2 CHROICLES 26 COMMETARYEDITED BY GLE PEASE

Uzziah King of Judah

1 Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah,[a] who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah.

BARES, "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.

CLARKE, "The people of Judah took Uzziah - They all agreed to place this son on his fathers throne.

GILL 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 Gill on 2Ki_14:21, 2Ki_14:22, 2Ki_15:2, 2Ki_15:3

HERY 1-15, "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 fatherdid, 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 (2Ch_26:5), 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 (2Ch_26:7), 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, 2Ch_26:6. He obliged the Ammonites to pay him tribute, 2Ch_26:8. 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 (2Ch_26:8) 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, 2Ch_26:9. 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 (2Ch_26:10), to protect the country people from the inroads of the plunderers, bands of whom sometimes alarmed them and plundered them, as 2Ch_21:16. (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 (2Ch_21:10), 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, 2Ch_21:11. 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_21:12, 2Ch_21:13. 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 (2Ch_21:14), 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, 2Ch_21:15. 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.

JAMISO, "2Ch_26:1-8. Uzziah succeeds Amaziah and reigns well in the days of Zechariah.

Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah (See on 2Ki_14:21; see on 2Ki_

15:1).

K&D 1-5, "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 to , is subordinated to the infinitive with 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.

BESO, "2 Chronicles 26:1. The people of Judah took Uzziah Called also Azariah, 2 Kings 14:21; both names signifying the same thing, the strength, or help of God. Of this and 2 Chronicles 26:1; 2 Chronicles 26:3-4, see notes on 2 Kings 14:21-22; and 1 Kings 15:2-3.

ELLICOTT, "REIG OF UZZIAH-AZARIAH.

ACCESSIO, AGE, AD CODUCT OF UZZIAH. IFLUECE OF THE PROPHET ZECHARIAH (2 Chronicles 26:1-5). (Comp. 2 Kings 14:21-22; 2 Kings 15:2-3.)

(1) Then.And.

Uzziah.So the chronicler always names him, except in one place (1 Chronicles 3:12), where the name Azariah appears, as in 2 Kings 14:21; 2 Kings 15:1; 2 Kings

15:6, &c. In 2 Kings 15:13; 2 Kings 15:30; 2 Kings 15:32; 2 Kings 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, 1 Chronicles 25:4; 1 Chronicles 25:18.)

TRAPP, "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.

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.

POOLE, "Uzziah is made king; reigneth well in the days of Zechariah, and prospereth, 2 Chronicles 26:1-15. He invadeth the priests office; is smitten with a leprosy, 2 Chronicles 26:16-21. He dieth, and Jotham succeedeth him, 2 Chronicles 26:22,23.

Uzziah; called also Azariah, 2 Kings 14:21; both names signifying the same thing, Gods strength, or help. See of this, and 2 Chronicles 26:2-4, on 2 Kings 14:21,22 15:2,3.

GUZIK, "A. The years of blessing and strength.

1. (2 Chronicles 26:1-5) The overview of Uzziahs reign.

ow all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king instead of his father Amaziah. He built Elath and restored it to Judah, after the king rested with his fathers. Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem. His mothers name was Jecholiah of Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. 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 prosper.

a. He did what was right in the sight of the LORD: The reign of Uzziah was largely characterized by the good he did in the sight of the LORD. His godliness was rewarded with a long reign of 52 years.

i. Uzziah came to the throne in a difficult era: Following the tragic events that brought King Amaziahs reign to an end, Jerusalem was in disarray, a major section of its protective wall destroyed, its temple and palace emptied of their treasures, and some of its inhabitants taken away to Israel as hostages. (Dilday)

ii. Knapp suggests that Uzziah became king in an unusual manner: He seems to have come by the throne, not in the way of ordinary succession, but by the direct choice of the people. The princes had been destroyed by the Syrians toward the close of his grandfather Joashs reign (2 Chronicles 24:23), leaving the people a free hand.

iii. ow all the people of Judah took Uzziah: The idea that the king could be chosen by the will of the people was never entirely lost in Judah. (Selman)

b. As long as he sought the LORD, God made him prosper: This generally mixed review of Uzziahs reign is also indicated by 2 Kings 15:1-4, which tells us that Uzziah (also called Azariah in 2 Kings) did not remove the high places, traditional places of sacrifice to the LORD and sometimes doorways to idolatry.

i. The two names are best understood as variants arising from the interchangeability of two closely related Hebrew roots. (Selman)

PULPIT, "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. 2 Kings 14:21, 2 Kings 14:22; 2 Kings 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 (2 Chronicles 26:1-5; but note the remarkable appearance of 2 Chronicles 26:2, looking as though it had strayed). ext, of his good works (2 Chronicles 26:6-15). ext, of his fall through most gratuitous "presumptuous sin," and its decisive crushing visitation of punishment (2 Chronicles 26:16-21). Lastly, of his death and burial (2 Chronicles 26:22, 2 Chronicles 26:23). The nine verses of the parallel instanced above answer respectively2 Chronicles 26:21, 2 Chronicles 26:22 to our 2 Chronicles 26:1, 2 Chronicles 26:2; 2 Chronicles 26:1-3, to our 2 Chronicles 26:1, 2 Chronicles 26:3, 2 Chronicles 26:4; 2 Chronicles 5:1-14, to our verse 21; and 2 Chronicles 5:6, 2 Chronicles 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.

