Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 2 Kings 15:5
And the LORD smote the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house. And Jotham the king’s son [was] over the house, judging the people of the land.
5. And the Lord smote the king, so that he was a leper ] The more political history in Kings tells us nothing about the reason why Azariah was smitten. The Chronicler however says that the king’s successes caused his heart to be lifted up, and he presumed to go into the temple, and to take upon him the priest’s office of burning incense. He was withstood by the priest (also called Azariah) and by fourscore other priests, but in his anger he persisted, and then it was that the leprosy rose up in his forehead. Whereupon he hasted to go forth from the temple because the Lord had smitten him.
and dwelt in a several house ] The noun here is connected with the adjective that signifies ‘free’ and which is used of manumitted slaves. It has been suggested that the meaning here is that the place was one where those lived who could no longer mix with their fellows, and take part in the ordinary business of life. But in that case the building would be a public one or it would not have been so called. It appears therefore better to consider that the house was ‘free’ in the sense of ‘standing apart’, not mixed up among other dwellings. It was perhaps some place in the country to which the king confined himself after the disease had broken out upon him. The R.V. gives ‘lazar-house’ on the margin, but we must not suppose that the king went into a home devoted to such sufferers. He would live alone. The LXX. makes a sort of transliteration of the word but does not translate. The Vulgate has in domo libera seorsum.
For the English word ‘several’ in the sense of ‘separate’, cf. Pilkington’s Works ( Parker Society) p. 64 where the author speaks of people ‘buried not in hallowed churchyards by any bishops, but in a several place appointed for the same purpose without the city’, and further down on the same page he describes a burial-ground as ‘an honest place to be kept several from beasts and unreverent using the same’.
the king’s son was over the house ] R.V. household. From 1Ki 4:6 where Ahishar is spoken of as being over Solomon’s household, and 2Ki 19:2 where the same office is assigned to Eliakim in the time of Hezekiah, it is clear that the post was one of great dignity, but it was in no way connected with a regency. Eliakim is mentioned as the most prominent person among those who were sent to confer with Rabshakeh, and to consult the prophet Isaiah, but the duties he performed were those of a subject. And though Jotham is here said to have judged the people of the land, we cannot from this conclude that he was joint ruler with his father.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
The Lord smote the king, so that he was a leper – The circumstances under which this terrible affliction befel one of the greatest of the Jewish kings, are given at some length by the author of Chronicles (marginal reference), who supplies us with a tolerably full account of this important reign, which the writer of Kings dismisses in half-a-dozen verses.
A several house – A house of liberation, or, freedom. On the necessity, under which the Law placed lepers, of living apart from other men, see marginal reference Jotham became regent in his fathers room, and exercised the functions of judge (1Ki 3:9 note), from the time that his father became a leper.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
2Ki 15:5
And the Lord smote the King.
Familiarity with religious things
1. The character and conduct of King Uzziah are very full of instruction. His life was marked by one fault, and by one signal act of punishment from God. His fault was the offering sacrifice, that which only the priest might do; and his punishment a leprosy, inflicted on him by the word of a priest on his persevering in his fault. This is the more remarkable as he is on the whole described as a good character. One notable circumstance is, that in the Book of Kings he goes by the name of Azariah, and is there also described as a good king, and all that we are told is that he died a leper, having dwelt in a several house until the day of his death. He made constant reference to Zachariah the prophet, and we are told, as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper. He made war on Philistia, and prospered. Again, we are told that God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabians. Having come back, he built towers in the desert, and he had much cattle. It appears that in his campaigns he won a high name for courage. He transgressed against God by going into the temple and offering incense on the altar. The priest went in after him with fourscore other priests–all valiant men; and they withstood Uzziah, saying, It appertaineth not to thee, O Uzziah, to burn it. Uzziah, having a censer in his hand, was wroth; and while angry, holding the censer in his hand, the leprosy rose up into his forehead, and the priests thrust him forcibly out; and he himself hasted to go out, because the Lord had smitten him.
2. It seems clear that Uzziah was a man whose life throughout, until the finishing act of it, was in conformity to Gods will, and blessed with Gods mercy. That crowning act of his life–the offering the incense, we are told, was the result of a presumptuous spirit brought on by the success of his life. But while this cause is assigned for the fault, and the fault is mentioned to explain the punishment in the Book of Chronicles, in the Book of Kings the punishment only is mentioned; and we are simply told that the Lord smote the king till he was a leper; and that he dwelt in a several house; so that any one reading the account in this book, without referring to Chronicles, would be in the dark as to the motive of the Almighty in afflicting the king. We must refer to one portion of Gods counsels to understand the other. The light shed from one page of His will, will irradiate and explain that which hitherto may have appeared to be obscure; and how often is this the case in daily life!
