2 Chronicles 26:16-19 sits inside this longer paragraph.
16But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up, so that he did corruptly, and he trespassed against Yahweh his God; for he went into Yahweh’s temple to burn incense on the altar of incense. 17Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him eighty priests of Yahweh, who were valiant men. 18They resisted Uzziah the king, and said to him, “It isn’t for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to Yahweh, but for the priests the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have trespassed. It will not be for your honor from Yahweh God.”
19Then Uzziah was angry. He had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and while he was angry with the priests, the leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in Yahweh’s house, beside the altar of incense. 20Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked at him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out quickly from there. Yes, he himself also hurried to go out, because Yahweh had struck him. 21Uzziah the king was a leper to the day of his death, and lived in a separate house, being a leper; for he was cut off from Yahweh’s house. Jotham his son was over the king’s house, judging the people of the land. 22Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, wrote. 23So 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.” Jotham his son reigned in his place.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv16, 18 Thus prosperity causeth men to trust in themselves, and…
Thus prosperity causeth men to trust in themselves, and by forgetting him which is the author thereof, procure their own perdition.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv16–19 2Ch 26:16 But when he was strong, his heart…
2Ch 26:16 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.
Ver. 16. But when he was strong.] See on 2Ch 26:15.
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And went into the temple of the Lord.] Where none might come but priests. Perhaps he affected to be, as the kings of the heathens were, high priests also. His "pride," as a great swelling, "budded" {Eze 7:10} and broke out into so many sores of ambition, presumption, pragmaticalness, pertinacy, &c., till it had undone him; so that on his tomb might well have been written, as was upon Funccius the chronologer’s by his own appointment,
“ Disce meo exemplo propriis intendere rebus:
Et fuge ceu pestem την πολυπραγμοσυνην.”
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv16, 18, 19 But when he was strong; when he was strengthened…
But when he was strong; when he was strengthened in his kingdom, and free from the fear of any enemy.
Into the temple of the Lord; into the holy place, where the altar of incense stood, and into which none but the priests might enter, much less offer incense.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v16 Here is the only blot we find on the…
Here is the only blot we find on the name of king Uzziah, and it is such a one as lies not on any other of the kings. Whoredom, murder, oppression, persecution, and especially idolatry, gave characters to the bad kings and some of them blemishes to the good ones, David himself not excepted, witness the matter of Uriah. But we find not Uzziah charged with any of these; and yet he transgressed against the Lord his God, and fell under the marks of his displeasure in consequence, not, as other kings, in vexatious wars or rebellions, but an incurable disease.
I. His sin was invading the priest's office. The good way is one; by-paths are many. The transgression of his predecessors was forsaking the temple of the Lord, flying off from it (Ch2 24:18), and burning incense upon idolatrous altars, Ch2 25:14. His was intruding into the temple of the Lord further than was allowed him, and attempting him to burn incense upon the altar of God, for which, it is likely, he pretended an extraordinary zeal and affection. See how hard it is to avoid one extreme and not run into another.
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1. That which was at the bottom of his sin was pride of heart, a lust that ruins more than any other whatsoever (Ch2 26:16): When he was strong (and he was marvellously helped by the good providence of God till he was so, Ch2 26:15), when he had grown very great and considerable in wealth, interest, and power, instead of lifting up the name of God in gratitude to him who had done so much for him, his heart was lifted up to his destruction. Thus the prosperity of fools, by puffing them up with pride, destroys them. Now that he had done so much business, and won so much honour, he began to think no business, no honour, too great or too good for him, no, not that of the priesthood Men's pretending to forbidden knowledge, and exercising themselves in things too high for them, are owing to the pride of their heart, and the fleshly mind they are vainly puffed up with.
