Chapter Twenty-Six

Uzziah-Azariah, the 10th king of Judah

(Cf. 2 Kgs 14:21-22)

1–5. The time of Uzziah’s accession, the length of his reign, and his piety. 9–15. Uzziah’s military and civic activities, his army and the fortifications of Jerusalem. 17–20. Uzziah’s arrogant usurpation of priestly rights and his leprosy. 21–23. Jotham’s regency, the death and burial of Uzziah.

2 Chronicles 26:1. And all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in place of his father Amaziah. 2 Chronicles 26:2. He rebuilt Elath and restored it to Judah, after the king rested with his fathers. 2 Chronicles 26:3. Uzziah was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem; the name of his mother was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. 2 Chronicles 26:4. And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, just as his father Amaziah had done; 2 Chronicles 26:5. and he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who instructed him in the fear of God; and in those days when he sought the Lord, God caused him to prosper. On Uzziah’s double name of Uzziah-Azariah and the general character of his reign see the commentaries at (2 Kgs 14:21-22) (Tolkovaya Bibliya, vol. II, p. 523). Among Uzziah-Azariah’s enterprises in foreign policy, this passage (v. 5), as also in (2 Kgs 14:22), especially notes the recovery and strengthening of the port of Elath for Judah (on the location of Elath see the commentaries at (1 Kgs 9:26); Tolkovaya Bibliya, vol. II, p. 412), which under Joram had gone over to Edom together with all Idumea (2 Chr 21:8; 2 Kgs 8:20) and was permanently lost by the latter under Ahaz (2 Kgs 16:6). Furthermore, in (2 Chr 26:5) it is stated that the source or foundation of Uzziah’s pious disposition in the first half of his reign (v. 4) lay in the influence upon him of a certain prophet Zechariah, of whom nothing is known from the Bible; some erroneously identified him with Zechariah son of Jehoiada (2 Chr 24:20) or arbitrarily considered him the son of that Zechariah (see Calmet). Blessed Theodoret with good probability identifies this Zechariah with the one mentioned by the prophet Isaiah, from (Isa 8:2) Zechariah son of Berechiah. (Migne, Curs. Complet. Patrol. Ser. gr. t. 80, p. 845–846). In the accepted Hebrew text v. 5 Zechariah, the guide of Uzziah, is called: (gam) mebin bir’ot ha’elohim, skilled in the vision (or visions) of God, that is, a seer, a prophet. Similar in the Vulgate: intelligentis et videntis Deum. The LXX translation in only a few manuscripts has this reading, such as in codices 19, 93, 108: τοῦ συνιέτος τόν Κύριον ἐν ὀράσει τοῦ Θεοῦ. But many Hebrew manuscripts have a different reading. Thus codices 1, 3, 579, 593, 683, 789 and some others in Rossi have not bir’ot – in vision, but by’rat – in fear (of God). The accepted LXX text also has: τοῦ συνιόντος ἐν τῶ φόβω Κυρὶον; the Slavonic text: “understanding in the fear of the Lord”; the Russian Synodal translation: “instructing in the fear of God.” The authority of the LXX and a significant number of Hebrew manuscripts in agreement with the LXX gives reason to prefer this second reading, although the thought of the first has a complete parallel in (Dan 1:17).

2 Chronicles 26:6. And he went out and fought against the Philistines, and broke down the walls of Gath and the walls of Jabneh and the walls of Ashdod; and he built cities in the region of Ashdod and among the Philistines. On the location of the Philistine cities of Ashdod, Heb. Ashdod (Onomasticon, 36) and Gath, Heb. Gat (Onomasticon, 301) see the commentaries at (Josh 11:22) in the Tolkovaya Bibliya, vol. II, p. 74. Jabneh (Jabneel, Jamnia), Slavonic: “Jabner” or “Jamnia”, LXX: Λεβνά, Ἰαβνήρ, Ἰαμνία – also a Philistine city, forming the boundary of the tribe of Judah ((Josh 15:11); Onomasticon, 533), not far from Joppa (1 Macc 10:69), 240 stadia from Jerusalem, 12 miles from Diospolis (Lydda) and 20 from Ascalon (after the destruction of Jerusalem, the Sanhedrin sat here; in the Christian era there was a bishop’s seat here). This conquest of the Philistines by Uzziah, who had again freed themselves from Judean rule under Ahaz (2 Chr 28:18), – an event not mentioned at all in the Book of Kings, is probably referred to by the prophet Isaiah (Isa 14:28-29).

