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2 Chronicles 26 - Pride Never Ends Well · The Bible Explained with Jenn Kokal

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  Speaker 1: Life Audio how to enco morning their friends and faithful listeners,
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  Speaker 1: and welcome to the Bible explained on this lovely Monday morning.
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  Speaker 1: I am so excited that you're here to start out
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  Speaker 1: the week nice and strong by reading some Bible with me.
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  Speaker 1: We're gonna be talking about pride today and the story
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  Speaker 1: of King Uziah in Second Chronicles twenty six, one of
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  Speaker 1: the pride full kings that tries to become a high priest.
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  Speaker 1: All right, faithful listeners, we'll get into this topic in
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  Speaker 1: just one second. Here's a message from a sponsor real quick.
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  Speaker 1: But while this is playing, this is a great opportunity
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  Speaker 1: favor listeners, Let's go ahead and read the entire chapter
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  Speaker 1: of Second Chronicles twenty six. It's kind of a long chapter,
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  Speaker 1: but there's a lot to talk about in Uziah's life
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  Speaker 1: because he reigned for quite a long time. Actually, interestingly enough,
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  Speaker 1: he was one of the longest reigning kings in Judah's history.
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  Speaker 1: So let's go ahead and read this together. I'll be
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  Speaker 1: reading from the World English Bible or the Web version.
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  Speaker 1: All of the people of Judah took Uziah, who was
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  Speaker 1: sixteen years old, and made him king in the place
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  Speaker 1: of his father Amasia. He built Elith and restored it
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  Speaker 1: to Judah. After that the king slept with his fathers
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  Speaker 1: Uziah was sixteen years old when he began to reign,
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  Speaker 1: and he reigned fifty two years in Jerusalem. His mother's
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  Speaker 1: name was Jakielia of Jerusalem. He did that which was
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  Speaker 1: right in Yahweh's eyes, according to all that his father
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  Speaker 1: Amasia had done. He set himself to seek God in
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  Speaker 1: the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the vision
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  Speaker 1: of God. And as long as he sought Yahweh, God
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  Speaker 1: made him prosper. He went out and fought against the
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  Speaker 1: Philistines and broke down on the wall of Gath, the
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  Speaker 1: wall of Jebnah, and the wall of Ashdod. And he
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  Speaker 1: built cities in the country of Ashdod and among the Philistines.
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  Speaker 1: God helped him against the Philistines and against the Arabians
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  Speaker 1: who lived in gaer Ball and the Mayunum. The Ammonites
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  Speaker 1: gave tribute to Uziah. His names spread abroad, even to
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  Speaker 1: the entrance of Egypt, for he grew exceedingly strong. Moreover,
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  Speaker 1: Usiah built towers in Jerusalem, at the corner gate, at
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  Speaker 1: the valley gate, and at the turning of the wall,
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  Speaker 1: and fortified them. He built towers in the wilderness, and
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  Speaker 1: dug out many cisterns, for he had much livestock, both
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  Speaker 1: in the lowlands and in the plains. He had farmers
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  Speaker 1: and vineyard keepers in the mountains and in the fruitful fields,
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  Speaker 1: for he loved farming. Moreover, Uziah had an army of
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  Speaker 1: fighting men, who went out to war by bands, according
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  Speaker 1: to the number of their reckoning made by j L
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  Speaker 1: the scribe and Messiah the officer under the hand of Hanania,
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  Speaker 1: one of the king's captains. The whole number of the
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  Speaker 1: heads of the father's houses, even the mighty men of Valor,
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  Speaker 1: was two thousand, six hundred. Under their hand was an
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  Speaker 1: army three hundred seven thousand, five five hundred who made
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  Speaker 1: war with mighty power to help the king against the enemy.
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  Speaker 1: Usiah prepared for them even for all the army shields, spears, helmets,
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  Speaker 1: coats of mail, bows and stones for slinging. In Jerusalem,
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  Speaker 1: he made devices invented by skillful men to be on
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  Speaker 1: the towers and on the battlements with which to shoot
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  Speaker 1: arrows and great stones. His name spread far abroad because
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  Speaker 1: he was marvelously helped until he was strong. But when
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  Speaker 1: he was strong, his heart was lifted up, so that
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  Speaker 1: he did corruptly and trespassed against Yahweh his God. For
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  Speaker 1: he went into Yahwei's temple to burn incense on the
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  Speaker 1: altar of incense. Azaria the priest went in after him,
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  Speaker 1: and with him eighty priests of Yahweh, who were valiant men.
