2 Chronicleschapter 26
23 verses · KJV2 Chronicles book hub →
Key verse
But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the Lord his God, and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense.
It stands in Strong until he was proud: leprosy at the incense altar, verses 16 to 21.
The chapter
Chapter summary
Uzziah begins at sixteen and 'set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah… and as long as he sought Jehovah, God made him to prosper.' The record of that prosperity is unusually concrete: war against the Philistines and Arabians and Ammonites, towers in Jerusalem, husbandmen and vinedressers in the fertile fields, 'for he loved husbandry,' a standing army of three hundred thousand, and engines invented by skilful men to shoot arrows and great stones. 'His name spread far abroad; for he was marvellously helped, till he was strong. But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up': he burns incense in the temple, eighty priests withstand him, and leprosy breaks out on his forehead.
Context
History · Ezra · 2 Chronicles overview
The world behind this chapter
2 Chronicles 26The history
This is the most technically detailed reign in Chronicles. He rebuilt Eloth on the Gulf of Aqaba, reopening the southern sea trade; broke down the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod on the Philistine plain; and built towns in Philistine territory. Ammon paid tribute, and his name spread as far as Egypt.
The rest of the history, and what it meant to them
The building programme reads like an infrastructure report. Towers at the corner gate, the valley gate, and at the angle of the wall in Jerusalem; towers out in the desert; and many cisterns hewn from rock, because he had large herds in the lowland and on the plateau. 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.
He is also credited with farming: husbandmen and vinedressers in the hills and in the fertile land, for the text says simply that he loved the soil.
The most discussed detail is the war engines invented by skilful men and set on the towers and the corners, to shoot arrows and great stones. Some scholars read the Hebrew as describing protective structures for archers rather than machines; the plain reading is early artillery, and Assyrian reliefs of the period do show siege engines in use.
Then the fall. Only priests descended from Aaron burned incense in the holy place; the king went in with a censer anyway, and eighty priests followed him in to stop him. The disease broke out on his forehead while he stood there arguing, and he was hurried out. He lived the rest of his life in a separate house, cut off from the house of the LORD, with his son running the government, and he was buried in a field belonging to the royal tombs rather than in them. A stone plaque from a later century, found in Jerusalem, reads: 'Hither were brought the bones of Uzziah, king of Judah, do not open.'
What it meant to them
The hinge sentence is unmistakable: when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction.
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.
Sources cited
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews, and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament
- Roland de Vaux, Ancient Israel: Its Life and Institutions
Where the chapter sits
2 Chronicles 26 falls in Kings of Judah: Rehoboam to Ahaz (chapters 10–28). The divided kingdom narrated from Judah's side only; reform kings (Asa, Jehoshaphat, Joash, Uzziah, Jotham) and evil kings; prophetic interventions unique to Chronicles (Azariah, Hanani, Zechariah son of Jehoiada).
Before it: Solomon's reign, chapters 1–9. After it: Hezekiah to the exile, chapters 29–36.
The whole shape of 2 Chronicles→The structure of this chapter
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A. He sought God in the days of Zechariah, and God made him prosper
1. (vv. 1-3)
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.”
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
made him king in the room of his father Amaziah: Judah crowns a king of sixteen and Chronicles calls him Uzziah throughout, the form the prophets use, 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 that Kings only reports as a stroke. Jecoliah of Jerusalem names his mother, one of the small notices Chronicles keeps and Kings drops.
2. (vv. 4-5)
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
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
1 more voice on this verse
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.”
that which was right in the sight of the Lord: Verse 4 repeats the verdict Kings already gives at 2 Ki 15:3, but verse 5 is Chronicles' own addition: he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God, and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper. This is the seeking refrain's clearest single statement in the book, the same verb by which the Chronicler measures Asa, Jehoshaphat and every king before him. Nothing else is known of this Zechariah; Henry reads him as a man well versed in prophecy who had great influence with Uzziah.
B. Engines on the towers and a name spread far abroad
1. (vv. 6-8)
2 Chronicles 26:6
“And he went forth, and warred against the Philistines,....”
1 more voice on this verse
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.”
