question: Why should they smite thee? comp. the similar one: Why will ye die, O house of Israel? (Eze 33:11.)I know (have now observed) that God hath resolved to destroy thee; comp. 1Sa 2:25 (Eli); and Exo 6:1; Exo 10:1; Exo 10:11 :I, etc. (Pharaoh).Because thou hast done this (worshipped the gods of Edom), and hast not hearkened to my counsel. Thus the prophet declares himself authorized to give counsel to the king, however scornfully the latter may have deprecated this as an assumption on his part.
2Ch 25:17 ff.; comp. Bhr on 2Ki 14:8 ff.Took counsel, namely, with his counsellors and courtiers; comp. 2Ch 10:6; 1Ch 13:1 Luthers rendering is also possible: resolved, came to the decision after counsel taken.Come ( = , come on; comp. Num 23:13; Jdg 19:13), let us look one another in the face, measure, have a passage at arms with one another.
2Ch 25:19. Thou sayest, Lo, thou hast smitten Edom, or if thou hast smitten. It is, moreover, of the same import if we render (with Luther, Kamph., etc.) I have smitten.And thy heart hath lifted thee up (or carried, urged thee; comp. Exo 35:21; Exo 35:26) to boast, properly, to make heavy; comp. Isa. 8:23. It is considerably different in 2Ki 14:10; see Bhr on the passage.
2Ch 25:20. For it was of God that they should be given up, literally, that they might be given into the hand (of the enemy); comp. Deu 1:27; 1Ki 20:42, etc.
2Ch 25:22. And they fled every man to his tent, to his house; comp. 2Ch 10:16; 1Ki 8:66.
2Ch 25:23. From the gate of Ephraim to the corner gate; so according to the emendation for , which latter reading gives no rational sense, as the direction in which the gate in question turns itself must have been stated if meant the gate turning itself (comp. Eze 8:3).
2Ch 25:24. And all the gold, namely, he took, a verb () which is to be supplied from 2Ki 14:14
2Ch 25:25-28. Comp. Bhr on the parallel 2Ki 14:17-20; and with regard to the book of the kings of Judah and Israel (2Ch 25:26), Introd. 5, ii.
2Ch 25:28. In the city of Judah appears to be an error in copying for in the city of David, occasioned by the following (2Ch 26:1); comp. Crit. Note. If the Masoretic reading is to be retained, we might be tempted to think of the designation , occurring Luk 1:39, which, however, can scarcely be supposed to refer to Jerusalem (see Van Oosterzee on this passage).
7. Uzziah: a. His early Theocratic Inclination and Prosperous Reign: 2Ch 26:1-15; comp. the very brief parallel, 2Ki 14:21-22; 2Ki 15:1-2, where the present (2Ch 26:6-15) report of the successful wars of Uzziah, his buildings, and his strong military force, is wanting. There, moreover, this king, along with the present name (, might of Jehovah), bears also the name Azariah ( or whom Jehovah helps). Comp. 2Ki 14:21; 2Ki 15:1; 2Ki 15:6; 2Ki 15:8; 2Ki 15:23; 2Ki 15:27, where the latter form is used, with 2Ki 15:13; 2Ki 15:30; 2Ki 15:32; 2Ki 15:34, where Uzziah stands, the form which the Chronist, irrespective of 1Ch 3:12, always uses, and which is also found in the superscriptions of the prophets Hosea, Amos, and Isaiah, as in Isa 6:1; Isa 7:1. The Assyrian cuneate inscriptions (the tablets of Tiglath-pileser; see Schrader, p. 114) present exclusively the form Azariah (Az-ri-ya-hu), whereby the opinion of those who regard this form as the later, or as the result of a mere error of writing, is refuted (so, for example, Gesen.-Dietrich in Lexicon). But Hitzigs hypothesis also (Gesch. p. 209), that the name Azariah was transformed from that of the high priest contemporary with him (2Ch 26:17) to the king, is refuted by this evidence of Assyrian inscriptions. Much rather the only assumption that remains warranted is: that the similar names of almost equal import were used simultaneously (Berth.); as was the case, for example, with Uzziel and Azarel, a descendant of Heman (1Ch 25:4; 1Ch 25:18). Not even the conjecture expressed by Bhr on 2Ki 14:21 : that the name Uzziah appears to have come into more general use after he ascended the throne, will harmonize with the fact that the Assyrian kings know only the name Azariah.
2Ch 26:2. He built Eloth. On the emphatic prefixing of this notice, even before the chronological dates of the following verse, see Bhr on the passage.
2Ch 26:3. Reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem, 810759 b.C., according to the usual chronology, though, according to the Assyrian monuments, considerably later(according to Neteler, p. 225 ff., 786735). On the name of the queen-mother Jechiliah (in 2 Kings Jecholiah, not Jechaliah, as Luther writes), see the Crit. Note.
2Ch 26:5. And he continued to seek God, literally, and he was to seek God, was out to seek Him; comp. 2Ch 31:21; Ezr 3:12.In the days of Zechariah, who understood the visions of God. Accordingly this Zechariah, who is otherwise unknown (for he cannot be identified with the Zechariah son of Jeberechiah mentioned Isa 8:2, as he was at least a generation older), must be considered a prophet, and must be regarded as a chosen periphrasis for , the seer (comp. Dan 1:17). But as the vision of God cannot be taken as a work of human activity, the reading of the Sept. and other old witnesses (see Crit. Note) commends itself more, which gives the sense expert in the fear of God, or even teacher of the fear of God (comp. Neh 8:9). Zechariah remains a prophetic teacher and counsellor of King Uzziah even with this reading (for his possible priestly character would have been marked by a ); but that he was a master in divine visions is not to be read from it; and still less is it to be inferred that he and no other was the author of the oracles of Balaam (as is asserted in an arbitrary way by Frst, Gesch. der bibl. Literatur. ii. pp. 231, 359).
2Ch 26:6-15. Uzziahs Successful Wars, Building of Cities, etc. (without parallel in 2 Kings).And he . . . fought with the Philistines, to punish their pillaging inroad under Joram (2Ch 21:16 f.). This punishment must have been inflicted by him in very full measure, probably by the subjection of their whole territory; for the cities said to have been destroyed by him, Gath (see on 2Ch 9:8), Jabneh (=Jabneel, Jos 15:11, later=Jamnia in the Maccab. and in Josephus), and Ashdod (now Esdud, comp. on Jos 13:3), were at that time the chief places of the Philistines.
2Ch 26:7. And God helped him.. . against the Arabs, who are named also, 2Ch 17:11, with the Philistines. Where Gurbaal was is uncertain; it is by no means to be identified (after the Sept., see Crit. Note) with the Edomite Petra; rather with Gerar (Gen 20:1), of which the Targ. thinks. Concerning the Meunites, see on 1Ch 4:41; 2Ch 20:1.
Ver, 8. And his name went even to Egypt, literally, even to the entrance of Egypt. But by the name of Uzziah is scarcely meant merely his fame (Luther), but also his active influence, his power.For he became very mighty, literally, showed himself mighty (Dan 11:7) unto the height (comp. 1Ch 14:2; 1Ch 29:25).
2Ch 26:9. And Uzziah built towers . . . at the corner gate. The corner gate (comp. 2Ch 25:23) lay at the north-west end of the city; the valley gate on the west side, where the Jaffa gate is now. On the east, over against these two points belonging to the west side where defence was most needed, is , the corner, to be soughtnamely, a bend of the eastern wall near the horse gate; comp. Neh 3:19-20; Neh 3:24-25.
2Ch 26:10. And he built towers in the wilderness, in the wilderness of Judah, to protect the herds grazing there; comp. 1Ch 27:25; Mic 4:8; Isa 5:2; in which latter place mention is made of the digging of a well along with the tower building.For he had much cattle in the lowland, etc., properly, and in the lowland and in the plain, etc. It appears, therefore, as if three regions were here distinguished1. The wilderness (of Judah) west of the Dead Sea; 2. The lowlands at the Mediterranean (comp. 1Ch 27:28); 3. The plain (), perhaps the plain beyond the Jordan, the territory of the Reubenites, a region specially adapted for grazing, which Uzziah was under the necessity of taking from the Ammonites (2Ch 26:8).Husbandmen and vinedressers in the mountains. Kamph. connects against the accents, in the plain, husbandmen. He will also explain neither of the Mount Carmel (Jos 19:26; Son 7:6), nor of Carmel in the south of Judah (1Sa 15:12), but renders in the fruitful field (comp. Isa 29:17), for which there is no constraining necessity.
2Ch 26:11. And Uzziah had a host of fighting men, literally, a host (comp. 2Ch 14:7) maker of war (comp. 2Ch 26:13; 2Ch 11:1), that went out to war (comp. 1Ch 5:8) in troops (in a marshalled host).By the number of their muster at the hand of Jeuel., as afterwards, under the guidance of Hananiah, is expressed by at the hand ( as 1Ch 25:6). The captain Hananiah appears therefore is superintendent, Jeuel and Maaseiah as subordinate executive officers in the business of the muster.
2Ch 26:13. And at their hand ( , as in the previous verse) an army of 307,500 fighting men. Thus each of the 2600 father-houses constituted a corps under the command of the bravest among them. The total number of 307,500 warriors agrees in the main with the above statement of the strength of the army under Amaziah, 2Ch 25:5, and presupposes the more certainly an actual numeration for its basis, as it is not a round number.
2Ch 26:14. And Uzziah prepared for them; comp. 1Ch 15:1; 1Ch 22:5,
2Ch 26:15. He made engines, the invention of craftsmen, literally, devices (, excogitata), the device of the deviser ( ), skilfully contrived engines of war, as the following words showa kind of catapults or balisters, for assaulting besieging troops from the walls and towers of defence.And his name went forth, etc.; comp. above, 2Ch 26:8.
8. Uzziah: b. His Boasting and Divine Punishment by Leprosy; his End: 2Ch 26:16-23. Comp. 2Ki 15:5-7, where, however, the mere fact of the kings becoming leprous is mentioned, without particularizing the cause, so that in fact the three verses correspond only to our 2Ch 26:21-23.And when he became strong,, as in 2Ch 12:1. For the following: to do corruptly (), comp. 2Ch 27:2.Went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense, which, according to Exo 30:7; Exo 30:27, Num 18:1-7, only priests were to do. Uzziah wished to exercise regal and sacerdotal functions at the same time (as the Egyptian kings, and afterwards the Roman emperors). He fell into the same sin as Saul before him (1Sa 13:9 f.). It was not the restitution of a formerly legitimate union of regal and sacerdotal power, as it was nominally possessed by David and Solomon (Thenius, Ewald), which was his aim; for only occasionally, and in certain religious solemnities of an extraordinary kind, had those kings exercised several priestly functions, with the permission of the lawful priests (so correctly Bertheau, Keil, etc.).
2Ch 26:17. And Azariah the priest. Whether he was actually high priest is not determined with perfect certainty from his subsequent designation as (as in the case of Jehoiada; see on 2Ch 23:8); yet it is most probable that the head priest, who was accompanied with eighty priests, was the actual legitimate holder of high-priestly office. But very improbable is the identity asserted by Keil of this Azariah with the Azariah named in the list of high priests. 1 Chron. 5:36, 37, as the father of Amariah, who belongs certainly to a considerably earlier time (see on this passage). On the predicate men of valour, , comp. 1Ch 5:18.
2Ch 26:18. And they withstood Uzziah, stood against him; comp. Dan 11:14.And it shall not be for thine honour from the Lord God, that is, thy offering incense serves not, as thou fanciest, to increase thy honour and glory before God, but rather brings thee shame, because thou thereby showest thyself to be disobedient and apostate.
2Ch 26:19. And while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy burst forth on his forehead, in punishment of his impious attempt. The punishment is the same that Miriam endured on account of her rebellion against Moses (Num 12:10), and with which Elishas servant Gehazi was visited for his covetousness (2Ki 5:27). In a physical and pathological sense, also, the malady may have been brought on in all these cases in essentially the same way,by a strong physical excitement, which brought the leprosy, already existing as a tendency in the system, suddenly to a visible eruption (Friedreich, Zur Bibel, etc., pp. 228, 230). Wedel (Exercitationes medico-philologic, ii. 4. 9) quite arbitrarily asserts that Uzziahs malady was not leprosy, but syphilis. Not less arbitrary and contrary to the text is the attempt of K. Ad. Menzel to reduce the whole malady to a bold and sly mystification of the high priest Azariah, who suddenly cried out that he saw the sign of leprosy on the forehead of the king, and by this application of his medical authority so far robbed him of his self-command that he allowed himself to be arrested and put in a place of confinement (Religion und Staatsidee, p. 89; comp. on 2Ch 16:13). A special contrast to this crude attempt at a natural explanation by a miracle-rejecting rationalism is presented by the Jewish legend in Josephus, Antiq.ix. 10. 4, which makes Uzziah be punished not merely by becoming leprous (supposed to be produced by a sunstroke which fell through the split roof of the temple on his face), but also by a simultaneous violent earthquake, the same which is mentioned Amo 1:1, by which that splitting of the temple roof was effected.
2Ch 26:21. And dwelt in a sick-house, properly, a house of separation; see Bhr on 2Ki 15:5, where also all that is necessary is remarked on the probable (amounting only to a few years) duration of Uzziahs illness and of Jothams regency.
2Ch 26:23. And they buried him with his fathers in the burial-field of the kings; for they said, He is a leper. They wished not to defile the proper tombs of the kings by burying his body in them, and therefore buried it in the field adjoining these tombs. In the parallel 2Ki 15:7 f. this important detail is wanting.
9. Jotham: 2 Chronicles 27; comp. 2Ki 15:32-38, and Bhr on this passage.
2Ch 27:2. Only he entered not into the temple of the Lord; he abstained from such an impious undertaking as that of his father, 2Ch 26:16 ff. This remark is wanting in 2 Kings. On the contrary, instead of the rather indefinite: and the people did yet corruptly (comp. on 2Ch 26:16 ff.), we find there the more special statement: the people still sacrificed and burnt incense on the high places.
2Ch 27:3. And on the wall of Ophel he built much; fortified thus the southern slope of the temple mountain, which is called Ophel (; comp. 2Ch 33:14; Neh 3:26-27), and therein continued the fortifications of his father Uzziah, which had applied more to the west and east sides of the city wall. In 2 Kings this is wanting, as also the notice in the following verse of the towns and castles built by Jotham (for , castles, forts, see on 2Ch 17:12), while the previous notice regarding the building (anew) of the upper temple gate, the north gate in the inner court of the temple, is also found there.