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  Speaker 1: They resisted Uziah the king, and said to him, it
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  Speaker 1: isn't for you, Uziah, to burn incense to Yahweh, but
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  Speaker 1: for the priests, the sons of Erin, who are consecrated
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  Speaker 1: to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you
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  Speaker 1: have trespassed. It will not be for your honor from
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  Speaker 1: Yahweh God. Then Uziah was angry. He had a censer
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  Speaker 1: in his hand to burn incense, And while he was
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  Speaker 1: angry with the priests, the leprosy broke out on his
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  Speaker 1: forehead before the priest. In Yahwai's house, beside the altar
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  Speaker 1: of incense, Azariah the chief priest and all the priests
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  Speaker 1: looked at him, and behold, he was lepros in his forehead,
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  Speaker 1: and they thrust him out quickly from there. Indeed, he
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  Speaker 1: himself also hurried to go out, because Yahweh had struck him.
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  Speaker 1: Uziah the king was a leper to the day of
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  Speaker 1: his death, and lived in a separate house, being a leper,
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  Speaker 1: for he was cut off from Yahwai's house. Jotham his
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  Speaker 1: son was over the king's house judging the people of
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  Speaker 1: the land. Now the rest of the acts of Usiah
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  Speaker 1: first and last, Isaiah the prophet, the son of amas wrote,
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  Speaker 1: So Uziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him
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  Speaker 1: with his fathers in the field of burial, which belonged
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  Speaker 1: to the king's for they said he is a leper.
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  Speaker 1: Jotham his son reigned in his place. Well, isn't this
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  Speaker 1: a shaker. There's another king here who doesn't quite do
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  Speaker 1: what he's supposed to do at the end of his life,
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  Speaker 1: because he gets very arrogant. It says in verse one
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  Speaker 1: that all the people of Judah took Uziah, who was
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  Speaker 1: sixteen years old, and made him king in the place
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  Speaker 1: of his father Amasia. Now we just finished talking about
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  Speaker 1: Amasia last week, and Amazia started out again as a
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  Speaker 1: very good king. He tried to follow Yahweh in a
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  Speaker 1: lot of different ways, but then once God gave him
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  Speaker 1: success in a battle against the Edomites, he started worshiping
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  Speaker 1: the Edomite gods, and God gave him several warnings to
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  Speaker 1: stop what he was doing or he would meet a
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  Speaker 1: bad end. Amasia did not listen to the warnings and
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  Speaker 1: in fact was very belligerent against the warnings and kind
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  Speaker 1: of just did whatever he wanted to do, and it
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  Speaker 1: ended in his downfall. Unfortunately, where Israel, the Northern tribes
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  Speaker 1: came and pretty much destroyed part of the Wall of Jerusalem,
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  Speaker 1: went in and pillaged it completely, including the temple of Yahweh,
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  Speaker 1: but they didn't kill him. He was left as a
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  Speaker 1: disgraced king for many years after that, actually, until eventually
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  Speaker 1: a few of his servants actually conspired against him and
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  Speaker 1: killed him. But scripture alludes to the fact that Amasia
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  Speaker 1: was not repentant even in the latter days of his life.
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  Speaker 1: So now Amasia has been killed and his son Uziah,
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  Speaker 1: who is sixteen years old, reigns in his father's place,
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  Speaker 1: and right off the bat it says he built Elath
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  Speaker 1: and restored it to Judah. After that, the king slept
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  Speaker 1: with his fathers. So Usiah was known for being a
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  Speaker 1: king that restored land back to Judah. He was actually
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  Speaker 1: a very successful king in the wealth of Jerusalem and
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  Speaker 1: of Judah as a whole. So we're going to talk
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  Speaker 1: about all that in just a second. It says in
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  Speaker 1: verse three that Usiah was sixteen years old when he
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  Speaker 1: began to reign, and he reigned fifty two years in Jerusalem.
