2 Chronicleschapter 26
23 verses · Ezra, by tradition · 450 to 400 BC · History
But when Uzziah grew powerful, his arrogance led to his own destruction. He was unfaithful to the LORD his God, for he entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense.
Introduction
Ezra, by tradition, History, 2 Chronicles Overview.
This chapter was written for a people who lived under strict rules about who could enter each part of their temple. It follows one of the longest and most prosperous reigns in Judah's history. Most of it reads like a record of building, farming and defence. Listen for how often the chapter says where the king's success came from. Then watch for the moment strength turns into pride. The king's last years show plainly what it cost him to step past the line God had drawn.
Context
- Who
- A people who knew what happens when strength turns into presumption
- What
- The reign of Uzziah: victories, building, farming and a strong army, then his entry into the temple to burn incense and his leprosy.
- Where
- Jerusalem and the temple, the port of Eloth, the Philistine plain, and the desert frontier.
- When
- About 792 to 740 BC, the fifty-two years of Uzziah's reign.
- Why
- To warn that strength given by God can turn to pride, and that the holy things belong to those God has set apart for them.
Historical context
The chapter belongs to Uzziah, crowned at sixteen and reigning fifty-two years, whom the other account of the reign calls Azariah. Thiele's reconstruction places the reign at about 792 to 740 BC.
Show the rest of the historical context, 5 more paragraphs
The places are the rebuilt port at Eloth, the Philistine plain at Gath, Jabneh and Ashdod, the desert frontier, and the altar of incense in the temple.
The occasion is a long reign told as an infrastructure report. This is the most technically detailed reign in Chronicles, with towers in Jerusalem and in the desert, cisterns cut from rock, farmers and vinedressers, an armed host, and engines set on the towers.
Cutting a cistern out of limestone and sealing it with plaster is how anyone kept livestock in dry country, and doing it at scale is a state project.
A first hearer knew what the engines of verse 15 were for. Some scholars read the Hebrew as describing protective structures for archers and the plain reading is early artillery, and Assyrian reliefs of the period do show siege engines in use.
A first hearer knew, last, the line the king crossed, since only priests descended from Aaron burned incense in the holy place. A stone plaque of a later century, found in Jerusalem, records that the bones of Uzziah king of Judah were brought there.
Significance
The hinge sentence is plain. When he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The first hearers lived under strict boundaries about who could enter which part of their temple, and those boundaries were sometimes resented as small-minded. This chapter told them where the lines came from and what they cost a great king who crossed one.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
Chronicles stands among the Writings in the Hebrew canon, and the annual cycle of Torah portions and their Haftarot draws on other books. A Jewish reader meets this chapter in study rather than in a reading appointed for a Sabbath or a feast, and the site's own reading data records the same for every chapter.
The chapter carries the practice that follows a leprous king. Rashi explains the house the king lived in as a house of separation, and reports a reading from the Yerushalmi that he built himself a house in the cemetery (Rashi on II Chronicles 26:21:1). The burial is separated as well. Rashi says he was buried in the burial field and not in the cave with the kings (Rashi on II Chronicles 26:23:1).
How it is read
Rashi reads the king's names as one man under three. Uzziah, Zechariah and Azariah are the same king, on the pattern of the double names in Kings (Rashi on II Chronicles 26:5:1). He takes the teacher's understanding of the visions of God as the understanding that the fear of God is good (Rashi on II Chronicles 26:5:2).
The offence in the sanctuary is weighed carefully rather than magnified. Rashi holds that the word the text uses for the trespass is the word for an inadvertent one, on the pattern of the law of trespass in Leviticus (Rashi on II Chronicles 26:16:1). The censer in the king's hand he reads as a weapon raised against the priest who stopped him (Rashi on II Chronicles 26:19:1).
Two more of Rashi's notes belong to the reign rather than the sin. The towers were built because the wall had been breached in the previous reign (Rashi on II Chronicles 26:9:1). The engines were made with craftsmanship, and Rashi names siege mounds and battering rams among them (Rashi on II Chronicles 26:15:1).