2Ch 27:5.And he fought with the king of the sons of Ammon. Of this victorious war with the Ammonites, also, nothing is found in 2 Kings. This war, like the buildings, appears to be a continuation of that waged by Uzziah; for, according to 2Ch 26:8, the Ammonites had also to pay tribute to that king. It was therefore an attempt at revolt, for which they were now punished by Jotham with the imposition of a new and heavier tribute (100 talents of silver, with 10,000 cors of barley and wheat yearly, is pretty well for a not very numerous people).This the sons of Ammon paid him also in the second and the third year, but no longer than during these three years; perhaps on account of the war of Syria and Ephraim with Judah, which took its rise under Jotham, 2Ki 15:37, and procured for the Ammonites their former independence.
2Ch 27:6. And Jotham strengthened himself, namely, in his kingdom; comp. 2Ch 13:21, and the following: he established his ways, Pro 21:29.
2Ch 27:7. And all his wars. That these wars of Jotham, of which only one is here mentioned, were uniformly successful is not stated in the text; and therefore the war commenced with Syria and Ephraim, in which Jotham suffered some very severe defeats, may be here included (against Keil). In other respects the closing notices, 2Ch 27:7-9, agree essentially with 2Ki 15:36; 2Ki 15:38.
10. Ahaz: a. His Idolatry, and Defeat by the Syrians and Ephraimites: 2Ch 28:1-8; comp. 2Ki 16:1 ff., where the first four verses, relating to the idolatry of Ahaz, agree tolerably well with 2Ch 28:1-4 of our text; while the report of the war given in 2Ch 28:5-18 presents considerable deviations from the narrative in our ch., 2Ch 28:5 ff., 2Ch 28:9, and 2Ch 28:16 ff. Comp. on these differences, as well as on the whole report of the war, C. P. Caspari, Der syrisch-ephraimitische Krieg unter Jotham und Ahas, Christiania 1849.Ahaz was twenty years old. Thus also 2Ki 16:2; but on account of the age of his son and successor,Hezekiah being already twenty-five at the death of Ahaz,it is more probable that the reading of the Sept., Syr., and Arab, is to be preferred, and the age of Ahaz at his accession set down at twenty-five (not, however, at thirty, as Hitzig, Gesch. Isr. p. 214, will have it). Moreover, the name Ahaz () is on the Assyrian monuments Jahu–kha–zi, which is elsewhere = the Hebr. Jehoahaz (); see Schrader, pp. 25, 147, 151 ff. This difference is either to be referred to this, that the later Jews in the Old Testament changed the actual name of the king, namely Jehoahaz, in consequence of his idolatrous propensity, into Ahaz, by the omission of the divine name, or to this, that the Assyrians falsely transferred to Ahaz the like-sounding name of an earlier king (Jehoahaz), as they made Jehu a son instead of a successor of Omri (Schrader, p. 152). If the first of these two conjectures, according to which Ahaz is a curtailed name, be correct, we may compare the change of such names as Jerubbaal (into Jerubbesheth) or Mephibaal (into Mephibosheth), and also the legend of the medival sects, as the Euchites, Bogomiles, etc., that Satan was originally called Satanael, and after his fall his name was deprived of the last syllable. Comp., moreover, on 2Ch 28:21.
2Ch 28:2 f. And made also molten images for Baalim; comp. Psa 106:19; Jdg 17:3, etc. Both these words and the following: and he burnt incense in the valley of Ben-hinnom, are wanting in 2 Kings; but they have there fallen out by an oversight (occasioned by a twofold ); comp. Bhr on the passage.And burned his sons in the fire, or made his sons pass through the fire. According to 2 Kings, he performed this barbarous human sacrifice only in the case of one son, which is intrinsically the more probable (comp. 2 Kings 30:27; 21:6); the plur. of our passage is thus, as in 2Ch 33:6, merely a rhetorical generalization (Casp., Keil, Bhr, etc.). On 2Ch 28:3 b and 4, comp. Bhrs exposition of the parallel text.
2Ch 28:5. The Lord his God gave him into the hand of the king of Syria. These introductory words of the following report of the war, compared with 2Ki 16:6 ff., demonstrate that our writer proposes to give rather a rhetorically conceived than a strictly historical description of the chastisements inflicted on Ahaz by the Syrians and Ephraimites. Comp. Caspari as quoted, p. 42 ff., and Keil, p. 325 f.: The facts, which show how Ahaz, notwithstanding the grievous blows which fell on him and Judah, sinned yet more grievously against the Lord his God, are brought out of the historical material into relief, and oratorically represented, so that they display not only the increasing obstinacy of Ahaz, but also, by adducing the conduct of the citizens and warriors of the kingdom of Israel, the depth to which Judah had fallen.And they smote him, literally, on him, that is, they in flicted a defeat on his army.And took from him a great many captives, led captive from him a great leading of captives (, as in 2Ch 28:11; Neh. 3:36).
2Ch 28:6. And Pekah, son of Remaliah, slew in Judah 120,000 in one day, that is, in a great battle, with the pursuit and plundering that followed. Against the suspicion cast on this number by de Wette Gesenius, Winer, and others, as exaggerated, see Caspari, p. 37 ff., who points with justice1. to the fanaticism of the Israelites and Syrians, who aimed directly at the annihilation of the Jewish power (Isa 7:6; 2Ki 15:16; comp. also 2Ch 28:9); 2. to the military strength of the Jews (307,500), stated shortly before under Uzziah, 2Ch 26:13, which shows that it was about a third of their force that was put to the sword; 3. to the round number 120,000 (as also the subsequent number of 200,000 captives), showing itself to be the product of a rough estimate, and not an exact enumeration.
2Ch 28:7. And Zichri . . . slew Maaseiah the kings son, probably a royal prince of an older generation, uncle, cousin, or brother of Ahaz, for he himself at this time had scarcely a son of military age. Azrikam also is perhaps to be regarded as a relative of the king, for a governor of the house can scarcely designate a president of the temple (according to 1Ch 9:11; 2Ch 31:13); rather might it be the title of a higher officer of the royal house or palace.And Elkanah the vicegerent of the king, literally, the second after the king, his minister (chancellor, vizier).
2Ch 28:8. And the sons of Israel took captive of their brethren. Observe the importance of this reference to the character of the war, as a barbarous strife between brother tribes.
11. Continuation: b. Oded the Prophet effects the Release of the Captives: 2Ch 28:9-15 (without a parallel in 2 Kings).And a prophet of the Lord was there of the name of Oded, in Samaria, the capital of the northern kingdom. Here, as well as in other places of this kingdom, prophets of the true God appear active till its complete fall (722 b.c.), as in particular the ministry of Hosea teaches, which was likewise exercised on this soil.And he went out; comp. the report, 2Ch 15:2, of Azariah son of Oded under Asa.In the wrath . . . against Judah. Not so much your bravery as the judicial sentence of God for the punishment of idolatrous Israel is the cause of the great victory over your adversariesa victory which you have abused by a frantic slaughter and carnage. On that reacheth unto heaven, comp. Gen 18:21; Ezr 9:6
2Ch 28:10. And now ye purpose to subject; comp. Gen 1:28; Lev 25:42 ff.Are there not even with you yourselves trespasses against the Lord? look for once at yourselves, whether ye do not perceive there enough of that which inculpates you before God. To this exhortation to repentance is suitably added the warning in 2Ch 28:11, to beware of the further abuse of the power given them to execute the divine judgment, and therefore of the unmerciful treatment or even the longer retention of the captives.
2Ch 28:12 f. Four of the chiefs of Ephraim declare their concurrence with this exhortation and warning of Oded. Their names occur only here, but they present, at all events, a weighty testimony for the concrete historical character and credibility of the present account.For with the trespass of the Lord upon us, that the effect of our heavy guilt with God (2Ch 28:10) may fall upon us, that the heavy punishment of sin may overtake us. is here the effect, the punishment of guilt contracted before God.
2Ch 28:14. And the armed host left, the armed escort who conducted the captives to Samaria. , as in 1Ch 12:23.
2Ch 28:15. The men who were expressed by name, the notable men mentioned by name in the old records, who specially distinguished themselves at that time by a noble emulation of love and compassion for the poor captives; comp. 1Ch 7:31; 1Ch 16:41; 2Ch 31:19. The analogy of these passages forbids us to think only of the four named in 2Ch 28:12.And clothed all that were naked of them, literally, all the nakedness (abstr. pro concr.).And anointed them, because they should return home happy and cheerful.And carried them on asses; to which is appended a limiting and more exactly defining phrase, all the weary (or stumbling, ). Observe the pictorial reality and epic breadth of the whole description, which exhibits itself even in designating Jericho as the city of palms (comp. Jdg 3:13), and by the mention of it (as the border town of Judah, whither the captives were first brought; comp. Jos 18:21) accords with the story of the good Samaritan. For, in fact, there is here a grand archetype of the deed of compassion described in this didactic narrative of the Lord, as sure as they were inhabitants of the city and later country of Samaria, who took so loving an interest in the helpless Jews. The thought that Christ drew directly from this episode of the present war several points of His noble lesson should by no means be absolutely rejected. Comp. Evangelical and Ethical Reflections, No. 3.
12. Close: c. Further Visitations of Ahaz on account of his Idolatry; his End: 2Ch 28:16-27. Only the part of this section that refers to the relations of Ahaz to the Assyrian world-power (his seeking aid from Tiglath-pileser, his payment of tribute to the same, and his fall occasioned by this slavish submission to the idolatry of Syria and Damascus, 2Ch 28:16; 2Ch 28:20-25) is reported in 2 Kings 16 (2Ch 28:7-18), and there, indeed, much more fully than here. On the contrary, there is wanting there a statement of the contemporaneous humiliations of Ahaz by the Edomites and Philistines, as they are here reported, 2Ch 28:17-19.At that time King Ahaz sent unto the kings of Assyria. The rather indefinite admits the assumption that this embassy to Assyria took place immediately after the invasion of Rezin and Pekah (Berth.), as well as that several months or years elapsed between these events (Keil). But according to 2Ki 16:6 ff., the consequence of that first heavy defeat by the Syrians and Ephraimites, the taking of Elath by Rezin (and that which was connected with it, the invasion of the Edomites and Philistines), seems to have been the motive of Ahaz to apply to the Assyrians for aid. The plural the kings of Assyria is perhaps not rhetorical, as above, 2Ch 28:3, (Keil), but, as it seems, originally written under the consciousness that the head of the Assyrian government was composed of several factors, namely, the king and the so-called eponymus or archon of the current year; see in particular 2Ch 30:4, where this view seems undeniable; also 2Ch 30:6; and comp. Schrader, Studien und Kritiken, 1871, part iv.; Die Keilschriften, etc., p. 308 ff.
2Ch 28:17. And again the Edomites came, perhaps made free again by Rezins expedition against Elath, 2Ki 16:6, from the Jewish yoke, which lay upon them from the time of Amaziah and Uzziah (2Ch 25:11, 2Ch 26:2). The tense is to be taken as the pluperfect: and moreover , et prterea, et insuper; comp. Isa 1:5) the Edomites had come; and so in the two following verses, for they also report something that preceded the fatal treaty with Tiglath-pileser, and served to bring it about.
2Ch 28:18. And the Philistines invaded. Of the places conquered by them, Beth-shemesh (1Ch 6:44), Ajalon (1Ch 6:54), and Socho (2Ch 11:7) have occurred already in our book. For Gederoth (in the Shephelah), comp. Jos 15:41; for Timnah, now Tibneh, Jos 15:10; for Gimzo, now Jimsu, a large village between Lydda and Beth-horon, Robins. Palest, iii. 271 The mention of daughter cities (literally, daughters) along with the chief places, as in 2Ch 13:9.
2Ch 28:19. For the Lord humbled Judah on account of Ahaz king of Israel. Ahaz is perhaps ironically so named; for the title King of Israel can scarcely be an honourable designation in him, as in Rehoboam (2Ch 12:6) or Jehoshaphat (2Ch 21:2), or as in his fore-fathers in general, 2Ch 28:27. It contains, perhaps, an allusion to the contrast between his idolatrous reign and the mind and walk of the true Israel of God (comp. Gal 6:16, Caspari, Keil, etc.).Because he had revolted in Judah. So is with following certainly to be taken, not as Kamph. and others think: because he made Judah refractory; comp. rather Exo 5:4, which speaks also against the rendering of the Vulg.: eo quod nudasset eum auxilio, and of Luther (that he made Judah naked).
2Ch 28:20. And Tiglath-pilneser. Concerning this form, as corresponding not so well to the Assyrian as the Tiglath-pileser of the other Old Testament sources, see on 1Ch 5:6; for the conjectural identity of Pul with Tiglath-pileser, see on 1Ch 5:26.And distressed him, and strengthened him not. This is the only rendering agreeable to the context, according to which, here, contrary to its usual intransitive meaning, expresses the active sense of strengthening (confortare, roborare). See for justification of this rendering against Luther, Then., Bertheau, etc. (who take according to 2Ch 27:5, Jer 20:7, etc.= overcome): he oppressed and besieged him, but subdued him not, in particular Keil on this passage; rightly also Neteler and Kamph.
2Ch 28:21. For Ahaz had plundered the house of the Lord. This was at the time that he sent the embassy with its cry for help to the mighty Assyrian king (2Ch 28:16), for with empty hands he need not approach him (comp. also 2Ki 16:7-8). here is not divide (Luther), but plunder, spoliare (Vulg.); comp. , booty, share of spoil (Num 31:36; Job 17:5). The strong expression corresponds to the rhetorical tone of the narrator; thereby the certainly historical statement shows that the treasures of the kings house, as well as those of the princes (the high officers of the palace, or perhaps also the princes of the royal house; comp. on 2Ch 28:7), must have contributed, that the gift (, see 2Ki 16:8) sent with the ambassadors might be worthy of acceptance. That Ahaz paid tribute to Tiglath-pileser is attested, besides our passage and the report in 2Ki 16:7-9 (comp. also Isa 36:5, where Rabshakeh charges Hezekiah with revolt from Assyria), also by the Assyrian monumerts. In line 61 of an inscription composed in the last year of Tiglath-pilesers reign (ii. R. 67), it is said that this king received tribute (madatu) from Mittini of Askalon, Ahaz (JehoahazJa-hukha-zi) of Judah, Kozmalak of Edom. That here Ahaz is spoken of as a tributary of the great king, and not Uzziah (as H. Rawlinson thought on account of the surprising form of the name), is shown by the naming of the rulers of Philistia and Edom, who in Uzziahs time would scarcely have been co-ordinated with the Jewish king, the naming of whom along with Ahaz is quite consistent with the contents of the verses of our chapter. Comp. Schrader, p. 151 ff.
2Ch 28:22. And in the time of his distress, a date of like indefiniteness and pliability with in 2Ch 28:16. That the revolt of Ahaz to the gods of the Syrians thus took place after the distresses which the Edomites, Philistines, and Syrians prepared for him, cannot be definitely concluded from this passage; rather it seems to follow from 2Ch 28:23 that he had already, during the war with Rezin, begun to testify his respect for the gods of his foe and his country. There is therefore no proper contradiction between our passage and 2Ki 16:10 ff.; only that there is given a more concrete and definite report concerning this turning of Ahaz to the Syrian gods than in our section, which also, again, bears an eminently rhetorical and pathetic character, as indeed all that is related from 2Ch 28:5 onwards.