2. His sin was going into the temple of the Lord to burn incense, probably on some solemn feast day, or when he himself had some special occasion for supplicating the divine favour. What could move him to this piece of presumption, or put it into his head, I cannot conjecture. None of all his predecessors, not the best, not the worst, attempted it. The law, he knew, was express against him, and there was no usage or precedent for him. He could not pretend any necessity, as there was for David's eating the show-bread. (1.) Perhaps he fancied the priests did not do their office so dexterously, decently, and devoutly, as they ought, and he could do it better. Or, (2.) He observed that the idolatrous kings did themselves burn incense at the altars of their gods; his father did so, and Jeroboam (Kg1 13:1), an ambition of which honour was perhaps one thing that tempted them from the house of God, where it was not permitted them; and he, being resolved to cleave to God's altar, would try to break through this restraint and come as near it as the idolatrous kings did to their altars. But it is called a transgression against the Lord his God. He was not content with the honours God had put upon him, but would usurp those that were forbidden him, like our first parents.
3. He was opposed in this attempt by the chief priest and other priests that attended and assisted him, Ch2 26:17, Ch2 26:18. They were ready to burn incense for the king, according to the duty of their place; but, when he offered to do it himself, they plainly let him know that he meddled with that which did not belong to him, and that it was at his peril. They did not resist him by laying violent hands on him, though they were valiant men, but by reasoning with him and showing him, (1.) That it was not lawful for him to burn incense: "It appertaineth not to thee, O Uzziah! but to the priests, whose birthright it is, as sons of Aaron, and who are consecrated to the service." Aaron and his sons were appointed by the law to burn incense, Exo 30:7. See Deu 33:10; Ch1 23:13. David had blessed the people and Solomon and Jehoshaphat had prayed with them and preached to them. Uzziah might have done this, and it would have been to his praise; but as for burning incense, that service was to be performed by the priests only. The kingly and priestly offices were separated by the law of Moses, not to be united again but in the person of the Messiah. If Uzziah did intend to honour God, and gain acceptance with him, in what he did, he was quite out in his aim; for, being a service purely of divine institution, he could not expect it should be accepted unless it were done in the way and by the hands that God had appointed. (2.) That it was not safe. It shall not be for thy honour from the Lord God. More is implied: "It will be thy disgrace, and it is at thy peril." The law runs expressly against all strangers that came nigh (Num 3:10, Num 18:7), that is, all that were not priests. Korah and his accomplices, though Levites, paid dearly for offering to burn incense, which was the work of the priests only, Num 16:35. The incense of our prayers must be by faith put into the hands of our Lord Jesus, the great high priest of our profession, else we cannot expect it should be accepted by God, Rev 8:3.
4. He fell into a passion with the priests that reproved him, and would push forward to do what he intended notwithstanding (Ch2 26:19): Uzziah was wroth, and would not part with the censer out of his hand. He took it ill to be checked, and would not bear interference. Nitimur in vetitum - We are prone to do what is forbidden.
II. His punishment was an incurable leprosy, which rose up in his forehead while he was contending with the priests. If he had submitted to the priests' admonition, acknowledged his error, and gone back, all would have been well; but when he was wroth with the priests, and fell foul upon them, then God was wroth with him and smote him with a plague of leprosy. Josephus says that he threatened the priests with death if they opposed him, and that then the earth shook, the roof of the temple opened, and through the cleft a beam of the sun darted directly upon the king's face, wherein immediately the leprosy appeared. And some conjecture that that was the earthquake in the days of Uzziah which we read of Amo 1:1 and Zac 14:5. Now this sudden stroke, 1. Ended the controversy between him and the priests; for, when the leprosy appeared, they were emboldened to thrust him out of the temple; nay, he himself hasted to go out, because the Lord had smitten him with a disease which was in a particular manner a token of his displeasure, and which he knew secluded him from common converse with men, much more from the altar of God. He would not be convinced by what the priests said, but God took an effectual course to convince him. If presumptuous men will not be made to see their error by the judgments of God's mouth, they shall be made to see it by the judgments of his hand. It evinced some religious fear of God in the heart of this king, even in the midst of his transgression, that, as soon as he found God was angry with him, he not only let fall his attempt, but retired with the utmost precipitation. Though he strove with the priests, he would not strive with his Maker. 