2 Chronicles 26:1

Uzziah; Hebrew, . (signifying "Strength of Jehovah"). Once in Chronicles, and once only (1 Chronicles 3:12), this king's name is given Azariah, Hebrew, (signifying "Help of Jehovah") or ; and Isaiah (Isaiah 1:1, etc.), Hosea (Hosea 1:1, etc.), and Amos (Amos 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. 2 Kings 15:1, 2 Kings 15:6, 2 Kings 15:8, 2 Kings 15:23, 2 Kings 15:27), yet Uzziah is also used in verses intermingled with them (e.g. 2 Chronicles 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. evertheless, the apt analogy that has been pointed out of Uzziel (1 Chronicles 25:4) and Azareel (18) is noteworthy. (See Keil and Bertheau on 1 Kings 15:2 and 2 Kings 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."

PARKER, "UZZIAH, JOTHAM, AD AHAZ

2 Chronicles 26:1-23; 2 Chronicles 27:1-9; 2 Chronicles 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. othing 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. Ezekiel 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. [umbers 18:7;, Exodus 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.

EBC, "UZZIAH, JOTHAM, AD AHAZ

2 Chronicles 26:1-23; 2 Chronicles 27:1-9; 2 Chronicles 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. othing 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. Ezekiel 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. [umbers 18:7;, Exodus 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.

2 He was the one who rebuilt Elath and restored it to Judah after Amaziah rested with his ancestors.

CLARKE, "He built Eloth - See the notes on 2Ki_14:21. This king is called by several different names; see the note on 2Ki_15:1.

JAMISO, "He built Eloth or, He it was who built Eloth. The account of the fortifications of this port on the Red Sea, which Uzziah restored to the kingdom of Judah (2Ch_33:13), is placed before the chronological notices (2Ch_26:3), either on account of the importance attached to the conquest of Eloth, or from the desire of the historian to introduce Uzziah as the king, who was known as the conqueror of Eloth. Besides, it indicates that the conquest occurred in the early part of his reign, that it was important as a port, and that Hebrew merchants maintained the old trade between it and the countries of the East [Bertheau].

ELLICOTT, "(2) He built.fie it was who built.

Eloth.Kings, Elath. The Idumean port on the Red Sea.

The first four verses are identical with the parallel in Kings. (See the otes there.)

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 26:2 He built Eloth, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers.

Ver. 2. He built Eloth, &c.] See 2 Kings 14:22.

PULPIT, "Eloth; Hebrew, ; the parallel reads . This place was at the head of the Gulf Akaba (2 Chronicles 8:17; 1 Kings 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.

3 Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years. His mothers name was Jekoliah; she was from Jerusalem.

COFFMA, ""Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign" (2 Chronicles 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" (2 Chronicles 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."[1] Eloth is the same as Ezion-geber.

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 26:3 Sixteen years old [was] Uzziah when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem. His mothers name also [was] Jecoliah of Jerusalem.

Ver. 3. Sixteen years old.] See 2 Kings 15:2.

PULPIT, "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.

4 He did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done.

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 26:4 And he did [that which was] right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah did.

Ver. 4. And he did that which was right.] See 2 Chronicles 25:2, 2 Kings 15:3.

PULPIT, "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."

5 He sought God during the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear[b] of God. As long as he sought the Lord, God gave him success.

BARES, "Who had understanding in the visions of God - Another reading, supported by the Septuagint, and some ancient versions, is: who instructed him in the fear of God.

CLARKE, "In the days of Zechariah - Who this was we know not, but by the character that is given of him here. He was wise in the visions of God - in giving the true interpretation of Divine prophecies. He was probably the tutor of Uzziah.

GILL, "And he sought God in the days of Zechariah,.... Not that Zechariah, the last of the prophets save one, he lived three hundred years after this; nor he that Joash slew; but, as it may seem, a son of his, perhaps the same with him in Isa_8:2,

who had understanding in the visions of God: who either had prophetic visions granted to him, or had divine wisdom to interpret such that others had; or, as others think, had a gift of interpreting the prophecies of others, the writings of Moses and David, &c. to which the Targum seems to agree; which paraphrases it,"who taught in the fear of the Lord;''with which agree the Septuagint, Syriac, and Arabic versions; some copies read "in the fear of God"; as an ancient manuscript mentioned by Junius, and so the Talmud (l):

and, as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper; in his kingdom, and against his enemies; even so long as he abode by the word, worship, and ordinances of God, of which instances are given, as follow.

JAMISO, "he sought God in the days of Zechariah a wise and pious counsellor, who was skilled in understanding the meaning and lessons of the ancient prophecies, and who wielded a salutary influence over Uzziah.

BESO, "2 Chronicles 26:5. He sought God in the days of Zechariah Who was probably the son of that Zechariah whom his grand-father Joash slew. Who had understanding in the visions of God Either the visions with which he himself was favoured, or the visions of the preceding prophets. He was well skilled in prophecy, and conversed much with the heavenly world; was an intelligent, devout, and good man; and had such influence on Uzziah, that while he lived he sought God, sought his favour, direction, and aid; trusted in him, cleaved to him, and persisted in his worship, and in the true religion. 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.

ELLICOTT, "(5) And he sought God.And he continued to seek God (the Hebrew is an expression peculiar to the chronicler).

