Hey Bible readers, I'm Tara Lee Cobble, and I'm your host for the Bible Recap.

If you didn't have a chance to look this up, it might have been a bit confusing to you,

but today we have another nickname type situation happening with King Azariah of Judah.

He also goes by the name Uzziah.

When we read about him in second kings, he's Azariah, but when we read about him in Second

Chronicles, he's Uzziah. He's just taken over after his father's death, and we don't hear

much about him except that he's a pretty good king, high places notwithstanding,

because they're still standing, but then things take a turn. After his people maybe invent the catapult and a series of military victories make him rich and famous, Asariah grows prideful.

He decides he wants to burn incense in the temple in Jerusalem, which is a big no-no unless you're a priest.

When the text describes this by saying, he was unfaithful to the Lord His God, it uses the same word

that is often used for marital unfaithfulness. The actual priests are aghast, and 81 of them,

including one who shares the name Azariah, rush in to rebuke him,

but he's unrepentent. And when he grows angry with the priests, God strikes him with leprosy.

What's interesting to me about this text is that it seems to indicate he never actually lights

the censor to burn the incense. They stop him before he can. And if that's true,

then even though he doesn't physically commit the sin here, his heart is still set on it.

So when God strikes him with leprosy, it really seems like the motives of his heart are what's being

judged here. He has to leave the temple immediately to prevent defiling it, and after this, he lives in a

separate house because of the cleanliness laws we read about in Leviticus 13.

He likely either stopped performing the roles of king when he became ill, or co-reigned with

his son Jotham until Jotham officially took over for him.

Jotham was considered to be a good king, mostly walking in God's ways,

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