2. It remained a lasting punishment of his transgression; for he continued a leper to the day of his death, shut up in confinement, and shut out from society, and forced to leave it to his son to manage all his business, Ch2 26:21. Thus God gave an instance of his resisting the proud and of his jealousy for the purity and honour of his own institutions; thus he gave fair warning even to great and good men to know and keep their distance, and not to intrude into those things which they have not seen; and thus he gave Uzziah a loud and constant call to repentance, and a long space to repent, which we have reason to hope he improved. He had been a man of much business in the world; but being taken off from that, and confined to a separate house, he had leisure to think of another world and prepare for it. By this judgment upon the king God intended to possess the people with a great veneration for the temple, the priesthood, and other sacred things, which they had been apt to think meanly of. While the king was a leper, he was as good as dead, dead while he lived, and buried alive; and so the law was, in effect, answered, that the stranger who cometh nigh shall be put to death. The disgrace survived him; for, when he was dead, they would not bury him in the sepulchres of the kings because he was a leper, which stained all his other glory. 3. It was a punishment that answered the sin as face does face in a glass. (1.) Pride was at the bottom of his transgression, and thus God humbled him and put dishonour upon him. (2.) He invaded the office of the priests in contempt of them, and God struck him with a disease which in a particular manner made him subject to the inspection and sentence of the priests; for to them pertained the judgment of the leprosy, Deu 24:8. (3.) He thrust himself into the temple of God, whither the priests only had admission, and for that was thrust out of the very courts of the temple, into which the meanest of his subjects that was ceremonially clean had free access. (4.) He confronted the priests that faced him and opposed his presumption, and for that the leprosy rose in his forehead, which, in Miriam's case, is compared to her father's spitting in her face, Num 12:14. (5.) He invaded the dignity of the priesthood, which he had no right to, and for that he was deprived even of his royal dignity, which he had a right to. Those that covet forbidden honours forfeit allowed ones. Adam, by catching at the tree of knowledge of which he might not eat, debarred himself from the tree of life, of which he might have eaten. Let all that read it say, The Lord is righteous.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv16–19 And they withstood Uzziah the king,.... They not only…
And they withstood Uzziah the king,.... They not only stood against him, but stood about him, surrounded him, so as to hinder him from approaching the altar of incense:
and said unto him, it appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the Lord; it did not belong to his office as a king, it was no part of it
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but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense; and to them only; for even the Levites might not do it, only those of the tribe of Levi, that descended from Aaron, see Num 16:35,
go out of the sanctuary, for thou hast trespassed; by going into that:
neither shall it be for thine honour from the Lord God; but to his hurt, and be a brand of infamy upon him; for more is designed than is expressed, and as the event showed.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv16, 18, 19 Into Jerusalem - Into the holy place, where the…
Into Jerusalem - Into the holy place, where the altar of incense stood, and into which none but the priests might enter, much less offer incense.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On v16 Verse 16. He transgressed against the Lord] "He sinned…
Verse 16. He transgressed against the Lord] "He sinned against the WORD of the Lord his God." - T.