2Ch 28:24. And Ahaz . . . cut up the vessels of the house of God, that is, as is stated more precisely in 2Ki 16:17, he broke out the sides of the bases, removed the lavers from them, transferred the sea from the brazen oxen to a stone pavement, etc.And shut the doors of the house of the Lord, that is, according to 2Ch 29:3; 2Ch 29:7, the doors not of the court, but of the temple itself, or the porch before the holy and most holy places. Accordingly, the shutting of these doors signified that he suspended the worship of God in the holy and in the most holy place, while he left the altar of burnt-offering in the court; with which 2Ki 16:15 f. agrees, although there the erection of a separate altar of burnt-offering, built after the model of Damascus of Syria, beside the brazen altar of Solomon, is reported (see Bhr on the passage).And made him altars in every corner of Jerusalem. Among these altars is included the new altar of burnt-offering in the court, 2Ki 16:10-16, built at the command of Ahaz by the priest Uriah after the pattern of the idol-altar at Damascus. The in is not to be pressed, nor, for example: under every tree, in 2Ch 28:4, nor the phrase: in every single city of Judah, in the following verse.
2Ch 28:25. And provoked to anger the Lord (, hiph., as in Deu 32:16; 1Ki 14:9).
2Ch 28:26-27; comp. the briefer closing notice in 2Ki 16:19-20.And they buried him in the city in Jerusalem; thus not: in the city of David, as is usually said, and further not: in the sepulchres of the kings of Israel (see on 2Ch 28:19), but apart from the proper tombs of the kingsperhaps in the field mentioned in 2Ch 26:23, where the leprous Uzziah was buried. 2Ki 16:20 reports nothing of such an exception that was made with respect to the grave of Ahaz.
Evangelical And Ethical Reflections And Homiletic Hints On 2 Chronicles 24-28
1. A period of fully a century and a half (877727 in the usual chronology) is occupied by the five reigns here combined, comprising a reign of forty, of nearly thirty, and of fifty-two years. But none of them yields any permanent gain for the development of Judah into the normal form of a truly theocratic condition, as the deep corruption exhibited under the last, an instance of decided misrule, shows. When the Canaanitish idolatry, naturalized by Athaliah, after a short predominance, was again expelled, as an element utterly foreign to the Davidic house and the Jewish people, five reigns regularly following in legitimate succession, of which perhaps none was begun otherwise than under favourable auspices, and with joyful hopes on the side of the theocratic party, furnish before the end of 150 years the sad result of a decided relapse into that idolatry. For the less insidiously evil and murderous than merely weak policy of Ahaz in every instance must be regarded as such a relapse, though it might not be the Tyrian-Canaanitish idolatry of Athaliah to which he chiefly yielded, but the Damascene-Syrian superstition of his adversary Rezin, and though, further, the outward form and show of the legitimate worship was perhaps better observed under him than under the priest-opposing daughter of Omri. On the whole, it is manifest that under Ahaz the corruption of religion and morals had gnawed more deeply than at that time, and struck firmer roots into the consciousness and customs of the people. It is now, at least, quite contrary to the state of things then, directly a priest, perhaps the high priest (Uriah, 2Ki 16:10 ff.), who readily enters into the kings idolatrous intentions, and lends a hand to desecrate the sanctuary of Jehovah with foreign modes of worship, elaborated after heathen models; a characteristic which the Chronist perhaps only neglected expressly to mark, because it disgusted and annoyed him to report anything so unreasonable and abominable as this treason of a priest of the Lord. And as the priest, so the people does not now, at the beck of a true witness, as then of Jehoiada, rise up as one man to put an end to the foreign hateful thing at one blow, but presents so little resistance to the seductions to spiritual and corporeal adultery proceeding from the court, that it remains, during a reign of almost sixteen years, on the path of Baal-worship, and establishes not only idolatrous altars in every corner of Jerusalem, but also high places for burning incense to strange gods in every single city of Judah (comp. 2Ch 28:24-25), without standing up in righteous indignation against such a course, or even earnestly seeking a return to theocratic obedience. That it could come to this a century and a half after the events under Athaliah, tells not of a gradual progress to a better state of things, but rather, of a slow but irresistible sinking into worse and worseof a constant ripening of the people for that fearful judgment of God which now fell on the kindred people of Ephraim immediately after the death of Ahaz at the end of these 150 years, and with respect to which for Judah, with all the energy of many attempts at reform (especially under Hezekiah and Josiah), nothing beyond a postponement, a delay of less than 150 years more was secured.
2. None of the four comparatively theocratic reigns before Ahaz had been able to check the descent of the people with uneasy certainty and constancy on this downward path to final corruption; for none possessed the reverence for God and law, untainted by heathenish abominations, which characterized the rule of an Asa or Jehoshaphat. For Joash maintained a decidedly theocratic demeanour only so long as his paternal friend, instructor, and counsellor Jehoiada governed him, or so long as those two symbols given him (2Ch 23:11) at his accessionthe crown as the sign of power, and the law as the sign of theocratic wisdomexercised their united influence over him;19 after whose death he permits, at the request of the worldly-minded princes of Judah (representatives of the higher nobility, to whom the priestly power might long since have well been an abomination), the entrance again of idolatry, and causes the faithful witness of the truth, warning them of the evil consequences of such a course, the son of his instructor Jehoiada (and therefore his near relative), to be slain in the court of the temple. Whereupon also the threatened judgment of God, accomplished by a desolating raid of the Syrian Hazael, suddenly enters, and in a very short time brings about the endand that a terrible endof the unfaithful king. This reign resembles in more than one respect the history of such rulers of the Middle Ages or of modern times as the German emperors Otto III. and Henry IV., or in many respects Louis XIV. of France, who enjoyed the guardianship of excellent regents of the spiritual order at the beginning of their career, but afterwards failed to beware of the evil consequences of their passing over to a false independence. Not much better or happier was the reign of Amaziah, whose early measures, as the sparing of the children of the murderers who conspired against Joash (2Ch 25:4; comp. Deu 24:16) shows, were entirely accordant with the precepts of the law; but who afterwards, in consequence of a successful war with Edom, which seems to have made the conqueror presumptuous, degenerated into heathenish practices, offered the tribute of worship to the gods of the conquered Edomites (naturally without meaning to abolish the legitimate worship of Jehovah, proceeding on some sort of theoretical and practical mingling of the two modes of worshipping God), and added to this the further folly of a supercilious provocation of the powerful Joash of Israel to war. A severe humiliation by this foe, as a reward for this haughty bearing (conjoined with which are here, again, scornful neglect and rough treatment of one of the prophets of Jehovah, ver. 16), here also failed to delay the issue; and the end of the king, effected by a band of traitors and conspirators, ver. 27, was as violent as that of his father. With respect to external politics as well as military and economic (financial) consolidation of their power, the two following reigns appear to have been more fortunate. The vigorous Uzziah, reigning more than a half century, restores in many respects once more the glorious days of a Jehoshaphat, especially with regard to the maintenance of his sway over the southern tribes, and the great advance of the defensive power and financial capability of the country. But when the true spiritual adviser whom he long followed, the prophet Zechariah, was separated from him, he also exhibited haughtiness, daring arrogance, and false independence in spiritual things. And if his people were not involved in the judgment incurred by this guilt, yet his transgression brought on himself a heavy and shameful fall, for which there was no recovery on this side the grave. He dies as one smitten of God (Isa 53:4; comp. Job 2:7; Job 6:4 f., 2Ch 16:12 ff.) in a sick-house, and does not even in death partake of the honour due to a king of the line of David, and also a powerful and celebrated prince (2Ch 26:28). To his son Jotham, reigning a much shorter time, but in a like spirit and with like external fortune, a humiliation of the same kind is certainly spared; for he entered not into the temple of the Lord, ventured on no such daring stretch of his authority as Uzziah in his attempt to burn incense. And how far he was thereby from being without guilt, or free from inward participation in such offences, is shown by the reckless audacity with which his on and successor, during his whole reign (of equal length with that of his father), ventured to addict himself to the demoralizing idolatry of the neighbouring nations, and to procure for it unlimited entrance among his people. Of the father of such a son we can form no very favourable opinion, even if the scanty notices of our author announce little or nothing positively unfavourable concerning him.
3. The penal judgment of God for such continued yielding to the seducing and corrupting influence of heathenism, as it was decreed against Judah, soon after the corruption had broken forth in all its grossness, in the so-called war with Syria and Ephraim, appears, according to the representation of the Chronist, to have been terribly great and severe. More than 100,000 fighting men fall as the sacrifice of a single battle-field, and almost double that number of women, children, and other prisoners of war are dragged away as slaves, and owe their instant unconditional release to the compassion of their kinsmen, the victorious Ephraimites, evoked by a bold and vehement prophetic admonition; so that in this case the Jews were put to shame by the more righteous and pious conduct of the citizens of the neighbouring kingdom (which, however, took place on the very eve of their religious and political ruin). But the spiritual blessing which should have sprung from so heavy and deeply humiliating a visitation was gone. No trace of the return of the heart to the true God and to His law comes to light in the subsequent accounts concerning the acts and events of the reign of Ahaz. And the calamities added to that great defeat, the invasions of the Edomites and Philistines, as well as the distress from the Assyrian king, whose alliance naturally soon proved to be an oppressive sovereignty, produce, instead of repentance toward God, only increasing submission to the idols. As slave children with venal servility kiss the rod with which they are chastised, so Ahaz thinks he must present more demonstrations of respect to the gods of his victorious foes, in proportion as they prepare for him heavier humiliations. And no one among the people brings him back from such folly; the voice of no prophet, though they press as strongly and closely upon his ear as that of an Isaiah (Isaiah 7-10), is able to check the criminal course into which he has gone with his princes, his counsellors, and his strong party among the people. First under his son Hezekiah, repentance and amendment, the path to which was already prepared in many hearts by the previous afflictions, come to light; and that unusually severe judgment of God finally proves to be a wholesome corrective measure, the effect of which is to save, create new life, and purify; comp. Hezekiahs own reflections on it, 2Ch 29:9,a passage which, at the same time, deserves to be taken into account as a supplementary testimony to the greatness of the loss suffered by the people from the defeats in question.
4. In the representation of the author of the books of Kings, this pragmatic connection of the defeats of Ahaz, especially that inflicted on him by the Syrians and Ephraimites, with his sins and his sinking into ever worse impenitence and idolatry, is less sharply and clearly exhibited than in the strong, rhetorically-coloured, and generally animated and impassioned style adopted by our author. But its substantial credibility can suffer no damage from this, that it here and there presents other points of view, and in part connects the events otherwise. As the reports of the Chronist, giving great prominence to the Levitical element in the revolution conducted by Jehoiada, as well as in the contributions for the temple and its repair under Joash, in contrast with those of the books of Kings, do not deserve to be cast in the shade and disparaged; or as that which our author more specially relates concerning Uzziahs transgression and punishment from his Levitical point of view is not to be suspected in comparison with the allusive brevity of the older parallel account; even so we have no right to hesitate with regard to that which is peculiar to him in the description of the Syro-Ephraimitish war. The roundness, resting rather on an estimate than an exact enumeration, of the high numbers in 2Ch 28:6-8 is the only thing that is to be conceded to the judgment of the opponent calling in question the strict historical accuracy of his narrative (see above on this passage). All other details of this description clearly rest on good historical ground; neither the names of the persons that fell, 2Ch 28:7, in the great engagement with Pekah among the kings relatives and nearest circle, nor those of the nobles of Ephiraim who supported by their vote the admonition of Oded to release the Jewish captives (2Ch 28:12), look like mere invention. The invention of such names, in order to invest an account, legendary in itself, with the appearance of historical truth, would, in fact, be an inconceivable monstrosity, a unicum in the history of literary fictions. But they both hold and support each other, the undeniable historical reality of these names, and the credibility of the facts with which they are connected and environed. The entrance also of the prophet Oded, and the words spoken by him, are accredited by the reacting power of these concrete names. What is done to the Jewish captives by those four chiefs of Ephraim seems purely inconceivable without a vehement admonition, such as that spoken by Oded according to 2Ch 28:9-11. Caspari therefore declares it to be the highest levity (against Gesenius, in his Commentary on Isaiah, p. 269, and other impugners of the historical truth of this prophetic utterance) to hold the report in vers. 911 to be unworthy of credit, and yet to regard the contents of 2Ch 28:12 ff. as historical. And in the same relation of supplement and of correspondence to 2 Kings stands in general all that our author reports different from the statements there concerning Ahaz and the steps taken by him for the furtherance of idolatry. As the remarks made by him, 2Ch 28:17-19, concerning the invasions of the Edomites and Philistines, agree excellently with 2Ki 16:6, so between that which he relates, 2Ch 28:23-25, regarding the idolatrous profanation of the temple and its vessels and 2Ki 16:10-16 there is no contradiction whatever, but merely a relation of supplement and confirmation. On the whole, it would seem superfluous, indeed almost paltry, after Casparis emphatic and pertinent argument in favour of the essential harmony of the two reports of the war, to enter further into subtle critical disquisitions or wide apologetic investigations regarding their apparent or even real points of difference.
Footnotes:
[1]The absent copula before is supplied in the Sept., Vulg., and Luth., and rightly.
[2]The Sept. and Vulg. take rather as the accus. belonging to Zechariah ( , sacerdotem).
[3]The Vulg. and Syr. do not translate ; the Sept. ( ) appears to have read .
[4]Hebr. , as always in Chronicles; comp. 1Ch 18:5.
[5]For the Sept. and Vulg. probably read aright The plur. seems a slip of the pen.
[6]So according to the Kethib . on the Keri , be multiplied (the sentence upon him), see Exeg. Expl.
[7]Before is to be supplied, with almost all recent expositors. See Exeg. Expl.
[8]For we should certainly read, with the Keri (and a considerable number of mss.): .
[9] , Kethib; the Keri is . Comp Exeg. Expl.
[10] , gate of turning, is undoubtedly and error for , corner gate; comp. 2Ch 26:9, and especially the parallel 2Ki 14:13.
[11]For the old versions (Sept., Vulg., Syr.) have: in the city of David.
[12]The Keri amends , after 2Ki 15:2, into , which is scarcely right.
[13]Instead of should rather be read, with the Sept. ( ), Syr., Targ., Raschi, Kimchi, and some Hebrew mss. of de Rossi: .
[14]Sept.: (Perhaps thinking of petra, the capital of Edom).
[15]Sept.: , by mistake (from the preceding ).
[16]So the Kethib (); the Keri has (as Ezr 8:13).
