But when he became strong his heart was lifted up to [his] downfall; and he transgressed against Jehovah his God, and went into the temple of Jehovah to burn incense upon the altar of incense.
Uzziah ruled well for decades, then fell at the very top. His strength was God's gift, but when he felt strong in himself he walked into the temple to do a priest's work.
Older translations read "his heart was lifted up" where the ESV says "he grew proud." Commentators trace the collapse to that one root, and note that the king's own name should have warned him.
Whatever the immediate motive, we know the primary cause of his profane deed. The cause was pride — the true "original sin," the ugly parent of every sin that follows, in angels and in men. "He was marvelously helped till he was strong. But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction." His name meant "Strength of the LORD." How good it would have been for him if he had seen that no one is really strong except in His strength… In him came true his great ancestor's proverb: "The prosperity of fools destroys them." And another: "Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall."
Uzziah did not fall in hard times. He fell when everything went well, and Amaziah before him fell the same way.
Amaziah's heart was lifted up first, and then he marched straight into defeat and captivity. When Uzziah was strong, he transgressed by going into the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar. How often does prosperity, far more than adversity, test the saints of God! The pretentious and the hypocritical are trapped and taken. The true, if worldly-minded, are laid low. Our faithful God keeps the spiritual and true. He will not let us be tempted beyond our ability, but with the temptation He will also make a way of escape.
The trespass was not ignorance. Uzziah had Scripture telling him whose work the incense altar was.
How sad was the sudden fall of Uzziah from power and dignity to disgrace and shame! His strength became his downfall. God had marvellously helped him. Yet he forgot that it was God's help that made him strong, and he gave in to his own pride. Did he not have the Word of God to tell him? Only the priests of Aaron's line could enter the sanctuary of the temple to burn incense. Yet he boldly entered there to burn incense.
Other kings had committed sins that look far worse to us. So why does the record single this one out?
"He transgressed." Earlier kings had transgressed too. People might rate idol worship as a worse sin than taking over a priest's job. But God makes special note of this one. That alone should challenge how people judge it. His mention of it, and the judgment that follows, show God's estimate of his transgression. In usurping the office of the priest, he was rebelling against the Lord.
This is not only a king's obituary. The same pattern runs through the church's own story.
What has been the history of the Church? Marvellously helped till she was strong, and when she was strong her heart became lifted up. The saints at Corinth had many resources — people, wisdom and the like. They were tempted to think that by using this wisdom they could refute the unbelievers. The apostle told them, No. It is done only by bringing in the "wisdom of God," which is foolishness to man, and the "strength of God," which is weakness to man… And does this say nothing to us? Our blessing is in taking the place of weakness, so that God may help for His own name's sake.
So is it wrong to want to be strong?
One would have thought that the very thing Uzziah needed was to be strong. Sadly, the strength we crave by nature is independence from God… We forget that all real strength comes from the fullness that is in Jesus. If we remembered, we would always be able to say with Paul, "When I am weak, then I am strong." We need to lose every resource in ourselves, so that we may know our strength is in Him. When Uzziah felt himself to be strong, God left him.
One man moved in the opposite direction as he grew older.
Paul went the other way. As the years passed, he felt his own smallness and unworthiness more and more… At one point he gave up the name Saul. From then on he preferred to be known as Paul, which means "little."
- Helped — his strength was God's gift. His ruin began when he forgot who made him strong.
- Strong — strength was the danger point, not the safe point; the moment he felt strong in himself, God left him.
- Lifted up — pride was the parent-sin behind the act, the same sin that fells angels and men.
- Transgressed — taking the priest's place was not a small slip. It was rebellion, and God's judgment shows how He rates it.
- Weak — the way back is downward. Paul grew smaller as he grew older, and blessing rests on those who take the place of weakness.
And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him priests of Jehovah, eighty valiant men;
King Uzziah walked into the temple with a censer in his hand, and the high priest went in right behind him with eighty others. Two questions sit in that moment: what gave these men the nerve to stop a king, and what was so serious about a little incense?
The verse calls these priests men of valor, and the moment called for it. One writer shows how it could have gone the other way:
The king pushed in where he had no right. Azariah stood firm and brave for God's truth and order, and resisted him as he went ahead to burn incense with the censer in his hand. A man who only cared about pleasing those in power would have given way to the king. Not Azariah. He was faithful, and eager to keep the order God had set up. So he went in after the king, and with him eighty priests of the Lord, brave men who could and would use force if they had to. There he speaks without fear, and as one with authority: "Not to you, Uzziah, to burn incense … Go out of the sanctuary, for you have trespassed." Among the priests, Azariah stands out. He is honoured for courage that never flinched, where others might have given way. Scripture records no other case like this, whether we look at the king's sin or the priest's faithfulness. God's order in His own temple must stand, even when everything else is in confusion.