In the days of Zechariah.An otherwise unknown prophet.

Who had understanding in the visions of God.Literally, the skilled in seeing Goda surprising epithet, occurring nowhere else. Some Hebrew MSS., and the LXX., Syriac, and Arabic versions, and the Targum, read, in the fear of God. This is doubtless correct; and the text should be rendered. who had understanding (or gave instruction) in the fear of God. So the famous Rabbis, Rashi and Kimchi, long since suggested. Zechariah was thus the guide and counsellor of king Uzziah, and that not only in religious matters, but in what we should call the political sphere; for in those days the distinction between things sacred and secular, civil and ecclesiastical, between Church and State, religion and common life, was wholly unknown.

And as long as he sought.Literally, in the days of his seeking.

The Lord, God . . .Such a mode of speech reveals the chroniclers own hand.

Instead of this verse, 2 Kings 15:4 makes the deduction usual in its estimate of the character of a reign: Only the high places were not taken away; the people still used to sacrifice and burn incense on the high places.

The power and prosperity of Uzziah are accounted for by the chronicler on the ground that he sought God during the life of Zechariah; although afterwards he offended by rashly intruding upon the priests office, and was punished with leprosy (2 Chronicles 26:16-21).

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 26:5 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.

Ver. 5. And he sought God.] Heb., Full in consulendo Deo, i.e., He was wholly taken up in consulting with God.

In the days of Zechariah.] Who was, saith Jerome, son to Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada. He had a daughter, say others, (a) called Abijah, who became wife to king Ahaz, and mother to Hezekiah.

Who had understanding in the visions of God.] Was a skilful seer or prophet. Some render it, Who made to understand in the fear of God.

And as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper.] So fared it also with that great prince of late years, who, while he stood to the true religion, was Bonus orbi, good of bereft, and prospered in all his enterprises: but afterwards was Orbus boni, bereft of good, and sped accordingly, as one wittily descanted upon his name.

POOLE, "He sought God, i.e. he persisted in the true religion and worship of God.

In the days of Zechariah; as long as he lived. Compare 2 Chronicles 24:2. who had understanding; who was a very knowing and experienced person. Or, who made him understanding; or, who instructed him; who was his tutor and teacher, and had great authority and influence upon him; and so restrained him from those exorbitancies to which he was otherwise inclined.

In the visions of God; either,

1. In prophetical visions, which he either received from God himself, or understood and explained the prophetical visions of others, which was a special gift of God; of which see Genesis 41:15 Daniel 1:17 2:19. Or,

2. In the law and word of God, which sometimes cometh under that name, as Proverbs 29:18 Isaiah 22:1,5.

SIMEO, "COEXIO BETWEE DILIGECE AD PROSPERITY

2 Chronicles 26:5. As long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper.

THE dispensation under which the Jews lived being of a temporal nature, their advancement in respect of temporal prosperity was, for the most part, proportioned to the regard which they, and their rulers, shewed to God. The account given of Uzziah may serve almost as a general history of Gods conduct towards them [ote: Leviticus 26:3-45.]: when he walked humbly before God, he was marvellously helped till he was strong [ote: ver. 8, 15.]: but when, by his pride and disobedience, he had provoked Gods heavy displeasure, he was given over to destruction. The dispensation under which we live is altogether spiritual; and God observes the same rule of procedure towards us in spiritual things, as he maintained towards them in temporal things.

Respecting the prosperity of our souls the text calls us to notice two things;

I. Its dependence on God

[However diligent Uzziah was in seeking the Lord, it was God, and God alone, that made him to prosper, And whatever means we may use, our advancement in the divine life must be traced to the same source. Our first inclinations to good originate with him. The contiunance and increase of holy dispositions is in like manner the

effect of his grace. If he were for one moment to suspend his communications, we should be as incapable of bearing fruit to his glory, as a branch is when severed from the tree. Let it only be inquired wherein prosperity of soul consists [ote: A subjugation of our passions; a victory over the world; an abiding sense and enjoyment of the divine presence.]; and it will immediately appear, that he must be the author of it in all its parts ]

II. Its connexion with our diligence

[The fruits of the earth are given us by God; yet he bestows his bounties on those only who use the proper means for the attainment of them. So does he also require exertion on our part in order to our spiritual advancement. The means are inseparably connected with the end: they are connected in Gods decree [ote: Ezekiel 36:37. Matthew 7:7-8.]in the very nature of thingsand in the experience of all the saints; and the more diligently we use the means, the more will both grace and peace be multiplied unto us.]

From this subject we may derive matter,

1. For reproof

[How awfully does this reprove the careless sinner! for if all our prosperity of soul be inseparably connected with diligence in the ways of God, it is obvious that they who neglect the word of God and prayer must be in a perishing condition. The backslider too must feel himself condemned by the fact recorded in the text. It is plainly intimated that Uzziah, through his remissness, experienced a sad reverse. And such a reverse will all experience who relax their diligence in the ways of God. Let us watch therefore against secret declensions: and, if we have already declined, let us repent, and do our first works [ote: Revelation 2:4-5.], and strengthen, by exertion, the dying remnants of grace within us [ote: Revelation 3:2.].]

