Uzzi´ah (might of Jehovah), otherwise called Azariah, a king of Judah, who began to reign B.C. 809, at the age of sixteen, and reigned fifty-three years, being, with the sole exception of Manasseh’s, the longest reign in the Hebrew annals. Uzziah was but five years old when his father was slain. He was sixteen before he was formally called to the throne: and it is disputed by chronologers, whether to count the fifty-two years of his reign from the beginning or from the end of the eleven intervening years. In the first half of his reign, Uzziah behaved well, and was mindful of his true place as viceroy of the Divine King. He accordingly prospered in all his undertakings. His arms were successful against the Philistines, the Arabians, and the Ammonites. He restored and fortified the walls of Jerusalem, and planted on them engines for discharging arrows and great stones; he organized the military force of the nation into a kind of militia, composed of 307,500 men, under the command of 2600 chiefs, and divided into bands liable to be called out in rotation; for these he provided vast stores of all kinds of weapons and armor—spears, shields, helmets, breastplates, bows, and slings.
Nor were the arts of peace neglected by him: he loved and fostered agriculture; and he also dug wells, and constructed towers in the desert, for the use of the flocks. At length, when he had consolidated and extended his power, and developed the internal resources of his country, Uzziah fell. His prosperity engendered the pride which became his ruin. In the twenty-fourth year of his reign, incited probably by the example of the neighboring kings, who united the regal and pontifical functions, Uzziah, unmindful of the fate of Dathan and Abiram, dared to attempt the exercise of one of the principal functions of the priests, by entering the holy place to burn incense at the golden altar. But, in the very act, he was smitten with leprosy, and was thrust forth by the priests. He continued a leper all the rest of his life, and lived apart as such, the public functions of the government being administered by his son Jotham, as soon as he became of sufficient age (2Ki 15:27-28; 2 Chronicles 26).
Uzzi’ah. (strength of Jehovah).
1. King of Judah B.C. 809-8 to 757-6. In some passages, his name appears in the lengthened form Azariah: After the murder of Amaziah, his son Uzziah was chosen by the people, at the age of sixteen, to occupy the vacant throne; and for the greater part of his long reign of fifty-two years, he lived in the fear of God, and showed himself a wise, active and pious ruler. He never deserted the worship of the true God, and was much influenced by Zechariah, a prophet who is mentioned only in connection with him. 2Ch 26:5.
So the southern kingdom was raised to a condition of prosperity which it had not known since the death of Solomon. The end of Uzziah was less prosperous than his beginning. Elated with his splendid career, he determined to burn incense on the altar of God, but was opposed by the high priest Azariah and eighty others. See Exo 30:7-8; Num 16:40; Num 18:7.
The king was enraged at their resistance, and, as he pressed forward with his censer, he was suddenly smitten with leprosy. This lawless attempt to burn incense was the only exception to the excellence of his administration. 2Ch 27:2. Uzziah was buried "with his fathers," yet apparently not actually in the royal sepulchres. 2Ch 26:23. During his reign, a great earthquake occurred. Amo 1:1; Zec 14:5.
2. A Kohathite Levite, and ancestor of Samuel. 1Ch 6:24.
3. A priest of the sons of Harim, who had taken a foreign wife in the days of Ezra. Ezr 10:21. (B.C. 458).
4. Father of Athaiah or Uthai. Neh 11:4.
5. Father of Jehonathan, one of David’s overseers. 1Ch 27:25. (B.C. about 1053).
("strength of Jehovah".) UZZAIH or AZARIAH.