Malbim comments at 26:1:1, 26:6:1 and 26:7:1. Metzudat David comments at 26:2:1, 26:4:1, 26:8:1, 26:11:1, 26:12:1, 26:13:1, 26:14:1, 26:18:1 and 26:20:1. Radak comments at 26:8:1 and 26:9:1. The corpus holds no English text for any of them, so all three stand cited and unquoted.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries forty locators on this chapter and holds the locator alone for each. The Talmud carries it at Arakhin 16a:10, Sotah 48b:3, Jerusalem Talmud Sotah 9:13:2 and Jerusalem Talmud Kiddushin 1:7:3, with Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition) Sanhedrin 6:19 and Sotah 9:16, and Ein Yaakov Arakhin 3:6, beside them. The Rabbah collections carry it at Bamidbar Rabbah 7:5, 8:5 and 23:13, Bereshit Rabbah 22:3 and 36:3, and Vayikra Rabbah 5:3. The halakhic midrashim carry it at Sifrei Bamidbar 2:1 and 7:1, Sifrei Zuta 18:7:2 and Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 18:26. Midrash Tanchuma Buber carries it at Metzora 8:2 and 10:2 and Tzav 15:1, and the Tanchuma at Noach 13:7. Midrash Lekach Tov carries it at Genesis 4:2:2, Leviticus 6:2:1, 14:4:2 and 14:35:1 and Numbers 17:5:1. Avot DeRabbi Natan carries it at 9:3 and at Recension B 16:4, and Tractate Soferim at 6:7 and 7:4. Midrash Aggadah carries it at Leviticus 8:3:1 and Numbers 17:5:1. The rest are Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 46:11, Midrash Shmuel 25:3, Otzar Midrashim, Baraita of Rabbi Pinchas Ben Yair 1:23, Seder Olam Rabbah 19:2 and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 101:7, 701:2 and 754:2. Last is Midrash Yelamdenu, Selections from Yalkut Talmud Torah 45:2. The size of that list is itself a fact about the chapter, because the rabbinic law of leprosy returns to this king again and again.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on II Chronicles, the Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg (Sefaria, CC-BY); Malbim, Malbim on II Chronicles 26, cited by ref from the Sefaria corpus, which holds no English version of it; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on II Chronicles 26, cited by ref from the Sefaria corpus, which holds no English version of it; Radak, Radak on II Chronicles 26, cited by ref from the Sefaria corpus, which holds no English version of it; The Sefaria corpus on disk, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/2-chronicles/26.json, fetched 2026-09-19; The reading data of this site, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, probed in this lane: 2-chronicles parashot 0, haftarah uses 0, hasSynagogueReading true for 0 of 36 chapters.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
He sought God in the days of Zechariah, and God made him prosper
2 Chronicles 26:1-3
made him king in place of his father Amaziah: Judah crowns a king of sixteen and Chronicles calls him Uzziah throughout, where Kings prefers Azariah at 2 Ki 14:21. The parallel account at 2 Ki 15:1-7 gives this reign seven verses. Chronicles gives it twenty-three, adding the military buildup, the husbandry, and the full scene at the incense altar.
2 Chronicles 26:1
“Uzziah - This form of the name is found uniformly in Chronicles (except 1Ch 3:12) and in the prophets. The writer of Kings prefers the form Azariah. Uzziah has been regarded as a phonetic corruption of the real name used by the common people.”
rebuilt Eloth and restored it to Judah: Eloth stood on the Red Sea near Ezion-geber, where Solomon built his ships at 8:17. Judah lost it when Edom revolted against King Jehoram at 21:8. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown hold that Uzziah rebuilt Eloth early in his reign and restored it to Judah as a port.
2 Chronicles 26:2
“Besides, it indicates that the conquest occurred in the early part of his reign, that it was important as a port, and that Hebrew merchants maintained the old trade between it and the countries of the East [BERTHEAU].”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
reigned in Jerusalem fifty-two years: Fifty-two years is the second longest reign in Judah. Only Manasseh, at fifty-five years in 33:1, ruled longer. The count includes the years at verse 21 when Jotham governed for his father.
2 Chronicles 26:4-5
he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD: Verse 4 repeats the verdict Kings gives at 2 Ki 15:3, and verse 5 is Chronicles' own addition. Uzziah “sought God throughout the days of Zechariah”, and “as long as he sought the LORD, God gave him success”. This is the clearest single statement of the book's seeking refrain.