2. For encouragement

[We cannot command success, either in temporal or spiritual pursuits; yet in both it is found true, that the diligent hand maketh rich. In some instances indeed God is found of them that sought him not; and persons may use the means of grace without receiving any sensible increase of grace or peace. evertheless this is not Gods usual mode of proceeding; nor does he ever continue either to bless the indolent, or to withhold his blessing from the diligent. He never will suffer any to seek his face in vain [ote: Isaiah 45:19.]. Let this then encourage all to persevere in the use of means, knowing assuredly that their labour shall not be in vain in the Lord.]

PULPIT, "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 Isaiah 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" (Proverbs 1:7; Isaiah 11:3); either reading in either of these sub-clauses leaves an undisturbed good meaning to the description of Zechariah.

BI, "And as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper.

Soul prosperity

I. The seekers of the Lord.

1. Every real seeker of the Lord must be a heaven-born soul (Joh_3:8). This involves the bestowment of a Divine existence, the creating of a new nature (2Pe_1:4). This is the nature that habitually seeks after God.

2. Seeking the Lord includes

(1) Worshipping.

(2) Wrestling.

(3) Waiting.

II. Their experience of prosperity. If you ask a worldling what constitutes prosperity he will say, Many excellent bargains, good customers, ready money, quick returns, the accumulation of property, health, friends, extended connections, and the like. But what is Christian prosperity?

1. Spiritual growth.

2. Triumphant victories. The life of a Christian is the life of a conqueror.

3. The taking of spoils from the vanquished foe. The most valuable lessons are often learnt from the heaviest calamities.

III. The extension of prosperity: As long as he sought the Lord. (Joseph Irons.)

The secret of strength and its perils

I. We have the marvellous help which Jehovah gives to a rightly-purposed man, and its consequences. No one can suppose that Judah was very prosperous before the accession of that king. For, not only had it been humbled at the battle of Beth-Shemesh, but Jerusalem itself had been ravaged and partially dismantled. And, considering the extreme youth of the king, only sixteen years of age when he came to the throne, one would naturally have expected to read of the gradual increase of the disorders of the kingdom through the contests of opposing factions, and of its gradual diminution and enthralment through the successes of its enemies. But, on the contrary, the first thing recorded of Uzziah is that he built Eloth and restored it to Judah; and thenceforward, throughout the greater part of his reign, the story of no single disaster or defeat interrupts the current of prosperity. First of all the Philistines, and then the Arabs, the

Mehunim, and the Ammonites were compelled to restore to Judah the cities they had before appropriated, were, indeed, in some instances reduced to the condition of tributary nations. And the internal administration of the country was not less fortunate than its external relationships. Jerusalem was refortified, and for the first time in Biblical history we read of engines, invented by cunning men, to be on the towers and upon the bulwarks, to shoot arrows and great stones withal. And 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. Everything shows that the kingdom reached a condition of prosperity such as it had not known since the days of Solomon. And the explanation of it all is the marvellous help of the Almighty. You may see it in almost all aspects and exigencies of lifethe wonderful help of God making s Christian prosperous and strong. It is quite true that we sometimes trouble ourselves, as Uzziah must have often in those difficult years troubled himself, with the thought that we have no inherent ability for the work which God gives us to do, whether it be work of service or of sanctification. But in that imagination we are altogether wrong, and therefore wrong in letting ourselves be depressed and unnerved by it. For the Scriptural doctrine always is that it is the marvellous help of God that makes a man strong, that no man is or can become strong, in any religious sense of that word, apart from such help. Work out your own salvation, for it is God that worketh in you. There can be no other explanation of the prosperity of Uzziah, his conquest of difficulties greater than ours, his faithfulness under burdens heavier than ours, than simply that God, because of his faith in God, helped him. And in all times, when duty, sorrow, responsibility, or doubt presses upon ourselves, we can adopt a course that has never failed, and resolve, I will seek unto God, and unto God will I commit my cause, which doeth great things, and unsearchable, marvellous things without number . . . to set up on high those that be low, that those which mourn may be exalted to safety.

II. The peril of prosperity, which was too great a peril for uzziah. His splendid career elated him, and his heart was lifted up to his destruction. Instead of reverent praise to God for having helped him so marvellously, he began to flatter himself with the thought that his success had been achieved by his own wisdom and skill, and he transgressed against the Lord, and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense. It is easy to find excuses for Uzziah, which are sufficient to protect him from our blame, but not sufficient to reduce the heinousness of his sin in the sight of God. It might, for instance, be said that his old godly counsellor Zechariah had lately died. Or it might be said that he was but imitating the conduct of his father, of Jeroboam, of the idolatrous kings around him. But, whatever our charity may dispose us to urge in palliation, the fact remains that he showed his gratitude to God for the marvellous help he had received by setting at nought the express commandment of God. For when Korah, Dathan, and Abiram were destroyed, their brazen censers were made into broad plates for a covering of the altar to be a memorial unto the children of Israel (so runs the law) that no stranger, which is not of the seed of Aaron, come near to offer incense before the Lord. Nor can Uzziah have forgotten that law. It was, indeed, when he became wrath with the faithful priests who reminded him of it, and pressed forward with his censer, that that moment the leprosy rose up to his forehead, and, conscience-smitten, he hastened out of the temple. Just think of the contrast which that sin caused between the earlier and the later parts of Uzziahs reign. There is another place in the Old Testament where that warning is embedded in associations of even greater interest than thesethe song of Moses in the thirty-second chapter of Deuteronomy. The marvellous works which God had wrought for Israel are enumerated first. Then follow