[17]The Sept., Syr., and Arab. have twenty-five, a reading which Houbigant, Dathe, Ewald, Berth., and most moderns prefer. Comp. also J. A. Bengel, in the passage quoted, Introd. 6, Rem. (p. 28).
[18]Properly Darmascus; comp. 1Ch 18:5-6; 2Ch 14:2; 2Ch 24:23.
[19]Comp. Luthers marginal note on this passage: Finely are both the crown and the book presented to the King that he might be not only mighty, but also wise, or (as we may say) know Gods word and right. Thus, even now, we make kings with a sword and book.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
This chapter contains the history of the reign of Uzziah. He invadeth the office of the priesthood, and is smitten with leprosy. He dieth, and is succeeded by Jotham.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
We must interpret what is here said of Uzziah, in doing that which was right in the sight of the Lord, in the same sense as we did of Amaziah: that is, he kept up a form of religion in the land in opposition to idols. Not that he was a regenerate man, or had any vital godliness. The sequel of his life proves the reverse. His searching after God means his study of the things of God. Thousands in all ages have done this, whose knowledge hath been of the head and not of the heart. Of such God speaks in Zechariah, Zec 7:5-6 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2Ch 26
1. Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah [this form of the name is found uniformly in Chronicles, with the single exception of 1Ch 3:12 , where Azariah occurs. Uzziah is likewise the only form used by the prophets (see Isa 1:1 ; Isa 6:1 ; Isa 7:1 ; Hos 1:1 ; Amo 1:1 )], who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah.
2. He built Eloth [the Idumean port on the Red Sea], and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers.
3. Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name also was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.
4. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah did.
5. And he sought God [and he continued to seek God] in the days of Zechariah [an otherwise unknown prophet], who had understanding in the visions of God [ lit. the skilled in seeing God a surprising epithet, occurring nowhere else]: and as long as he sought [ lit. in the days of his seeking] the Lord God made him to prosper.
6. And he went forth and warred against the Philistines, and brake down the wall of Gath, and the wall of Jabneh [probably the Jabneel of Jos 15:11 , which was at the extreme border of Judah, to the north-west], and the wall of Ashdod, and built cities about Ashdod [the strongest of all the Philistine towns. It was originally assigned to Judah ( Jos 15:47 )], and among the Philistines.
7. And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians that dwelt in Gur-baal, and the Mehunims.
8. And the Ammonites gave gifts [ i.e. “paid tribute:” comp. 1Ki 4:21 , 1Ki 10:25 ; 2Ch 17:11 . A right of pasture in the Ammonite country seems implied in 2Ch 17:10 ] to Uzziah: and his name spread abroad even to the entering in of Egypt; for he strengthened himself exceedingly.
9. Moreover Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, and at the valley gate, and at the turning of the wall, and fortified [or repaired] them.
10. Also he built towers in the desert, and digged [ or, cut out many cisterns] many wells: for he had much cattle, both in the low country, and in the plains [ rather, “for he had much cattle there, and in the low country, and on the downs “]: husbandmen also, and vinedressers in the mountains, and in Carmel [ or, the fruitful field, the glebe land (Isa 29:17 , Isa 32:15 )]: for he loved husbandry [a lover of the land was he, i.e. of the soil: comp. the expression “man of the land,” i.e. husbandman ( Gen 9:20 )].
11. Moreover Uzziah had an host of fighting men. [ lit. and Uzziah had a host making war ( or, doing battle)] that went out to war by bands, according to the number of their account by the hand of Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the ruler, under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king’s captains.
12. The whole number of the chief of the fathers of the mighty men of valour [an epithet applied to the patriarchal chiefs] were two thousand and six hundred.
13. And under their hand [ or, “at their side,” meaning, under their command] was an army [ Heb. the power of an army], three hundred thousand and seven thousand and five hundred [this fairly agrees with the statement respecting the total of Amaziah’s army (three hundred thousand) in chap. 2Ch 25:5 ], that made war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy.
14. And Uzziah prepared for them throughout all the host shields, and spears, and helmets, and habergeons [an old-English word, meaning armour for neck and breast], and bows, and slings [ Heb. stones for slings] to cast stones.
15. And he made in Jerusalem engines [the first mention of artillery], invented by cunning men, to be on the towers [“towers” ( Zep 1:16 )] and upon the bulwarks, to shoot arrows and great stones withal. And his name spread far abroad; for he was marvellously helped [ i.e. by God, (comp. 2Ch 26:7 )] till he was strong.
16. But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction [ rather, his heart was lifted up to do wickedly (comp. chap. 2Ch 27:2 )]: for he transgressed [Uzziah must have deliberately determined to invade the priest’s office, thus repeating the sin of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram ( Num 16:1-35 )] against the Lord his God, and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense.
17. And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the Lord, that were valiant men:
18. 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.
19. Then Uzziah was wroth [ i.e. foamed with anger], and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead [comp. the sudden seizure of Gehazi ( 2Ki 5:27 )] before the priests in the house of the Lord, from beside the incense altar.
20. And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the Lord had smitten him.
[ The Speaker’s Commentary remarks that death was denounced by the law against those who invaded the office of the priest ( Num 18:7 ); and death had been the actual punishment of Korah and his company ( ibid., Num 16:31-35 ). Uzziah, when he felt the hand of God laid upon him, feared, probably, lest from him too the extreme penalty should be enacted, and therefore hasted to quit the sacred building, where his bare presence was a capital crime.]
21. And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house [ rather, in the hospital, or lazar-house], being a leper; for he was cutoff [Psa 88:5 ; Isa 53:8 ] from the house of the Lord [this ground of Uzziah’s dwelling in a sick house is added by the chronicler. Having been formerly excluded as a leper from the sacred precincts, he was obliged to isolate himself from society (comp. Lev 13:46 )], and Jotham his son was over the king’s house, judging the people of the land.
22. Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, did Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amos, write.
23. So Uzziah slept [ 2Ki 15:7 ] with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the burial [in the burial field or graveyard belonging to the kings, and near their sepulchres; but not in the royal tombs themselves, because a leper would have polluted them] which belonged to the kings; for they said, He is a leper: and Jotham his son reigned in his stead.
Double-minded Men
2Ch 26
WE have spoken of Amaziah as a double-minded or halfhearted man; and we find From this chapter that this double-minded man had a double-minded son. After the murder of Amaziah, “all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah. Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem.” It is recorded of Uzziah that “he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord,” but with this limitation “according to all that his father Amaziah did.” What that reservation amounts to we can never know. We are certain that Amaziah was at once wise and foolish; we have seen that he served the Lord, “but not with a perfect heart.” He was always looking behind him, or looking out on one side, or reviving the memory of evil enjoyments, or wondering if he could not play the ambidexter and do a little with this world as well as with the world to come. His heart was not round, whole, complete, perfect; represented by a figure, there would be a good deal of brightness upon it, fine white light, but here and there would be spots black enough sometimes to mar all the glory; then again we come upon great spaces full of light, and we say, After all, this man is superior; he presents a high average of character, good predominates over evil. Uzziah took after him “he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father did.” How can a son be better than his father? How can a son afford to rebuke his father by cultivating a superior virtue, by being strong where his father was weak, by being wise where his father was foolish, by amending the record, and thus subtly reproaching his forerunner? But sons must do this, if the world is to go on. Sons must even venture to be larger, truer, wiser, stronger men than their fathers. Nor are their fathers to blame if they occupy a secondary position in relation to their sons; it is right that they should do so; their sons outlive them, have the advantage of fuller light, larger civilisation, and revelations abounding in suggestion and in all the ministries that can ennoble the mind and helpfully and redeemingly affect the heart. Let no man, therefore, be afraid that he will out-distance his father; let him not die of this spurious modesty; let him thank God that his father brought him so far on the road) and then let him contribute his donation towards human progress and consolidation.
There was a good deal of night and day in the life of Uzziah.
“And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God” ( 2Ch 26:5 ).
Then as to his occupation Uzziah was, altogether, a man of comprehensive mind:
“Also he built towers in the desert, and digged many wells: for he had much cattle, both in the low country, and in the plains: husbandmen also, and vinedressers in the mountains, and in Carmel: for he loved husbandry. Moreover Uzziah had an host of fighting men, that went out to war by bands, according to the number of their account by the hand of Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the ruler, under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king’s captains” ( 2Ch 26:10-11 ).
He loved husbandry, but he was obliged to fight. When he made great plans for battle, and accepted the inventions of clever men for the making of catapults for the discharge of arrows and great stones, he did what he was reluctant to do. Do not judge men too hastily. They sometimes get into positions for which they have no appetite; they do not want to be there, but a kind of temporary necessity seems laid upon them; all the while they are, in heart, otherwhere. Uzziah loved husbandry. There was a time in ancient history when kings cared more for ploughmen than for soldiers. Blessed is that country whose agricultural labourers are more in number than its military men. Better the smock frock than the red coat; better the brow bent in honest industry than all the decoration military. We must have husbandmen, and we scarcely value them aright. They are in the very highest of all professions; they seem to come immediately after the Creator. Other men are in the air, or on the horizon, or at a great distance somewhere, inventing polysyllables for the description of what they are about; but the husbandman is just next to the Creator. “The Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.” We cannot always follow the pursuit we love. The interruptions of life are many, sudden, and oftentimes tremendous. Is there anything more distressing than to be compelled to do the thing we have no heart for? Many a man in the city would leave his occupation tomorrow if he could find bread in the thing that he really loves. Every time he takes up his quill he feels that he has taken hold of a double-edged instrument; he would gladly lay it down, but the children would lack bread if he did not drive it all day, and get what pittance he can out of the waste of ink. And many men are in other positions that look lofty and that are amply rewarded, for which they care nothing; they would rather be at home, attending to the garden, watching the bees, reading noble books; they would rather have what is called a nook and a book, a crust and an author, than all the noise and rattle and swell and empty pomp of nominal elevation. But we cannot do what we would like to do. Herein is part of our discipline, which is part of our education. We must have the will broken somewhere. Parents may be foolish enough not to break the will of their children, but they are only leaving other people to do what they have left undone. No man can reach the full stature of his manhood, and realise all that is sweetest in life, until his will has been cut right in two. Let those of us bless God who bore the yoke in our youth; then when age comes on it brings with it joys which we are prepared to receive.
Look at another aspect of his character
“And his name spread far abroad; for he was marvellously helped, till he was strong. But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction” ( 2Ch 26:15-16 ).
Read, literally, He was marvellously helped, and therefore he became strong. “Marvellously helped.” Some men have never been helped at all. They have had to fight every lion and every bear without a friend being within a mile of them during the agony of the encounter. Yet every man is helped from above. Surely blessed are they who have had little human help, and who therefore have no thanks to give to anybody, except for keeping out of the way. Others have been helped until they have become perfect imbeciles; they have lived on the pockets of other people until they have forgotten how to make a shilling of their own; they have always brought an excellent appetite to the table of charity; they have been “marvellously helped,” and the more you help them the more they will need the help. When a man has never been trained to make his money he takes it in handfuls from other people, and thinks they have done nothing but their duty. Some of us have had to count the shillings, and to learn arithmetic in order that we might know how to spend them so as to find twelve pence in each of them. “He was marvellously helped”: let that be a reason for helping others. What we have received we have received only to hand on, but to hand on to honest and deserving men, not to vagabonds. Do not imagine that the Lord’s river of goodness terminates in you; it is to be carried on that others may be refreshed and fertilised by the generous stream. Let us not be sour because we have not been helped ourselves; let us rather say that, having felt the pinch of poverty and the load of the burden, we will help others a little as we pass along the path of life. It may be only a smile that is required of us, or a cheering word, or a grip of the hand that means a blessing; it may be money, it may be time, it may be sympathy, it may be influence. Blessed is he when he comes to his last sleep of whom men shall say, He was a succourer of many, he marvellously helped all with whom he came in contact. How difficult it is to have prosperity and to use it aright! How haughty we become when we double our income! How insufferable we are when we have more than our neighbours! “When his heart was strong, he was lifted up to his destruction.” Here we come again upon that awful instrument, “the heart.” It will always have the next thing; much will have more; there is another round upon the ladder to be climbed; there is another field to be added to the estate. How difficult to say, Lord, this is enough; I thank thee for all thy love and care. Temptations come with advancement. A man is not the same in a large house that he was in a small one. He declares that he could never go back to the lodgings that he had as a young man; he wonders how he lived there. It is wonderful, but not in his sense of the surprise. It is difficult to be wealthy and to be humble; difficult to be abounding in all the elements which men count valuable and yet to continue attendance at the Sunday-school. There may be six rich Sunday-school teachers in Great Britain, but we do not know them all. If there is a rich Sunday-school teacher his name gets into the newspapers as a species of phenomenon. The Lord has an infinite number of poor helpers in every sense of the term. Poverty likes Christ he often has loaves and fishes to give away; and where that is not the motive he always has a smile, a brother’s touch, a Saviour’s look, a Redeemer’s almightiness. So, for various reasons, for contrary and conflicting motives, we throng around him. He always gives he gave himself.
A curious form the ambition or presumption of Uzziah took. He would be a priest; he would go in and do work in the temple; he would “burn incense upon the altar of incense.” It is not every man whose madness takes this turn. He would be not only State, but Church; not only king, but priest. He has now completely lost his balance; he is off his ground: something will occur presently to show him that he has committed the offence of trespass; he has broken through a hedge, and according to the divine word a serpent shall bite him.
“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” ( 2Ch 26:17-18 ).
