2 Chronicles 26:1-Who Was King Uzziah and How Was His Reign?

When we talk about King Uzziah, we remember the following verse that talks about the vision of the prophet Isaiah: Isaiah 6:1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I also saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up; and the tail of his robe filled the temple. 

Who was King Uzziah?

Uzziah was king of Judah, his reign took place between 792 and 740 BC. When King Solomon died, Israel was divided into the kingdom of Israel in the north and the kingdom of Judah in the south. Uzziah was the son and successor of Amaziah on the throne of the southern kingdom.

Meaning of the Name Uzziah

Uzziah: It means “strength of God”, “my strength is God”, “my power is the Lord”. It is one of the Greek forms of the Hebrew name Uzziah, which literally means “strength of God, my strength is God”.

Uzziah was 16 years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem for 52 years. His mother’s name was Jecoliah and she was from Jerusalem.

All the people of Judah proclaimed 16-year-old Uzziah king as the successor of his father, Amaziah.

After his father died and he was reunited with his ancestors, Uzziah rebuilt the city of Elath and regained it for Judah.

2 Chronicles 26:1-3 – Then all the people took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of Amaziah his father. He built Eloth, and restored it to Judah, after the king slept with his fathers. Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jecolia, from Jerusalem.

God helped young King Uzziah in the wars against the Philistines, in the battles against the Arabs of Gur, and in the wars against the Ammonites. The Meunites paid him annual tribute, and his fame spread as far as Egypt, for he had become very powerful. 

Uzziah built fortified towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, the Valley Gate, and the corner of the wall.

King Uzziah also built strongholds in the desert and dug many cisterns, for he had large flocks in the hills of Judah and in the plain. Uzziah was a man who loved the land. 

He had many laborers who tended his fields and vineyards, both in the hills and in the fertile valleys.

King Uzziah’s army

Uzziah had an army of well-trained warriors, ready to go into battle, divided into troops. This army had been summoned and organized by the secretary Jeiel and the officer Maaseiah. 

They were under the command of Hananiah, one of the king’s officers. The troops of valiant warriors were commanded by 2,600 heads of families. The army was formed by an elite of 307,500 men, prepared to help the king against any enemy. Uzziah provided the entire army with shields, spears, helmets, breastplates, bows, and stone-throwing slings.

He built war machines created by experts on the walls of Jerusalem; they shot arrows and hurled great stones from towers and corners of walls. His fame spread to distant places, for the Lord helped him extraordinarily and he became very powerful.

When Uzziah became powerful, he was also filled with pride, which led to his ruin. He sinned against the Lord his God by entering the sanctuary of the Lord’s temple to burn incense on the altar of incense.

2 Chronicles 26:16 – But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up until he was corrupt; and he transgressed against the LORD his God, because he entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense.

When King Uzziah became powerful with this power, Uzziah’s heart was also filled with pride, which led to the ruin of his reign. Uzziah sinned against the Lord by entering the sanctuary of the Lord’s temple to burn incense on the altar of incense.

Azariah the priest, went after Uzziah with eighty other priests of the Lord, all brave men and confronted King Uzziah saying that it would not be up to Uzziah to burn incense to the Lord. This was the task assigned only to the priests, the descendants of Aaron, for they were consecrated to this work. And they commanded with authority that Uzziah should immediately leave the sanctuary, for he had sinned and the Lord God would not honor him.

2 Chronicles 26:17,18 – But Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him eighty priests of the Lord, valiant men.

And they resisted King Uzziah, and said to him, It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense before the LORD, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense; come out of the sanctuary, because you have transgressed; and it shall not be for your honor from the Lord God.

 Uzziah, who was holding a censer, was very much indignant. While he was showing his anger against the priests before the altar of incense in the temple of the Lord, the Lord struck him with a leprosy on his forehead.

When they saw the leprosy, the high priest Azariah and all the other priests immediately expelled him from the temple. King Uzziah himself hurried out of there, for the Lord had smitten him.

King Uzziah was a leper until the day he died. Living isolated in a separate house, Uzziah had been excluded from the Lord’s temple. His son Jotham took care of the palace and ruled the people.

The rest of the events of Uzziah’s reign, from beginning to end, were recorded by the prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz.

When Uzziah died, that same year, Isaiah has a prophetic vision in which he sees the Lord seated on a high and sublime throne.. —Isaiah 6:1

King Uzziah was buried with his ancestors. His tomb was in a nearby field that belonged to kings, for the people said, “He was a leper.” 

2Chronicles 26:19-23 — Then Uzziah was angry; and he had the censer in his hand to burn incense. So when he was angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord by the altar of incense.

Then Azariah the high priest looked at him, and all the priests, and, behold, he had a leper on his forehead, and they threw him out in haste; and even he himself was in a hurry to go out, since the Lord had smitten him.

So King Uzziah was a leper until the day he died; and he dwelt, because he was a leper, in a separate house, because he was excluded from the house of the Lord. And Jotham his son was in charge of the king’s house, judging the people of the land.

As for the rest of the acts of Uzziah, both the first and the last, the prophet Isaiah the son of Amos wrote.

And Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with them in the field of the sepulcher that belonged to the kings; for they said, He is a leper. And Jotham his son reigned in his stead.

 Uzziah begins his reign, brilliantly and gloriously, but by allowing his ego to take over, King Uzziah has a very sad ending. Teaching us that when we are in the presence of God, we are richly blessed, but when we turn away from God, we perish.

Because we think that we have conquered with the strength of our own arm, or that we are someone, God he is very sad, and the end is similar to that of Uzziah.