2 Chronicles 26:7. And God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabians who lived in Gur-Baal, and against the Meunites; 2 Chronicles 26:8. and the Ammonites gave tribute to Uzziah, and his name spread far, even to the border of Egypt, because he became very powerful. Uzziah had similar success in his conflicts with the Arabians living in Gur-Baal (location unknown, probably not the same as Gur (2 Kgs 9:27), where Ahaziah was slain, cf. Onomasticon, 356), and with the Meunites (inhabitants of Maon, according to the LXX: μιναίοι, Slavonic: “minei”, Vulgate: Ammonitae; cf. commentaries at (2 Chr 20:1)). The Arabians in the Book of Chronicles are mentioned more than once in connection with the Philistines (2 Chr 17:11). The LXX: τοὺς Ἀραβας τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἐπὶ τῆς πέτρας (Slavonic: “Arabians dwelling in the rocks”), apparently understood inhabitants of rocky Arabia with its principal city Petra ((cf. 2 Kgs 14:7); Cf. Blessed Theodoret, Quaestiones in II Paralipomenon, XXVI; Migne, “Patrologia Cursus Completus. Series Graeca”, t. 80, p. 846). According to the Targum, Gur-Baal is identical with Gerar.

2 Chronicles 26:9. And Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem over the Corner Gate and over the Valley Gate and at the corner, and fortified them. 2 Chronicles 26:10. And he built towers in the wilderness, and dug many cisterns, because he had many herds, both in the Shephelah and in the plain, and also farmers and vineyardmen on the hills and in the fertile lands, because he loved the soil. The numerous and grand constructions of King Uzziah are, in the opinion of some interpreters, what the prophets Hosea (Hos 8:14) and Isaiah (Isa 2:7), who began their activity during this reign, are referring to. Uzziah was the first of the kings of Judah to fortify Jerusalem thoroughly, building fortified towers “over the Corner Gate (on the northwest of Jerusalem) and over the Valley Gate (on the west of the city, near the present Jaffa Gate) and at the corner” (v. 9). The immediate reason for strengthening Jerusalem on its western side may have been the destruction of part of the city wall by the king of Israel, Joash, under Uzziah’s father Amaziah (2 Kgs 14:13; 2 Chr 25:23), and then such defensive measures were prompted in a wise ruler also by the general concern to protect the city from attacks. Furthermore, by encouraging with love the development of agriculture and stock-raising (the main sources of life and prosperity for ancient Hebrews), Uzziah promoted the most rational conduct of both branches – by constructing guard towers in the steppe, where cattle grazed, for protection from predators, and by hewing out cisterns both for watering the cattle and for artificial field irrigation (cf. Josephus, “Jewish Antiquities”, IX, 10,3). Professor Olesnitsky, on the basis of (2 Chr 26:10), attributes to the time of Uzziah the cutting of the Siloam tunnel and the composition of the well-known Siloam inscription (Olesnitsky, “The Old Testament Temple”, p. 814, note). “On the Shephelah” (Heb. Shefela, LXX: ἐν σεφηλᾶ, Vulgate: sephela, terra campestris, Slavonic: Sephila, level, low, field) – one of the three parts of the territory of the tribe of Judah (Josh 10:40; Judg 1:9; Jer 32:44), adjoined on the south from Joppa (Jaffa) to the plain of Sharon, extended down to Gaza, bordered on the west by the sea, on the east by the mountains of Judah (Onomasticon, 865. Cf. “Tolkovaya Bibliya”, vol. II, p. 68,158). “On Carmel.” In the Bible, as even Eusebius and Blessed Jerome note (Onomasticon, 602), there are known to be two different mountains and regions of this name: Mount Carmel in the north of Palestine, in the southern part of the tribe of Asher, where the prophet Elijah dwelled (now Jebel Carmil; on the location of this Carmel see in “Tolkovaya Bibliya”, vol. II, p. 453). Another Carmel – a region and city in the highlands of the tribe of Judah (Josh 15:55), mentioned in the history of Saul and David (1 Sam 15:12), southeast of Hebron; see “Tolkovaya Bibliya”, vol. II, p. 98 and 265. In this place (2 Chr 26:10) can only be meant this latter Carmel, since the northern Carmel, lying far in the north of the kingdom of Israel, was not part of the kingdom of Judah and therefore could not belong to Uzziah’s possessions. Some interpreters (Philippson, Kautzsch), however, consider the Heb. Karmel of this place a common noun: gardens, fruit orchards.