Kings must sometimes be taught their place. There have been strong men in history who have said to kings, Stand off! They have not been disloyal, but rather loyal, in the highest and largest sense of the term, because they have done this thing; they were men of moral discrimination; men of large ideas and true ideas of social righteousness, and therefore the Spirit of the living God enabled them to utter the word that was true. “Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense,” and he might have injured the priests bodily, but perhaps when he was lifting the censer that he might use it, at the very time there was the foam of madness upon his lip there was the foam of leprosy upon his brow “the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord, from beside the incense altar.” There is a boundary: we may do this, but not that; we are hedged about by law. We have illustration enough of this in common life: why hesitate to believe concerning it in matters purely spiritual? We must abide within our limitation, if we would do our duty with success and with blessing. Everywhere if a man gets away from his appointed boundary he is smitten with some kind of leprosy; he is made to feel that he is upon the wrong ground. Suppose an unskilful man should adventure into the sanctuary of music, and imagine that he could approach the organ without his imposture being detected; his very first touch would betray him, and men would rise and say, in some form, “This is not thy place; thou art a trespasser; thou wast not anointed for this; thou art cruelly abusing the sacred instrument that was meant to discourse music for the praise of God.” Let a man adventure into the practice of medicine who is unqualified, and by his bungling work he will soon reveal his nonqualification, and men will flee away from him as from a murderer. It is the same with the law. The great temptation of some natures is to try to do the very things for which they are least qualified. There is a marvellous irony in human genius in this matter. It would seem to be an inscrutable mystery that men will persist in attempting to do the thing which they cannot do, and which they were obviously never meant to do. Why this obstinacy? Why this mental blindness? Why this handling of things sacred with fingers profane? Why this contradictory life? We were not meant to be here, but to be there; and whenever a man is out of place he is guilty of wasting strength. A man can only work well within his own limit. No man should strain himself at his labour, be he poet, or musician, or divine, be he prophet or merchantman; he should keep easily within the circle which he was appointed to occupy, for all stretching is weakening, all effort that is above the line of nature tends to destruction, both of the worker and of the influence which he ought to exert. Know your appointed place, and keep it. All trespass of this kind leads to the excitement of evil passions. Men do not like to be baulked; they cannot bear to be chafed by disappointment, and when they see other men succeeding in burning incense they wonder why they cannot burn incense quite as well: hence we have envy, jealousy, grudging, and all manner of ungenerous and ignoble feeling. And this is accompanied by a subtraction from legitimate influence. A man who might be quite a light in the village is lost in the metropolis. The only man who cannot see that is the man himself. He astounds the fireside of a villager, and therefore he thinks he can take the capital by storm. Many men are in the capital who wish they were in the provinces. Why fly to the capital? Why leave the humble sphere? The gate of the field was meant for some men to go in by, not to come out of. We might have been so much respected in the provinces; we might have been looked up to, consulted, and when we walked abroad the elders might have risen at our approach. But the capital is cruel, the capital is sometimes unjust; the capital is too large to be kind.
Here then we have double-minded men, father and son; here we have men adventuring beyond their proper limits, and being burned. Amaziah went too far and never came home again, for he was murdered at Lachish, as we have seen; Uzziah went into the temple to play the priest, and he came out a leper. Is there no providence in life? Is there not a divinity that shapes our ends? Is it not true that God’s eyes go to and fro throughout the whole earth, and that he shows himself strong in behalf of those who put their trust in him? Are there not divisions and distributions of talents and gifts and capacities? Are we all made in one mould? Are we all of one size? Is there no scale of proportion? Is there no law of perspective? Is there not a foot as well as a hand? Is there not an eye as well as an ear? If a foot should say, “Because I am not the hand, therefore I am not of the body,” is it therefore not of the body? If the ear should say, “Because I am not the eye, therefore I am not of the body,” does saying so make it so? We are many members, and yet all the members constitute one body. God has sacred places, God has allotted specific duties to men; every man will be wise in proportion as he sees his own calling, and makes his calling and election sure. Reward lies along that line, and peace, and rest, and comfort, and dawning heaven. Leave your native heath, take your life into your own hands, say you will create a sphere for yourself, and do as you please, and you shall be stung with disappointments as with a cloud of insects. Say you will insist upon having your own way in the world, and every rock you strike will but injure the hand that smites it. The gates will not yield to your touch, the rivers will not know the common wood with which you smite them in the hope of dividing the stream. But live and move and have your being in God. Say, Lord, not my will, but thine, be done; make me door-keeper, or lamplighter, or hewer of wood, or drawer of water, or a Zechariah, having learning in thy visions and power of reading all the apocalypse of thy providence: what thou wilt, as thou wilt, as long as thou wilt: thy will is heaven. It is towards this end that all Christian education must tend. This is the glory of Christ; this is the miracle of the Son of God. We have seen him pass up to it, we have seen him shrink from it, we have heard him pray against it, we have listened as he said, “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me.” Blessed be God for that prayer! It helps men to pray; it gives the charm of eloquence to the reluctance of prayer; it makes halting divine; it sanctifies imperfect wrestling, agonising supplication. Blessed Saviour, we have had to thank thee for everything. Now we have to thank thee for thy halting. Then thou wert indeed our brother; we knew thee at the point of stumbling. When thou didst say, “If it be possible, let this cup pass from me,” we said, Now how near he is to us; he is bone of our bone, flesh of our flesh; he is Emmanuel, God with us. Then he said, “Nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done.” In that moment he conquered the cross. In that moment he was crowned.
Prayer
Almighty God, thou hast sent down from heaven a blessing to rest upon the men whose eyes are towards thee in the day of necessity, in the time of conviction for sin, in the hour of hope for the realisation of thy redeeming love. Thou hast not left the world without light, thou hast not omitted from thy speech the tenderest of all words, and all thy words to the children of men, welcoming them to thy gospel, are uttered in the tenderest tones. Thou dost reign over us, thou art careful about us with a great care; for we are formed in the image and likeness of God, and we are the work of his hands and the fruit of his thought. We bless thee for all this solicitude: may we know its full meaning, may we respond to its desire, may we be found at the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ, without excuse or self-defence or plea of justification, confessing our sins, humbling ourselves before the living God, and asking for mercy because we are sinners. Thou hast sent thy Son to die for us: the Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them: the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost: he shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. This is our hope, as it is thy promise; this is our rest, because it is thy covenant We wonder and are sore afraid when we behold the spread of darkness and the increase of corruption, but the mouth of the Lord hath spoken good things, and the earth shall yet be renewed in righteousness. Enable us to work in the spirit of this hope; then shall our hands be strong, and our knees shall not tremble, and our eyes shall look straight on, and we shall not be afraid, though many rise up in battle and controversy against the Lord. We bless thee for all good men; we thank thee for their influence, their inspiration, for the sacred contagion of their words and their works: increase their number, give solidity and continuance to their influence, and may the light be more than the darkness. Pity those who are ill at ease, to whom is given the sadness of an aching heart: lead the blind by a way that they know not: charm away the loneliness of those who are the victims of solitude: bring home all who have gone astray; may they ask for pardon at the cross, and find it there; may they own their sin, and thus become rid of it by the exercise of thy grace; and let thy kingdom come, God of all, and reign thou over us, thou wounded, atoning, triumphant Christ. Arrest every evil man in his bad ways; thwart his purposes, turn his counsel to confusion, and make him afraid by influences which he cannot calculate, that he may bethink himself, and wonder, and consider, and pray.
This we say at the altar of the cross, this we say with our eyes fixed on the great Sacrifice; and because we pray in the name of Jesus, we need not wait for the answer, for it is already given in thine own. Amen.
Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker
XIV
THE REIGNS OF JEHOASH AND JEROBOAM (OF ISRAEL) AND OF AMAZIAH AND UZZIAH (OF JUDAH)
2Ki 13:10-14:29
Jehoahaz was followed by Jehoash his son who was a better man and an abler man and more successful. He had great encouragement from Elisha to fight with Syria and to redeem his kingdom from the iron grasp of Benhadad. Jehoash was encouraged at the outset. Elisha told him to shoot his arrows against Syria, and three times he smote upon the ground. The prophecy came true. Three times Jehoash smote the Syrian army and recovered the cities taken from his father by Benhadad. In the meanwhile Syria and Damascus had been assaulted by Assyria and were brought almost to the verge of extinction. Assyrian annals tell how the king of Assyria took Damascus and almost destroyed it, and it was largely because Syria was thus weakened by Assyria that Jehoash was able to recover and relieve Israel from its oppression.
Amaziah succeeded Joash on the throne of Judah. His character is described as one who was wicked and lazy, though he was better than the general run of the northern kings. His policy was to destroy the servants who killed his father, but he spared their children in accordance with the positive prohibition found in Deu 24:16 . Here arises a question of the morality of the killing of Achan’s sons, Naboth’s sons and Ahab’s sons. Two causes operated in favor of the exception to this prohibition: (1) the sons were apt to be accessories to the crimes of their fathers and thus incriminate themselves; and (2) the “blood feud” that was to follow. Then we should consider these cases either under the direct command of God or in the hands of Oriental monarchs.
In 2Ki 13:20-21 , we have recorded the last miracle of Elisha, viz: that in his tomb. This occurred, perhaps, to give special light to the heathen, a testimony to the power of the God of Israel, and to encourage the king and the people with respect to Elisha’s unfulfilled prophecies. Close upon this follows the account of the fulfilment of Elisha’s dying prophecy and Joash’s success over Benhadad (2Ki 13:23-25 ). In this we note that, notwithstanding the sins of Israel, God gave them victory over Syria for the sake of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; that the “as yet” shows his mercy still extended to Israel; that Hazael, king of Syria) died, and that Benhadad III, his son, reigned in his stead.
We will find that Amaziah in the latter part of his reign committed a very grievous and particular sin that brought a host of evil consequences. The sin committed by him was that, when he proposed to wage war against Edom lying south of his territory, he hired a hundred thousand mercenary soldiers of the Northern Kingdom to aid him in the war, and when an unnamed prophet of God comes and rebukes him, he says, “If I don’t take these men now that I have paid for them, I will lose my hundred talents of money.” The prophet replied, “The Lord can give you more than that.” So he yielded to the protest of the prophet and rejected the services of the men a hundred thousand whom he had already paid for. That of course made the mercenaries very mad. They were not only buoyed up with the hope of their pay but the hope of capturing a great deal of booty in the war, and when they were not permitted to go to the war, on their return home they swept all that part of Judah that lay between them and their own land as dry as if a fire had passed over it. Now Amaziah having committed the sin, first, of relying upon the mercenaries instead of relying upon Jehovah, committed a second sin by importing the gods of Edom for which a prophet rebuked him, and he made him forbear. Stirred up in his mind by these degradations that had been committed upon his people by the hundred thousand mercenaries on their way home and the prophet’s rebuke, without consulting God or any prophet he sends a braggadocio challenge to the king of Israel, and says, “Come, set your face up before mine,” and the king of Israel replied, “Why should you make this challenge? It will likely prove to be very disastrous to you.” Well, Amaziah shook his fist at him and told him to come on and set his face up, and he did come and set his face up, and he wiped the army of Amaziah off the face of the earth in the great battle that followed, and Judah was sorely straightened by that defeat; even Jerusalem was captured, her walls broken down, and all her vast treasures plundered and carried away. All this indicates that Jehoash was one of the most fortunate, most successful, most able, and most kind and benevolent rulers northern Israel ever had, but at the same time southern Israel had a foolish king.
Jehoash was succeeded by Jeroboam II, Jehoash had saved his country from the terrible oppression of Syria, had conquered Judah, had obtained enormous spoils which almost set the kingdom again upon its feet) and ushered in a period of prosperity. He was followed by his grandson Jeroboam il, the greatest of all the monarchs of northern Israel. Jeroboam II was the most successful of all, for in his day nearly all of northern Israel that had previously belonged to Solomon’s kingdom was recovered and he reigned to the north as far as Hamath and to the south all the land of the Jordan and reconquered the land on the east side of the Jordan. The kingdom was at the height of its prosperity under Jeroboam II.
There have been four kings of the dynasty of Jehu, and only in the latter part of the reign of the third king, Jehoash, has Israel in any way succeeded in loosing herself from the bonds of oppression at the hand of Syria. The record says, “The Lord gave Israel a saviour, so that they went out from under the hands of the Syrians: and the children of Israel dwelt in their tents as before time.” Who was that saviour? Some think probably it was Jehoash, the preceding king and father of Jeroboam II, who was the means of a threefold defeat of the Syrian army. But it may be interpreted as referring to Jeroboam II, the greatest of all the northern kings, who freed his country entirely from the dominion of Syria. Price in The Monuments and the Old Testament , thinks it refers to an Assyrian king, Adad Nirari, who at about this time made an onslaught on the kingdom of Syria and especially the city of Damascus and almost totally destroyed it. In that case he was indeed saviour, in that he destroyed the country that was oppressing Israel. The dynasty of Jehu lasted altogether about 102 years and in that time there were five kings. Jeroboam II is the fourth and greatest of all. He reigned forty-one years, the longest reign in the history of the Northern Kingdom.
In 2Ki 14:25 reference is made to Jonah the son of Amittai, the prophet which was of Gathhepher. This is the time in which Jonah the prophet lived. About this time he made his strange expedition to Nineveh the capital of Assyria, and preached there. He had doubtless preached in northern Israel also. At this time arises also a greater prophet, Amos, and in the pictures which Amos gives we have a vivid and lurid representation of the sins of northern Israel. So the reign of Jeroboam II, though the most glorious in the history of northern Israel, was attended by these two great prophets who pronounced the inevitable and irretrievable doom of the nation. Just as this time occurred the death of Amaziah at the hand of his conspirators and Uzziah his son succeeded him. But according to some authorities there was an interregnum between Uzziah and Amaziah. This conclusion is based upon the following facts as given in the record: First, it says that Amaziah died and that he had reigned fifteen years before Jeroboam II, king of Israel. Kings and Chronicles both say that he reigned twenty-nine years in all and that the last fifteen years of the twenty-nine was contemporaneous with the reign of Jeroboam II. In other words, he died in the fifteenth year of Jeroboam, but 2Ki 15:1 says that Uzziah his successor did not begin to reign until the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam, so if both statements be correct then Judah had no king from the fifteenth year of Jeroboam to the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam, a period of at least eleven years and possibly twelve. The whole question turns on the accuracy of the text in 2Ki 15:1 where it says that Uzziah began to reign in the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam. Now, if we accept that text as accurate, then there was an interregnum of eleven years. Josephus does not accept it. He says the number is wrong; that it ought to be in the fourteenth year instead of the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam. But it is quite easy to accept this text, not question it at all, and then we account for that interregnum of eleven years by the extreme youth of Uzziah when Amaziah died. He was only five years old when Amaziah died. They seem to have deferred making him king until he was sixteen. In other words, there was a regency for that period of eleven years. Now, that is the only chronological difficulty in the whole period and it is not a very serious one.
Amaziah’s son, Uzziah, at a very tender age became king and he reigned fifty-two years. That is a long period, over half a century. The record about it is very fine on a number of points. While he did not destroy the high places, he did walk in the ways of David so far as relates to the worship of Jehovah in the appointed place in the Temple. He was a great builder of fortifications and towns and cities. One thing said about him constitutes a fine text: He loved husbandry. In his wars he had conquered a fine section of country, very fruitful, all the Philistine country clear on to the entrance of Egypt and that Negeb, or south country, from the days of Isaac was remarkable for the yield of its crops. It is said of Isaac that he reaped a hundredfold, i.e., if he sowed one bushel of wheat, he would reap a hundred bushels from that one. Uzziah devoted a great deal of attention to matters of that kind. He was very successful in his wars, not only against Philistia but against the Arabians and against the Ammonites. He became exalted in his power.