the ungrateful exaltation of Israel in their own eyes, their desertion of God, and the wrath they thereby brought quickly upon themselves. It is just a type of the process that takes place in many hearts. First of all, God blesses us, enables us to do what otherwise we could not possibly have done, makes us great in control over ourselves, and perhaps, also, in influence over others. We, in some crisis of temptation, listen to the whisper that it was our own hand that made us strong; self-complacency begets presumption; until at last conscience smites us; we know ourselves to be leprous in spirit in the sight of God, and the self-built fabric of prosperity crumbles in a moment. Blessed for us if the Lord gives us what He gave Uzziahseven quiet years for penitence, thought, and humbler service. It may be well to linger a little upon the different stages of this process, which sometimes leads a godly man from strength to leprosy. Obviously pride was at the bottom of Uzziahs sin. Uzziah seems to have thought, Philistines and Ammonites, its I have defeated them, and my name which they applaud and fear even to the entering in of Egypt. My father left the kingdom circumscribed, so reduced that he had to give hostages to Joash; I have made it great and free. And still whenever by the help of God we have done any useful work, we are liable to a similar temptation, to attribute to ourselves the credit of having done it, and in our self-complacency to forget and to dishonour God. There is nothing but sin, failure, and ruin to be found in yielding to that temptation. For the immediate and necessary consequence of pride is presumption, which, though it may not take the exact form it took in the case of Uzziah, may take an equally sinful form. One form it often assumes now, in the case of men whose real knowledge of God is very defective, is that of patronising the Gospel. But much as that habit of thought requires to be guarded against, it is probably in other directions that most of us are more apt to err. The remembrance of what we have done by the help of God prompts us to attempt what we have to do apart from His help, with confidence in ourselves as sufficient for it, with a neglect of Divine aid as more or less unnecessary and superfluous. Any particle of the pride which leads us to attribute to ourselves the success of the past, whatever the particular form or particular associations of that pride, is a mistake even according to human judgment, an element of weakness which will grievously impede us, and a sin in the sight of God. And, whilst that principle teaches us what is forbidden, it teaches us also what is enjoined. Pride always means folly and failure. And therefore trust in God, the more perfect and supreme the better, means wisdom and success. It was whilst Uzziah looked unto God that he was marvellously helped and made strong. And it will be in proportion as we trust in Jehovah that we shall have vigour to finish and patience to bear whatever He gives us to endure or to do. (R. W. Moss.)

Destroyed by prosperity

I. Uzziahs prosperous career. He was marvellously helped till he was strong. His good fortune, as the world would call it, dated from his seventeenth year. It was a trying position for a mere boy to be placed in; for the cares and responsibilities, as well as the temptations and luxuries, of a royal palace demand a ripe wisdom and strength of moral purpose rarely found at so early an age. But Gods grace could qualify even so young a man for the task; and I am struck with the fact, that almost every one of the good kings of Judah was quite a youth when he succeeded to the throne. There is no reason why the season of young manhood should be given up to passion and frivolity. It was a great advantage to the young Uzziah that he had the loyal attachment and confidence of his people. But what mainly guarded him from the dangers around him, and kept him steady on his throne, was a sincere piety. Never forget the quarter from whence all true

prosperity must come. Success does not depend on yourselves alone. Still less does it come from chance. Take God with you into all the affairs of life. Look to Him to bless your business. Ask His help in every fresh enterprise you undertake.

II. His marvellous presumption. But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction. It requires special grace to keep a man right when he has had a career of unbroken prosperity. One day, when the celebrated George Whitfield was about to commence the service, an intimation was read out from the desk below: The prayers of the congregation are desired for a young man who has become heir to an immense fortune, and who feels he has much need of grace to keep him humble in the midst of his riches. Nothing tries a man so much as the favour of fortune and the flattery of the world.

III. The note of warning. As there are many kinds of prosperity, so there are many kinds of presumption. A man may be lifted up to his destruction, for example

1. By the pride of money. It does not take a large fortune to make some people purse-proud and very disagreeable people these are.

2. The pride of intellect. I wish to put you on your guard against a current which is running very strong in our day. I mean the tendency to set up the reason against religion. Perhaps I might mention

3. Pride of wit. Now I go in for a sunny, cheerful religion. God has, put within us a faculty of mirthfulness, which He did not mean us to suppress. There is no necessary connection between dulness and piety, between a long face and a new heart. True, but there are some men who are hardly ever serious. (J. T. Davidson, D. D.)

The rise and the fall

To be successful or prosperous, to get on in the world, or to be strong, is what every one, be his position what it may, longs for and struggles after. Prosperity is a relative term. A king is prosperous or strong when from strength of character and purity of life he has secured the confidence and love of his people, and the respect of neighbouring sovereigns and nations. A merchant is prosperous when his dealings are followed by remunerative gains. A minister of Jesus Christ is prosperous when he benefits souls and instructs mens minds, and leads them to think of something higher and more lasting than the passing show of the world. To be prosperous, to be strong, is in one word to get on in ones own department, and at ones peculiar work. Whatever success be ours we ought to acknowledge that God has been with us. It is just here that men are so often thoughtless and ungrateful, and have their heart lifted up to destruction. We see this often in the case

1. Of individuals.

2. Of families.

3. Of Churches.

4. Of nations. (W. Mackintosh Arthur, M.A.)

Uzziah-his sin and punishment

Rightly to apprehend Uzziahs 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 reject the solemn lessons that he had learned from childhood. He was defiling his own sacred things; the Jewish history was the history of his own people, the charter of his own blessings; the temple and the priesthood were the solemn ordinances of his own worship. He was impiously defying the holy name by which he himself was called.