1. A Kohathite, ancestor of Samuel (1Ch 6:24).
2. Uzziah, king of Judah. After the murder of his father Amaziah Uzziah succeeded at the age of 16 by the people’s choice, 809 B.C. Energetic, wise, and pious for most part of his 52 years’ reign. His mother was Jecholiah of Jerusalem. He did not remove the high places, whereat, besides the one only lawful place, the Jerusalem temple, the people worshipped Jehovah. He recovered Elath or Eloth from Edom, which had revolted from Joram (2Ki 8:20), and "built" i.e. enlarged and fortified it, at the head of the gulf of Akaba, a capital mart for his commerce. "
Uzziah was 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" by their revolt under the feeble Ahaz (2Ch 28:18), came forth a "cockatrice" and "fiery flying serpent," namely, Hezekiah (2Ki 18:8). Uzziah broke down the walls of Gath, Jabneh, and Ashdod; and built cities in the domain of Ashdod and in other domains of the Philistines; this avenged Judah’s invasion by the Philistines under Jehoram (2Ki 21:16-17), when they carried away all the substance found in the king’s house and his sons, all except the youngest Jehoahaz. Uzziah also smote the Philistines’ allies in that invasion, the Arabians of Gurbaal, and the Mehunim of Mann (in Arabia Petraea S. of the Dead Sea); Ammon became tributary (compare Isa 16:1-5; 2Ki 3:4), and Uzziah’s fame as a conqueror reached to Egypt, to whose borders he carried his conquests.
He built towers at the N.W. corner gate, the valley gate (on the W. side, the Jaffa gate, now opening to Hinnom), and the turning of the wall of Jerusalem, E. of Zion, so that the tower at this turning defended both Zion and the temple from attacks from the S.E. valley; and fortified them at the weakest points of the city’s defenses. His army was 307,500, under 2600 chiefs, heads of fathers’ houses; and they were furnished with war engines for discharging arrows and great stones. The Assyrian Tiglath Pileser II relates that in his fifth year (741 B.C.) he defeated a vast army under Azariah (Uzziah) king of Judah. (Rawlinson Anc. Mon., 2:131.) Uzziah also built towers in the desert of Judah, in the steppe lands W. of the Dead Sea, to protect his herds, a main constituent of his wealth, against the predatory bands of Edom and Arabia.
He dug many wells for cattle in the
But "when he was strong his heart was lifted up to his destruction" (compare Isa 14:12-15), "pride going before destruction" as in Satan’s, Babylon’s, Tyre’s, and antichrist’s cases (Eze 28:2; Eze 28:17-23; Pro 16:18; Pro 1:32; Pro 1:2 Thessalonians 2). Uzziah wished, like Egypt’s kings, to make himself high priest, and so combine in himself all civil and religious power. Azariah the high priest, therefore, with 80 valiant priests, withstood his attempt to burn incense (Exo 30:7-8; Num 16:40; Num 18:7) on the incense altar. In the very height of his wrath at their resistance a leprosy from God rose up in his forehead, so that they thrust him out, yea he hasted to go out of himself, feeling it vain to resist Jehovah’s stroke. So Miriam was punished for trying to appropriate Moses’ prerogative (Numbers 12).
Uzziah, being thus severed from Jehovah’s house, could no longer live in fellowship with Jehovah’s people, but had to dwell in a separate house, counted virtually as dead (Lev 13:46; Num 12:12) for the year or two before his death, during which Jotham conducted the government for him; "a several house" (2Ki 15:5), Beth ha-kophshi, "a house of manumission," i.e. release from the duties and privileges of social and religious intercourse with the people of God; Winer and Gesenius, from an Arabic cognate root "he was infirm," translated it "infirmary or lazar house," but the Hebrew has only the sense "free," and the Mosaic law contemplated not the cure of the patient, which could only be by God’s extra. ordinary interposition, but his separation from the Lord’s people. Isaiah recorded the rest of his acts first and last in a history not extant; "write" marks it as a history, "vision" is the term for his prophecy (Isa 1:1).
Isaiah wrote his first five chapters under Uzziah, and had his vision in the year of Uzziah’s death (Isa 6:1, etc.). "They buried him with his fathers in the field of the burial which belonged to the kings; for they said, He is a leper"; 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, probably in the earth according to our mode. One great sin blots an otherwise spotless character (2Ch 27:2; Ecc 10:1). A mighty earthquake occurred in Uzziah’s reign; Josephus (Ant. 9:10, section 4) makes it at the time of Uzziah being smitten with leprosy; the objection is, Amos prophesied "in the days of Jeroboam of Israel, two years before the earthquake" (Amo 1:1), and Jeroboam II died 26 years before Uzziah died; but what is meant may be, Amos’ prophesying continued all the Israelite Jeroboam’s days, and so far in the partly contemporary reign of the Jewish king Uzziah as "two years before the earthquake."
