A) INTRODUCTION.

B) AZARIAH’S REIGN.

C) AZARIAH’S ACCOMPLISHMENTS.

 

 

A) INTRODUCTION

 

 

The name Azariah means, “strength of Jehovah” or “helped by Jehovah.”  Azariah was made king of Judah at the age of 16 after his father Amaziah’s assassination (2Ki. 14:19; 2Ch. 26:1).  His mother was “Jecholiah of Jerusalem,” Second Kings 15:2.  His long reign of about fifty-two years was the most prosperous, excepting that of Jehoshaphat, since the time of Solomon.

 

 

B) AZARIAH’S REIGN

 

 

In the earlier part of Azariah’s reign, under the influence of Zechariah the High Priest, he was faithful to Jehovah and “did that which was right in the sight of the Lord,” Second Kings 15:3; Second Chronicles 26:4-5.  However, toward the close of his long life, “his heart was lifted up to his destruction,” and he wantonly invaded the priest’s office (2Ch. 26:16).  He entered the Sanctuary and proceeded to offer incense on the “Golden Altar of Incense.”  Azariah the high priest (same name as king Azariah; thus, the second name is often used, that of “Uzziah”) saw the tendency of such a daring act on the part of the king, and with a band of eighty priests he withstood him (2Ch. 26:17), saying, “It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense.”  Azariah/Uzziah was suddenly struck with leprosy while in the act of offering incense (2Ch. 26:19-21), and he was driven from the Temple and compelled to reside in “a several house,” to the day of his death, two years later (2Ki. 15:5 & 27; 2Ch. 26:3).

 

Azariah/Uzziah’s public life was now ended.  In his enforced privacy, he may still have occupied himself with his cattle and agricultural operations, “for he loved husbandry,” Second Chronicles 26:10.  He was buried in a separate grave, “in the field of the burial which belonged to the kings,” Second Kings 15:7 (see also 2Ch. 26:23), therefore not in the tombs of the kings, but near them in the burial field belonging to them, that his body might not defile the royal tombs.

 

 

C) AZARIAH’S ACCOMPLISHMENTS

 

 

He did not remove the high places.  He did however, recover Elath or Eloth from Edom, which had revolted from king Joram (2Ki. 8:20), and “built,” i.e., enlarged and fortified it, at the head of the gulf of Akaba, a capital market for his commerce.  As mentioned earlier, Zechariah influenced Azariah/Uzziah for good such that in his days Azariah/Uzziah sought God.  However, after Zechariah’s death, Azariah/Uzziah turned from the Lord.

 

By contrast, the Lord used Azariah/Uzziah as the biting “serpent” (Isa. 14:28-31) to the Philistines, out of whose “root,” after that, “the rod of Uzziah which smote them was broken.”  The Assyrian Tiglath Pileser II, relates that in his fifth year he defeated a vast army under Azariah (Uzziah) king of Judah.  “Rawlinson Anc. Mon.,” 2:131.

 

Hosea prophesied “in the days of Uzziah,” about a scarcity of food (Hos. 1:1; 2:9; 4:3; 9:2).  So also, Amos (Amos 1:1-2; 4:6-9; 5:16-17), who lived during his reign.  Isaiah wrote his first five Chapters under Uzziah, and had his vision in the year of Uzziah’s death (Isa. 6:1).