To an onlooker, a king offering incense might have looked like devotion. Another writer weighs the act against the law Uzziah already knew:
If idolatry shows how low, ungrateful, and corrupt man is, then Uzziah's going into the temple to burn incense on the golden altar shows proud presumption and defiance of the Lord's authority. He knew perfectly well that burning incense was the work of the priests alone — a duty and privilege for the sons of Aaron and no one else. In Uzziah there was the look, the pretence, of worship. But it was real disobedience, and it treated holy things as common. The king insulted what was holy and the priest stayed faithful, and that is what drove the king out of the temple.
One writer names what was behind the act, and points to the meaning of Uzziah's own name:
It was pride — the true "original sin," the ugly parent of every sin that followed, in angels and in men (1 Tim. 3:6; Ezek. 28:2, 17). "He was marvellously helped till he was strong. But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction." "Strength of Jehovah" was his name's meaning. It would have been good for him if he had seen that no one is really strong except in His strength.
Crown and censer stayed apart in Israel. One writer notes the single exception:
Aaron was never king, and no king in David's line, except the Lord, was ever a priest to God. Only one tried to seize the priest's office, and the punishment he deserved fell on him at once. Because Uzziah tried to burn incense, he was a leper to the day of his death (2 Chron. 26:21). In Israel, the offices of king and priest can be joined in one person only, and that is Christ.
The priests' rebuke was not the judgment. It was a chance to stop, as one writer points out:
If Uzziah had humbled himself at once and left, he might have spared himself the sudden stroke of leprosy. Instead he became furious. Since he was king, he no doubt felt insulted that they rebuked him.
One writer turns Uzziah's fall into a question for anyone enjoying God's blessing today:
Is it true that there are Christians who have reached a point where they no longer need to receive mercy and find grace? If any think they have, they should take warning from the example of Uzziah. God-given prosperity made him strong, but once he was strong he imagined he could do without the priesthood. The grace of God towards him should have kept him humble and shown his soul how weak he was.
- Strength — God helped Uzziah until he was strong. Then he forgot whose strength it was. His name meant "Strength of Jehovah," and no one is strong except in God's strength.
- Pride — pride is the parent of every other sin, in angels and in men. Here it dressed up as worship, but it was defiance.
- Faithfulness — a man out to please the king would have given way. Azariah and eighty brave men walked in after him, because God's order in His own house must stand even when all else is confusion.
- Opportunity — the rebuke came before the leprosy. If Uzziah had humbled himself and walked out, he might have escaped it. He chose rage instead.
- Christ — no king in David's line was ever a priest except the Lord. Crown and censer meet in Him alone, and no one outgrows the need of His priestly grace.
and they withstood Uzziah the king, and said to him, It is not for thee, Uzziah, to burn incense to Jehovah, but for the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast transgressed; neither shall it be for thine honour from Jehovah Elohim.
Uzziah stands in the temple holding a censer to burn incense, and eighty priests block his way with one sentence: this work is not yours. A king at the height of his power runs into God's plain limit on who may come near Him, and the scene asks what makes worship acceptable.
Azariah's words are not a matter of opinion. The king had the law. The law named the one family who could burn incense. So what looked like devotion was the opposite.
He knew very well that burning incense was the work of the priests alone. It was a duty and a privilege for the sons of Aaron and for no one else. In Uzziah there was the look, or pretence, of worship, but real disobedience and a profaning of the holy things. The king's sacrilege and the priest's faithfulness drove him out of the temple.
The priests call the act a wrong done against God. One writer looks at the whole chapter and traces it further back. He points to what success had done to the king's heart, and even to the meaning of the king's name.
We are not told what motive lay behind this daring act of king Uzziah's… But whatever pushed him to it at the moment, we know the main cause of his profane deed. It was pride… "He was marvelously helped, till he was strong. But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his own destruction." "Strength of the LORD" was the meaning of his name. He would have been a happy man if he had seen that no one is truly strong except in His strength.
These are the only words the priests speak here, and they say them to the most powerful man in the land. One writer singles out Azariah for standing his ground.
Azariah stood firm and brave for God's truth and order. He resisted the king, who had the censer in his hand and was about to burn incense. A man out to please those in power would have given in to royalty. Not so Azariah… There he says, without fear and as one with authority, "It is not for you, Uzziah… Go out of the sanctuary, for you have done wrong."… God's order in His own temple must be kept, even when everything else is in confusion.
