2 Chronicles 26:16-2316But 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. 17And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the Lord, that were valiant men: 18And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, 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: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honor from the Lord God. 19Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the Lord, from beside the incense altar. 20And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the Lord had smitten him. 21And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the Lord: and Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging the people of the land. 22Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, did Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, write. 23So Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the burial which belonged to the kings; for they said, He is a leper: and Jotham his son reigned in his stead. (2 Chronicles 26:16‑23).
UZZIAH had been marvelously helped, but when he was strong pride came in to his ruin. He thought he could assume the duties of a priest, but this was in positive disobedience to the word of the Lord, for that office belonged only to the family of Levi, whereas Uzziah was of the tribe of Judah. He had taken a censer and was about to burn incense before the Lord in the temple, but he was withstood by Azariah, the chief priest, and fourscore other priests. They told the king that only the sons of Aaron were consecrated to burn incense and that he should go out of the sanctuary for he had trespassed against the Lord. Not walking in faith but in pride of heart, Uzziah was angered by this rebuke and resistance, but even as he sought to burn incense, the plague of leprosy rose up in his forehead. When the priests saw the leprosy they thrust him out, and he himself hastened to go out for the Lord had smitten him. For the rest of his days he lived in a separate house and died a leper.
Uzziah is a solemn instance of one walking well "until he was strong," and of one not chosen of God attempting to exercise priestly service. His history would warn a Christian that "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." Heb. 10:3131It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:31).
The pride of Uzziah showed up in a different way than it did in his father Amaziah. But it is evident that he had not learned the lesson from the Lord that he should have, or it would have humbled him and made him very careful as to what he did in seeking to serve the Lord. Leprosy in the forehead was the worst type of leprosy. Every leper was pronounced unclean but he who had it in his forehead was pronounced utterly unclean. Leprosy being a type of sin, when in the forehead it is typical of self-will, the mind of a man not being subject to the word of God but rather reasoning about it. When Samuel charged king Saul with disobeying the word of the Lord, he told him: "Rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness as iniquity and idolatry, Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, He hath also rejected thee from being king." 1 Sam. 15:2323For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king. (1 Samuel 15:23).
We see how true this was of Uzziah. His son Jotham became ruler while his father was still living, and then became king at his father's death. In the latter part of our chapter the prophet Isaiah is mentioned. The Lord began to use him during Uzziah's reign. In the first chapter of Isaiah we get a picture of Israel's true condition before the Lord. It is the description of a man who had been smitten of the Lord and was afflicted from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. Such was that which their sin and disobedience had brought upon them.
Still if the Lord was faithful in exposing their true condition before Him, we find in these pleadings of His Spirit the heart of God going out in love to His erring people. He tells them in Isaiah 1:16, 17: "Wash ye, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil; learn to do well." And then we have that wonderful verse: "Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." If the reader is yet unsaved, God still says to you, "Come now, . . ."
Messages of the Love of God 10/12/1958