Success carries a snare. The wise ancestor of Uzziah said, ‘Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall’, Prov. 16. 18. Unfortunately, this proved itself all too true in the case of Uzziah. Verses 15-16 inform us that ‘he was marvellously helped till he was strong. But when he was strong his heart was lifted up to his destruction’. Uzziah’s end is a solemn example of Lord Acton’s dictum that ‘power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely’.
Uzziah overstepped a boundary which had been set by God. Supreme in the civil and political realms, he was intending to be supreme equally in the sphere appointed by God for the function of the priests. Not even eighty-one valiant priests were sufficient to restrain him. Such headstrong self-will is a feature of many who are set upon self-exaltation and, with a perversity that is beyond reason, who insist on having their way. As in this case, any opposition only serves to enrage. Here, the king who desired to burn incense himself became ‘incensed’. Prosperity gendered pride which in turn produced presumption. The plague which rose up in his forehead as he defiantly resisted their persuasions left its mark on the very seat of his problem. The king’s ‘thinking’ has been intoxicated by success and pride.
This severe judgment not only debarred him from the temple but also from the palace. How sad that he who was seeking to snatch more than he was entitled to actually ended up losing what he already had. Not only was he isolated in his later life but also in death. His burial was not in the tombs of the kings but somewhere in the royal gardens.
Reflection upon the meaning of his names might have preserved Uzziah. His royal name, Uzziah, means, ‘The Lord is my strength’; his personal name, Azariah, means, ‘the Lord helps’. He had forgotten that the real source of his prosperity was the strength and help of the Lord. How can we take credit for what He has enabled us to do or allowed us to have? May we follow the example of the One who was ‘meek and lowly in heart’, for He it is who will wear both the mitre and the crown and, combining the offices of kingship and priesthood, will sit as priest upon His throne.
