2 Chronicles 26:16-23--Uzziah's Pride and Punishment

2 Chronicles 26:16-23
English Standard Version

Uzziah's Pride and Punishment
16 But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the LORD his God and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense. 17 But Azariah the priest went in after him, with eighty priests of the LORD who were men of valor, 18 and they withstood King Uzziah and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have done wrong, and it will bring you no honor from the LORD God.” 19 Then Uzziah was angry. Now he had a censer in his hand to burn incense, and when he became angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead in the presence of the priests in the house of the LORD, by the altar of incense. 20 And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead! And they rushed him out quickly, and he himself hurried to go out, because the LORD had struck him. 21 And King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death, and being a leper lived in a separate house, for he was excluded from the house of the LORD. And Jotham his son was over the king's household, governing the people of the land.

22 Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, from first to last, Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz wrote. 23 And Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the burial field that belonged to the kings, for they said, “He is a leper.” And Jotham his son reigned in his place.

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The books of Kings and Chronicles keep showing us that even the "good" kings of Israel and Judah are not the perfect king (the Messiah) that the people of Israel needed.  There needed to be One who would be a perfect Law Keeper, and Uzziah fell short of that by letting his pride get to him when the LORD gave him victory and success.  "Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall" (Proverbs 16:18) and "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled." (Matthew 23:12a).  We see both of these verses at work today as the LORD uses leprosy to punish and humble King Uzziah.

Uzziah proudly violated the LORD's sanctuary going only where the priests were to go (The Holy Place) to do what only priests should do (offering incense on The Golden Altar).  Uzziah was not a priest and was told to go out from the sanctuary and that what he had done was wrong.  Instead of repenting, he became angry because he was proud and thought that the rules didn't apply to him.  The leprosy that broke out on his skin to make him "unclean" was a sign to everyone of how the sin in his heart made him spiritually "unclean."  While the leprosy of the Bible was highly contagious and very dangerous, sin is much worse as it likewise will contaminate an entire population if drastic action is not taken.

Uzziah had to live his time as a leper in isolation.  No one was allowed to approach him, and this effectively ended his reign as king (one of his sons had to take care of things for him, even though he was still alive and technically still had the title of king).  Because of his leprosy, they would not bury him in the tombs of the kings, but instead they buried him in the burial field that belonged to the kings, so he was buried in a grave instead of a tomb.  His son Jotham who had been leading the people during Uzziah's time of having leprosy reigned in his place after his death.  We'll talk more about Jotham and his time as king next time.