3. And this leads us to consider that particular form of sin in King Uzziah which called out the vengeance of God, and which developed itself into so singular an act, and one, at first sight, so little in keeping with the former portions of his life. His early career was one of a good and religious man, blessed by God with prosperity on that account. Trusting to his success as a sign not only of Gods favour, but of his own moral security, he became inflated with pride and self-sufficiency, and his temptation was to fall into that very sin, so natural to those who, having once been earnest or sincere in their religion, have by degrees familiarised themselves with it; so that they think they may play with it as a bauble, or use its influence to serve their own ends, and, like Uzziah, thrust themselves into the very office of the priest, by a profane and irreverent handling of holy things. This familiarity with the things of religion is the natural result of that precocity of spiritual knowledge which belongs to many. It ends in more than one false condition of mind. Familiarity itself quickly shades off into irreverence, pride and self-sufficiency, and independence of those means of grace and elevated helps to the religious life which are so inseparably mixed up with the life of the earnest Christian. Into these faults Uzziah fell. A disposition of independence, which his seems to have been, would naturally lead him to think very much for himself in things religious; and thinking for himself would naturally lead him to too subjective a view of religion generally.
4. There are many forms which this particular error takes that come before our eye–familiarity with holy things and holy names, which look upon reserve with the same eye as they look on hypocrisy, and on reverence with the same feeling with which they regard superstition. Many sad conditions result from this so great a familiarity of treatment of the external objects of religion, that, by degrees, such men lose sight of objective religion altogether, and blend it into themselves. In the realms of faith, where the shadowy forms which pass before the minds eye are matters of apprehension more to the mind than to the sense, there is ever a danger of our ignoring the separate existence of those forms, making them after all but the idols of our own creation. The attitude necessary towards those objects is one of reverence and reserved delicacy. The forms of the unseen world are in themselves to our eye infinitely fine; the rude touch, the over-curious gaze, may dissipate them as far as our perception of them goes. So that some have dealt with the Second blessed Person of the Trinity, till they have denied His Divinity, and with the Holy Spirit until they have denied His Personality. With an unauthorised touch they have entered the holiest place, and dared to intrude upon scenes for which they have neither warrant nor commission. Another end in which this kind of spirit results is, very naturally, pride and self-sufficiency. In proportion as we melt off the outlines of the objects of our creed, we lower our estimation of them; and in proportion as they are made parts only of our own interior self, we by degrees find nothing on which we can place reliance, save on our own opinion or personal energy. It is to this condition of mind that our familiarity with religious subjects will judicially bring us, and those whose intentions were best, may in this life have to bewail Uzziahs end. (E. Monro.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 5. The Lord smote the king, so that he was a leper] The reason of this plague is well told in the above quoted chapter, 2Ch 26:16. That his heart being elated, he went into the temple to burn incense upon the altar, assuming to himself the functions of the high priest; that Azariah the priest, with fourscore others, went in after him, to prevent him; and that while they were remonstrating against his conduct, the Lord struck him with the leprosy, which immediately appeared on his forehead; that they thrust him out as an unclean person; and that he himself hurried to get out, feeling that the Lord had smitten him; that he was obliged to dwell in a house by himself, being leprous, to the day of his death; and that during this time the affairs of the kingdom were administered by his son Jotham. A poet, ridiculing the conduct of those who, without an episcopal ordination, think they have authority from God to dispense all the ordinances of the Church, expresses himself thus: –
But now the warm enthusiast cries,
The office to myself I take;
Offering the Christian sacrifice,
Myself a lawful priest I make:
To me this honour appertains,
No need of man when GOD ordains.
[Some go into the contrary extreme, and in affect say, no need of GOD when MAN ordains.]
Though kings may not so far presume,
“Tis no presumption in a clown,
And, lo, without a call from Rome,
My flail or hammer I lay down;
And if my order’s name ye seek,
Come, see a new Melchisedek!
Ye upstart (men-made) priests, your sentence know,
The marks you can no longer hide;
Your daring deeds too plainly show
The loathsome leprosy of pride;
And if ye still your crime deny,
Who lepers live shall lepers die.
CHARLES WESLEY.
This is very severe, but applies to every man who, through pride, presumption, or the desire of gain, enters into the priest’s office, though he have the utmost authority that the highest ecclesiastical officer can confer.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
He was a leper; the cause whereof see 2Ch 26:16.
Dwelt in a several house; separated from conversation with others by virtue of that law, Lev 13:46, which being the law of the King of kings, bound kings no less than subjects.