2 Chronicles 26:4
“In this he was not very eminent or zealous; yet he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord. He kept up the pure worship of the true God as his father did, and was better than his father, inasmuch as we have no reason to think he ever worshipped idols as his father did, no, not in his latter days, when his heart was lifted up.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
He sought God throughout the days of Zechariah: Zechariah taught the king while he sought God. The Berean reads instructed him in the fear of God, the wording of the Septuagint and other old versions that Barnes cites. The Masoretic Hebrew speaks of the visions God gave, and the two Hebrew words differ by one letter.
2 Chronicles 26:5
Who had understanding in the visions of God - Another reading, supported by the Septuagint, and some ancient versions, is: “who instructed him in the fear of God.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 26:5
“This Zechariah was one that had understanding in the visions of God, either the visions which he himself was favoured with or the visions of the preceding prophets. He was well versed in prophecy, and conversed much with the upper world, was an intelligent, devout, good man; and, it seems, had great influence with Uzziah.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Engines on the towers and a name spread far abroad
2 Chronicles 26:6-8
Uzziah went out to wage war against the Philistines: The Philistine campaign, the war with the Arabs of Gur-baal and the Ammonite tribute are unique to Chronicles, and Kings names none of them. Uzziah “tore down the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod” and built cities among the Philistines, pressing further than his father Amaziah had against Edom.
2 Chronicles 26:6
“Uzziah’s expedition was the natural sequel to the Edomite war of Amaziah 2Ch 25:11, which crushed the most formidable of all the tribes of the south. On Jabneh see Jos 15:11 note; and on Ashdod see Jos 13:3 note.”
God helped him against the Philistines: The verb helped returns in verse 15, where Uzziah is helped until he is strong. His other name in Kings, Azariah, means the LORD has helped. Adam Clarke cites the Targum, which places the Arabs at Gerar and the Meunites in the plains of Meun.
2 Chronicles 26:7
“And God helped him - “And the Word of the Lord helped him against the Philistines, and against the Arabians who lived in Gerar, and the plains of Meun.” - Targum. These are supposed to be the Arabs which are called the Meuneons, or Munites, or Meonites.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
The Ammonites brought tribute to Uzziah: The border of Egypt marks the southern limit of Solomon's rule at 9:26, so Uzziah's name reached as far as Solomon's lands. The Ammonites paid only for a time. Barnes notes that they revolted against Jotham and were forced back under tribute at 27:5.
2 Chronicles 26:8
“And the Ammonites gave gifts to Uzziah,.... As tributaries to him, or; however, as desirous to live in friendship with him: and his name spread abroad, even to the entering in of Egypt; so far he carried his arms, and conquered the countries that lay between Palestine and Egypt: for he strengthened himself exceedingly; his kingdom and its coasts from the force of enemies.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 26:8
“The Ammonites gave gifts - Paid an annual tribute.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 Chronicles 26:9-10
at the Corner Gate, the Valley Gate: The building notice is Chronicles' own: towers at “the Corner Gate, the Valley Gate, and the angle in the wall”. The reason given, that “he was a lover of the soil”, is a personal note that no other book of the Bible preserves.
2 Chronicles 26:9
“Uzziah built towers in Jerusalem, &c.--whence resistance could be made, or missiles discharged against assailants. The sites of the principal of these towers were: at the corner gate (2Ch 25:23), the northwest corner of the city; at the valley gate on the west, where the Joppa gate now is; at the "turning"--a curve in the city wall on the eastern side of Zion.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 26:9
“Much of the wall of Jerusalem was in his father's time broken down, particularly at the corner gate. But his best fortification of Jerusalem was his close adherence to the worship of God: if his father had not forsaken this the wall of Jerusalem would not have been broken down.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
he built towers in the desert: The Hebrew word behind the fertile fields is Carmel, which Adam Clarke takes as a place name. He notes two Carmels, one in Judah where Nabal lived and one on the coast near the Kishon. Both were known for vines.
2 Chronicles 26:10
“Built towers in the desert - For the defense of his flocks, and his shepherds and husbandmen. And in Carmel - Calmet remarks that there were two Carmels in Judea: one in the tribe of Judah, where Nabal lived, and the other on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, near to Kishon; and both fertile in vines. He loved husbandry - This is a perfection in a king: on husbandry every state depends.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 Chronicles 26:11-15
Uzziah had an army ready for battle: Chronicles alone gives the army's order: Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the officer keep the muster under Hananiah, 2,600 family leaders over 307,500 men. Uzziah arms them and sets devices on the towers “to shoot arrows and catapult large stones”, which commentators compare to the Roman ballista and catapult.
