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Prophet With a Message of Hope
For many years King Uzziah ruled wisely over Judah and Ben-
jamin. He rebuilt and fortified cities, and the riches of the nations
flowed into Jerusalem. Uzziah’s fame “spread far and wide, for he
was marvelously helped till he became strong.”
2 Chronicles 26:15
.
Spiritual power, however, did not accompany the outward pros-
perity. The temple services continued, and multitudes assembled
to worship the living God, but pride and formality took the place
of humility and sincerity. Of Uzziah the Bible says, “When he was
strong his heart was lifted up, to his destruction, for he transgressed
against the Lord his God.”
Verse 16
. In violation of the Lord’s plain
command, the king entered the sanctuary “to burn incense on the
altar.” Azariah the high priest and his associates rebuked him: “You
have trespassed!” they told him. “You shall have no honor from the
Lord God.”
Verses 16, 18
.
Uzziah was filled with anger over being reproved. But he was
not permitted to profane the sanctuary against the united protest of
those in authority. While standing there in hot rebellion, he was
stricken with leprosy. To the day of his death he remained a leper, a
textbook example of the folly of departing from a plain “Thus says
the Lord.” He could plead neither his position nor his long service
as an excuse for the presumptuous sin that brought the judgment of
Heaven on him. God shows no partiality. See
Numbers 15:30
.
Uzziah’s son Jotham ascended to the throne after his father’s
death. “He did what was right in the sight of the Lord; he did
according to all that his father Uzziah had done. However the high
places were not removed.”
2 Kings 15:34, 35
.
The reign of Uzziah was drawing to a close when Isaiah, a young
man of the royal line, was called to the prophetic role. He was to
witness the invasion of Judah by the armies of Israel and Syria; he
was to see the Assyrian armies camped before the chief cities of the
kingdom. Samaria was to fall, and the ten tribes were to be scattered
among the nations. Judah was to be invaded by Assyrian armies and
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