I. Prosperity and pride. Uzziah 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. The results of godly training and holy companionship are often seen in the prudence, and diligence, and sobriety which command success and reputation. The modes of life which the influence of the gospel forms, which are the tradition of Christian households, are just those which conduce to happiness and honour. Mere worldly prosperity is often the prelude to daring impiety. It is a perpetual question how to remove the hireling spirit out of the Church. Men whose ships bring them wealth, whose plans in business succeed, come to fancy themselves fit for any place of responsibility in the Church. Churches love to pay honour to men of wealth; choose for places of special service, not those of pure heart, and fervent faith, and lowly self-denial, but those who have succeeded in business, and whose plans, it is therefore thought, must needs be followed. Uzziah was a good king, but he was a bad priest; he was not the priest whom God had chosen. Men whose godliness, and integrity, and Christian conduct have won them respect are most valuable helps in all Christian activities. But mere worldly success is a poor standard by which to measure these things, and ought never to be allowed to secure to any voice and direction in Church affairs. It appertains not to these to burn incense unto the Lord. It is a matter of personal experience how prosperity lifts up the heart, and lures us to destruction. Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

II. Pride and punishment. Here now, you may be ready to say, is something in the story which is simply Jewish, quite foreign to the life of to-day. Do you mean to say that God visits men with judgments now? Is there anything here to come home to the hearts of Englishmen? I do say that God is judging us; the same God who judged His people of old. There is in this very part of the narrative something to set us thinking on the mysteries of our daily life, and to help in their interpretation. Suppose, now, a physician had given us a purely medical report of this incident. Suppose he had told us that there was in Uzziah an unsuspected taint of leprosy: a taint which, if he had been careful of himself, especially avoiding strong passionate excitements, might never have developed into actual symptoms of disease. Hereditary or constitutional disease may often lurk for a lifetime unsuspected, till some circumstance favours its development, and instantaneously it works itself out in all its power. Of all such favouring circumstances, strong passionate excitement is the surest; in the heat of pride the seeds of sickness are frequently quickened. What stories are more impressive or more common than those of men suddenly stricken down on the eve of the gratification of their pride, in the first thrill of triumph, in the very fever of unbridled ambition? A man has been all his lifetime amassing wealth; satisfied at length, he builds himself a lordly mansion, that he may rank with the nobles of the land. He builds, but he never enjoys ithe is found some morning smitten with impotence; and the palsied speech-muscles refuse to articulate a word. A statesmen is summoned to the royal presence-chamber; at the council-table the blood-stain at his lips declares that honours and life will soon be laid together in the dust. A student is called to preside over some learned body; his brain gives way, and the

asylum is henceforth his home. Instead of leprosy, read paralysis or haemorrhage, or softening of the brain, and it is just a narrative from our daily press. Say what we will, this is true, that pride and passion, unregulated ambition and impious recklessness, do terribly punish those whom they enslave. The Jewish story interprets the English life. If Englishman trace these things to natural causes, and go no further, while the Jew says, God has smitten him, the Jew is right and the Englishman is wrong. It is a sign of unbelief and folly to refuse to trace Gods hands, save in events that are utterly unintelligible. Gods great work is to reveal, not to hide Himself. It is part of His order of nature that bodily pains should often reveal and rebuke the workings of an ungodly soul. The hour of pride is often, too, an hour of terrible revelation of hidden spiritual taints; which of us has not found secret sine leaping to light in the heats of unbridled passion? We flattered ourselves that God made us to prosper because we sought Him. Our seeking of Him became a tradition of the past, a memory; we thought we had overcome our temptations, laid aside our easily besetting sin; and, even while we boasted, we fell before God and men. We have thanked God we were not as other men; suddenly we have had to change our boasting, we have known ourselves the chief of sinners. As long as we seek God, He will make us to prosper; but only so long. Keep we ever near Him, ever following Him, ever obeying and trusting Him, and we shall be marvellously helped and be strong.

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. There needed not the priests, the valiant men, to thrust him out: Yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the Lord had smitten him. It may have been mere terror that drove him forth, the force of circumstances, and not a convicted, penitent heart. His self-abasement may have been as godless as was his exaltation. It may have been so; but it may have been far otherwise. Assuredly God intended it to be otherwise. Of the seven years that he spent in the several house we know nothing; of this we may be sure, that during all those years God was seeking to restore and save his soul. In solitude, while his son was over his kingdom, and regents were doing the work God had taken from his hands, he might have learnt many a lesson he had not learnt upon the throne. The dignity and service forfeited through pride may be never regained. A stain may cling to the name; the reputation long held honourable, and lost through a shameful fall, may not even after death be recovered. Sons may blush more over the dishonourable grave and the one terrible sin of their fathers than they triumph in the glory of a whole life. Impiety is a fearful thing, and has a fearful curse. (A. Mackennal, B.A.)

