And as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper. 2 Chronicles 26:5 Soul prosperity Joseph Irons. I. THE SEEKERS OF THE LORD. 1. Every real seeker of the Lord must be a heaven-born soul ( John 3:8 ). This involves the bestowment of a Divine existence, the creating of a new nature ( 2 Peter 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 R. W. Moss. 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 life — the 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 Uzziah's reign. There is another place in the Old Testament where that warning is embedded in associations of even greater interest than these — the 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 Uzziah — seven 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 Uzziah's sin. Uzziah seems to have thought, "Philistines and Ammonites, it's 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 J. T. Davidson, D. D. I. UZZIAH'S 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 God's 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 W. Mackintosh Arthur, M.A. 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 men's 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 one's own department, and at one's 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 A. Mackennal, B.A. Rightly to apprehend Uzziah's 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 it — he 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 God's hands, save in events that are utterly unintelligible. God's 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 J. Parker, D.D. 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. ) For he loved husbandry. 2 Chronicles 26:10, 11 We cannot always follow the pursuits we love J. Parker, D. D. Is there anything more distressing than to be compelled to do the thing we have no heart for? Many a man in the city would leave his occupation to-morrow if he could find bread in the thing he really loves. And many men are in positions that look lofty, and that are amply rewarded, for which they care nothing; they would rather be at home attending to the garden, watching the bees, reading noble books. But we cannot do what we would like to do. Herein is part of our discipline, which is part of our education. We must have the will broken somewhere. No man can reach the full stature of his manhood, and realise all that is sweetest in life, until his will has been cut right in two. ( J. Parker, D. D. ) For he was marvellously helped till he was strong. 2 Chronicles 26:15 Marvellously helped till strong G. Matheson. Two kinds of help, natural and supernatural. 1. A time when we cannot help ourselves. Infancy. 2. A time of growth, when we can help ourselves. Youth, manhood. 3. When thus strong the supernatural help ceases.Not less provision made on that account. There is joy and co-operation with God. As an earthly father requires to be obeyed and served, beholds strength and disposition to co-operate, so the heavenly Father, etc. ( G. Matheson. ) Prosperity J. Baker Norton. I. UZZIAH'S PROSPERITY. 1. The particulars of his prosperity.(1) He prospered in war. He had an army of 307,500 men, over whom were 2,600 mighty and valorous captains. All were fully equipped for service. With these soldiers Uzziah fought against the Philistines, the Arabians that dwelt in Gur-baal, the Mehunims and the Amorites, and in each case he was victorious.(2) He prospered in building. He repaired and fortified the walls of Jerusalem, reared towers "a hundred and fifty cubits high" (Josephus), built walled towns in the desert, and made channels for the conveyance of water.(3) He prospered in agriculture. "He planted it with all sorts of plants, and sowed it with all sorts of seeds."(4) Uzziah's prosperity appears to have been general. He did not keep up a great military establishment at the expense of other departments. His name spread far abroad, and he was acknowledged to be an illustrious and a highly-favoured prince. 2. The author of his prosperity. This was God. (Uzziah signifies "strength from Jehovah.") "He was marvellously helped." God helped him against his enemies, and in all he undertook. It might have been otherwise. Instead of victory he might have experienced defeat. His building and agricultural schemes might have proved unsuccessful. It is always well to set the Lord at our right hand. We may plough and plant, but He only can cause the seed to germinate, and grow, and fructify. We may contrive and work, but He only can bless our endeavours. 3. The secret of Uzziah's prosperity. It is distinctly set forth in the fifth verse of this (26) chapter, "He sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God: and so long as he sought the Lord God made him to prosper." What is there that God cannot do for a man who takes Him into his counsels? He can help him "marvellously." He can exalt valleys and level mountains, make crooked places straight and rough places plain. He can bring clients into the office and ready-money customers into the shop. He has the hearts of all men in His hands, and all the forces of the universe; and He can do whatsoever He will. II. UZZIAH'S PRIDE. 