Verse 18 ends before the judgment falls. The king can still walk out. What happens next turns on how he takes the rebuke.
Azariah, the high priest, and eighty other priests followed Uzziah at once. They faced him with the guilt of his action and ordered him out of the sanctuary (vv. 17–18). If he had humbled himself at once and left, he might have saved himself from the sudden stroke of leprosy. Instead, he became furious. Since he was king, he no doubt felt insulted by their reproof.
The priests tell him the act will bring him no honour. Only one Person ever holds both crown and censer together.
It was a very serious matter for anyone to interfere with God's order in His house. It was just as serious for a man to dare to be a priest as well as a king. God had reserved that honour for His own Son (Zech. 6:13).
One writer carries the lesson into the present. He reads Uzziah's intrusion as a picture of a refusal still made today.
For one under the law of Moses, an intrusion into the priesthood was a most glaring act of sacrilege. What answers to it now is the refusal of Christ in His priestly and atoning work as the only way of access to God. This will explain the terrible judgment upon Uzziah.
If the chapter shut the sanctuary against a king, it also shows on what terms anyone comes in at all.
Let us too beware of treating the Lord with unholy familiarity. A humble spirit is always a confident spirit, but it can trust only in the blood of Jesus. It does not rush into God's presence, as the man who is "lifted up in heart" does. We can come there only through the incense of the Lord Jesus. We do not come on the credit of our own graces or devotion, or in the heat of mere human zeal.
- Place. Burning incense belonged to Aaron's sons alone. Uzziah's act looked like worship, but it was disobedience and sacrilege.
- Pride. The cause was not ignorance. Success lifted up his heart, and the man named "Strength of the LORD" forgot whose strength it was.
- Protest. Azariah and eighty priests refused to flatter a king. God's order in His house stands even when all around is in confusion.
- Pause. The rebuke came before the leprosy. If he had humbled himself and walked out, he might have escaped the judgment. He chose anger instead.
- Person. God kept the honour of being both king and priest for His own Son. We come near through Him alone, not on our own devotion.
And Uzziah was wroth; and he had a censer in his hand to burn incense; and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of Jehovah, beside the incense altar.
Uzziah stands in the temple with a censer in his hand, and the priests have just ordered him out. His answer is rage — and at that moment leprosy breaks out on his forehead, so why does anger at a rebuke bring a judgment this severe?
His anger became a second sin on top of the first. One writer names what set it off:
In the case of Uzziah (2 Chron. 26:19), his anger came from being rebuked for sacrilege, and God punished that sin at once with leprosy. Let us be on our guard against this. It is enough to have committed the sin; but it is far worse, when reproved of it by some servant of God, to add to it by a second, and possibly a third.
There was still a door open when the priests spoke. Uzziah did not take it:
If he had humbled himself at once and left, he might have escaped the sudden stroke of leprosy. But he became furious. Since he was king, he no doubt felt insulted by their reproof.
He held the instrument of worship while defying God's authority:
If idolatry shows how low, ungrateful and corrupt man is, then Uzziah going into the temple to burn incense on the golden altar shows proud presumption and defiance of the Lord's authority. He knew very well that burning incense was the work of the priests alone — a duty and privilege for the sons of Aaron and no other. In Uzziah there was the appearance or pretence of worship, but real disobedience and profaning of holy things. The judgment matched his sin. He dared to take the office of the priest and do what the law forbade him. Now, as a leper, he cannot come into the temple at all. He loses the privilege of an ordinary Israelite, he is cut off from the congregation, and he must live from then on in a separate house.
Uzziah grew strong. One writer asks where real strength actually comes from:
Sadly, the strength we naturally want is independence from God. Believers are found mourning over their weakness — and what do they mean? Is it not that they have no resources in themselves? We forget that all real strength comes from the fullness that is in Jesus. If we did not forget it, we could always say with Paul, "When I am weak, then I am strong." We need to lose every resource in ourselves, so that we may know our strength is in Him. When Uzziah felt himself to be strong, God left him.
The disease struck his forehead, not the hands that held the censer. One writer links that place to what was wrong inside him:
The forehead is a common place for leprosy to show itself. Many people today have the plague of leprosy in their heads, yet have not the least idea that they are "utterly unclean." They have their own ideas. They reason things out with their own mind. They trust their own heads instead of the Word of God. Pride, and especially pride of intellect, is the root of the trouble when the leprosy is in the head. Uzziah is a terrible example of this. His pride made him take the place that belonged to the priests alone.