Went into the temple to burn incense] Thus assuming to himself the priest's office. See this whole transaction explained in the notes on 2Kg 15:5.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv16, 18, 19 2Ch 26:16. When he was strong — Strengthened in…
2Ch 26:16. When he was strong — Strengthened in his kingdom, and free from the fear of any enemy; his heart was lifted up to his destruction — Thus the prosperity of fools, by puffing them up with pride, destroys them. He had done so much business, and attained so much honour, that he began to think no business, no honour too great, or too good for him; no, not that of the priesthood. He went unto the temple of the Lord — Into the holy place, where the altar of incense stood, and into which none but priests might enter, much less offer incense.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On v16 To his destruction - Rather, “to do wickedly.” Uzziah…
To his destruction - Rather, “to do wickedly.” Uzziah appears to have deliberately determined to invade the priest’s office (marginal reference “m”), thus repeating the sin of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram Num. 16:1-35.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv17–19 Azarias. The prophet, who had hitherto kept the king…
Azarias. The prophet, who had hitherto kept the king (H.) within bounds, was now no more, v. 5. T.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v16 HE INVADES THE PRIEST'S OFFICE, AND IS SMITTEN WITH…
HE INVADES THE PRIEST'S OFFICE, AND IS SMITTEN WITH LEPROSY. (Ch2 26:16-21)
he transgressed against the Lord, &c.--(See on Kg2 15:5). This daring and wicked act is in both records traced to the intoxicating influence of overweening pride and vanity. But here the additional circumstances are stated, that his entrance was opposed, and strong remonstrances made (Ch1 6:10) by the high priest, who was accompanied by eighty inferior priests. Rage and threats were the only answers he deigned to return, but God took care to vindicate the sacredness of the priestly office. At the moment the king lifted the censer, He struck him with leprosy. The earthquake mentioned (Amo 1:1) is said to have been felt at the moment [JOSEPHUS].
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv16, 18, 19 16. When he was strong, his heart was lifted…
16. When he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction — His great power, wealth, and fame fostered in him a disposition to feel that nothing was too good for him and nothing was above him. Thus “pride” went “before destruction… a haughty spirit before a fall.”
Went into the temple… to burn incense — “With a lofty feeling of his power, Uzziah wished to make himself high priest of his kingdom, like the kings of Egypt and of other nations.” — Keil. Here was Uzziah’s great sin. It is not mentioned in Kings, though its punishment is mentioned there. Such sacrilege and invasion of the priest’s office demanded the opposition from the priests and the punishment from God, which it so promptly received.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv16–19 16. to his destruction] R.V. so that he did…
16. to his destruction] R.V. so that he did corruptly; cp. 2Ch_27:2 (the same Heb. word).
he transgressed] R.V. trespassed; cp. 2Ch_12:2; Jos_7:1; Jos_22:16. The Heb. word implies presumptuous dealing with holy things.
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the altar of incense] Cp. Exo_30:1-10. Not only the altar, but the incense Itself was “most holy”; ib. Exo_30:34-38.
16–20 (not in Kings). Uzziah’s Presumption
For a discussion of the historical probabilities of this account see the Introduction § 8.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv16–19 (16) But when he was strong.—See 2Ch_26:15, “till he…
(16) But when he was strong.—See 2Ch_26:15, “till he was strong,” and the same phrase, 2Ch_12:1.
His heart was lifted up.—With pride.
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To his destruction.—Rather, even to dealing corruptly (‘ad lehashchîth).
For he transgressed.—And he was unfaithful to Jehovah (1Ch_5:25).
Went into the temple . . . to burn incense.—On the golden altar, in the Holy Place; contrary to the law of Num_18:1-7, Elevated by success, Uzziah appears to have desired to become supreme pontiff as well as king, and to exercise the same dual functions as the Egyptian Pharaohs were wont to do. Some have thought that he merely revived the precedent of David and Solomon; but it can hardly be proved that those monarchs, though represented as organising the priesthood and ritual, and conducting great religious festivals, ever actually performed the distinctive functions of priests. (Comp. the conduct of Saul, 1Sa_13:9, and its consequences.)
UZZIAH’S PRESUMPTION PUNISHED BY LEPROSY HIS DEATH
(2Ch_26:16-23).
This section also is mainly peculiar to the chronicler. 2Ki_15:5-7 correspond to 2Ch_26:21-23 only.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv16–19 To (his) destruction; Hebrew, tyjivjlAd, hiph. conjugation infin, of…
To (his) destruction; Hebrew, tyjivjlAd, hiph. conjugation infin, of tjv; 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; Jud_1:2:19; Isa_1:19; and next chapter, ver. 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; Lev_16:13; Luk_1:21; Num_6:24-26 Num_16:1-35 Num_18:1-7; 1Ki_4:20)
Vers. 16-21.
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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 inquire Why 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 wrongdoing, one act of guilt, with a heavy penalty for life a 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 presumeupon 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
2. 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.