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  Speaker 1: So he reigned I think the longest out of any
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  Speaker 1: of the kings, if I'm remembering correctly. Maybe Solomon reigned longer,
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  Speaker 1: but I didn't look that up, so I can't for
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  Speaker 1: sure say that. But Uziah certainly reigned some of the
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  Speaker 1: longest out of all of the kings in Judah's history.
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  Speaker 1: It says his mother's name was Jakielia of Jerusalem. He
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  Speaker 1: did that which was right in Yawai's eyes, according to
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  Speaker 1: all that his father Amasia had done. Now that's really
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  Speaker 1: important to note here that yes, Uziah did a lot
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  Speaker 1: of good things, and he did things that were good
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  Speaker 1: in God's eyes, but he did them to the same
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  Speaker 1: extent that his father Amasia had done. Not to the
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  Speaker 1: standard that the kings were supposed to meet, which was David.
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  Speaker 1: We know that David was pretty much the most righteous
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  Speaker 1: king in Israel's history, and God told the kings to
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  Speaker 1: emulate David with what they did basically walk in David's footsteps.
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  Speaker 1: And obviously we know that the most important thing David
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  Speaker 1: did during his reign was that he followed God his
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  Speaker 1: entire life and didn't try to make any idols for
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  Speaker 1: himself and did didn't turned towards the gods of the nations.
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  Speaker 1: He only worshiped God in and out. It actually says
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  Speaker 1: that David was a man after God's own heart, which
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  Speaker 1: is why he was the standard for the other kings.
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  Speaker 1: There's only a few kings in Israel's history that says
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  Speaker 1: that they followed after the footsteps of David. But kings
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  Speaker 1: like Amasia and Uziah only followed after the good things
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  Speaker 1: that their fathers had done. But unfortunately their fathers did
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  Speaker 1: some bad things towards the end of their lives. And
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  Speaker 1: Usiah was one of those kings. He only did things
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  Speaker 1: to the same standard that his father Amasia had done. Unfortunately,
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  Speaker 1: it says in verse five, though, that he set himself
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  Speaker 1: to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who had
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  Speaker 1: understanding in the vision of God, and as long as
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  Speaker 1: he sought Yahweh, God made him prosper. Now that Zechariah
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  Speaker 1: mentioned here is an unknown Zechariah. But whoever he was,
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  Speaker 1: he was a mentor of Uziah, and he also must
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  Speaker 1: have been a prophet because he had understanding in the
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  Speaker 1: vision of God. And it sounds like Zechariah was a
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  Speaker 1: great role model because Uziah set himself to seek God.
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  Speaker 1: In all the days of Zechariah, it says, as long
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  Speaker 1: as the king sought Yahweh, God made him prosper. And
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  Speaker 1: that's a very important verse. Back in the days of
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  Speaker 1: the Law, God would show himself through the prosperity of Israel.
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  Speaker 1: That was the way he worked. If Israel and Judah
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  Speaker 1: were in line with God, God would allow them to prosper.
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  Speaker 1: And the reason this was was because Israel was supposed
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  Speaker 1: to be the light to the world. The nations during
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  Speaker 1: this time believed in a lot of different gods. They
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  Speaker 1: believed in a God of the fields, they believed in
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  Speaker 1: a God of the mountains, a God of the sky,
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  Speaker 1: a God of the weather, a God of the sea.
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  Speaker 1: They believed in all these different types of gods, and
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  Speaker 1: they thought that if they got on these gods good sides,
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  Speaker 1: that these gods would bless them. And so that's why
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  Speaker 1: Ayahweh would bless Israel if they were in line with him,
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  Speaker 1: because this would show the rest of the ancient world
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  Speaker 1: that Yahweh was the one true God. Because ultimately, when
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  Speaker 1: these foreign peoples are praying to their bail gods or
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  Speaker 1: something like that, and Bail is not answering their prayers
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  Speaker 1: because he's a fake God. The people would look at
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  Speaker 1: Israel being very successful and they'd be like, what God
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  Speaker 1: are they worshiping? Why is that God blessing them? And
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  Speaker 1: this God we're worshiping isn't blessing us. So as long
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  Speaker 1: as Uziah was worshiping God, as long as he sought
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  Speaker 1: after Yahweh, it says God made him prosper because Israel
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  Speaker 1: and Judah were a light to the rest of the world,
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  Speaker 1: and that is how God showed his power and his
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  Speaker 1: supremacy through the rest of the world. But not to mention,
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  Speaker 1: God loves his people and He's going to bless those
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  Speaker 1: that love him as well. There's a in the Book
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  Speaker 1: of James that says draw near to God and he
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  Speaker 1: will draw near to you. As long as Uziah was
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  Speaker 1: drawing near to God, God would also draw near to Uziah.
