The Fall of a Great King: What Happened?

Then all the people of Judah took Uzziah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah (2 Chr. 26:1 KJV)

King Uzziah was a great king in Israel. However, he is not so well known by many because his life ended in a tragedy. He became a leper and had to be kept in isolation until his death. He rose from obscurity to prominence by the hand of God but sadly returned to obscurity because of a tragic mistake. What happened to King Uzziah?

2 Chronicles 2:16 sates “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” ( KJV).

As a King, he wanted to perform the duties of a priest. This was his first error. When the priests met him in the Holy Place and told him in plain language that he was wrong in what he was doing, he became very angry with them. And while he was still standing in the Holy Place, leprosy broke out upon him( 2 Chron. 26:18-20). This is the difference between Uzziah and David who committed adultery and murder. When David was confronted with his sin, he broke down before God. When Uzziah was confronted, he became very angry. God did not punish him when he first entered the temple though in error. He was punished instantaneously when he rejected correction. This attitude is what the scriptures call a “stiff neck”( Prov. 29:1, Exo. 32:9). It is one of the greatest crisis our generation is facing. Men and women whose hearts are hardened and repel every form of correction.

Maintain a broken and penitent heart always before the Lord.

MEDITATE

Can you see the two related but distinct sins of Uzziah in the story above? ( His pride, and the stiffness of his neck?).

APPLY THE WORD

Many people try to hide the stiffness of their neck with the pretext that people are judging them. Anyone who does not want to be told they are wrong when they are is certainly a disaster about to happen( Prov. 29:1). Never allow yourself to get to the place where your heart is so hardened. It is a pervading attitude that is destroying many in the world today.

PRAY

Ask the Lord to soften your heart always to receive His correction directly or through people He has placed in your life to protect you from death in this life and eternal death in hell to come.