2 Chronicles 26:11. And Uzziah had an army of soldiers, who went out to war by companies, according to the number of their account kept by Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer, under the direction of Hananiah, one of the chief officials of the king. 2 Chronicles 26:12. The total number of the heads of the fathers’ houses of mighty men of valor was two thousand six hundred, 2 Chronicles 26:13. and under their command the military force consisted of three hundred and seven thousand five hundred, who fought with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy. The numerical strength of King Uzziah’s military force is indicated. Among the compilers of the lists of the army, besides the court scribe Jeiel (on the office of court scribes, Heb. Soferim, see commentaries at (2 Sam 4:3) in Tolkovaya Bibliya, vol. II, p. 309), mention is also made of a certain Maaseiah the officer, Heb. shoter, LXX: κριτής, Vulgate: doctor, Slavonic: “judge”. Professor A.A. Olesnitsky sees in Maaseiah the chronicler of the period of Uzziah’s reign: “although Maaseiah is called here by the name ‘shoter’, the office of shoterim, or genealogy compilers, was sometimes combined in kings with the duties of a chronicler.” (“The State Chronicle of the Kings of Judah”, “Works of the Kiev Theological Academy”, 1879, no. 8, p. 427). True, the chronicle function of shoterim is still disputed (about it one can find only indefinite indications in passages in (Exod 5:6 and further; Deut 1:15) and others), but it cannot be doubted that for the rich information about Uzziah’s reign with which the sacred writer (2 Chr 26) supplements the brief and general account of Uzziah (Azariah) in the 4th Book of Kings, there must have been materials from a contemporary chronicler, namely from one close to the court, such as Maaseiah could have been.

2 Chronicles 26:14. And Uzziah prepared for them, for all the army, shields and spears, helmets and armor, bows and sling-stones. 2 Chronicles 26:15. And he made in Jerusalem ingeniously designed machines, to be placed on the towers and on the corners for shooting arrows and great stones. And his name spread far, because he was marvelously helped, and became strong. Here for the first time in the Bible there occurs the report of the invention of stone-throwing and siege engines – “catapults, ballistae, battering rams, siege hooks and the like” (Josephus, “Jewish Antiquities”, IX, 10, 3). This report, from which it follows that the introduction into military practice of all these engines was not an invention of the Greeks and Romans, but was earlier known in the East (Pliny attributes these engines to Syrian origin), raises some perplexity in view of the absence of external, non-biblical evidence of the use of the aforesaid projectiles in biblical times; according to the testimony of Diodorus Siculus, the siege of Nineveh lasted 7 years precisely because the besiegers lacked stone-throwing engines. Perhaps in this passage of 2 Chronicles only primitive engines of the mentioned kind are spoken of, which, precisely because of their primitive imperfection, did not become part of the history of military art. (Images of various kinds of ancient stone-throwing engines can be seen in Philippson, “Die Israelitische Bibel”, Bd. III, s. 1138). The fame of Uzziah’s power, just as in his time and that of his pious and powerful ancestors Asa and Jehoshaphat (2 Chr 14:14), spread far beyond the kingdom of Judah.