The religious element necessary in commonwealths

We need more than animals to make a commonwealth worth preserving; we need more than bodies, and more than what is usually, but too narrowly, denominated practical substance; we need the religious element, the spiritual force, that marvellous telescopic faculty that looks away beyond the visible into that which is unseen. We need to have ghostly men among us; men who see the metaphysical in the literal; men who know that nothing is true that is not metaphysically true; men who insist that we see nothing with the naked eye, and that vision is a heart-gift, an inward faculty, a sublime treasure entrusted to men of God. Thus the Church will always have an important part to play in the upbuilding of the State, in the government of kings, in the direction of great affairs. (J. Parker, D.D.)

6 He went to war against the Philistines and broke down the walls of Gath, Jabneh and Ashdod. He then rebuilt towns near Ashdod and elsewhere among the Philistines.

BARES, "Uzziahs expedition was the natural sequel to the Edomite war of Amaziah 2Ch_25:11, which crushed the most formidable of all the tribes of the south. On Jabneh see Jos_15:11 note; and on Ashdod see Jos_13:3 note.

GILL, "And he went forth, and warred against the Philistines,.... Who in the times of Jehoram broke in upon Judah, and distressed them, 2Ch_21:16.

and brake down the wall of Gath; which was one of the five principalities of the Philistines:

and the wall of Jabneh; nowhere else mentioned in Scripture, but frequent in the Jewish writings; where the sanhedrim sometimes sat, and where was a famous university, and from whence sprung many of the Jewish rabbins; it is the same which in some writers is called Jamnia, and was a port near to Joppa; and belonged to the tribe of Dan, as Josephus (m) writes:

and the wall of Ashdod: another of the principalities of the Philistines, the same with the Azotus of the New Testament; he dismantled all these places:

and built cities about Ashdod, and among the Philistines; where he placed garrisons to keep them in awe; see Amo_1:8.

JAMISO, "he went forth and warred against the Philistines He overcame them in many engagements - dismantled their towns, and erected fortified cities in various parts of the country, to keep them in subjection.

Jabneh the same as Jabneel (Jos_15:11).

K&D, "Wars, buildings, and army of Uzziah. - Of the successful undertakings by which Uzziah raised the kingdom of Judah to greater worldly power and prosperity,

nothing is said in the book of Kings; but the fact itself is placed beyond all doubt, for it is confirmed by the portrayal of the might and greatness of Judah in the prophecies of Isaiah (Isa 2-4), which date from the times of Uzziah and Jotham.

2Ch_26:6

After Uzziah had, in the very beginning of his reign, completed the subjection of the Edomites commenced by his father by the capture and fortification of the seaport Elath (2Ch_26:2), he took the field to chastise the Philistines and Arabians, who had under Joram made an inroad upon Judah and plundered Jerusalem (2Ch_21:16.). In the war against the Philistines he broke down the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod (i.e., after capturing these cities), and built cities in Ashdod, i.e., in the domain of Ashdod, and

! , i.e., in other domains of the Philistines, whence we gather that he had wholly subdued Philistia. The city of Gath had been already taken from the Philistines by David; see 1Ch_18:1; and as to situation, see on 1Ch_11:8. Jabneh, here named for the first time, but probably occurring in Jos_15:11 under the name Jabneel, is often mentioned under the name Jamnia in the books of the Maccabees and in Josephus. It is now a considerable village, Jebnah, four hours south of Joppa, and one and a half hours from the sea; see on Jos_15:11. Ashdod is now a village called Esdud; see on Jos_13:3.

BESO, "2 Chronicles 26:6. And brake down the wall of Gath Which had been taken by Hazael, in the days of Joash his grand-father, chap. 2 Kings 12:17; but was either relinquished by him, because it lay so far from his other dominions; or retaken by the Philistines, who had now repaired its fortifications and kept it.

ELLICOTT, "(6) And he went forth and warred against the Philistines.At the outset of his reign this able prince had given promise of his future by seizing and fortifying the port of Elath, and thus probably completing the subjugation of Edom, which his father had more than begun. Afterwards he assumed the offensive against the Philistines, Arabs, and Maonites, who had invaded the country under his predecessors (2 Chronicles 21:16; 2 Chronicles 20:1).

Brake down the wall of Gath.After taking the city. (As to Gath, see 1 Chronicles 18:1; 2 Chronicles 11:8.)

Jabneh.The Jamnia of Maccabees and Josephus; now the village of Jebnah, about twelve miles south of Joppa (the same as Jabneel, Joshua 15:11).

Ashdod.Esdd. (Comp. Joshua 13:3.) Like Gath, one of the five sovereign states of the Philistines. It commanded the great road to Egypt; hence its possession was of first-rate importance to the contending military powers of Egypt and Assyria. Sargon captured it B.C. 719. (Comp. Isaiah 20:1.)

About Ashdod.In Ashdod, i.e., in the canton so called.

And among the Philistines.That is, elsewhere in their territory. Uzziah appears to have reduced the Philistines to a state of complete vassalage. They were not, however, annexed to Judah, but ruled by their own kings.

ELLICOTT, "UZZIAHS CAMPAIGS, PUBLIC WORKS, AD MILITARY STREGTH (2 Chronicles 26:6-15).