2 Chronicles 26:11
“Moreover, Uzziah had an host of fighting men,.... A standing army: that went out to war by bands; to annoy his enemies, and to scour the country from thieves and robbers, that came in troops to plunder: according to the number of their account, by the hand of Jeiel the scribe; the secretary of war, who ordered these bands, settled their number, and directed their destination: and Maaseiah the ruler; or officer over them, a lieutenant: under the hand of Hananiah, one of the king's captains; that had the command of them, or at least of one of them.”
family leaders of the mighty men: The army is raised by fathers' houses, so each of the 2,600 leaders commands men of his own clan. That works out to about one leader for every 118 soldiers. Amaziah had mustered Judah the same way at 25:5.
2 Chronicles 26:12
“The whole number of the chief of the fathers of the mighty men of valour were two thousand six hundred. Who were the commanders and principal officers of his army; and such a number supposed a large army, as follows.”
an army of 307,500 trained for war: Barnes sets the army of Amaziah beside the 580,000 of Asa at 14:8. Uzziah's force stands near his father's number and far below Asa's. The strength named here lies in training and arms, which the next two verses describe.
2 Chronicles 26:13
“And under their hand was an army, three hundred thousand and seven thousand and five hundred,.... Which was larger than that in his father's time by 7500, 2Ch 25:5 besides officers: that made war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy; they were ready to fight, and fight valiantly, whenever the king had any occasion for them, or the land was invaded.”
supplied the entire army with shields: Uzziah arms the whole army from the king's own stores. Gill sorts the gear into shields and helmets to guard the body and spears, bows and slingstones to strike the enemy. Under Saul, 1 Samuel 13:22 finds hardly a sword or spear in Israel.
2 Chronicles 26:14
“And Uzziah prepared for them throughout all the host,.... For every soldier in the army: shields and spears; defensive and offensive weapons, the one to cover and protect their bodies, the other to push and pierce their enemies: and helmets, and habergeons; the first of these were a covering for the head in the day of battle, and the other coats of mail, to defend the body: and bows; to shoot arrows out of: and slings to cast stones; at which the Benjaminites formerly were very expert.”
skillfully designed devices to shoot arrows: Gill takes these devices as a Judean invention, older than the ballista and catapult of Rome. Another reading traces both kinds of devices to Assyria, where a stone thrower was known in the time of Jehoshaphat. Uzziah set these devices on the towers of Jerusalem at verse 9.
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,.... Such as with the Romans were called "catapultae", "ballistae" (u), "scorpiones" (w), &c. and by this it appears that these were not first invented in Greece and Rome, but in Judea.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 26:15
“Uzziah’s engines seem to have corresponded respectively to the Roman balista and catapulta. The balista, which threw stones, was known to the Assyrians as early as the time of Sardanapalus I, the contemporary of Jehoshaphat. The catapult is not represented either on the Assyrian or the Egyptian sculptures. It would seem on the whole most probable that both kinds of engines were invented in Assyria and introduced from thence into Palestine.”
Strong until he was proud: leprosy at the incense altar
his arrogance led to his own destruction: The line “his arrogance led to his own destruction” is the Chronicler's own verdict on a fall that 2 Ki 15:5 never explains. Uzziah “entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense”, an act the law reserved to the sons of Aaron.
2 Chronicles 26:16
“He transgressed against the Lord - “He sinned against the Word of the Lord his God.” - T. Went into the temple to burn incense - Thus assuming to himself the priest’s office. See this whole transaction explained in the notes on 2Ki 15:5 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
2 Chronicles 26:16
“When King Uzziah carried a censer and violently took on himself to sacrifice, against the law of God, and refused to submit or give place, despite the opposition of Azariah the priest, he was confounded by God's indignation and defiled with the markings of leprosy on his forehead, branded by the Lord's anger on that part of the body on which those who win the Lord's favor are sealed.”
Cyprian · written before 258 · Treatise I. On the Unity of the Church 18patristic
2 Chronicles 26:16
“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 kings, in vexatious wars or rebellions, but an incurable disease. His sin was invading the priest's office. The good way is one; by-paths are many.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
2 Chronicles 26:17-18
eighty brave priests of the LORD: Azariah the priest and “eighty brave priests of the LORD” follow the king and stand against him. Their charge names the law: “Only the priests, the descendants of Aaron, are consecrated to burn incense”. Wesley notes that the Hebrew behind their stand means opposing him with admonition and reproof.