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  Speaker 1: It says in verse six that he went out and
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  Speaker 1: fought against the Philistines and broke down the wall of Gath,
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  Speaker 1: of Jebnah, and of Ashdod. And he built cities in
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  Speaker 1: the country of Ashdod and among the Philistines. So, in
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  Speaker 1: other words, Judah was expanding its border into Philistine territory,
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  Speaker 1: and God was actually giving Uziah much success in this.
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  Speaker 1: When God first gave the promised land to the Israelites,
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  Speaker 1: the Israelites were supposed to take it for themselves, but
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  Speaker 1: they were never very successful in that because of their
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  Speaker 1: lack of faith in God's ability to help them. So
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  Speaker 1: they never quite took the land that they were supposed
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  Speaker 1: to take. And all of these people were living within
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  Speaker 1: the borders of Israel who should not have been living there,
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  Speaker 1: quite honestly, because they were not Israelites. They were part
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  Speaker 1: of cults and worshiped pagan deities, and they had no
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  Speaker 1: claim to the land that God gave his people. So
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  Speaker 1: Uziah was not wrong to take this land from the Philistines.
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  Speaker 1: Now there are verses where God tells the Israelites that
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  Speaker 1: they're not supposed to expand their borders too much because
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  Speaker 1: God gives pieces of land to each person, and God
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  Speaker 1: gave Israel to the Israelites, so they weren't supposed to
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  Speaker 1: expand their borders too much, but they were supposed to
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  Speaker 1: take their own land. Uziah was successful in taking back
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  Speaker 1: some of the land for Israel. It says God helped
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  Speaker 1: him against the Philistines and against the Arabians who lived
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  Speaker 1: in gare Bale and Mayunam. The Ammonites gave tribute to Isiah.
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  Speaker 1: His name spread abroad, even to the entrance of Egypt,
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  Speaker 1: for he grew exceedingly strong, it says. Moreover, Uziah built
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  Speaker 1: towers in Jerusalem at the corner gate, at the valley,
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  Speaker 1: and at the turning of the wall and fortified them.
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  Speaker 1: So not only is he successfully taking land back for Israel,
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  Speaker 1: but he's also building fortified cities all around as well,
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  Speaker 1: so these invading armies can't easily take these cities back
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  Speaker 1: for themselves because these walls kept people out. And noticed
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  Speaker 1: that all of the glory in this is given to God,
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  Speaker 1: not to Uziah. Yes, Usiah obviously was the king and
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  Speaker 1: was doing all of these things. But God was the
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  Speaker 1: one truly giving Uziah success. So in this entire passage,
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  Speaker 1: God is completely glorified because we know where success comes from.
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  Speaker 1: It does not come from ourselves, It comes from God.
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  Speaker 1: And then it goes on to talk about how intelligent
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  Speaker 1: Uziah was as well. It says he built towers in
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  Speaker 1: the wilderness. He dug out many cisterns, for he had
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  Speaker 1: much livestock, both in the lowlands and in the plains.
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  Speaker 1: He had farmers and vine you'd keepers in the mountains
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  Speaker 1: and in the fruitful fields. For he loved farming. I
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  Speaker 1: think that's really cool. Actually, we get a little peek
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  Speaker 1: into Uziah's life and his passions, and apparently his biggest
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  Speaker 1: passion was farming. He loved it and he was good
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  Speaker 1: at it. It says. Moreover, Uziah had an army of
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  Speaker 1: fighting men who went out to war by bands according
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  Speaker 1: to the number of their reckoning made by jl the
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  Speaker 1: scribe and Messya the officer under the hand of Hanania,
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  Speaker 1: one of the king's captains. And then it mentions this
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  Speaker 1: really bizarre number and it says he had three hundred
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  Speaker 1: seven thousand, five hundred who made war with mighty power
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  Speaker 1: to help them or to help the king against the enemy.
