Claim to fame: King Uzziah did many great public works while he followed the Lord his God
Worst betrayal: Uzziah disobeyed God by usurping the role of the priests in the temple
Bible Verses about Uzziah
2 Kings uses Uzziah and his second name, Azariah, interchangeably. After announcing in 2 Kings 4:21 that he became king, a brief summary of Azariah’s life and reign appears in 2 Kings 15:1-7. In the rest of that chapter, he’s incidentally mentioned eight more times, half as Azariah and half as Uzziah.
We learn a lot more about Uzziah in 2 Chronicles 26 (the whole chapter) and the fact that Jotham succeeded him in 2 Chronicles 27:2. That’s not the last we read about Uzziah.
- His name appears as a historic marker in Isaiah 1:1, Isaiah 6:1, and Isaiah 7:1.
- Uzziah is mentioned in Hosea 1:1, Amos 1:1, and Zechariah 15:5 (earthquake).
- Finally, Uzziah is named in Matthew 1:8-9 (as a forefather of Jesus Christ).
Uzziah’s Childhood
Scripture doesn’t tell us much about Uzziah’s childhood or early adolescence. That is, except for four quick but important facts.
First, Uzziah’s grandfather, Joash, the eighth monarch, was assassinated when Uzziah was 10 years old.
Second, Uzziah’s father, Amaziah, the ninth monarch over the Kingdom of Judah, was assassinated when Uzziah was 40 years old.
Third, Uzziah’s mother was Jekoliah “of Jerusalem” (2 Kings 15:2; 2 Chronicles 26:3).
Fourth, like many others in biblical times, Uzziah also went by a second name, Azariah. The latter is used only in 2 Kings, which uses Azariah and Uzziah interchangeably.
Uzziah’s Becomes King
Scripture is clear that Uzziah became king at age 16. It’s not clear, however, why his father, Amaziah, felt compelled to make Uzziah his co-regent. It may have been good pride in his oldest son. It also may have been an attempt to avoid the very real threat of assassination in Judah’s capital, Jerusalem.
With King Uzziah on the throne, Amaziah could travel and eventually live far from Jerusalem. The ploy apparently worked for many, many years. Finally, however, assassins found Amaziah in Lachish, 25 miles away, murdered him, and brought his body back to Jerusalem for burial.
Uzziah’s Reign Over Judah
At age 40, King Uzziah became the sole monarch over the Kingdom of Judah. Job number one? Avoid assassination! Job number two? Wake up every day committing to serving Judah’s ultimate Sovereign, the Lord God, Maker and Creator of heaven and earth.
It’s amazing what Uzziah accomplished with the Lord’s blessing. You can still see some of his phenomenal public works in Jerusalem to this day. Of course, untold hundreds or thousands of men did all the hard, heavy labor. And their labors were successful thanks to God’s blessings. Then Uzziah made the classic mistake of giving in to the pride of thinking, quite wrongly, “Look at all I have done!”
Uzziah’s Pride, Leprosy, and Death
At age 56, King Uzziah was forced to make his oldest son, Jotham, co-regent and de facto monarch over the Kingdom of Judah. Why? Uzziah had become terribly proud. So proud that he burned incense to the Lord as though he were a priest. “Pride was his downfall,” indeed.
When rebuked by the chief priest and other leading priests, Uzziah became enraged. Then the Lord struck Uzziah with leprosy. Few temporal judgments of God are worse. What the Bible calls leprosy covers a wide range of horrible conditions, not just leprosy we think of today.
In ancient times, any such condition instantly made you leprous…untouchable. You instantly and permanently lost your spouse, family, home, and the blessing and well-being of everyone else you knew and loved.
From that moment on, and for the rest of your days, you were a sickly exile. Eventually, you became disfigured and hideous…the walking dead. Even worse? There is no record of Uzziah humbly and earnestly repenting before the Lord.
Twelve years later, Uzziah died...alone. What’s more, his body did not receive a kingly burial. Unlike Uzziah, may you and I humbly keep the Lord as King of our hearts and lives.
Lesson's from Uzziah's Bible Story
In an old story, a fisherman found a magical fish that granted wishes. The fisherman had a wife who wished for bigger and better possessions and power until she had wished herself emperor of the world. When she then demanded to be made lord of the sun and moon, the fisherman and his wife found themselves once again in their miserable hut.
Like the fabled fisherman’s wife, King Uzziah enjoyed great success and power. That is until his own pride sent him crashing down. Uzziah’s fame and power, his productive farms, and highly trained and equipped army, didn’t come from wishes. God himself gave Uzziah wonderful success as long as he sought the Lord.
At some point, however, Uzziah lost sight of God as the true King and put himself on the throne. In pride, he saw himself as a ruler with the power to do whatever he wanted, even if that meant breaking God’s law. God commanded only the priests to offer incense in the temple, but Uzziah, as king of the universe in his own mind, no longer felt that God’s rules applied to him.
“Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10 NLT). Fearing God is living with Him as King. Pride is living with myself as king.
None of us can take God’s role as King of our lives for very long. As Uzziah learned, pride precedes a very great fall. God struck him with leprosy, and Uzziah lived out the rest of his days excluded from his own palace and the temple of the Lord. Thankfully, Uzziah’s oldest son and co-regent, Jotham, didn’t repeat his father’s terrible sins. Like Jotham, may you and I will humbly enjoy whatever the Lord gives us, and keep Him on the throne of our hearts.
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