2 Chronicles 26:17
“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 2Ch 26:20 and is thought to be the same that is spoken of in 1Ch 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.”
Only the priests, the descendants of Aaron: The law gave the burning of incense to Aaron and his sons at Exodus 30:7-8, morning and evening. Azariah's words apply that law to the king himself. Saul had lost his dynasty at Gilgal for a like act in 1 Samuel 13:13.
2 Chronicles 26:19-20
Uzziah, with a censer in his hand: Leprosy breaks out on Uzziah's forehead while he rages against the priests “in the house of the LORD before the altar of incense”. Azariah and the priests see the disease and rush him out, and Uzziah himself “hurried to get out, because the LORD had afflicted him”.
2 Chronicles 26:19
“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 - By a stroke from an invisible hand coming from the altar; that he might be assured this was the effect of God's displeasure.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 26:19
“If presumptuous men will not be made to see their error by the judgments of God's mouth, they shall be made to see it by the judgments of his hand. It evinced some religious fear of God in the heart of this king, even in the midst of his transgression, that, as soon as he found God was angry with him, he not only let fall his attempt, but retired with the utmost precipitation.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
saw his leprous forehead: Barnes recalls that the law set death on anyone who took the priest's office, as Korah and his company found in Numbers 16. Uzziah hurries out in fear of the same end. The priests press him with urgent warning, for the king was already leaving.
2 Chronicles 26:20
“Death was denounced by the Law against those who invaded the office of the priest; and death had been the actual punishment of Korah and his company. Uzziah feared lest from him also the extreme penalty should be exacted, and therefore hasted to quit the sacred building where his bare presence was a capital crime.”
1 more voice on this verse
2 Chronicles 26:20
“Thrust - Not by force, which needed not, for he voluntarily hasted away, as it follows; but by vehement persuasions and denunciations of God's farther judgments upon him, if he did not depart.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
King Uzziah was a leper until the day of his death: Uzziah lives out his reign a leper, “cut off from the house of the LORD”, while his son Jotham governs the people of the land. This matches 2 Ki 15:5 almost word for word. Chronicles adds no new fact here, having already supplied the reason Kings never states.
2 Chronicles 26:21
“A several house - See the marginal reference “q” note; and compare Ps. 88, which is supposed by some to refer to Uzziah.”
Buried in a field, because he was a leper
recorded by the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz: Chronicles names “the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz” as the writer of Uzziah's acts. Isaiah 1:1 and 6:1 name this king, and Isaiah 6 dates the prophet's throne room vision to the year Uzziah died. Gill records the Jewish tradition that Uzziah died the same year the leprosy struck him.
2 Chronicles 26:22
“The rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, did Isaiah the prophet - write - This work, however, is totally lost; for we have not any history of this king in the writings of Isaiah. He is barely mentioned, Isa 1:1; Isa 6:1.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Uzziah rested with his fathers: Uzziah is “buried near them in a field of burial that belonged to the kings”, for the people said, “He was a leper”. Barnes notes that the law separated the leper from others in life, and Jewish practice kept him separate in death. His son Jotham takes the throne.
2 Chronicles 26:23
“So Uzziah slept with his fathers,.... Died as they did, the same year, according to Dr. Lightfoot (e), in which he was smitten with the leprosy; and in the year of his death it was Isaiah had the vision related in Isa 6:1, &c. and they buried him with his fathers; See Gill on 2Ki 15:7. (e) Works, vol. 1. p. 99.”
2 more voices on this verse
2 Chronicles 26:23
“In the field of the burial - i. e. in the same piece of ground, but in a separate sepulchre. As the Law separated off the leper from his fellows during life Lev 13:46, so Jewish feeling required that he should remain separate even in death.”