Over the house, judging the people of the land, i.e. he governed the kings court and whole kingdom, in his name, and as his vicegerent.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And the Lord smote the king,…. With leprosy; the reason of it was, because he intruded into the priest’s office, and went into the temple to burn incense on the altar of incense, 2Ch 26:19,
so that he was a leper unto the day of his death; but how long it was to it from his being smitten cannot be said with certainty; Dr. Lightfoot l thinks he died the same year he was smitten:
and dwelt in a several house: without Jerusalem, as the Targum; for lepers, according to the law, were to dwell separate without the camp or city, Le 13:46 the word for “several” signifies “free” m; here he lived alone, free from the company and conversation of men, free from the business of government, his son doing that for him, and in the country, where he might freely walk about, as lepers did, and take the air; the Jews say n, his house was among the graves, where he was free among the dead, as the phrase is, Ps 88:5, but not likely; much better is what Abendana observes from R. Jonah, that the word, in the Arabic o language, signifies a little house, and so this might be in which he dwelt out of the city, in comparison of his palace:
and Jotham the king’s son was over the house; had the direction of the palace, and the management of all affairs in it:
judging the people of the land; administering justice in all cases, for which they came to him, and so filled up his father’s place; he did not depose his father, nor take upon him to be king, only did the business of one.
l Works, vol. 1. p. 99. m “in domo libero”, V. L. Tigurine version, &c. n T. Hieros. apud Jarchium in loc. o “in exiqua domo resedit assidue”, Castel. Lexic. col. 1345.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Uzziah’s Temple Trespass Commentary on 2Ki 15:5-7 AND 2Ch 26:16-23
Uzziah is one of the most exact examples of the warning, “Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall” (Pro 16:18), to be found in the Scriptures. The Lord had been very good to Uzziah. He had followed the good counsel of Zechariah and had been “marvelously strengthened.” His foreign affairs had turned out to great advantage for Judah; domestic programs brought him satisfaction; and his defense measures seemed adequate. In fact, the Lord’s blessings had been so evident in his life Uzziah seems to have concluded that he could approach the Lord directly, without an intercessor.
Uzziah’s intent was to offer incense on the incense altar, which was kept inside the sanctuary just outside the Holy of Holies. Only priests were to offer the incense, and no one save they were to enter those sacred precincts where it was. God has only one way of approach to Him, and men cannot force themselves some other way upon Him (2Ti 2:5; Joh 10:9). The priests were fulfilling their mediatorial office in Uzziah’s day. Nevertheless the king came with his censer determined to burn incense on the Lord’s altar like the pagan worshippers did to their gods on the mountains of Judah.
Azariah the high priest, with eight others, followed the king into the temple, seeking to prevent him. They warned him that the office of the priest could not be performed even by the king, but that the Lord had given that office to the descendants of Aaron (See Numbers, chapters 16,17, for the example of Korah and his followers who sought to press themselves into the priesthood). King Uzziah became very angry at this attempt to stop him from his intent. As he stood there, angry and defiant of priests and of God, leprosy suddenly broke out on his forehead. Seeing this the priests sought to force Uzziah out. But it was no longer necessary, for the king himself realized that he was stricken, and hurried outside. It is very sad that people will persist against the Lord’s will until He must strike them down in some physical way that they may recognize their error (cf. Act 12:23).
Uzziah never recovered from the leprosy which struck him. His life was doubtless shortened, his illustrious rulership was abruptly ended, and he could no longer as much as attend the- worship at the temple, all because he persisted in his desire without consideration of the Lord’s will. He was given a “several” (separate) house to live in, quarantined as a leper, according to the law he had sought to set aside. His son, Jotham, had to assume the rule of Judah. When he died Uzziah was allowed burial with his fathers, but not in their tombs, because he was a leper. The Prophet Isaiah kept an account of Uzziah’s reign, but it is no longer extant, not being a part of his inspired writings. Uzziah had failed, at last, to keep before him the real priestly Intercessor (Heb 7:14-17).
Learn these pertinent lessons: 1) one person for God can bring great blessings to others who follow his example; 2) God will bless all the ways of those who seek Him; 3) it is too easy for even believers to revel in the Lord’s good things and forget the One who gave them; 4) none ever become so exalted in Christian service not to be liable to some shameful failure which will ruin their testimony for Christ.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(5) And the Lord smote the king.The chronicler relates the reasonviz., because of his usurpation of priestly functions in the sanctuary. This happened towards the end of the reign. Jotham, the regent, was only twenty-five when Azariah died (2Ki. 15:33).
Smote.Or, struck. So we speak of a paralytic stroke, and the word plague literally means stroke.