3. 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" (ver. 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, moreparticularly:
2. Recognize the fact that success in any sphere is a "slippery place," andcalls for much self-examination and much earnest prayer for humility and simplicity of spirit. C.
Vers. 16-23.
Uzziah the leprous.
I UZZIAH"S TRANSGRESSION. (Vers. 16-19)
1. The cause of it.
(1) 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 (Harkness, "Egyptian Life and History," p. 44), 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; Lev_16:2, Lev_16:12, Lev_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 desire in 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. (Vers. 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. (On the nature of this disease, consult the Exposition, and see Keil"s "Biblische Archaologie," s. 114.) 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. (Le 13) Like the mark upon Cain"s, (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 (Lev_13:45, Lev_13:46; 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.
1. 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)
2. 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.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv17, 19 It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense…
2Ch_26:17-18
It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the Lord.
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We must abide within our limitation
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. 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 he was appointed to occupy, for all stretching is weakening, all effort that is above the line of nature tends to destruction, both to the worker and of the influence which he ought to exert. Know your own place, and keep it. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The folly of self-will
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. 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. But live and move and have your being in God. Say, Lord, not my will, but Thine be done; make me door-keeper, or lamp-lighter, 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. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Uzziahs pride punished
I. His reign as king. This was pre-eminently successful. The Arab hordes on his south-east borders were subdued, and the Ammonites were reduced to tribute. He was no less vigorous in defensive than offensive operations. He paid as great attention to the arts of peace as of war. He was the special patron of agriculture; he dug wells, built towers in the wilderness for the protection of the flocks, and cultivated rich vineyards.
II. Uzziahs sin. Uzziah was ambitious; he was not willing that any in his realm should enjoy prerogatives denied to him.
III. Uzziahs punishment. Henceforth the most menial subject would not exchange places with the leprous king. As lessons taught by this narrative we learn--
1. Prosperity is dangerous. The record of Uzziah does not stand alone. Prosperity seldom draws men to God. Gratitude does not increase in proportion as Gods favours multiply. A mans piety is not usually increased by his becoming rich. It is seldom men are more religious in health than in sickness. Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept Thy Word.
2. God is to be approached reverently. Uzziah seems to have thought that by being a king, successful and famous, he had earned the right to enter the holy place and offer sacred incense. It is often expected that God will accept worship if the display of wealth mingle with it largely. Does not the ability to offer such choice incense gain for one the right to lift the sacred veil and stand where God hath said His Priests only should enter, and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death? Uzziah thought that God would not exclude a favoured king from that sacred presence. Men often think that it is possible to find some incense wafted from a worldly censer which shall ascend as fragrance to the unseen holy. But what had Uzziahs kingdom to do toward fitting him to perform a priestly act? Mans approach to God is through Christ. In the Old Testament dispensation, not even a symbol of His person or work could be accepted or admitted into the holy place, other than that which God had appointed.
3. Sin, though in high places, must be rebuked. It seemed a bold act for the priests to say to Judahs king, Go out of the sanctuary, for thou hast trespassed. They were the humble ministers of religion, and he the proud and pampered king of a victorious people. He had transcended his limit, and must be rebuked, though he be a king. Such invasions of religion are not rare. The world is always ready to take religious duties into her own hands, to tell how God is to be worshipped, what doctrines are to be preached, what duties prescribed, what faults are to be rebuked, and what allowed. She enters with a regal tread, and speaks with imperious voice. What shall be done? Does and will the Church stand firm in her antagonism to wrong and sin, though they stand in kingly pride to offer polluted incense on her sacred altars?