In 2Ki 14:28-29 we have a summary of the reign of Jeroboam and an account of his death. The condition of Syria during the reign of Jeroboam II was one of weakness and consequent inactivity. The great kings had come and gone, and some weak monarchs sat on the throne which had been almost crushed by Assyria, and was in no position to oppress Israel. This gave Jeroboam II his opportunity. Being a great man, an able general and administrator he carried the boundaries of northern Israel almost as far north as David and Solomon had done, capturing all the northern part that had been taken by Syria. He retook all eastern Palestine as far as the land of Moab, and likewise he recaptured the land of Moab that had revolted and freed itself from the dynasty of Omri. The extent of his kingdom was almost as great as that of David’s with the exception, of course) of southern Israel, and with this great extension of his kingdom there was a great influx of wealth and prosperity. The depression of the three reigns preceding was followed by an abundance of prosperity and the result was a corresponding excess of luxury and sin. Their prosperity produced all the evils of civilization, and they went to excess with it. Jeroboam died and after an interregnum of twenty-two years, was succeeded by his son Zechariah. This interregnum is determined by comparing 2Ki 14:23 and 2Ki 15:1-2 ; 2Ki 15:8 .
QUESTIONS
1. What was the character of Jehoash?
2. What was Elisha’s encouraging prophecy on his deathbed, and what incidents of its delivery?
3. Who succeeded Joash and what was his character?
4. What was his policy, and where in the book of Moses is found the statement which occurs in 2Ki 14:6 and 2Ch 25:4 , and how do you harmonize this passage in Deuteronomy with the killing of Achan’s sons, Naboth’s sons, and Ahab’s sons?
5. What was the last miracle of Elisha and why this miracle?
6. Notwithstanding the sins of Israel what the Lord’s dealings with them and why, what change occurred just at this time in Syria, and what prophecy of Elisha was here fulfilled?
7. What were Amaziah’s plans against Edom, what was the result of each step taken and what can you say of the cruelty of Judah?
8. How did the Israelitish mercenaries deport themselves when sent back?
9. What was Amaziah’s further wickedness, what was his warning and how did he receive it?
10. Recite the account of the war between Amaziah and Jehoash, and what was the parable of Jehoash and its application, what was the result and what is the modern name of stealing?
11. Who succeeded Jehoash and what was his character?
12. What were the possibilities of Jeroboam II, and what did he accomplish for Israel?
13. What prophet comes in here, what was his commission and how did he receive and discharge it?
14. Give an account of the death of Amaziah.
15. What of the interregnum in Judah here and how does the author determine it?
16. Uzziah what was his other name, how was he made king, how long his reign, and how does it compare with the reigns of others?
17. What of his character and prosperity and wherein did he fail?
18. During his prosperous years what (1) of his building of Eloth, (2) of his success of war, (3) of his building and husbandry, (4) of his army, (5) of his fame?
19. Give an account of the death of Jeroboam II.
20. What of the interregnum here in Israel and how determined by the author?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
2Ch 26:1 Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who [was] sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah.
Ver. 1. Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah. ] In this and the next ten chapters we have the histories of Uzziah and ten more kings of Judah, in whose days prophesied the most of the prophets, both major and minor: a to whose writings these eleven chapters lend not a little light, and are therefore diligently to be read and heeded.
a Lavat.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
2 Chronicles Chapter 26
Then follows Uzziah (chap. 26). “And he did that which was right in the sight of Jehovah, according to all that his father Amaziah did. And he sought God in the days of Zechariah who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought Jehovah, God made him to prosper. And he went forth and warred against the Philistines, and break down the wall of Gath, and the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod, and built cities about Ashdod, and among the Philistines. And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians that dwelt in Gur-Baal, and the Mehunims. And the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah: and his name spread abroad even to the entering in of Egypt; for he strengthened himself exceedingly. Moreover, Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, and at the valley gate, and at the turning of the wall, and fortified them. Also he built towers in the desert, and digged many wells: for he had much cattle, both in the low country, and in the plains: husbandmen and vine dressers in the mountains, and in Carmel: for he loved husbandry. Moreover, Uzziah had a host of fighting men” – a standing army.
All this, no doubt, looked fair. “But when he was strong his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against Jehovah his God, and went into the temple of Jehovah to burn incense upon the altar of incense. And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of Jehovah, that were valiant men: and they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah to burn incense unto Jehovah, 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 Jehovah, God. Then Uzziah was wroth,” and although he stood with a censor in his hand, even at that moment, “the leprosy rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of Jehovah from beside the incense altar. And Azariah, the chief priest, and all the priests, locked upon him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because Jehovah had smitten him.” It was a signal judgment, even in this day of weakness and unfaithfulness. So he lived a leper to the day of his death.
Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)
Then. This chapter largely complementary to 2Ki 15:1-7.
Uzziah. Another spelling is Azariah. In Chronicles and the Prophets it is usually Uzziah, except in 1Ch 3:12.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 26
Chapter 26 we find the beginning of the reign of Uzziah. Now he was only sixteen years old when he began to reign and he had one of the longest reigns outside of Manasseh, the longest reign of any king in Israel. He reigned for some fifty-one years. Uzziah was a good king. Uzziah was a popular king. Uzziah became a powerful king.
He built Eloth, and restored it to Judah. He reigned for fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. He did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah did. And 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 ( 2Ch 26:2-5 ).
Very interesting scripture. “As long as he sought the Lord.” As long as you put God first in your life. Jesus said that you should not be worried about what you’re going to eat, what you’re going to drink, what you’re going to wear. For after these things do the pagans worry. But “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things will be added unto you” ( Mat 6:33 ). As long as he sought the Lord, as long as he put God first, God made his ways to prosper.
We need to put God first in our lives. “As long as he sought the Lord,” very important scripture.
So he went forth and he warred against the Philistines, he broke down the wall of Gath, and Jabneh, and Ashdod, and he built cities about Ashdod, and among the Philistines. And God helped him against the Philistines, against the Arabians, and the Mehunims. And the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah: and his name spread abroad even to the entering in of Egypt; for he strengthened himself exceedingly. He built towers for defense there in Jerusalem and at the corner gate, and at the valley gate, and he fortified them. And he built towers in the desert, he dug many wells: for he had a lot of cattle ( 2Ch 26:6-10 ),
And he had a lot of vineyards and all. There was just general prosperity under Uzziah. He had a host of fighting men that went out to war by bands. And there were 2,600 captains over them.
He made in Jerusalem weapons of war, engines of war that were invented by cunning men, that they would put them on the towers to hurl stones and to shoot arrows. And his name spread far abroad ( 2Ch 26:15 );
So he became a powerful king, a powerful ruler. The kingdom was strengthened under him.
But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD, for he went into the temple to burn incense at the altar of incense ( 2Ch 26:16 ).
Now, this was the duty that was to be exclusively the priest’s. As the king he had no business intruding into the temple to offer incense. It was a job only for the priests. And so Azariah the priest with another eighty priests who were all valiant men came in and challenged him. As he was swinging the incense there before the altar of incense, they challenged him. They said, “Get out of here. You have no business being in here.” And he became angry with them and turned against them. But as he did, leprosy broke out on his forehead. And so the priests grabbed him and thrust him out physically because of the leprosy. And he became a leper. He had to dwell outside until the day of his death. And his son took over as the king.
Now Uzziah was a good king, for the most part. It was in the time of his strength that he fell. But because of all that he had done, he was a popular king, the nation prospered under his reign, and his name spread abroad throughout all of the land. And twice it talks about, in verse 2Ch 26:15 , “And his name spread far abroad for he was marvelously helped and he was strong.” And in verse 2Ch 26:8 , “And his name spread abroad even to the entering in of Egypt.” He was a king that the people had great confidence in, because as long as he was on the throne, because he was a very cunning man, a very skillful man, he had built up all of these defenses, they had developed all of these weapons of war. They had invented many excellent weapons for battle. And the people felt a security. Things prospered under his reign. His name was spread abroad so that people were looking at him. Confidence was in him.
And I point that out because in the sixth chapter of Isaiah, and Isaiah the prophet lived at this time. He began his prophesying during the time or shortly after the death of Uzziah. So we are now coming historically into the period of the prophecy of Isaiah the prophet. And in the sixth chapter of Isaiah, he makes this interesting statement concerning Uzziah: “In the year king Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting on the throne, high and lifted up, and His train did fill the temple” ( Isa 6:1 ).
Up until that time, Isaiah’s eyes were upon Uzziah, just like everybody else. He was captivated by the abilities of this man. Uzziah was sort of the hero for all of the people. And God had to move Uzziah out of the way in order that Isaiah might see the Lord.
It’s terrible when a man hides our vision of God. Even though he is good, even though he has done a lot of good, we must not get our eyes upon men. Now at the time of his death there was a great despair. “Oh, Uzziah is dead. What are we going to do? We’ve prospered now for fifty years. The kingdom is strong and powerful. What are we going to do? The throne is empty of this popular, powerful king. What are we going to do? Uzziah is dead.”
But God gave to Isaiah a vision of the throne. But God was sitting upon it. Behind the scenes, God reigns. “I saw the Lord high and lifted up sitting on the throne, and His train, His glory did fill the temple.” So the death of Uzziah and his son Jotham who began to reign in his stead.
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Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
2Ch 26:1-5
2Ch 26:1-5
THE REIGN OF UZZIAH (AZARIAH IN KINGS) OVER JUDAH
UZZIAH (783-742 B.C.)
UZZIAH SUCCEEDS AMAZIAH AS KING
“And all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah. He built Eloth, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers. Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jechiliah, of Jerusalem. And he did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. And he set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the vision of God: and as long as he sought Jehovah, God made him to prosper.”
“Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign” (2Ch 26:3). The youth of Uzziah probably accounts for the fact that the conspirators against Amaziah waited so long to murder him; for they had surely determined to do so as soon as he worshipped the gods of Edom, an event that took place when Uzziah was an infant.
“He did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah” (2Ch 26:4). As in the case of his father, this only means that he began well. Later in the chapter, we learn of the corruption that fell upon him.
His was a long and powerful reign indeed. “He successfully defended Judah against the belligerent Ammonites, Philistines and Arabians, developed a strong standing army, and rebuilt the nation’s fortifications. He even reopened the Red Sea port of Eloth, and promoted commerce.” Eloth is the same as Ezion-geber.
E.M. Zerr:
2Ch 26:1. The people . . . made him king. It means they went through the ceremonies of anointing him. The fact of his being the son of the last preceding king was what entitled him to the throne. The name Uzziah and Azariah are used interchangeably, so the reader should not be confused by the use of either. It is significant that “all the people of Judah” had a part in placing Uzziah on the throne. It shows the unity of the nation in the sentiment in favor of him.
2Ch 26:2. Eloth was a city in the land of Edom, and it is sometimes spelled Elath. It seems to have been at one time taken over by the king of Judah, then allowed to fall into bad repair and slip out . of the use of the nation. Uzziah built it, which means he repaired it so that its usefulness was again made available.
2Ch 26:3. Uzziah (or Azariah) began to reign when but a youth, and had one of the long terms. His mother’s name is given because his father had more than one wife.
2Ch 26:4-5. It is very necessary to consider the two verses together, for that will include the reference to the good priest Zechariah. In that dispensation the Lord depended upon the priests to be spokesmen to hold the people in the line of duty by their work of instruction and warning. See Lev 10:11; Deu 17:9; Mal 2:7. They were not left to their mere human knowledge, but had understanding in the vision of God. It is affirmed that God made the king to prosper while he relied on him.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
The story of Uzziah’s long reign of fifty-two years is most interesting and remarkable. He was a man of strong character, and the early part of his occupancy of the throne was characterized by true prosperity. He was at once victorious in his campaigns against the enemies of the people, and remarkably successful in his internal development of the resources of the nation. A man of war, and a lover of husbandry, he was an ideal ruler. During these early years he went quietly forward in dependence on God.
There came a break, and the story of it is told by the chronicler in the words, “He was marvelously helped till he was strong.” How consistently in the pages of history we are taught the perils of prosperity. Man depending upon God is ever independent of all else. In the moment when the heart begins to feel independent of God in its own strength, the strength fails; and unless there be repentance ruin is inevitable. The last years of the reign, so glorious in its beginnings, were years of suffering and sadness. In an evil moment of pride Uzziah entered into the sacred courts, and violated the ordinances of God concerning the offering of sacrifices. He was smitten with leprosy, and lived for the last part of his life a prisoner, isolated from his fellow men.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
God Made Him to Prosper
2Ch 26:1-15
The reign of Uzziah was, to all appearance, extremely prosperous; but his personal character deteriorated, as though it could not bear an unbroken succession of prosperity. Proofs of his genius for empire are furnished by his successful wars, 2Ch 26:6-7, his widespread fame, 2Ch 26:8, his buildings and husbandry, 2Ch 26:9-10, and his armies and engines of war, 2Ch 26:11; 2Ch 26:15. In all these he was marvelously helped. How many can bear the same glad witness concerning Gods dealings with them! The best preventive of pride is to recognize all blessing as coming from the marvelous help of God.
When we review our earlier life and think of the position to which God has raised us, can we do other than cry, Marvelous! Marvelous! We cannot understand why God has so signally favored us, but we are persuaded that only by His grace we are as we are. Let us not forget that we are made strong in order to help the weak. Whatever we have must be viewed as a precious talent for helping forward the everlasting kingdom of the Lord Jesus. The secret of prosperity is given in Psa 1:3.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
2Ch 26:15
I. Uzziah’s marvellous prosperity. He was a clever, enterprising, busy, practical man, just the sort of man to advance the arts of civilisation, to develop a country’s resources, and further its prosperity. And indeed this is what he did. God made him to prosper. “He was marvellously helped till he was strong.”
II. His marvellous presumption. “When he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction.” Not satisfied with being king, he must be high-priest also. Horror-struck with his profanity, Azariah, the real priest, with a band of faithful coadjutors, entreated him to go out of the sanctuary. But he persevered in his impious attempt, when suddenly an awful judgment from Heaven arrested him. He was smitten with a loathsome leprosy, and in terror and dismay rushed forth from the courts he had desecrated.
III. The note of warning. A man may be “lifted up to his destruction” (1) by the pride of money; (2) by the pride of intellect; (3) by the pride of wit. Our place of security is at the foot of the Cross.
J. Thain Davidson, Forewarned-Forearmed, p. 107.
References: 2Ch 26:15.-G. Matheson, Moments on the Mount, p. 190. 2Ch 26:15, 2Ch 26:16.-Homiletic Magazine, vol. x., p. 266.
2Ch 26:16-20
Notice some of the ways in which the guilt of presumption in the worship of God is often incurred in modern times.
I. It ought not to provoke a smile when the first is named as that of sleeping in God’s house. That man coolly insults God who needlessly composes himself to slumber when professing to be a suppliant for mercy at His feet.
II. Similar is the presumption of neglecting to participate in Divine worship when present in God’s house. Negative sins are sometimes most intensely sinful; heedless sins are sometimes most fearfully fatal.
III. Presumption in worship may take the form of frequenting the house of God as a place of entertainment merely.
IV. We are guilty of presumptuous sin in worship if we endeavour to conceal from ourselves hidden sin under cover of scrupulous devotion.