1. His prosperity made him proud. "His heart was lifted up." A great change for the worse was wrought in him. Whether it was brought about suddenly or gradually we are not told. We assume that Uzziah did not become proud all at once. He who had formerly recognised God as the prime cause of his splendid achievements became wilfully blind, and we shall soon see what effect this had upon his conduct. 2. His pride led him into presumption. The tendency of pride is to make men giddy, and as the result their vision is beclouded, their judgment is perverted.(1) The occasion of his presumption. Josephus tells us that it was "a remarkable day, a general festival," and we are left to supply the rest.(2) The nature of his presumption. He usurped the office of the priest. There are hereditary moral diseases as well as those which are physical and mental. Uzziah's folly was in some respects a reproduction of the folly of which Amaziah his father had been guilty. III. UZZIAH'S PUNISHMENT. 1. He was resisted in his attempt to do that which was unlawful; resisted by the proper guardians of the temple. Azariah, the high priest, seeing what he was about to do, went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the Lord, who were valiant men. No time was lost (ver. 18). 2. He was smitten with leprosy. "The leprosy rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord." There was the bright scaly spot which told its own terrible tale — the mark of God's disapprobation, and it was on his brow, where all could see it. 3. He was thrust out of the temple as unclean. It was not necessary, however, to use force; conscious that God had smitten him, he hurried out, self-condemned, probably shrieking out his woe, and cursing his folly. 4. He was separated from society ( Leviticus 13:46 ). 5. He, being a leper, was buried alone. Josephus tells us that he "was buried by himself in his own garden." In all likelihood his resting-place was a field or garden adjoining the usual burial-place of the kings.Lessons: 1. God is the giver of prosperity. 2. Prosperous men are in danger of becoming proud. 3. Pride is often followed by presumption. 4. Presumption is sure of punishment. ( J. Baker Norton. ) It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the Lord. 2 Chronicles 26:17, 18 We must abide within our limitation J. Parker, D. D. The great temptation of some natures is to try to do the very things for which they are least qualified. There is a marvellous irony in human genius in this matter. It would seem to be an inscrutable mystery that men will persist in attempting to do the thing which they cannot do, and which they were obviously never meant to do. Whenever a man is out of place he is guilty of wasting strength. A man can only work well within his own limit. No man should strain himself at his labour, be he poet, or musician, or divine, be he prophet or merchantman; he should keep easily within the circle he was appointed to occupy, for all stretching is weakening, all effort that is above the line of nature tends to destruction, both to the worker and of the influence which he ought to exert. Know your own place, and keep it. ( J. Parker, D. D. ) The folly of self-will J. Parker, D. D. God has sacred places, God has allotted specific duties to men; every man will be wise in proportion as he sees his own calling, and makes his calling and election sure. Reward lies along that line. Leave your native heath, take your life into your own hands, say you will create a sphere for yourself and do as you please, and you shall be stung with disappointments as with a cloud of insects. Say you will insist upon having your own way in the world, and every rock you strike will but injure the hand that smites it. But live and move and have your being in God. Say, "Lord, not my will, but Thine be done; make me door-keeper, or lamp-lighter, or hewer of wood or drawer of water, or a Zechariah having learning in Thy visions and power of reading all the apocalypse of Thy providence: what Thou wilt, as Thou wilt, as long as Thou wilt: Thy will is heaven." It is towards this end that all Christian education must tend. ( J. Parker, D. D. ) Uzziah's pride punished Monday Club Sermons. I. HIS REIGN AS KING. This was pre-eminently successful. The Arab hordes on his south-east borders were subdued, and the Ammonites were reduced to tribute. He was no less vigorous in defensive than offensive operations. He paid as great attention to the arts of peace as of war. He was the special patron of agriculture; he dug wells, built towers in the wilderness for the protection of the flocks, and cultivated rich vineyards. II. UZZIAH'S SIN. Uzziah was ambitious; he was not willing that any in his realm should enjoy prerogatives denied to him. III. UZZIAH'S PUNISHMENT. Henceforth the most menial subject would not exchange places with the leprous king. As lessons taught by this narrative we learn — 1. Prosperity is dangerous. The record of Uzziah does not stand alone. Prosperity seldom draws men to God. Gratitude does not increase in proportion as God's favours multiply. A man's piety is not usually