4. Men may be blinded to sin, till they see its consequences. It is not probable that Uzziah realised his guilt till the leprosy rose up in his forehead. Then he hasted to go out of the sanctuary. Perhaps he feared other and severer judgments would follow. Had God stayed His retributive hand, and the king been suffered, with no leprous spots, to leave the altar as proud and ambitious as he entered, his guilt would have been as great. The smitten forehead, like a detective, laid the offender under arrest, and thus exposed him; but it did not create or increase his sin. Many, guilty of the most grievous wrongs, think themselves respectable, and claim the confidence of others, till some providence uncovers their evil deeds. It is a mistake to suppose that all the criminals are in prison. A bad men is as bad on one side of iron bars as on the other. (Monday Club Sermons.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v16 Uzziah’s Arrogance Punished
Uzziah’s Arrogance Punished
v. 16. But when he was strong, when he had gained so much power and occupied such an influential position among the nations, his heart was lifted up, in sinful pride and vanity, to his destruction; for he transgressed against the Lord, his God, and went into the Temple of the Lord, into the Holy Place, to burn incense upon the altar of incense, this being the privilege of the priests alone, Exo 30:7-27; Num 18:1-7.
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v. 17. And Azariah, the priest, that is, the head-priest, the high priest, went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the Lord that were valiant men, men in the vigor of their strength;
v. 18. and they withstood Uzziah the king, strongly remonstrated with him for his blasphemous intention, 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, the daily burning of incense at the morning and evening sacrifice being an important part of their duty. Go out of the Sanctuary, for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honor from the Lord God, an emphatic way of saying that he had loaded dishonor, shame, and resentment from the Lord upon himself.
v. 19. Then Uzziah was wroth, as a wilful sinner is apt to be if confronted and called to order, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense, all ready to usurp the rights of the priests; and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord from beside the incense altar. It was a sudden punishment of the Lord, such as that which had come upon Miriam, Num 12:10, an emphatic way of correcting the presumption of the king.
v. 20. And Azariah, the chief priest, and all the priests looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, the mark was unmistakable. And they thrust him out from thence, lest his uncleanness defile the Sanctuary; yea, himself, filled with terror at this turn of events, hasted also to go out because the Lord had smitten him, a fact which was obvious to him as it was to the priests.
v. 21. And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death and dwelt in a several house, literally, "a house of separation," a hospital or infirmary, being a leper, to whom all direct intercourse with other people was prohibited; for he was cut off from the house of the Lord, he was not permitted to enter the Temple again. And Jotham, his son, was over the king’s house, judging the people of the land, as coregent with his father.
v. 22. Now, the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, did Isaiah, the prophet, the son of Amoz, write, for he was prophet in Judah at this time, Isa 1:1.
v. 23. So Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the burial which belonged to the kings, in the plot of ground adjoining the tombs, but not inside the royal sepulchers; for they said, He is a leper. And Jotham, his son, reigned in his stead. Azariah and the other priests offer a fine example to the ministers of the New Testament. The latter also should guard the rights of the sanctuary and not permit the State to usurp the rights of the Church. History reports more than one instance in which members of the government and entire governments were punished for interfering with the work of the Church.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv16, 19 his heart was lifted up
his heart was lifted up
Here the heart being lifted up represents pride. AT: "he became proud" (See: Metaphor)
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with him eighty priests of Yahweh, who were brave men
The verb "went" is understood from the previous phrase. AT: "with him went eighty priests of Yahweh, who were brave men" or "eighty priests of Yahweh, who were brave men, went with him" (See: Ellipsis)
It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to Yahweh
"It is not right for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to Yahweh" or "Uzziah, you do not have the right to burn incense to Yahweh"
the sons of Aaron
Here "sons" represents descendants. AT: "the descendants of Aaron" (See: Metonymy)
who are consecrated to burn incense
This can be stated in active form. AT: "whom God has consecrated to burn incense" or "whom God has chosen to burn incense"
translationWords
heart
trespass
Yahweh
God
house of God
incense
Azariah
priest
Uzziah
Aaron
consecrate
holy place
honor
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v16 26:16-18 Uzziah’s leprosy was a judgment on the covenant…
26:16-18 Uzziah’s leprosy was a judgment on the covenant violation of burning incense within the Temple, an activity reserved exclusively for priests (Exod 30:7-9; Num 16).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.