Amos thus would speak his prophecies two years before the earthquake, but not write them out in order until after it. However, Josephus may be wrong, as but for his statement the likelihood is the earthquake was not later than the 17th year of Uzziah’s reign. Zechariah (Zec 14:5) alludes to the earthquake, the physical premonitor of convulsions in the social, political, and spiritual world; compare Mat 24:7. In the century from Jehu of Israel until late in Uzziah’s reign over Judah the Assyrian annals are silent as to Scripture persons and events. Assyria’s weakness just then harmonizes with the Scripture statement of the extension of Israel by Jeroboam II and of Judah by Uzziah. Only in the time of Assyria’s weakness could such small states have attempted conquests such as those of Menahem (2Ki 15:16).
3. Of the sons of Harim; took a foreign wife (Ezr 10:21).
4. Father of Athaiah or Uthai (Neh 11:4).
5. Father of Jehonathan, one of David’s overseers (1Ch 27:25).
Uzziah (uz-zî’ah), might of Jehovah. 1. The son and successor of Amaziah, king of Judah; called Azariah in 2Ki 14:21 and elsewhere; began to reign at 16, and reigned 52 years, b.c. 808-756. His career was most prosperous. He walked in the ways of his father David, and as a consequence was blessed with victory over his enemies, and great fame and love. But he was puffed up by success so long continued, and presumed to burn incense on the altar like the priests. Azariah, the high priest, and 80 others opposed him; but God most effectually checked him by making him a leper, dwelling in a separate house until death. 2Ki 15:1-7; 2Ch 26:1-23. A great earthquake occurred in bis reign. Amo 1:1; Zec 14:5. There are five persons of this name mentioned in the Bible.
[Uzzi’ah]
1. Son of Amaziah and father of Jotham. He reigned over Judah fifty-two years, B.C. 810 to 759. At the commencement of his reign he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, and the Lord prospered him. He greatly strengthened the kingdom, and organised his army well. He was successful against the Philistines, the Arabians, and the Mehunims; and the Ammonites were tributary, so that his fame was spread abroad.
A prophet named Zechariah counselled him, and he did well as long as the prophet lived; but on the prophet’s death he became ’strong,’ and his heart was lifted up to his destruction, for he went into the temple to offer incense. The priests withstood him, and on his persisting he was smitten with leprosy, and had to dwell in a separate house to the day of his death. His son Jotham acted as regent while he lived.
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 evinces the truth that "it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God." 2Ch 26:1-23; Isa 1:1; Hos 1:1; Amo 1:1; Zec 14:5. He is called AZARIAH in 2Ki 14:21; 2Ki 15:1-27; 1Ch 3:12; and OZIAS in Mat 1:8-9.
2. Son of Uriel, a Kohathite. 1Ch 6:24.
3. Father of Jehonathan, one of David’s overseers. 1Ch 27:25.
4. Priest who had married a strange wife. Ezr 10:21.
5. Father of Athaiah who returned from exile. Neh 11:4.
UZZIAH.—A king of Judah, named as a link in our Lord’s genealogy (Mat 1:8).
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By: Emil G. Hirsch, Ira Maurice Price
1. Son of Amaziah; called also Azariah (comp. II Kings xv. 1, 13, 30). He was king of Judah, and began to rule, at the age of sixteen, in the twenty-seventh year of the reign of Jeroboam II. The Kings record (ib. xv. 2) states that his reign extended through fifty-two years (788-737 B.C.), and that he was righteous as his father had been, though he did not take away the high places, but allowed the people to sacrifice and burn incense at them. II Chron. xxvi. relates how Uzziah conquered the Philistines and the Arabians, and received tribute from the Ammonites; how herefortified his country, reorganized and reequipped his army, and personally engaged in agricultural pursuits. His success as king, administrator, and commander-in-chief of the army made him ruler over the largest realm of Judah since the disruption of the kingdom. His power and authority over the peoples of this realm help to explain to a certain extent the political situation in the reign of Judah's later kings, and probably also in 739, when Tiglathpileser III. conquered nineteen districts in northern Syria which had belonged to Uzziah (Azri-ia-u).Uzziah's strength became his weakness; for he attempted to usurp the power of the priesthood in burning incense in the Temple of Yhwh. While in the act he was smitten with leprosy; and he was subsequently forced to dwell in a leper's house until the day of his death (II Chron. xxvi. 21). While he was in this condition Jotham, his son, ruled in his stead. The total number of years, fifty-two, attributed to Uzziah's reign include the period from his accession to his death.