Uzziah could not bear to depend on the priesthood. That makes his fall a warning:
Are there Christians who have reached a point where they no longer need to receive mercy and find grace? If any think they have, let them be warned by the example of Uzziah. God's blessing made him prosperous and strong. Once he was strong, he imagined he could do without the priesthood. The grace of God towards him should have kept him humble and been the witness to his soul of his weakness. But it was not so; his heart was lifted up.
The opposite of Uzziah's approach is not staying outside, but coming in the appointed way:
Let us beware of treating the Lord with unholy familiarity. A humble spirit is always a confident spirit. But a humble spirit can trust only in the blood of Jesus. It does not rush into God's presence the way a proud, lifted-up heart does. We can only come there through the incense of the Lord Jesus. We do not come on the credit of our own goodness, our devotion, or our own emotional zeal.
- Helped. Uzziah's success was God's gift, and it should have kept him humble and reminded him of his own weakness.
- Strong. The strength we naturally want is independence from God; when Uzziah felt strong, God left him.
- Lifted up. Pride took him into the temple with a censer — the appearance of worship covering real disobedience.
- Angry. Rebuke gave him a way out; rage added a second sin to the first. Anger at faithful reproof is a danger to watch in ourselves.
- Leprous. The mark rose on his forehead, where pride sits — and it left him cut off from the temple for life. We come in only through the incense of the Lord Jesus, never on the credit of our own record.
And 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; even he himself hasted to go out, because Jehovah had smitten him.
Azariah and the priests look at the king who has come to burn incense, and they see the mark on his forehead. The verse leaves a question: why does the man who forced his way in now rush to get out?
Leprosy in the Old Testament is more than a disease. The law gives it great prominence, and that prominence points somewhere.
The prominence given to leprosy shows plainly that it is a figure of sin. It pictures sin above all in the aspect that shuts the sinner out from the presence of God and from the privileges of relationship with Him... The priests opposed Uzziah in his sacrilegious act, and God struck him with leprosy to mark his uncleanness of heart and his unfitness for the divine presence.
The place where the disease broke out was not random. The forehead says something about the sin behind it.
The forehead is a common place for leprosy to show itself. How many people today have the plague of leprosy in their heads, yet have no idea at all that they are "utterly unclean"! They have their own ideas. They reason things out with their own mind. They trust their own heads instead of the Word of God. Pride, and especially pride of intellect, is the root of the trouble when the leprosy is in the head.
Between the priests' rebuke and the stroke there was a window. Uzziah filled it with anger instead of humbling himself.
If he had humbled himself at once and left, he might have escaped the sudden stroke of leprosy. Instead he became furious. Since he was king, he no doubt felt insulted by their reproof. However, God stepped in at once and struck Uzziah with leprosy in his forehead. When the priests saw this they pushed him out of the place. In fact, he himself knew he had to leave. It was clear the Lord had brought this terrible judgment on him.
Uzziah's action looks small in itself. Its weight lies in whose place he was taking.
Uzziah invaded the priestly office, which did not belong to him. It was a small matter to put some incense on the altar. It was done in self-will and in defiance of the Lord's order and ordinance. It was a rejection of that office which foreshadowed the work of the true priest, our Lord Jesus Christ.
The same pride can grow in a believer when life goes well.
By God-given prosperity he became strong, but when he became strong he imagined he could do without the priesthood. The grace of God toward him should have kept him humble and witnessed to his soul of his weakness. But it was not so; his heart was lifted up... God expressed His judgment of that pride in him by striking him with leprosy in his forehead. How much then must He hate the pride in us that makes us imagine we are above the need of Christ's priestly grace?
The priests did not only look at the king; they acted. Their faithfulness had a part in driving him out, and that raises a question about who guards the things of God today.
Sacrilege on the king's part and faithfulness on the priest's part drove the king out of the temple. God Himself showed His displeasure by striking him with leprosy. Now, as a leper, he cannot come into the temple; he is cut off from the congregation, and must from now on live in a separate house... Do we not see man's will and order and authority at work in the great house that the professing Christian world has become? Does the Lord sanction this in any way? Sadly, we see man intruding into the things of God — but what true-hearted priest has faith to drive him out?
God shut Uzziah out of His house. He still invites us in, but only in one way.
Let us beware of treating the Lord with unholy familiarity. A humble spirit is always a confident spirit. But a humble spirit can trust only in the blood of Jesus. It does not rush into God's presence the way a man with a lifted-up heart does. We can come there only through the incense of the Lord Jesus, not on the credit of our own graces, or devotion, or the zeal of our own nature.