This section is peculiar to the Chronicles. Although the book of Kings passes over the facts recorded here, they are essential to forming a right conception of the strength and importance of the southern kingdom during the age of Uzziah and Jotham; and they are fully corroborated, not only by comparison with the data of Isaiah (Isaiah 2-4) upon the same subject, but also by the independent testimony of the cuneiform inscriptions of the period. (See ote on 2 Kings 14:28.) Thus we find that the warlike Assyrian Tiglath-pileser II. chastised Hamath for its alliance with Judah during this reign, but abstained from molesting Uzziah himselfa telling proof, as Schrader says, for the accuracy of the Biblical account of Uzziahs well-founded power. The name of Uzziah is conspicuously absent from the list of western princes who, in B.C. 738, sent tribute to Tiglath: Hystaspes (Kushtashpi), king of Commagene (Kummuha), Rezin, king of the country of the Damascenes, Menahem of the city of the Samaritans, Hiram of the city of the Tyrians, Sibitti-bili of the city of the Giblites or Byblos, Urikki of Kui, Pisiris of Carchemish, Eniel of Hamath, Panammu of Samal, and nine other sovereigns, including those of Tabal and Arabia. The list thus comprises Hittites and Arameans, princes of Hither Asia, Phoenicia, and Arabia. The omission of Uzziah argues that the king of Judah felt himself strong enough to sustain the shock of collision with Assyria in case of need. He must have reckoned on the support of the surrounding states (also not mentioned in the above list), viz., Ashdod, Ascalon, Gaza, Edom, Ammon, Moab, &c. (Schrader, Keilinschr., p. 252, seq.).

TRAPP, "2 Chronicles 26:6 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.

Ver. 6. And the wall of Jabneh.] Which was a strong city by the seaside, not more than three hours travel from Gath, saith Adrichomius.

POOLE, "Gath had been taken by Hazael in the days of Joash his grandfather, 2 Kings 12:17, but was either relinquished by him, because it lay so far from his other dominions; or retaken by the Philistines, who had now repaired its fortifications, and kept it.

GUZIK, "2. (2 Chronicles 26:6-15) The strength, security, and fame of Uzziahs reign.

ow he went out and made war against the Philistines, and broke down the wall of Gath, the wall of Jabneh, and the wall of Ashdod; and he built cities around Ashdod

and among the Philistines. God helped him against the Philistines, against the Arabians who lived in Gur Baal, and against the Meunites. Also the Ammonites brought tribute to Uzziah. His fame spread as far as the entrance of Egypt, for he became exceedingly strong. And Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the Corner Gate, at the Valley Gate, and at the corner buttress of the wall; then he fortified them. Also he built towers in the desert. He dug many wells, for he had much livestock, both in the lowlands and in the plains; he also had farmers and vinedressers in the mountains and in Carmel, for he loved the soil. Moreover Uzziah had an army of fighting men who went out to war by companies, according to the number on their roll as prepared by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer, under the hand of Hananiah, one of the kings captains. The total number of chief officers of the mighty men of valor was two thousand six hundred. And under their authority was an army of three hundred and seven thousand five hundred, that made war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy. Then Uzziah prepared for them, for the entire army, shields, spears, helmets, body armor, bows, and slings to cast stones. And he made devices in Jerusalem, invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and the corners, to shoot arrows and large stones. So his fame spread far and wide, for he was marvelously helped till he became strong.

a. He went out and made ware against the Philistines: Uzziah was active in opposing the ancient enemies of the Israelites. The Philistines may also have been active against Judah in the not too distant past, perhaps being among those who came with the Arabians and massacred many of the royal family of David (2 Chronicles 22:1).

i. With this heart to make war against their ancient enemies, no wonder that God helped him against the Philistines.

ii. The Philistines lost two of their major cities, Gath and Ashdod as well as Jabneh. The latter was formerly Jabneel of Judah (Joshua 15:11) and later became Jamnia where the Sanhedrin was re-formed after Jerusalems destruction in A.D. 70. (Selman)

b. The Ammonites brought tribute to Uzziah: This was another example of the strength of Uzziahs kingdom. He exacted tribute from the Ammonites, which was like a tax that recognized their lower place under Judah.

c. His fame spread . . . he built towers . . . He dug many wells . . . Uzziah had an army . . . he made devices in Jerusalem: Uzziah was a remarkable king, who had a broad interest in the improvement of his kingdom. Because of his many achievements, it was fitting that his fame spread among other nations.

i. The reality of Uzziahs towers of the desert (of arid southern Judah) has been validated by the discovery of an eighth-century tower at Qumran. (Payne)

ii. Repairs in Jerusalem were necessitated by the damage incurred during the previous reign (note the specific mention of the Corner Gate in 2 Chronicles 25:23) and possibly by an earthquake (Amos 1:1; Zechariah 14:5). (Selman)

iii. One unique description of Uzziah is that he loved the soil. This shows that he had a mind and a heart for more than technology and fame; he also had an interest in practical matters and things that benefited the majority of his people.

iv. This is a perfection in a king: on husbandry every state depends. Let their trade or commerce be what they may, there can be no true national prosperity if agriculture do not prosper; for the king himself is served by the field. (Clarke)

d. He made devices in Jerusalem, invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and the corners, to shoot arrows and large stones: There is some debate and even controversy as to if these were defensive or offensive inventions. If it does describe the inven