UZZIAH.—1. A king of Judah. See next article. 2. A Kohathite Levite (1Ch 6:24). 3. The father of an officer of David (1Ch 27:25). 4. A priest (Ezr 10:21 [1Es 9:21 Azarias]). 5. A Judahite (Neh 11:4).
UZZIAH, also called AZARIAH, was king of Judah after his father Amaziah. His name was Azariah originally, whether abbreviated in popular usage or corrupted in the written form can no longer be made out with certainty. His reign is said to have been fifty-two years in length. Religiously he is classed among the good kings (2Ki 15:1 ff.). The only event recorded of this king by the Book of Kings is the restoration of Elath, the town at the head of the Gulf of Akabah. As his father Amaziah had conquered Edom, we conclude that this nation had revolted at the accession of Uzziah. The re-building of Elath (2Ki 14:22) points to some attempt at commerce, but of this our sources say nothing. We should be glad to know whether the subjection of Judah to Israel effected by Jehoash continued in this reign; but here again we are left to conjecture. The Chronicler (2Ch 26:1-23) knows, indeed, of successes against the Philistines, Arabs, and Ammonites, as well as of extensive building operations, but the traditions drawn upon by this author are not always reliable.
The additional fact related by the Book of Kings is that the king was a leper. On account of this disease he withdrew from public business, and his son Jotham acted as his representative (2Ki 15:5). This regency, as it may be called, may account for some of the chronological difficulties of the period. Uzziah seems not to have been compelled to leave his palace. The Chronicler has the story of a conflict between Uzziah and the priesthood, according to which the monarch attempted to usurp the function of the chief priest and offer incense. For this the plague was sent upon him, after which he was thrust out as unclean.
Uzziah has been supposed to be mentioned in the Assyrian inscriptions in connexion with a campaign of Tiglath-pileser in the Lebanon region. But it is now generally conceded that the inscription in question has reference to some prince of Northern Syria.
H. P. Smith.
Much of the information about the period of Uzziah (or Azariah) comes from the prophets of the time, Amos and Hosea (Amo 1:1; Hos 1:1). Uzziah was king of Judah for 52 years (791-739 BC; 2Ki 15:1-2; 2Ch 26:1), and for much of that time Judah was untroubled by foreign neighbours. Under Uzziah’s leadership the nation prospered.
The favourable political conditions of the time enabled Uzziah to expand Judah’s power in every direction. To the south and west he overran Arab and Philistine territory (2Ch 26:6-7), spreading his influence to the borders of Egypt and taking control of Edom’s Red Sea port of Ezion-geber (or Elath) (2Ch 26:2; 2Ch 26:8). To the east he overpowered Ammon (2Ch 26:8), and to the north he enjoyed peace with the similarly prosperous Israelite kingdom of Jeroboam II (2Ki 14:23-25; see JEROBOAM). He fortified Jerusalem, built up the armed forces, and equipped his troops with the most modern weapons (2Ch 26:9; 2Ch 26:11-15).
Uzziah’s conquests gave him control over land and sea trade routes, and his concern for agricultural development increased farm productivity (2Ch 26:10). Unfortunately, the prosperity brought with it greed and corruption. Those who profited most from the economic growth were the powerful city people, such as government officials, merchants and judges. Ordinary people, the majority of whom were poor farmers, suffered much from the corruption and oppression of the rich. This injustice was fiercely condemned by the prophets of the time, Amos and Hosea (Amo 5:10-12; Amo 6:1; Amo 8:4-6; Hos 12:7-9; see also AMOS; HOSEA).
Early in his reign Uzziah ruled well, because he followed the godly instruction of his chief adviser (2Ch 26:5). Later in his reign his power led to pride, which in turn led to his downfall. Despite opposition from the priests, he insisted on taking over the high priest’s position, so that he could become the religious head of the nation as well as the political head. God punished him with leprosy, and his son Jotham had to act as joint ruler till Uzziah’s death (2Ch 26:16-23). In the year of Uzziah’s death the prophet Isaiah, following Amos and Hosea, began to bring his messages of judgment to the corrupt nation (Isa 1:1; Isa 6:1).
A king of Judah who ruled with his
father Amaziah from 792 to 767 b.c.,
and then alone from 767 to 740 b.c.