- Pride starts it. The disease broke out in the forehead, where men trust their own reasoning instead of God's Word. The sin and its sign matched.
- Anger seals it. If Uzziah had humbled himself at the priests' rebuke, he might have been spared. Fury at correction cost him everything.
- The mark shows it. Leprosy pictures sin in the aspect that shuts a person out of God's presence and marks him unfit for it.
- God strikes it. The priests pushed him out, but Uzziah hurried out himself, because he knew the hand on him was the Lord's, not theirs.
- Christ answers it. The office he grabbed pointed to the true Priest, Jesus Christ. The door that shut on him stands open to a humble heart — but only through Christ, never on the credit of our own devotion.
And Uzziah the king was a leper to the day of his death, and dwelt in a separate house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of Jehovah. And Jotham his son was over the king's house, judging the people of the land.
Uzziah's long and successful reign ends in a few lines: a disease that never left him, a house apart from everyone else, and no more entry to the temple. Why did God's judgment take this shape, and why did God never restore him?
Uzziah had gone into the temple to burn incense, a task God had assigned to the priests alone. One writer draws out how exactly the sentence answers the offence:
The judgment matches his transgression. He dared to take the office of the priest, to do what the law forbade him. Now as a leper he cannot come into the temple. He loses the privilege of an ordinary Israelite, he is cut off from the congregation, and from now on he must live in a separate house. He cannot carry out his duties as king either. In modern language, someone else rules in his place. Jotham was "over the king's household, governing the people of the land."
He reached for more than a king should have, and ended with less than any citizen had.
Uzziah wanted to hold the throne and the altar together. That combination is not open to any son of David except one:
Then priest like Melchizedek, the Lord, like him, is also King. "There shall be a priest on his throne," Zechariah foretold (6:13). Aaron was never king, and no king of David's line, except the Lord, was ever a priest to God. Only one tried to take over the priest's office, and fitting punishment came on him at once. Uzziah, for attempting to burn incense, was a leper to the day of his death (2 Chron. 26:21). The royal and priestly offices can in Israel only be united in the person of Christ.
One writer reads Uzziah's condition as a picture of every person's standing before God:
King Uzziah was a leper, and lived outside the camp. This shows us that sinful man is unfit for the presence of God, however high his office and dignity. It shows that man has no resources at all for cleansing the leprosy of sin. And unless God undertakes to meet him with healing mercy, he must still remain unclean, and unfit for association with the God of holiness. So, at the very start of our subject, we find the humbling hint of man's real character: unclean and far from God. That is true even though he stands in the highest position of society and holds the most exalted office, and even among the most favoured people on earth.
What moved a successful king to do it? One writer looks behind the act to its cause:
But whatever the immediate motive, we know the primary cause of his profane deed. It was pride — the real "original sin," that hideous parent-sin of all later sins, whether among angels or among men (1 Tim. 3:6; Ezek. 28:2, 17). "He was marvellously helped till he was strong. But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction." His name meant "Strength of Jehovah." How happy he would have been if he had seen that no one is strong except in His strength.
The story ends with two facts side by side: a sentence for life, and an honourable grave.
There was no reversing of this as there had been in the case of Miriam (Num. 12:10-15), and Uzziah was isolated for the rest of his life. He could no longer act as king, and could have nothing to do with the temple. His son Jotham took his place as king. We are not told how long he lived after his leprosy broke out. But at his death he was buried among his fathers, which at least recognised his former faithfulness.
One writer turns Uzziah's story into a question for the reader:
Are there Christians who have reached a point where they no longer need to obtain mercy and find grace? If there are any who think they have, let them be warned by the example of Uzziah. God-given prosperity made him strong. But once he was strong, he imagined he could do without the priesthood. The grace of God towards him should have kept him humble and been the witness to his soul of his weakness. But it was not so; his heart was lifted up.
- Cause — pride. Strength undid him, not weakness. His name meant "Strength of Jehovah," and he forgot whose strength it was.
- Crime — grasping. He took the priest's work, which belonged to the sons of Aaron alone. Only Christ holds throne and priesthood together.
- Sentence — loss. The man who wanted the priest's place lost the place of an ordinary Israelite. He lost God's house too, and another ruled for him as king.
- Sign — uncleanness. Leprosy showed that high office cannot make sinful man fit for God's presence. Man has no cure for it; only God's healing mercy can cleanse.
- End — remembered. Unlike Miriam, he never recovered. Yet his burial among his fathers still acknowledged his earlier faithfulness.