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
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
went forth and warred against the Philistines: The Philistine campaign, the Arabian war at Gur-baal, and the Ammonite tribute are unique to Chronicles; Kings names none of them. Uzziah breaks down the walls of Gath, Jabneh and Ashdod and plants cities among the Philistines, pressing further than his father Amaziah had against Edom. His name spread abroad even to the entering in of Egypt states in one line what the following verses spell out in towers, wells and an army.
2. (vv. 9-10)
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
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
at the corner gate, and at the valley gate: The building notice is Chronicles' own: towers at the corner gate, the valley gate and the turning of the wall, matched by towers in the desert and wells dug for cattle in the low country and the plains. For he loved husbandry closes the verse, a personal note about a king that no other book of the Bible preserves. Vine dressers in the mountains and in Carmel round out a reign given to building and farming as much as to war.
3. (vv. 11-15)
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
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.”
an host of fighting men: Chronicles alone gives the army's organization: Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the ruler keep the muster under Hananiah, two thousand six hundred chief officers over three hundred seven thousand five hundred men, more than his father Amaziah's army by seven thousand five hundred, per 2 Chr 25:5. Uzziah arms them with shields, spears, helmets, habergeons, bows and slings, then adds engines invented by cunning men on the towers and bulwarks to shoot arrows and great stones, an early notice of siege technology the commentators compare to the later Roman ballista and catapult. His name spread far abroad, for he was marvellously helped, till he was strong closes the buildup and sets up the turn the next verse makes.
C. Strong until he was proud: leprosy at the incense altar
1. (v. 16)
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
“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 26:16
“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
his heart was lifted up to his destruction: But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction states the Chronicler's own verdict on a fall 2 Ki 15:5 never explains, reporting only that the Lord smote the king so that he was a leper. Uzziah went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon the altar of incense, an act the law reserved to the sons of Aaron, and Chronicles supplies the reason Kings leaves as a bare stroke from an unnamed cause.
2. (vv. 17-18)
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.”
fourscore priests of the Lord: Azariah the priest and fourscore priests of the Lord follow the king into the sanctuary and stand against him, a confrontation Chronicles alone records. Their charge names the law plainly: it appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the Lord, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense. Wesley notes that withstood renders a Hebrew phrase meaning they stood up against him by admonition and reproof rather than by force, since the censer stays in the king's hand through the next verse.
3. (vv. 19-20)
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
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
the leprosy even rose up in his forehead: The leprosy rises in Uzziah's forehead while the censer is still in his hand and while he is wroth with the priests, a place Wesley reads as deliberate: the part of the body that marks those who serve at the altar now marks the man who forced his way to it. Azariah and the priests look, see the disease, and thrust him out, though Uzziah himself hasted also to go out once he understood what had struck him. The judgment lands at the altar itself, inside the house he had no right to enter.
4. (v. 21)
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.”
dwelt in a several house: Uzziah lives out his reign a leper, cut off from the house of the Lord and confined to a several house under the law of Leviticus 13, while Jotham his son governs as regent, judging the people of the land. This matches 2 Ki 15:5 almost word for word; Chronicles adds nothing new to the fact here but has already supplied the reason Kings never states. Henry calls it a punishment that answered the sin as face answers face in a glass.
D. Buried in a field, because he was a leper
1. (v. 22)
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
did Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, write: Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, is named as the writer of Uzziah's acts, a record Chronicles cites as a source that does not survive inside the book of Isaiah as it stands; only Isa 1:1 and Isa 6:1 mention this king by name. Isaiah 6 dates the prophet's throne room vision in the year that king Uzziah died, so the reign this chapter closes is the same reign the next great prophetic call opens against. Gill records the Jewish tradition that Uzziah died the same year the leprosy struck him.
2. (v. 23)
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
they said, He is a leper: Uzziah is buried in the field of the burial which belonged to the kings but not in the sepulchres of the kings themselves, because they said, He is a leper, so the disgrace outlives him even into the ground. Barnes notes that the law separated the leper from his fellows in life, and Jewish practice kept him separate in death as well. Jotham his son reigned in his stead, closing a reign the Chronicler has measured, like every reign in the book, by whether the king sought the Lord.
This page carries no textual note on 2 Chronicles 26. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
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 exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; 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).
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