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  Speaker 1: When I first read that number, I'm like, three hundred,
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  Speaker 1: seven thousand, five hundred, three hundred, three hundred and seven thousand,
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  Speaker 1: five hundred, Like, I honestly could not wrap my brain
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  Speaker 1: around what this number was. So I looked up this
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  Speaker 1: number in the expository's Bible CA commentary, and it says
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  Speaker 1: that this number was probably three hundred professional soldiers like warriors,
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  Speaker 1: together with seven five hundred men trained for war, so,
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  Speaker 1: in other words, elite soldiers and warriors and possibly spies.
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  Speaker 1: Uziah set these men up to keep the peace for Israel.
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  Speaker 1: So he was very organized. He understood a lot about war,
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  Speaker 1: about farming, and he was beginning to make Judah very great.
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  Speaker 1: Once again. It actually says that Uziah's fame spread so
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  Speaker 1: much so that all of these neighboring nations are bringing
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  Speaker 1: him tribute because they didn't want him bothering them. They
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  Speaker 1: were scared of him. They didn't want to go to
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  Speaker 1: war with him, so they would bring a tribute so
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  Speaker 1: that they didn't have to go to war. Essentially, not
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  Speaker 1: to mention, it also says that Uziah prepared for them,
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  Speaker 1: even all the army shields spears, helmets, coats of mail,
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  Speaker 1: bows and stones for slinging. In Jerusalem, he made devices
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  Speaker 1: invented by skillful men to be on the towers and
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  Speaker 1: on the battlements with which to shoot arrows and great stones.
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  Speaker 1: Now this is super interesting because the first catapult that
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  Speaker 1: we know of in archaeological history was discovered about two
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  Speaker 1: hundred years after the death of Uziah. But it very
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  Speaker 1: well could be that Uziah and his men were the
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  Speaker 1: ones who invented the catapult. Now, there is some debate
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  Speaker 1: on this text. Some people say that the Hebrew denotes
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  Speaker 1: more of a shield, kind of defensive thing that would
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  Speaker 1: stop hurling rocks and arrows from penetrating the walls of
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  Speaker 1: these towers, So it could be something like that that
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  Speaker 1: he invented, like a big shield. But if he invented
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  Speaker 1: the catapult, that's kind of pretty neat, I think. But
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  Speaker 1: the point of this is that God helped Uziah. He
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  Speaker 1: was very successful in pretty much everything that he did.
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  Speaker 1: It says in verse fifteen that his name spread far
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  Speaker 1: abroad because he was marvelously helped until he was strong.
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  Speaker 1: But when he was strong verse sixteen, his heart was
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  Speaker 1: lifted up so that he did corruptly and trespassed against Yahweh,
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  Speaker 1: his god, for he went into Yahweh's temple to burn
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  Speaker 1: incense on the altar of incense. Now we know that
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  Speaker 1: this was a wrong thing to do because only the
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  Speaker 1: Levites were allowed to be the priests. They were the
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  Speaker 1: only ones allowed inside the temple to offer incense and
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  Speaker 1: sacrifices to God. Here's what scripture says in numbers three ten,
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  Speaker 1: you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall
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  Speaker 1: keep their priesthood. But the stranger who comes near shall
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  Speaker 1: be put to death. That is how strongly God cared
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  Speaker 1: about the Levites being the only ones to sacrifice to him.
