Kings and Assassinations Uzziah (Azariah), an Illustrious King (2 Kings 15:1–7; 2 Chron
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Men’s Study & Coffee | April 24, 2018 | 2 Kings, Week Fifteen (*notes from “Be Distinct” by Warren Wiersbe) 2 Kings 15 | Kings and Assassinations Uzziah (Azariah), an illustrious king (2 Kings 15:1–7; 2 Chron. 26) His given name was Azariah, which means “Jehovah has helped,” but when he became king of Judah at age sixteen, he took the “throne name” Uzziah, which means “Jehovah is strength.” The people made him king when his father Azariah was taken to Samaria after his foolish war against Jehoash (2 Kings 14:13). During his father’s fifteen years of captivity in Samaria, Uzziah ruled Judah and sought to do the will of God. After his father’s death, Uzziah continued on the throne until he foolishly attempted to become a priest and God judged him by making him a leper. At that time, his son Jotham became coregent with his father. The record declares that Uzziah was king of Judah fifty-two years (2 Chron. 26:3), including his coregencies with his father Azariah (fifteen years) and also with his son Jotham (possibly ten years). From the very beginning of his reign, Uzziah showed himself to be a faithful worshiper of Jehovah, even though he didn’t try to eliminate the “high places,” the hill shrines where the Jewish people worshiped. They were supposed to go to the temple with their gifts and sacrifices for the Lord, but it was more convenient to visit a local shrine. Some of the high places were devoted to pagan deities, such as Baal (2 Chron. 27:2), and it wasn’t until the reigns of Hezekiah and Josiah that the high places were removed (2 Chron. 31:1; 2 Kings 23). Uzziah’s accomplishments (2 Kings 14:22; 2 Chron. 26:2, 6–15). He was very successful in his military exploits. He recovered from Edom the city of Elath, although later it was lost to Syria and Israel (2 Kings 16:5–6; 2 Chron. 28:17). Their possessing Elath gave Judah access to the sea, and this helped in their trade with other nations. Uzziah had Zechariah as his counselor and sought to know and please the Lord. “As long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper” (26:5). God prospered his armies and helped them to conquer the Philistines, the Arabians, and the Ammonites. After defeating the Philistines, he destroyed the walls of their key cities. This victory gave him additional access to the sea. To keep control over this newly acquired territory, Uzziah built cities in Philistia and settled them with Jewish soldiers and officers. After conquering the Ammonites, Uzziah’s fame increased even more. But these victories on foreign soil didn’t deter him from strengthening things at home. He built towers on the walls of Jerusalem and repaired the damage that was done by the army of Israel (2 Kings 14:13). He had a well-trained army and provided them with the weapons and armor they needed, and he also encouraged the building of “war machines” that shot arrows and threw stones (26:11–15). But Uzziah wasn’t just a gifted soldier and a careful builder; he was also a farmer at heart. He sought to develop the land by building cisterns and putting the people to work with the flocks and herds as well as the fields and vineyards. He built towers in the fields where the guards could watch for invaders and protect the people. “Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God,” wrote Thomas Jefferson in his Notes on the State of Virginia. Though a soldier, a builder, and a monarch, Uzziah was a man of the soil. He would have agreed with Booker T. Washington who said, “There is as much dignity in tilling a field as in writing a poem.” Uzziah’s arrogance (15:5; 26:16–21). Unfortunately, Uzziah imitated his father and allowed his accomplishments to swell his head. Amaziah wanted to be known as a great general, but Uzziah wanted to serve as both king and priest. In the Old Testament economy, the Lord separated the kings and priests, and while a priest could become a prophet (Ezekiel, Zechariah, John the Baptist), no prophet or king could become a priest. Only in Jesus Christ do we find the offices of prophet, priest, and king combined, and His priesthood is “after the order of Melchizedek” (Ps. 110:4; Gen. 14:18–20; Heb. 5–7). For Uzziah to covet the priesthood was ignorance, for he knew the Law of Moses; and for him to try to seize it by force was arrogance; he knew what happened to others who had attempted to claim what wasn’t rightfully