V. We are guilty of presumptuous worship when we offer to God services in which any essential truth of God’s being is denied or ignored. The place of worship where Christ is denied is no place for us. Prayer offered otherwise than in His name cannot be prayer for us. Our fellowship is with the Father and His Son Jesus Christ.
A. Phelps, The Old Testament a Living Book, p. 79.
2Ch 26:16-21
Rightly to apprehend Uzziah’s sin we must remember through what barriers he had to break before he could resolve to do this thing. He had to disregard the direct command of Jehovah that the priests alone should burn incense on His altar; he had to despise the history of his people, to defy the holy name by which he himself was called. Therefore it was because his rebellion was so great, his defiance of his convictions and of his God so flagrant, that the Lord smote him; and he bore till death the mark of the curse that fell on him for his impiety.
I. We see here prosperity and pride. Mere worldly prosperity is often the prelude to daring impiety. Uzziah was a good king, but he was a bad priest; he was not the priest whom God had chosen. Statecraft and policy have no claim to spiritual direction. The spirit of the Gospel is not that of the successful worldling, but that of the little child of the kingdom.
II. We see here pride and punishment. It is part of God’s order of nature that bodily pains should often reveal and rebuke the workings of an ungodly soul. The solemn truth that pride and passion are destroyers of man, the remembrance of those who have been destroyed by them, are admonitions to us. “Verily He is a God that judgeth in the earth.”
III. Punishment and shame. Hope concerning Uzziah is given in the record of his hasting to go out of the Temple. His proud heart was broken; he was smitten with shame. A man is not altogether lost while he can feel shame. God quickens the “sorrow of the world, which worketh death,” into “godly sorrow, working repentance to salvation, not to be repented of.”
A. Mackennal, Christ’s Healing Touch, p. 16.
Fuente: The Sermon Bible
CHAPTER 26 The Reign of Uzziah
1. The beginning of his reign (2Ch 26:1-5)
2. Uzziahs success and fortifications (2Ch 26:6-15)
3. Uzziahs sin and leprosy (2Ch 26:16-21)
4. The death of Uzziah (2Ch 26:22-23)
The Son of Amaziah, Uzziah, in his sixteenth year, was made king by the people. In Second Kings 15 he is called Azariah. (In the annotations on 2Ki 15:1-2 an explanation is given on this double name of Uzziah.) Isaiah was then prophet in Judah (Isa 1:1). Isaiahs name is mentioned in verse 22. Hosea (Hos 1:1), Amos (Amo 1:1) and Zechariah (2Ch 26:5) were also prophets during his reign. The latter is not, of course, the Zechariah whose wonderful visions are written in the book which bears his name. Uzziah built Eloth and restored that important harbor to Judah (2Ki 14:22). From Eloth and Ezion-Geber Solomons ships had gone to Ophir (1Ki 9:26-28; 2Ch 8:17-18). Probably during the days of Joram (also called Jehoram) of Judah, when Edom revolted, Eloth also must have become independent. Uzziah did that which was right in the sight of the LORD. He sought God in the days of Zechariah, of whom we know nothing else but what is mentioned in verse 5. The Zechariah of Isa 8:2 cannot be identified with the Zechariah here, for the one mentioned by Isaiah lived much later. The better rendering of who had understanding in the visions of God, is, who was his (Uzziahs) instructor in the fear of God. Then follows the statement as long as he sought the LORD, God made him prosper. And this is still true with all of Gods people.
He waged a most successful warfare against the ancient foe of Israel, the Philistines. Previously, under the reign of Jehoram (2Ch 21:16-17), as so often before, God had used the Philistines to chastise His people, but now He used Uzziah to punish them for their wickedness. Then the Ammonites brought gifts and Uzziahs fame spread as far as Egypt. A great restoration work was, after that, carried on by him; he restored and fortified the northern wall of Jerusalem, which had been broken down under Amaziah (2Ch 25:23). Then there was a marked reorganization of the army of Judah and the defense of Jerusalem was greatly strengthened. And his name spread far abroad; for he was marvellously helped, till he was strong. Alas! for the next little word! How often we find it in Scripture. But! 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. How solemn these words are! What a warning they contain to all Gods people! When the heart of man is lifted up, when pride is followed, transgression is not far behind. Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall (Pro 16:18). How well it is for Gods children to be much on their faces and humble themselves before the Lord. To be little in ones own eyes and make nothing of self is true greatness and the place of safety, where Satan stands defeated. And the danger of success and prosperity!
Uzziah invaded the priestly office which did not belong to him. It was a small matter to put some incense upon the altar. It was done in self-will and in defiance of the LORDs order and ordinance. It was a rejection of that office which foreshadowed the work of the true priest, our Lord Jesus Christ. And today in Christendom we see much of the same spirit, and that which is far worse, the total rejection of the Lord Jesus as sin-bearer and the great high priest. Uzziah became a leper and died a leper. He was buried as an outcast in the field and not in the sepulchres of the kings. In the year he died Isaiah had his great vision (Isa 6:1). Isaiahs opening chapters give a good description of the religious and moral condition of Judah at the close of Uzziahs reign.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
all the: 2Ch 22:1, 2Ch 33:25
Uzziah: 2Ki 14:21, 2Ki 15:1-7, 1Ch 3:12, Azariah, Mat 1:8, Mat 1:9, Ozias
Reciprocal: 2Ki 21:24 – made Josiah 2Ch 34:1 – eight years 2Ch 36:1 – the people Isa 1:1 – the days Hos 1:1 – Uzziah Amo 1:1 – in the
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ch 26:1. The people of Judah took Uzziah Called also Azariah, 2Ki 14:21; both names signifying the same thing, the strength, or help of God. Of this and 2Ch 26:1; 2Ch 26:3-4, see notes on 2Ki 14:21-22; and 1Ki 15:2-3.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ch 26:1. Uzziah is called Azariah in 2Ki 14:21.
2Ch 26:5. Uzziah sought God in the days of Zechariah. This good priest being dead, as above, it must mean that Zechariah had established a course of religious instruction for youth, and that this prince had been educated by Jecoliah his mother, in those happy rudiments. He had understanding in the visions of God, and was a learned expositor of the law.
2Ch 26:6. Brake down the wall of Jabneh, twelve miles from Gath, and near the rock of Etam, where Samson was surprised. It is called Jamnia in 1Ma 4:15.
2Ch 26:10. He built towers in the desert, for the defence of his flocks and estates. In every view he adorned his country, and multiplied his people. It is recorded, that an earthquake happened during this reign, which is named by Amos the prophet: Amo 1:1. It shook the whole land of Judea; and in the course of the year the hiatus which had been opened, allowed the mountain west of Jerusalem to subside for the space of half a mile.
2Ch 26:21. Uzziah the king was a leper. His error in seizing the censer is ascribed to regal pride; for many princes among the gentiles were both princes and priests; as neas king of Troy, and Agamemnon among the Greeks; yet we nowhere find that Cyrus exercised the office of a priest.
2Ch 26:22. The rest of the acts of Uzziahdid Isaiah write. The rabbins very much lament the loss of this book.
REFLECTIONS.
Uzziah was not only happy in genius, but singularly so in his wise and learned tutor; and we have reason to believe that he took no false step while aided by Zechariahs counsel. A religious guardian is worthy of double honour; the blessing he may prove to a prince or a great man can hardly be appreciated. Uzziahs ascension to the throne was as the rising of the sun on the Hebrew horizon, after long seasons of dark and cloudy weather. In his wars to recover the covenant limits of his country, he was helped of the Lord; for he was faithful to the religion of his fathers, and God was faithful to him. He fortified his kingdom, defended the shepherds of the desert by towers, and distinguished himself by agriculture, which is the first blessing of national felicity. His civil and military arrangements at home very much discovered his wisdom, and contributed to the happiness of his people. His officers of various rank were two thousand and six hundred, and his whole force was three hundred and seven thousand men, out of which he retained a standing army, that he might instantaneously protect his subjects, or assert his rights; and happy is the people counted worthy of a gracious king. How much more glorious is Christ in the management of his kingdom; his enemies fall at his feet, and glory and peace attend his reign.
Worldly prosperity intoxicates the brain. In his intercourse with heathen princes Uzziah learned that they would sometimes burn incense on the altar; and therefore, forgetful of the law which restricted that to the priests alone, Exo 30:7, he presumed, being no doubt a firstborn son, to assert a supposed right, it being honourable to burn incense to the Lord. In this he erred, and was presumptuous; for God had made the Aaronical priesthood typical of Christ. As to the right of prophesying, that was common to men of any tribe, being moved by the Spirit of God. But Christ being the Mediator between God and men, no man could take that honour to himself, but he who was called of God, as was Aaron. The pattern of the tabernacle was shown to Moses, and the pattern of the temple was shown to David, and delivered in writing to Solomon; and considering that Uzziah could not be ignorant of the death inflicted on the levite of his own name for putting the ark on a cart and touching it, and of the death of Nadab and Abihu for a deviation in using common fire, his sin was great. But after all, God, probably making some allowance for his intercourse with pagan princes, did not strike him dead. His punishment was mitigated, he was a leper for life; and though he retained the title of king, and was consulted in the affairs of state, yet he was excluded from the temple, from the palace, and from the mausoleum of his sires, being ignominiously interred in the adjacent field. Let all men therefore beware of the breath of an infidel tongue, lest it lead them so to speak and act against revelation and sacred things, as to bring Gods displeasure upon their bodies and souls. We have here very much to applaud the conduct of the priests. They united in courage and counsel, they followed him into the sanctuary; and destitute of carnal weapons, asserted their rights, and resisted the angry king in a bloodless war. It is happy for the church, happy beyond a name, when the house of God is filled with ministers who revere God more than men; yea, more than the princes of the earth. These are the true and faithful witnesses of the Lord, and shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
But excepting this one error of Uzziah, followed by so instructive a judgment, he was a very illustrious king. He reigned fifty two years; and the church was so afflicted by his death, that God saw it meet to give Isaiah a most remarkable vision. He saw the Lord sitting on a throne high and lifted up: chap. 6. And this vision being applied to Jesus, Joh 12:41, we may be comforted at all times under the loss of good kings and good ministers, for the Lord still lives the glory and defence of his people.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ch 26:1-23. The Reign of Uzziah (see notes on 2Ki 14:21 to 2Ki 15:7).The Chronicler amplifies considerably the account of this reign in 2 K. which is very meagre: his additions are in all probability based, in the main, upon some historical source, since fuller records of this reign, which was one of the longest in the history of Judah, must have been in existence.
2Ch 26:1. Uzziah: called Azariah in 2Ki 14:21; 2Ki 15:1, etc., which is probably a mistake; in 2Ki 15:13; 2Ki 15:30; 2Ki 15:32; 2Ki 15:34, and especially in the titles of the books of Am., Hos., Is., he is called Uzziah as here.
2Ch 26:5. And he set himself to seek God . . . : but contrast with this 2Ki 15:4 : the reference to the worship on the high places is omitted by the Chronicler.God made him to prosper: the prosperity of Uzziahs reign is referred to in Isa 2:7 ff.; it is also brought out by the Chronicler in 2Ch 26:6-15, which are not taken from 2 Kings.
2Ch 26:6. Jabneh: not mentioned elsewhere in the OT; called later Jamnia, the most important centre of Jewry for some time after the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 (pp. 38f.).With the other names of places in these verses cf. Jer 31:38, Neh 2:13; Neh 3:13; Neh 3:19 ff.
2Ch 26:16-21. The reason of Uzziahs leprosy, according to the Chronicler; in 2 K. only the fact of the leprosy is referred to.
2Ch 26:22. did Isaiah . . . write: cf. Isa 1:1; Isa 6:1, though these merely mention Uzziahs name; it is not likely that the Chronicler was here referring to the Book of Isaiah; there may possibly have been some pseudepigraphic work bearing Isaiahs name which he had in mind.
2Ch 26:23. With this contrast 2Ki 15:7.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
THE REIGN OF UZZIAH
(vv.1-15)
Uzziah, the son of Amaziah, took the throne of Judah when he was only 16 years old and reigned for 52 years. The first thing mentioned about him is the positive good work of building the city of Elath, bringing it back under Judah’s authority. This was a good beginning. He did right in the Lord’s eyes, as did his father Amaziah in the early stages of his reign (v.4).
Verse 5 indicates that Zechariah, evidently a priest who was a seer also, understanding “the visions of God,” had some influence over Uzziah, who sought the Lord in the days of Zechariah. There was a Zechariah before him, who was killed at the command of Joash (ch.24:20-21), and a later Zechariah, a prophet whose book was named after him (Zec 1:1). But we know of no other mention of this prophet of verse 5. Uzziah sought the Lord and as long as he did so the Lord made him prosperous.
Following the positive work of building Elath, Uzziah also made war against the Philistines. If this sounds negative, it was still good work, for it speaks of our contending against the mere formality of Christian religion. The name Philistines means “wallowers.” They had come from Egypt, as Israel had, but not through the Red Sea, which pictures redemption through the death of Christ. How many there are today who take the outward place of Christians, though they know nothing of being redeemed to God by the blood of Christ! Thus, we must contend, not against people, but against this formal, empty profession without reality. Uzziah did this, and broke down the walls of Gath, Jabneh and Ashdod. For the walls that harbour mere formal religion are far better broken down, while walls that protect the true testimony of God should be kept intact. Uzziah also built cities in the vicinity of Ashdod and among the Philistines (v.6). These were a testimony to God in contrast to Philistine character.
Thus, because of Uzziah’s faithfulness, God helped him in his victories over the Philistines, Arabians and Meunites (v.7). The Ammonites picture those who hold false, satanic doctrine. At certain times they gained some advantage over Israel, but not so when Uzziah reigned. Thus he became exceedingly strong.
He built towers in Jerusalem at points that might be comparatively weak (v.9). We too need watchtowers in places where the enemy is likely to take advantage of us. The towers themselves were fortified. Every precaution was to be taken for the protection of God’s testimony. In fact, be also built towers in the desert. Why was this? Was it not to be aware of any approaching danger from the enemy? He was concerned, not only for the temple, but also for the welfare of the production of food from rural areas. He dug many wells for livestock in the lowlands and for farmers and vinedressers; in the mountains, for, as we are told, “he loved the soil” (v.10). This is unusual for a king, but it is certainly to his credit that he was diversified in his activities.
This diversity also included an army of warriors who were well organised by the instrumentality of Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah an officer under the authority of Hananiah, one of the king’s captains (v.11), and the total number of chief officers under their authority was 2,600. In turn, under the officers’ authority was an army of 307,500. Thus Uzziah was well prepared for war, having prepared for all the warriors shields, spears, helmets, body armour, bows and slingshots (vv.12-14). Also, for the protection of Jerusalem he had mechanised devices with which to shoot arrows and large stones from the towers on the wall. We today should be just as concerned for the protection of God’s saints from evil. So scripture tells us, “he was marvellously helped till he became strong” (v.15).