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  Speaker 1: We've definitely talked about why that was why the Levites
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  Speaker 1: were the only ones allowed inside the temple, so I
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  Speaker 1: won't talk about that here. But King Uziah was never
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  Speaker 1: supposed to be in there because he was not a
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  Speaker 1: leave He was from the tribe of Judah. Not to mention,
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  Speaker 1: a king was never supposed to be a priest or
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  Speaker 1: a high priest, because a king already had a bunch
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  Speaker 1: of power. There's a similar passage actually that talks about
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  Speaker 1: another king that tried to become a priest or a
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  Speaker 1: high priest. This is the account of First Samuel, chapter thirteen,
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  Speaker 1: verses five through fourteen. It says the Philistines assembled themselves
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  Speaker 1: together to fight with Israel, thirty thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen,
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  Speaker 1: and people as the sand which is on the seashore
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  Speaker 1: in multitude. They came up and encamped in Mickmash, eastward
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  Speaker 1: of beth Avon. When the men of Israel saw that
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: they were in trouble, for the people were distressed, the
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: people hid themselves in caves, in thickets, in rocks, in tombs,
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: and in pits. Now some of the Hebrews had gone
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: over the Jordan to the land of Goad and Gilead.
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: But as for Saul, he was yet in Gilgal, and
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: all the people followed him trembling. He stayed seven days
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: according to the time set by Samuel. But Samuel didn't
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: come to Gilgal. Saul said, bring the burnt offering to
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: me here, and the peace offerings. He offered the burnt offering.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: It came to pass that as soon as he had
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: finished offering the burnt offering, behold Samuel came, and Saul
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: went out to meet him, that he might greet him
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: Samuel said, what have you done? Saul said, because I
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: saw that the people were scattered from me, and that
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: you didn't come within the days appointed, and that the
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: Philistines assembled themselves together at Micmash. Therefore, I said, now
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: the Philistines will come down on me to Gilgal, and
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: I haven't entreated the favor of Yahweh. I forced myself
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: therefore an offered the burnt offering. Samuel said to Saul,
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: you have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: of Yahweh or God, which he commanded for you. For now.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Yahweh would have established dear kingdom on Israel forever, but
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: now your kingdom will not continue. Yahweh has sought for
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: himself a man after his own heart, and Yahweh has
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: appointed him to be prince over his people because you
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: have not kept that which Yahweh commanded you. So that's
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: the story of King Saul, the first king in Israel's history,
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: who sacrificed the offering to Yahweh when he should not have.
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: And the reason he did this was because he felt
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: that he was losing power, so he tried to gain
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: power for himself by becoming the high priest in place
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: of Samuel, and Samuel said, because you did this foolish thing,
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: I'm going to take the kingdom away from you. And
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: that's essentially exactly what Uziah did. In Second Chronicles twenty six,
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: it says his heart was lifted up. He became prideful,
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: kind of like his father Amasia had done. After his
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: successful battle, Uziah became prideful and wanted more power for himself.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: And the way a king could get more power was
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: becoming the high priest. But the king was never supposed
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: to be the high priest, because the king could not
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: have absolute power. And that's what being the high priest
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: would give the king over everything religious, and power over
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: the people and the foreign affairs and the politics and
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: all that stuff. The king could not have absolute power.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: The priesthood was for the levites to take care of
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: and the Leevites only. It was not for anybody else,
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: especially not the king. And Usiah, trying to take more
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: power for himself, just belligerently, blatantly, goes into God's temple
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: and starts offering the incense to God. It says the
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: priests took courage and went after Usiah says they resisted him.
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: It mentions that these priests were valiant men. That means
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: that they were courageous, because I'm sure they were scared
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: of the king. I'm sure they didn't want to confront
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: the king, but eighty priests went after him, including the
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: high priest who was named Azariah. They confront Usiah inside
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: the temple and they say, you got to get out.
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: This is not for you. Here's what they say. It
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: isn't for you, Usiah, to burn incense to Yahweh, but
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: for the priests, the son of Aaron who are consecrated
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: to burn the incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: you've trespassed. It will not be for your honor from
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: Yahweh God. Here's how Usiah responds. He becomes angry. It
• 22:12
  Speaker 1: says he had a censer in his hand to burn
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: the incense, and while he was angry with the priests,
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: the leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priest
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: in Yawi's house beside the altar of incense. I've been
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: really talking a lot recently about how God does not
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: to judge people very often without giving them a warning first.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: He does not just strike people. He usually warns them.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: Uziah got his warning right here from the priests, and
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: I wonder if he had humbled himself and been like, Wow,
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: you're right, I shouldn't be doing this. This is not
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: for me to do. I have sinned against Yahweh. I
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: wonder if God would have had mercy and not given
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: Usiah this terrible form of leprosy. But unfortunately, that is
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: not how Uziah responds. Instead, he becomes angry with the prophets.
