26:1 All the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in his father Amaziah’s place. 

 

Uzziah was the son of Amaziah. The Davidic messianic seed line continued. It is also important to note that Uzziah is the same as Azariah. His name is mentioned by Tiglath-Pilezer on one of the Assyrian inscriptions.

 

26:2 Uzziah built up Elat and restored it to Judah after King Amaziah had passed away. 

 

At one time, Edom was a tribute nation under Judah. During the reign of King Jehoram, Edom rebelled. Edom most likely took the city of Elat with them after their rebellion.

 

26:3 Uzziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned for fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jecholiah, who was from Jerusalem. 

 

Uzziah began his reign as a teenager. The mother was responsible for educating her son, so the Holy Spirit usually gives the king’s mother the credit for turning out either good or bad kings.

 

26:4 He did what the Lord approved, just as his father Amaziah had done.

 

Uzziah began as a good king, just as Solomon, Asa, Joash, and Amaziah started out as good kings during their reigns of Judah. However, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Eventually, the sin nature combined with royal power overtakes the king and causes him to make some ungodly decisions later in his life. 

 

Man does not get better and better with age. If his sin nature is left intact, then man will get worse and worser with age. The only way that a man can get better with age is by studying bible doctrine at the deepest level and applying what he learns. Almost always, kings would neglect bible study for the gaining of more power.

 

26:5 He followed God during the lifetime of Zechariah, who taught him how to honor God. As long as he followed the Lord, God caused him to succeed. 

 

Zechariah means “Jehovah remembers.” Zechariah was most likely unjustly executed by King Joash. Jesus was probably referring to this prophet’s martyrdom in the gospels. Zechariah kept Uzziah true to God as long as he lived. He is not to be confused with the man who wrote the prophetic book of Zechariah. The latter Zechariah prophesied during the days of the returning exiles.

 

26:6 Uzziah attacked the Philistines and broke down the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod. He built cities in the region of Ashdod and throughout Philistine territory.

 

Uzziah regained the Philistine cities which his ancestor kings had lost. Whenever a city is regained, then the citizens of those cities would return back to the Levitical teachings and rituals which pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

26:7 God helped him in his campaigns against the Philistines, the Arabs living in Gur Baal, and the Meunites. 

 

God helped Uzziah win victories over the Philistines and Arabs. These cities returned back to the Mosaic Law which pointed to Christ.

 

26:8 The Ammonites paid tribute to Uzziah and his fame reached the border of Egypt, for he grew in power. 

 

Uzziah returned Ammon back into a tribute nation.

 

26:9 Uzziah built and fortified towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, Valley Gate, and at the Angle.

 

Uzziah built and fortified towers at three of the different gates in Jerusalem.

 

26:10 He built towers in the desert and dug many cisterns, for he owned many herds in the lowlands and on the plain. He had workers in the fields and vineyards in the hills and in Carmel, for he loved agriculture. 

 

Archaeologists have excavated many of these remains dating from Uzziah’s time.

 

26:11 Uzziah had an army of skilled warriors trained for battle. They were organized by divisions according to the muster rolls made by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer under the authority of Hananiah, a royal official. 

 

Uzziah organized a very efficient army of skilled warriors according to the census taken by the Levites.

 

26:12 The total number of family leaders who led warriors was 2,600. 

 

There were 2,600 officers in Uzziah’s army.

 

26:13 They commanded an army of 307,500 skilled and able warriors who were ready to defend the king against his enemies. 

 

The army contained over 300,000 skilled soldiers.

 

26:14 Uzziah supplied shields, spears, helmets, breastplates, bows, and slingstones for the entire army. 

 

The resources of Judah were used to arm the military.

 

26:15 In Jerusalem he made war machines carefully designed to shoot arrows and large stones from the towers and corners of the walls. He became very famous, for he received tremendous support and became powerful. 

 

Uzziah created powerful catapults which would sling large rocks at the enemy. These catapults would make siege warfare and castle defense systems obsolete.

 

26:16 But once he became powerful, his pride destroyed him. He disobeyed the Lord his God. He entered the Lord’s temple to offer incense on the incense altar. 

 

Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Uzziah placed himself above the Mosaic Law. Only Levitical priests were allowed to offer incense on the altar.

 

26:17 Azariah the priest and eighty other brave priests of the Lord followed him in. 

 

The Levitical priests had no fear of the king on matters dealing with the Mosaic Law.

 

26:18 They confronted King Uzziah and said to him, “It is not proper for you, Uzziah, to offer incense to the Lord. That is the responsibility of the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who are consecrated to offer incense. Leave the sanctuary, for you have disobeyed and the Lord God will not honor you!” 

 

The Levites did not tickle the ears of their king. They reminded King Uzziah that he was breaking the Mosaic Law.

 

26:19 Uzziah, who had an incense censer in his hand, became angry. While he was ranting and raving at the priests, a skin disease appeared on his forehead right there in front of the priests in the Lord’s temple near the incense altar. 

 

Instead of showing humility, King Uzziah showed arrogance and anger. Immediately, Jehovah struck him with leprosy.

 

26:20 When Azariah the high priest and the other priests looked at him, there was a skin disease on his forehead. They hurried him out of there; even the king himself wanted to leave quickly because the Lord had afflicted him. 

 

All lepers were placed under the authority of the Levitical priests. Since King Uzziah failed to personally place himself underneath the authority of the Levites, then Jehovah forced him to respect the authority of the Levitical priesthood.

 

26:21 King Uzziah suffered from a skin disease until the day he died. He lived in separate quarters, afflicted by a skin disease and banned from the Lord’s temple. His son Jotham was in charge of the palace and ruled over the people of the land. 

 

Since King Uzziah refused to follow the temple rituals, so his leprosy caused him to be removed from the temple rituals.

 

26:22 The rest of the events of Uzziah’s reign, from start to finish, were recorded by the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz.

 

This was the first reference in Chronicles to Isaiah the prophet. Isaiah prophesied through the reigns of Uzziah, Jotham, Ahaz, Hezekiah and probably into the reign of Manasseh.

 

26:23 Uzziah passed away and was buried near his ancestors in a cemetery belonging to the kings. (This was because he had a skin disease.) His son Jotham replaced him as king. 

 

Uzziah was not buried in the royal cemetery. He was another good king who went bad. Only five kings of Judah led a revival back to Jehovah. Uzziah was not one of them. 

 

Many believers start off strong in their work for the Lord. However, if they are not grounded in bible doctrine from the entire counsel of the Word of God, then they will eventually erode away. This is why believers need to study and apply bible doctrine at the deepest level.