In a several house.Rather, in the sickhouse (or, hospital)i.e., a royal residence outside of Jerusalem (Lev. 13:46; 2Ki. 7:3) set apart for such cases. (Strictly, in the house of freedom; because lepers were emancipated from all social relations and duties. Gesenius explains the word from an Arabic root said to mean prostration, weakness; but Lane gives for that term the special meaning smallness (or, narrowness) of the eye; weakness of sight. See his Arabic Lexicon, Bk. I., Pt. II., p. 772.
Over the house.Not apparently as prefect of the palace (comp. 1Ki. 4:6; 1Ki. 18:3), but as dwelling in the palace instead of his father.
Judging the people of the land.As his fathers representative. (Comp. 1Sa. 8:6; 1Sa. 8:20; 1Ki. 3:9.)
This passage is strong evidence against the assumption of joint sovereignties of princes with their fathers, so often made by way of escaping chronological difficulties in Hebrew history. Jotham is not co-regent but viceroy of Azariah until the latter dies.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
5. The Lord smote the king For burning incense, and thereby usurping priestly functions. See in Chronicles.
A several house Some explain this a free house, or house of liberation; meaning a house for those who were dismissed from the Lord’s service, and so dishonourably free; or, according to others, free from the society of men. But Gesenius and Furst explain it as a house of sickness; that is, an infirmary or hospital.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
2Ki 15:5. And the Lord smote the king See on 2Ch 26:19. In a several house, is rendered by Houbigant, a separate or remote house.
REFLECTIONS.Azariah began young to reign, and sat very long upon the throne of Judah; and, like his immediate ancestors, his first days were his best. The common fault of the high places remained, and for daring to intrude into the priest’s office, he was struck with leprosy, secluded from society till his death, and Jotham his son administered in his room, as viceroy, the affairs of the kingdom. Note; (1.) Those who walk in pride, God is able to abase. (2.) One stroke of disease can make the mightiest monarch loathsome to others, and a burden to himself. (3.) God, when he has pardoned the guilt of our sins, may yet correct us long with temporal afflictions, and bring us under them even to the grave.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
2Ki 15:5 And the LORD smote the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house. And Jotham the king’s son [was] over the house, judging the people of the land.
Ver. 5. And the Lord smote the king. ] For his arrogancy and impudency in invading the priest’s office; God spat in his face, that he might be ashamed and humbled, and that others might be warned.
And Jotham the king’s son was over the house, &c.] He did not thrust out his father: but ruled all as his substitute. This was some comfort to the diseased king.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
the LORD smote = Jehovah smote. Chronicles comes in here to explain why. See 2Ch 26:16-21, and note on “Kings” in title of 1 Kings (p. 447).
a leper. One of nine afflicted with leprosy. See note on Exo 4:6. No reason is given here, but it is given in Chronicles according to the object of the latter book. See note above.
several house = a lazar house. See note on 2Ki 15:7.
over the house, or palace: i.e. the king’s house, as regent or co-regent.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
am 3239-3246, bc 765-758
the Lord: 2Sa 3:29, 2Ch 26:16-20, Job 34:19
so that: 2Ki 5:27, Num 12:10
and dwelt: 2Ki 7:3, Lev 13:46, Num 12:14, Deu 24:8
Jotham: 2Ch 26:21, 2Ch 26:23
judging: 2Sa 8:15, 2Sa 15:2-4, 1Ki 3:9, 1Ki 3:28, Psa 72:1
Reciprocal: 1Sa 25:38 – the Lord 2Sa 12:15 – struck the child 1Ch 3:12 – Jotham 1Ch 5:17 – Jotham Mat 8:2 – a leper Mar 1:40 – a leper
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
2Ki 15:5. The Lord smote the king, so that he was a leper The cause of this stroke is related at large, 2Ch 26:16-21. And dwelt in a several house Separated from conversation with others by virtue of the law, recorded Lev 13:46, which, being the law of the King of kings, bound kings no less than subjects. The Jews, by the term several house, understand a house in the country; where he might have liberty to take his pleasure, but not to meddle with public affairs. Jotham, the kings son, was over the house, &c. That is, he lived in the palace, and managed all the affairs of the court and of the kingdom, governing in his fathers name as his vicegerent. It was in the twenty-seventh year of Azariahs reign that he was smitten with the leprosy, and he continued a leper twenty-five years, during which time Jotham administered the government, his father being incapable of it.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
15:5 And the LORD {b} smote the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house. And Jotham the king’s son [was] over the house, {c} judging the people of the land.
(b) His father and grandfather were slain by their subjects and servants, and he because he would usurp the priest’s office contrary to God’s ordinance was smitten immediately by the hand of God with the leprosy, 2Ch 26:21.
(c) As viceroy or deputy to his father.