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: And that is when God strikes Usiah. Was when his
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: heart was against God and against the commandments of God.
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: That is when God strikes Usiah with this leprosy. He says,
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: Azraiah the chief priest, and all the priests looked at him,
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: and behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and so
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: they thrust him out quickly from there. Indeed, he himself
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: also hurried to go out because Yahweh had struck him.
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: So he was humbled immediately immediately. Usiah the King was
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: a leper to the day of his death, and lived
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: in a separate house, being a leper, for he was
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: cut off from Yahwei's house. Jotham, his son, was over
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: the king's house, judging the people of the land. So
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: because Usiah got struck with this nasty form of leprosy.
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: And this wasn't like the leprosy that would go away.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: This was like the bad form. He had to live
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: in a separate house according to the laws of God,
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: because leprosy was very contagious. And you know, the priests
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: didn't want that inside the temple to God, and they
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: basically grab Usiah and like throw him out of the temple.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: But he was right along with them. He was hurrying
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: to go because he realized that he had just been
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: struck by God. And unfortunately, Usiah followed in his father's footsteps.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: He became prideful in his success and started going against
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: the commandments of God Amasia. His father did that by
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: worshiping Edomite gods. But Usiah did this by trying to
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: become a godlike figure himself, gaining absolute power for himself
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: and not obeying the commandments of God. Now, it says
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: the rest of the acts of Usiah first and last, Isaiah,
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: the prophet, the son of Amos, wrote, So Usiah slept
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: in the field of burial, which belonged to the kings.
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: For they said he is a leper. Jotham his son
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: reigned in his place. So, unfortunately, because of usiah sins,
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: he was not allowed to be buried with the other kings.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: He had to be buried in this separate field because
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: leprosy was so dangerous and contaminating, so they didn't want
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: his body even to contaminate some of the tombs of
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: the kings. This is an unfortunate end for such a
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: great king, and it shows once again that pride really
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: does come before the fall. Faithful listeners, I'm going to
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: play and add for you guys, and right after that,
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: I'm going to give you some closing notes. It's really
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: important to read chapters like this, these historical chapters, because
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: they teach us a lot, especially when it comes to
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: this topic of pride. Pride can cause so many issues
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: in our lives. It is really the root of all evil.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: In both Amasia's case and Usiah's case, their pride caused
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: them to start worshiping something that was not yeah, they
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: had forms of idolatry in their hearts, even though their
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: forms of idolatry looked very different. Amasia bowed down to
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: foreign gods, Uziah bowed down to himself and was immediately
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: humbled in the end where God said, you can't even
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: rely on yourself when I strike you with this leprosy,
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: because what happens to Iszia. Right after that, he can't
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: even really be the king anymore. He's got to live
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: in this separate house, and his son Jotham becomes the
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: king in his place. Essentially, it says in verse twenty
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: two that he lived in a separate house. He was
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: cut off from Yahweh's house, and Jotham, his son, was
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: over the king's house judging the people of the land.
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: God took pretty much everything from Usiah in the end
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: when his heart became so arrogant and so prideful. In fact,
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: on the Bible Explained on Fridays, I just went over
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: a similar topic with the members Psalm seventy five, where
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: God is going to humble the arrogant people that lift
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: their heads against him, and that, unfortunately, is what Uziah did.
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: So we need to learn from passages like this in
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: our own lives so that we don't make the same mistakes,
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: especially if God starts to help us and we become
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: complacent expecting more from God or just downrighte arrogant. Because
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: of all the success we end up having all right,
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: faithful listeners. I hope you guys enjoyed today's episode. I'll
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: see all of you guys on the podcast tomorrow six
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: am or whenever you choose to wake up and listen.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: Happy listening, and God bless. I just want to take
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: a second to thank the team at Life Audio for
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: their partnership with me on the Bible Explain podcast. In fact,
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: if you go to lifeaudio dot com you will find
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: dozens of other faith centered podcasts in their network. They've
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: got shows about prayer, Bible study, parenting, and more.