increased by his becoming rich. It is seldom men are more religious in health than in sickness. "Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept Thy Word." 2. God is to be approached reverently. Uzziah seems to have thought that by being a king, successful and famous, he had earned the right to enter the holy place and offer sacred incense. It is often expected that God will accept worship if the display of wealth mingle with it largely. Does not the ability to offer such choice incense gain for one the right to lift the sacred veil and stand where God hath said His Priests only should enter, and "the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death?" Uzziah thought that God would not exclude a favoured king from that sacred presence. Men often think that it is possible to find some incense wafted from a worldly censer which shall ascend as fragrance to the unseen holy. But what had Uzziah's kingdom to do toward fitting him to perform a priestly act? Man's approach to God is through Christ. In the Old Testament dispensation, not even a symbol of His person or work could be accepted or admitted into the holy place, other than that which God had appointed. 3. Sin, though in high places, must be rebuked. It seemed a bold act for the priests to say to Judah's king, "Go out of the sanctuary, for thou hast trespassed." They were the humble ministers of religion, and he the proud and pampered king of a victorious people. He had transcended his limit, and must be rebuked, though he be a king. Such invasions of religion are not rare. The world is always ready to take religious duties into her own hands, to tell how God is to be worshipped, what doctrines are to be preached, what duties prescribed, what faults are to be rebuked, and what allowed. She enters with a regal tread, and speaks with imperious voice. What shall be done? Does and will the Church stand firm in her antagonism to wrong and sin, though they stand in kingly pride to offer polluted incense on her sacred altars? 4. Men may be blinded to sin, till they see its consequences. It is not probable that Uzziah realised his guilt till the "leprosy rose up in his forehead." Then he hasted to go out of the sanctuary. Perhaps he feared other and severer judgments would follow. Had God stayed His retributive hand, and the king been suffered, with no leprous spots, to leave the altar as proud and ambitious as he entered, his guilt would have been as great. The smitten forehead, like a detective, laid the offender under arrest, and thus exposed him; but it did not create or increase his sin. Many, guilty of the most grievous wrongs, think themselves respectable, and claim the confidence of others, till some providence uncovers their

Benson Commentary 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. 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 . 2 Chronicles 26:2 He built Eloth, and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept with his fathers. 2 Chronicles 26:3 Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 2 Chronicles 26:7 And God helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians that dwelt in Gurbaal, and the Mehunims. 2 Chronicles 26:8 And the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah: and his name spread abroad even to the entering in of Egypt; for he strengthened himself exceedingly. 2 Chronicles 26:9 Moreover Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, and at the valley gate, and at the turning of the wall , and fortified them. 2 Chronicles 26:10 Also 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 vine dressers in the mountains, and in Carmel: for he loved husbandry. 2 Chronicles 26:10-11 . He built towers in the desert — Partly to guard his cattle from the inroads and depredations which the Arabians were accustomed to make: and partly to give notice of the approach of any enemy, and to put some stop to their march on that side. Uzziah had an army that went out to war by bands — Some bands at one time, and some at another, as occasion required. 2 Chronicles 26:11 Moreover Uzziah had an host of fighting men, that went out to war by bands, according to the number of their account by the hand of Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the ruler, under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king's captains. 2 Chronicles 26:11 . Now therefore deliver the captives — Release your brethren, whom you have made prisoners, and send them home again with care. For the fierce wrath of the Lord is upon you — And there is no other way of escaping it, but by showing mercy. 2 Chronicles 26:12 The whole number of the chief of the fathers of the mighty men of valour were two thousand and six hundred. 2 Chronicles 26:13 And under their hand was an army, three hundred thousand and seven thousand and five hundred, that made war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy. 2 Chronicles 26:14 And Uzziah prepared for them throughout all the host shields, and spears, and helmets, and habergeons, and bows, and slings to cast stones. 