And Azariah the priest went in after him ,.... To hinder him from doing it, and to persuade him to go out. This was the high priest, as appears from 2 Chronicles 26:20 and is thought to be the same that is spoken of in 1 Chronicles 6:10 . and with him eighty priests of the Lord, that were valiant men ; not only able bodied men, but men of spirit and courage, and zealous for the honour of God. read more
The reign of fifty-two years spoiled in an hour. Many a reign, indeed, was a spoiled reign which had begun well, promised well, and continued well for some length, of time. But the reign of Uzziah, of all the reigns of Judah and of Israel the longest with the one exception of that of Manasseh, and particularly full of prosperity, and remarkably varied prosperity within, of success in just foreign wars, and of that which led to these things, viz. the most gracious tokens of the Divine... read more
A clouded close. We could have wished that the end of Uzziah's life had answered to the beginning; that a reign which began so well, which had so commendable and even distinguished a record, bad closed in light and honour. But it was not to be. That powerful temptation which assails the strong and the victorious proved too powerful for the Hebrew king; he fell beneath its force, and he paid a heavy penalty for his fall. We have— I. A PAINFUL SPECTACLE in the person of a leprous... read more
Uzziah the leprous. I. UZZIAH 'S TRANSGRESSION . Pride. "His heart was lifted up." This the inevitable tendency of too much material and temporal prosperity ( Deuteronomy 8:13 , Deuteronomy 8:14 ). Exemplified in Amaziah ( 2 Chronicles 25:18 , 2 Chronicles 25:19 ; 2 Kings 14:9 ), Sennacherib ( 2 Chronicles 32:31 ; 2 Kings 18:19-35 ), Nebuchadnezzar ( Daniel 4:30-34 ; Daniel 5:20 ). 2 . The nature of it. "He went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense... read more
Azariah the priest . Verse 20 states what was otherwise to be supposed, that he was the chief priest ( הָראשׁ ). We fail to identify his name with any in the typical list of 1 Chronicles 6:4-15 , where the Azariah of verse 11 is too early, and the Azariah of verse 13 too late, for our present Azariah. With him four score priests . This passage suggests to us an idea of how many deeply interesting details are wanting, which would fill in the interstices of Old Testament history.... read more
Prosperity followed by disaster (25:1-28:27)Succeeding kings of Israel are passed over in silence (2 Kings 13:1-25). Judah was to have nothing to do with the northern kingdom, not even to the hiring of Israelite soldiers. Amaziah took the advice, and was rewarded with victory in a battle against Edom. But the victory, instead of increasing his dependence on God, gave him a feeling of independence. He turned from God and worshipped idols. The ungodly northern kingdom then became God’s instrument... read more
valiant men = sons of valour. read more
J. Uzziah ch. 26The Chronicler gave us much more information about Uzziah than we have in Kings (2 Kings 15:1-7). Uzziah ("Yahweh is strong") was evidently the king’s throne name, and Azariah ("Yahweh helps") his personal name.Uzziah, as his father, began well but ended poorly. The writer documented his fidelity to Yahweh and God’s consequent blessing of him and his kingdom at length (2 Chronicles 26:1-15). Perhaps 2 Chronicles 26:5 summarizes this best. To seek the Lord meant to seek to please... read more
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Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - 2 Chronicles 26:16-23
Here is the only blot we find on the name of king Uzziah, and it is such a one as lies not on any other of the kings. Whoredom, murder, oppression, persecution, and especially idolatry, gave characters to the bad kings and some of them blemishes to the good ones, David himself not excepted, witness the matter of Uriah. But we find not Uzziah charged with any of these; and yet he transgressed against the Lord his God, and fell under the marks of his displeasure in consequence, not, as other... read more