FAILURE BECAUSE OF HIS OWN STRENGTH
(vv.16-23)
How tragically sad was the abrupt fall of Uzziah from his place of power and dignity to one of disgrace and shame! His strength became his downfall. Though God had marvellously helped him, he forgot that it was God’s help that made him strong, and he succumbed to his own pride. Did he not have the Word of God to tell him that only the priests of Aaron’s line could enter into the sanctuary of the temple to burn incense? Yet he boldly entered there to burn incense (v.16).
Azariah, the high priest, and 80 other priests immediately followed Uzziah and faced him with the guilt of his action, ordering him out of the sanctuary (vv.17-18). If he had immediately humbled himself and left, he might have spared himself from the sudden infliction of leprosy, but he became furious. Since he was king, he no doubt felt insulted by their reproof. However, God immediately intervened by inflicting Uzziah with leprosy in his forehead. When the priests saw this they pushed him out of the place. In fact, he himself recognised he must leave because it was evident the Lord had brought this terrible judgment on him (v.20).
There was no reversing of this as there had been in the case of Miriam (Num 12:10-15), and Uzziah was isolated for the rest of his life, no longer able to act in a kingly capacity, nor to have anything to do with the temple. His son Jotham took his place as king. How long he lived following his leprosy outbreak we are not told, but at his death he was buried among his fathers, a recognition at least of his former faithfulness.
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
26:1 Then all the people of Judah took {a} Uzziah, who [was] sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah.
(a) Called also Azariah.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
J. Uzziah ch. 26
The Chronicler gave us much more information about Uzziah than we have in Kings (2Ki 15:1-7). Uzziah ("Yahweh is strong") was evidently the king’s throne name, and Azariah ("Yahweh helps") his personal name.
Uzziah, as his father, began well but ended poorly. The writer documented his fidelity to Yahweh and God’s consequent blessing of him and his kingdom at length (2Ch 26:1-15). Perhaps 2Ch 26:5 summarizes this best. To seek the Lord meant to seek to please Him by trusting and obeying Him.
Unfortunately, Uzziah took personal credit for what God had given him (2Ch 26:16). The writer noted several times that Uzziah was strong (2Ch 26:8; 2Ch 26:15-16). His pride led to self-exaltation; he put himself above God.
"If he had only remembered the message of his names, that he was powerful because of the Lord’s help, he would not have fallen." [Note: Thompson, p. 330.]
The Mosaic Law permitted only the priests to offer incense in the temple (Exo 30:1-10; Num 3:10; Num 3:38; Num 16:40; Num 18:1-7). The Davidic kings could offer sacrifices on the bronze altar in the temple courtyard, as could the ordinary Israelites. But Uzziah’s presumptuous act of offering incense in the holy place manifested rebellion against God’s will. For this reason God struck him with leprosy (2Ch 26:19). [Note: See E. V. Hulse, "The Nature of Biblical Leprosy," Palestine Exploration Quarterly 107 (1975):87-105.]
"He had not been one of the weak kings of Judah who was easily swayed by others (like Jehoshaphat) or too open and accommodating with the leaders in the north. But as is often the case with strong leaders, this virtue gave way to a headstrong, I-can-do-no-wrong attitude. It was precisely his strength that blinded him to the effrontery of his action." [Note: Thompson, p. 331.]
Uzziah’s leprosy meant he could no longer enjoy personal worship at the temple (2Ch 26:21). Rather than caring for the temple and building it up as God had said David’s son would do, Uzziah could not even enter its courtyard. The king’s leprosy was an outward evidence of his inward uncleanness (cf. Isa 6:5).
Uzziah’s reign was the third in a "royal trilogy" of kings who began well but ended poorly: Joash, Amaziah, and Uzziah. Their histories show the reader how difficult, yet how important, it is to hold the confidence of right standing with God that we have at the beginning of our lives firm until the end (Heb 3:14). [Note: Allen, p. 345.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
UZZIAH, JOTHAM, AND AHAZ
2Ch 26:1-23; 2Ch 27:1-9; 2Ch 28:1-27
AFTER the assassination of Amaziah, all the people of Judah took his son Uzziah, a lad of sixteen, called in the book of Kings Azariah, and made him king. The chronicler borrows from the older narrative the statement that “Uzziah did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that his father Amaziah had done.” In the light of the sins attributed both to Amaziah and Uzziah in Chronicles, this is a somewhat doubtful compliment. Sarcasm, however, is not one of the chroniclers failings; he simply allows the older history to speak for itself, and leaves the reader to combine its judgment with the statement of later tradition as best he can. But yet we might modify this verse, and read that Uzziah did good and evil, prospered and fell into misfortune, according to all that his father Amaziah had done, or an even closer parallel might be drawn between what Uzziah did and suffered and the chequered character and fortunes of Joash.
Though much older than the latter, at his accession Uzziah was young enough to be very much under the control of ministers and advisers; and as Joash was trained in loyalty to Jehovah by the high-priest Jehoiada, so Uzziah “set himself to seek God during the life-time” of a certain prophet, who, like the son of Jehoiada, was named Zechariah, “who had understanding or gave instruction in the fear of Jehovah,” i.e., a man versed in sacred learning, rich in spiritual experience, and able to communicate his knowledge, such a one as Ezra the scribe in later days.
Under the guidance of this otherwise unknown prophet, the young king was led to conform his private life and public administration to the will of God. In “seeking God,” Uzziah would be careful to maintain and attend the Temple services, to honor the priests of Jehovah and make due provision for their wants; and “as long as he sought Jehovah God gave him prosperity.”
Uzziah received all the rewards usually bestowed, upon pious kings: he was victorious in war and exacted tribute from neighboring states; he built fortresses, and had abundance of cattle and slaves, a large and well-equipped army, and well-supplied arsenals. Like other powerful kings of Judah, he asserted his supremacy over the tribes along the southern frontier of his kingdom. God helped him against the Philistines, the Arabians of Gur-baal, and the Meunim. He destroyed the fortifications of Gath, Jabne, and Ashdod, and built forts of his own in the country of the Philistines. Nothing is known about Gur-baal; but the Arabian allies of the Philistines would be, like Jehorams enemies “the Arabians who dwelt near the Ethiopians,” nomads of the deserts south of Judah. These Philistines and Arabians had brought tribute to Jehoshaphat without waiting to be subdued by his armies; so now the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah, and his name spread abroad “even to the entering in of Egypt,” possibly a hundred or even a hundred and fifty miles from Jerusalem. It is evident that the chroniclers ideas of international politics were of very modest dimensions.
Moreover, Uzziah added to the fortifications of Jerusalem; and because he loved husbandry and had cattle, and husbandmen, and vine-dressers in the open country and outlying districts of Judah, he built towers for their protection. His army was of about the same strength as that of Amaziah, three hundred thousand men, so that in this, as in his character and exploits, he did according to all that his father had done, except that he was content with his own Jewish warriors and did not waste his talents in purchasing worse than useless reinforcements from Israel. Uzziahs army was well disciplined, carefully organized, and constantly employed; they were men of mighty power, and went out to war by bands, to collect the kings tribute and enlarge his dominions and revenue by new conquests. The war material in his arsenals is described at greater length than that of any previous king: shields, spears, helmets, coats of mail, bows, and stones for slings. The great advance of military science in Uzziahs reign was marked by the invention of engines of war for the defense of Jerusalem; some, like the Roman catapulta, were for arrows, and others, like the ballista, to hurl huge stones. Though the Assyrian sculptures show us that battering-rams were freely employed by them against the walls of Jewish cities, {Cf. Eze 26:9} and the ballista is said by Pliny to have been invented in Syria, no other Hebrew king is credited with the possession of this primitive artillery. The chronicler or his authority seems profoundly impressed by the great skill displayed in this invention; in describing it, he uses the root hashabh, to devise, three times in three consecutive words. The engines were “hishshe-bhonoth mahashebheth hoshebh”-“engines engineered by the ingenious.” Jehovah not only provided Uzziah with ample military resources of every kind, but also blessed the means which He Himself had furnished; Uzziah “was marvelously helped, till he was strong, and his name spread far abroad.” The neighboring states heard with admiration of his military resources.
The student of Chronicles will by this time be prepared for the invariable sequel to God-given prosperity. Like David, Rehoboam, Asa, and Amaziah, when Uzziah “was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction.” The most powerful of the kings of Judah died a leper. An attack of leprosy admitted of only one explanation: it was a plague inflicted by Jehovah Himself as the punishment of sin; and so the book of Kings tells us that “Jehovah smote the king,” but says nothing about the sin thus punished. The chronicler was able to supply the omission: Uzziah had dared to go into the Temple and with irregular zeal to burn incense on the altar of incense. In so doing, he was violating the Law, which made the priestly office and all priestly functions the exclusive prerogative of the house of Aaron and denounced the penalty of death against any one who usurped priestly functions. {Num 18:7; Exo 30:7} But Uzziah was not allowed to carry out his unholy design; the high-priest Azariah went in after him with eighty stalwart colleagues, rebuked his presumption, and bade him leave the sanctuary. Uzziah was no more tractable to the admonitions of the priest than Asa and Amaziah had been to those of the prophets. The kings of Judah were accustomed, even in Chronicles, to exercise an unchallenged control over the Temple and to regard the high-priests very much in the light of private chaplains. Uzziah was wroth: he was at the zenith of his power and glory; his heart was lifted up. Who were these priests, that they should stand between him and Jehovah and dare to publicly check and rebuke him in his own temple? Henry IIs feelings towards Becket must have been mild compared to those of Uzziah towards Azariah, who, if the king could have had his way, would doubtless have shared the fate of Zechariah the son of Jehoiada. But a direct intervention of Jehovah protected the priests, and preserved Uzziah from further sacrilege. While his features were convulsed with anger, leprosy brake forth in his forehead. The contest between king and priest was at once ended; the priests thrust him out, and he himself hasted to go, recognizing that Jehovah had smitten him. Henceforth he lived apart, cut off from fellowship alike with man and God, and his son Jotham governed in his stead. The book of Kings simply makes the general statement that Uzziah was buried with his fathers in the city of David; but the chronicler is anxious that his readers should not suppose that the tombs of the sacred house of David were polluted by the presence of a leprous corpse: the explains that the leper was buried, not in the royal sepulcher, but in the field attached to it.
The moral of this incident is obvious. In attempting to understand its significance, we need not trouble ourselves about the relative authority of kings and priests; the principle vindicated by the punishment of Uzziah was the simple duty of obedience to an express command of Jehovah. However trivial the burning of incense may be in itself, it formed part of an elaborate and complicated system of ritual. To interfere with the Divine ordinances in one detail would mar the significance and impressiveness of the whole Temple service. One arbitrary innovation would be a precedent for others, and would constitute a serious danger for a system whose value lay in continuous uniformity. Moreover, Uzziah was stubborn in disobedience. His attempt to burn incense might have been sufficiently punished by the public and humiliating reproof of the high-priest. His leprosy came upon him because, when thwarted in an unholy purpose, he gave way to ungoverned passion.
In its consequences we see a practical application of the lessons of the incident. How often is the sinner only provoked to greater wickedness by the obstacles which Divine grace opposes to his wrong-doing! How few men will tolerate the suggestion that their intentions are cruel, selfish, or dishonorable! Remonstrance is an insult, an offence against their personal dignity; they feel that their self-respect demands that they should persevere in their purpose, and that they should resent and punish any one who has tried to thwart them. Uzziahs wrath was perfectly natural; few men have been so uniformly patient of reproof as not sometimes to have turned in anger upon those who warned them against sin. The most dramatic feature of this episode, the sudden frost of leprosy in the kings forehead, is not without its spiritual antitype. Mens anger at well-merited reproof has often blighted their lives once for all with ineradicable moral leprosy. In the madness of passion they have broken bonds which have hitherto restrained them and committed themselves beyond recall to evil pursuits and fatal friendships. Let us take the most lenient view of Uzziahs conduct, and suppose that he believed himself entitled to offer incense; he could not doubt that the priests were equally confident that Jehovah had enjoined the duty on them, and them alone. Such a question was not to be decided by violence, in the heat of personal bitterness. Azariah himself had been unwisely zealous in bringing in his eighty priests; Jehovah showed him that they were quite unnecessary, because at the last Uzziah “himself hasted to go out.” When personal passion and jealousy are eliminated from Christian polemics, the Church will be able to write the epitaph of the odium theologicum.
Uzziah was succeeded by Jotham, who had already governed for some time as regent. In recording the favorable judgment of the book of Kings, “He did that which was right in the eyes of Jehovah, according to all that his father Uzziah had done,” the chronicler is careful to add, “Howbeit he entered not into the temple of Jehovah”; the exclusive privilege of the house of Aaron had been established once for all. The story of Jothams reign comes like a quiet and pleasant oasis in the chroniclers dreary narrative of wicked rulers, interspersed with pious kings whose piety failed them in their latter days. Jotham shares with Solomon the distinguished honor of being a king of whom no evil is recorded either in Kings or Chronicles, and who died in prosperity, at peace with Jehovah. At the same time it is probable that Jotham owes the blameless character he bears in Chronicles to the fact that the earlier narrative does not mention any misfortunes of his, especially any misfortune towards the close of his life. Otherwise the theological school from whom the chronicler derived, his later traditions would have been anxious to discover or deduce some sin to account for such misfortune. At the end of the short notice of his reign, between two parts of the usual closing formula, an editor of the book of Kings has inserted the statement that “in those days Jehovah began to send against Judah Rezin the king of Syria and Pekah the son of Remaliah.” This verse the chronicler has omitted; neither the date nor the nature of this trouble was clear enough to cast any slur upon the character of Jotham.
Jotham, again, had the rewards of a pious king: he added a gate to the Temple, and strengthened the wall of Ophel, and built cities and castles in Judah; he made successful war upon Ammon, and received from them an immense tribute-a hundred talents of silver, ten thousand measures of wheat, and as much barley-for three successive years. What happened afterwards we are not told. It has been suggested that the amounts mentioned were paid in three yearly installments, or that the three years were at the end of the reign, and the tribute came to an end when Jotham died or when the troubles with Pekah and Rezin began.
We have had repeated occasion to notice that in his accounts of the good kings the chronicler almost always omits the qualifying clause to the effect that they did not take away the high places. He does so here but, contrary to his usual practice, he inserts a qualifying clause of his own: “The people did yet corruptly.” He probably had in view the unmitigated wickedness of the following reign, and was glad to retain the evidence that Ahaz found encouragement and support in his idolatry; he is careful however, to state the fact so that no shadow of blame falls upon Jotham.
The life of Ahaz has been dealt with elsewhere. Here we need merely repeat that for the sixteen years of his reign Judah was to all appearance utterly given over to every form of idolatry, and was oppressed and brought low by Israel, Syria, and Assyria.