2 Chronicles 26:15 And he made in Jerusalem engines, invented by cunning men, to be on the towers and upon the bulwarks, to shoot arrows and great stones withal. And his name spread far abroad; for he was marvellously helped, till he was strong. 2 Chronicles 26:16 But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense. 2 Chronicles 26:16 . When he was strong — Strengthened in his kingdom, and free from the fear of any enemy; his heart was lifted up to his destruction — Thus the prosperity of fools, by puffing them up with pride, destroys them. He had done so much business, and attained so much honour, that he began to think no business, no honour too great, or too good for him; no, not that of the priesthood. He went unto the temple of the Lord — Into the holy place, where the altar of incense stood, and into which none but priests might enter, much less offer incense. 2 Chronicles 26:17 And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the LORD, that were valiant men: 2 Chronicles 26:18 And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honour from the LORD God. 2 Chronicles 26:18 . And they withstood Uzziah — Hebrew, stood up against Uzziah, not by force, or laying hands upon him to restrain him, for in the next verse we still find the censer in his hand; but only by admonition and reproof, which follows. Neither shall it be for thine honour, &c. — Expect that God will punish thee, or put some brand of infamy upon thee for this presumption. But this they express modestly, because they considered that he to whom they spake, though an offender, was their sovereign. 2 Chronicles 26:19 Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, from beside the incense altar. 2 Chronicles 26:19 . Then Uzziah was wroth — With the priests. While he was wroth the leprosy rose up in his forehead — So that he could not hide his shame: though it is probable it was also in the rest of his body. From beside the incense-altar — By a stroke from an invisible hand, coming from the altar; that he might be assured this was the effect of God’s displeasure. 2 Chronicles 26:20 And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the LORD had smitten him. 2 Chronicles 26:20 . They thrust him out from thence — Not by force, which needed not, for he voluntarily hasted away, as it follows; but by vehement persuasions and denunciations of God’s further judgments upon him, if he did not depart. 2 Chronicles 26:21 And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the LORD: and Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging the people of the land. 2 Chronicles 26:21 . Uzziah was a leper unto the day of his death — God would have this leprosy to be incurable, as a lasting monument of his anger against such presumptuous invaders of the priest’s office. Dwelt in a several house, &c. — As he was obliged to do by law, which he durst not now resist, being under the hand of God, and under the fear of worse plagues, if he did not so. For he was cut off from the house of the Lord — He dwelt in a several house, because he might not come into the temple and courts, nor consequently into any public assembly. So the punishment answers the sin, as face does to face in a glass. He thrust himself into the temple of God, whither the priests only had admission: and for that was thrust out of the very courts of the temple, into which the meanest of his subjects might enter. He invaded the dignity of the priesthood, to which he had no right, and is for that deprived of the royal dignity, to which he had an undoubted right. 2 Chronicles 26:22 Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, did Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, write. 2 Chronicles 26:23 So Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the burial which belonged to the kings; for they said, He is a leper: and Jotham his son reigned in his stead. Benson Commentary on the Old and New Testaments Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.

Expositor's Bible Commentary 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. UZZIAH, JOTHAM, AND 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 chronicler’s 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. Nothing is known about Gur-baal; but the Arabian allies of the Philistines would be, like Jehoram’s 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 chronicler’s 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. Uzziah’s 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 king’s 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 Uzziah’s 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. { Numbers 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 II’s 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. Uzziah’s 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 king’s forehead, is not without its spiritual antitype. Men’s 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 Uzziah’s 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 Jotham’s reign comes like a quiet and pleasant oasis in the chronicler’s 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. The Expositor's Bible Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com . Used by Permission.