2 Chronicles 26:16. But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction, and he transgressed against the Lord his God, for he entered the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. 2 Chronicles 26:17. And Azariah the priest went after him, and with him eighty priests of the Lord, men of valor; 2 Chronicles 26:18. and they withstood King Uzziah and said to him: It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord; this is the office of the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to make the offering of incense; go out of the sanctuary, for you have acted wrongly, and it will not be to your honor with the Lord God. 2 Chronicles 26:19. And Uzziah was angry – and in his hand was the censer for burning incense; and while he was angry at the priests, the leprosy broke out on his forehead, before the priests, in the house of the Lord, beside the altar of incense. 2 Chronicles 26:20. And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous on his forehead. And they thrust him out from there, and he himself also hastened to go out, for the Lord had struck him. However, Uzziah did not continue in his former (v. 4–5) piety. Good fortune and prosperity in his reign blinded Uzziah: in this prosperity he did not see cause to give thanks to Jehovah (as befitted a truly theocratic king), but instead found occasion for self-exaltation and sacrilegious seizure of the gift of priesthood: perhaps having in mind the custom of the combination of royal power and priesthood among many peoples (e.g., in ancient Rome the king was also pontifex maximus), Uzziah attempted to perform the functions belonging exclusively to the high priest and priests – entry into the sanctuary (Heb. hehal, that is, “the holy” – the outer or great part of the temple) and burning incense there. Meanwhile, in the law of Moses it was forbidden to strangers, non-priests, under penalty of death (Exod 30:32; Num 8:7); (cf. “Tolkovaya Bibliya”, vol. I, p. 548), and the factual evidence of the reality of such a threat for all ages remained examples: the sudden death of Nadab and Abihu ((Lev 10:1-4), see “Tolkovaya Bibliya”, vol. I, p. 436–437), as well as the striking with leprosy of Miriam ((Num 12:10); see “Tolkovaya Bibliya”, vol. I, p. 533–534). The same fate befell King Uzziah for his arrogance and sacrilege. Josephus, more fully than the Bible, apparently according to popular traditions recounting this event, supplements the biblical account: first, by the report that the fatal attempt of Uzziah “to clothe himself in priestly vestments” and perform priestly service occurred “on the day of a solemn national festival”; second, by the statement that, when Uzziah in answer to the exhortations of the high priest Azariah and the priests responded with threats, then “suddenly the earth was shaken by a violent earthquake, the clouds parted, and a bright ray of sunlight slipped between them and struck the eyes of the king, so that the latter immediately fell ill with leprosy, and near the city, in that place which is called Eroga, half of a rock facing west was torn off, rolled a distance of four stadia to the east and fell upon such a place where the royal roads and park were, and buried them” (“Jewish Antiquities”, IX, 10, 4). The supplement made by Josephus to the biblical account of Uzziah’s striking with leprosy, namely this historian’s mention of an earthquake that took place in this case, cannot be considered one of the poetic embellishments encountered in Josephus in his transmission of the biblical narrative, an attempt to introduce a natural element into the biblical account of the miraculous striking of Uzziah; rather the earthquake is a historical fact: the prophet Amos (Amos 1:1) speaks of an earthquake in the time of Uzziah, as a well-known event, considered a kind of epoch; an indication of this same earthquake, though an unclear and disputed indication, is seen also in the so-called Siloam inscription (discovered by Schick in 1880), where (line 3) some kind of appearance of seething in the rock is mentioned (Professor A.A. Olesnitsky, “The Old Testament Temple”, p. 813–814, note). The moral aspect of Uzziah’s transgression is revealed by the holy John Chrysostom: “Uzziah, forgetting himself because of the success of his deeds and becoming proud with good fortune, began to exalt himself above his station. Being a king, he thought it was permissible for him to perform priestly service, burst into the temple, entered the holy of holies, and when the priest opposed and forbade him to enter there, he did not stop, but continued to act madly, despising the words of the priest. For such shamelessness God struck him with leprosy on his forehead, so that, having desired greater honor than was fitting, he lost even what he had; for he not only did not receive the priesthood, but, becoming unclean, was deprived of the kingdom, and for shame lived hidden in a certain house all his days.” (Commentary on the 6th chapter of the prophet Isaiah, section 1. Homilies on Various Passages of Holy Scripture. St. Petersburg 1861, vol. I, p. 126).

2 Chronicles 26:21. And King Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death, and lived in a separate house and was excluded from the house of the Lord. And his son Jotham was over the king’s house and judged the people of the land. 2 Chronicles 26:22. The rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz wrote. 2 Chronicles 26:23. And Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the burial of the kings, for they said: He is a leper. And Jotham his son reigned in his place. What sort of “separate house” (Heb. bet ha-hofshit or according to Ketib – ha-hofshot), in which Uzziah lived from the day of his striking with leprosy until his death, as well as generally about the reign of Uzziah and his sad end, see the commentary at (2 Kgs 15:1-7) (“Tolkovaya Bibliya”, vol. II, p. 524,525). While in (2 Kgs 15:6) the source of information about the reign of Uzziah-Azariah is named as “the chronicle of the kings of Judah”, here (v. 22), as such a source, a certain writing of the prophet Isaiah is indicated. Of course, this writing was completely different from the canonical book of the prophet Isaiah, since in the prophetic book of Isaiah there is only a simple mention of Uzziah (Isa 1:1), and the work mentioned here contained detailed information about the long reign of Uzziah, was undoubtedly of a chronicle character, and could have formed part of “the chronicle of the kings of Judah”, which was, as we said, a work of the prophets (“Tolkovaya Bibliya”, vol. II, p. 359).