2 Chronicles 26:23
“The disgrace survived him; for, when he was dead, they would not bury him in the sepulchres of the kings because he was a leper, which stained all his other glory. It was a punishment that answered the sin as face does face in a glass.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
How this psalm is built
The form: Historical narrative of a long reign told as a rise and a single fall, with the cause of the fall stated, as Keil and Delitzsch classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| As long as he sought the LORD | Verse 5 states the condition twice in one verse, the king seeking God in the days of Zechariah and God giving him success as long as he sought. Matthew Henry reads it as the clearest single statement in the book of the verb it measures every king by. Keil and Delitzsch note the verse has no counterpart in the parallel account.Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710, on 2 Chronicles 26:4. | 2 Chronicles 26:5 |
| Towers, cisterns, vineyards and engines | The chapter lists what the reign built. It names towers at three points of the wall, towers in the desert with many cisterns, farmers and vinedressers in the hill country, and devices on the towers. Adam Clarke notes the clause about the king loving the soil, which no other book preserves. Albert Barnes reads the list as the reason the fame of verse 15 needs no further comment.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on 2 Chronicles 26:9. | 2 Chronicles 26:9, 2 Chronicles 26:10, 2 Chronicles 26:14, 2 Chronicles 26:15 |
| Strong, and then lifted up | Verse 15 ends on the king being helped until he was strong, and verse 16 opens on his growing powerful and his arrogance leading to his destruction. Adam Clarke reads the two clauses as one hinge. Matthew Henry notes the parallel account reports the stroke and leaves the cause unstated.Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible, 1832, on 2 Chronicles 26:16. | 2 Chronicles 26:15, 2 Chronicles 26:16 |
| Only the priests | Azariah and eighty priests speak to the king to his face at verse 18 and name the law as their ground. John Wesley notes that the verb behind their standing against him means admonition and reproof rather than force, since the censer stays in the king's hand through the next verse. The charge is the law of Numbers 16:40 stated back to a king.John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765, on 2 Chronicles 26:17. | 2 Chronicles 26:17, 2 Chronicles 26:18 |
| Into the house and out of the house | Verse 16 has the king enter the temple to burn incense, and verse 21 leaves him cut off from the house of the LORD until the day he died. John Wesley reads the leprosy rising on the forehead as answering the place it did, on the part of the body that marks those who serve at the altar. The judgment falls inside the room the sin was committed in.John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament, 1765, on 2 Chronicles 26:19. | 2 Chronicles 26:16, 2 Chronicles 26:19, 2 Chronicles 26:21 |
The debated concept
9 more paragraphs on the patterns
The first question is the army figures. The dossier's difficulties section gives three readings for the large numbers in this book. They are a literal reading, George Mendenhall's reading of the Hebrew elep as a unit or clan contingent, and damage to numerals in copying. The page names the three and states no verdict.
The second is what the devices of verse 15 were. Albert Barnes and John Gill read them as machines for shooting arrows and hurling stones from the towers, and the commentators compare them to the later Roman engines. What the text states is that skilled men designed them and that they stood on the towers and corners. No artifact has been produced that names them, so the comparison stands as the commentators' own reading of the words rather than as a find.
The third is what the chapter adds to the parallel account. 2 Kings 15:5 reports that the LORD afflicted the king with leprosy and gives no reason. Matthew Henry and Adam Clarke both read verse 16 as the Chronicler supplying the cause the other account leaves as a bare stroke.
Where the chapter reaches
The priests' charge rests on the law. Numbers 16:40 states in the Berean text that no outsider who is a descendant of someone other than Aaron should approach to offer incense before the LORD. Exodus 30:7 gives the incense to Aaron. The eighty priests state that law to the king's face.
The isolation of verse 21 follows Leviticus 13:46, where a person with the infection lives alone outside the camp. The disgrace outlives the king into the ground at verse 23, where he is buried in a field belonging to the kings rather than in the tombs themselves.
The reign is a date for the prophets. Isaiah 6:1 and Amos 1:1 both fix themselves by it, and Zechariah 14:5 recalls the earthquake of these years centuries later.
The king is named in the New Testament genealogy. Matthew 1:9 has Uzziah as the father of Jotham and Jotham as the father of Ahaz, which is the succession this chapter and the next record.
The verb of verse 5 is the book's own measure. The dossier's word ladder counts it 164 times in the Old Testament with 30 of those in 2 Chronicles, and names this verse among them.
Keep studying
Studies7
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The form and classifications
Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Books of the Chronicles, on 2 Chronicles 26:16; the dossier's theology section for this book, `src/components/book/dossier-content/2-chronicles.ts`, the theology section, anchored at 2 Chronicles 26:16 and the guide's ledger for this book, `src/components/book/guides/2-chronicles/Book2ChroniclesGuide.tsx`, the kings ledger, Uzziah at 26:1 to 23.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil, The Books of the Chronicles; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and W. H. Bennett, The Books of Chronicles (Expositor's Bible).