theirs. (See Lev. 10; Num. 12, 16.) “But when he became strong, his heart was so proud that he acted corruptly” (26:16, NASB). There’s no question that Uzziah was an illustrious king whose name was known far and wide (26:15), but what the Lord did for him should have produced humility and not pride. Uzziah should have said with David, “Who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house that You have brought me thus far?” (2 Sam. 7:18, NKJV). Instead, he convinced himself that he deserved to be a priest as well as a king. He knew that the high priest burned the holy incense on the golden altar each morning and evening (Ex. 30:7–8), so he procured a censer and went into the temple precincts where only the priests were allowed to go (Num. 16:40; 18:7). Azariah the high priest, along with eighty other priests, stood in his way and refused to allow him passage. It took a great deal of courage for them to oppose such a popular king, but their first allegiance was to the Lord. They could have compromised and perhaps won favors from the king, but they had but one desire, and that was to obey and glorify the Lord. The king became angry, refused to retreat, and raged at the priests for their interference. The Hebrew word translated “angry” in 26:19 implies “raging like a storm.” Had the king immediately left the temple and sincerely repented of his sins, the Lord would have forgiven him, but Uzziah stood his ground and insisted on his way. It was then the Lord intervened and put the leprosy on his forehead where the priests could clearly see it. They knew lepers belonged outside the camp, not inside the temple (Lev. 13:45–46), and they hurriedly forced the king out of the holy precincts. King Uzziah couldn’t see the leprosy on his forehead, so perhaps it began to appear on other parts of his body so he knew for certain that he was infected. The law demanded that those who intruded into the holy temple were to be put to death (Num. 18:7), but God graciously spared the king’s life and gave him leprosy, a “living death.” Being a leper, the king couldn’t appear in public or even live in the palace. He was quarantined in an isolated house while his son Jotham ruled the land as coregent. When Uzziah died, he was buried in the royal cemetery, but apparently not in the tombs of the kings. He had a wonderful beginning but a tragic ending, and this is a warning to us that we be on guard and pray that the Lord will help us to end well. A good beginning is no guarantee of a successful ending, and the sin of unholy ambition has ruined more than one servant of the Lord. Uzziah the soldier was defeated by his pride; Uzziah the builder destroyed his own ministry and testimony; and Uzziah the farmer reaped the painful harvest of what he had sown. He is a warning to all who nurture unholy ambitions to intrude into that which God hasn’t appointed for them. (See Ps. 131.) Five notorious kings (2 Kings 15:8–31) From Jeroboam I, the first king of Israel, to Hoshea, the last king of Israel, not one king is called “good.” However, the kingdom of Judah didn’t fare much better, for out of twenty kings who ruled after the kingdom divided, only eight of them could be called “good.” In this section of 2 Kings, we meet with five kings of Israel who were notorious for their godless character and evil deeds. Four of them were assassinated! Shallum reigned only one month, Zechariah six months, and Pekahiah for two years. Menahem, the cruelest of them all, reigned for ten years, and Pekah for twenty years. As the Northern Kingdom stumbled toward destruction, their rulers hastened the coming of the judgment of God. God often gives a nation just exactly the leaders it deserves. Zechariah (vv. 8–12). Twenty-nine men in Scripture are named Zechariah; this one was the son of Jeroboam II, the last great king of the northern kingdom of Israel. Zechariah didn’t have the political skills of his father and he chose to imitate the sins of his namesake, Jeroboam I. Zechariah was the great-great-grandson of Jehu and therefore the last of that dynasty. God promised Jehu that his descendants would occupy the throne of Israel for four generations (2 Kings 10:30), and that promise was fulfilled. Zechariah was a king, not because of his sanctity, ability, or popularity, but because he was providentially born into the royal family. Only two major facts are recorded about him: he did evil in the sight of the Lord, and he was assassinated publicly by Shallum, who then took the throne.