These scriptures all talk about the same individual, Uzziah or Azariah, which is another name used in reference to him. He started out well. Then he became proud and broke the law. In this case, it was the law of the temple priests. The law was strict on who could serve in the temple. We might call it the “separations of powers”.
Numbers 16:40 To be a memorial unto the children of Israel, that no stranger, which is not of the seed of Aaron, come near to offer incense before the LORD; that he be not as Korah, and as his company: as the LORD said to him by the hand of Moses.
Numbers 18:7 Therefore thou and thy sons with thee shall keep your priest’s office for every thing of the altar, and within the vail; and ye shall serve: I have given your priest’s office unto you as a service of gift: and the stranger that cometh nigh shall be put to death.
Uzziah broke the above law. And while Uzziah was not put to death, he was made a leper which meant he had to live in isolation. Uzziah started out well, but then became proud and lax about the law.
2 Chronicles 26:4 And he did that which was right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah did. 26:5 And he sought God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding in the visions of God: and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper. 26:15 And he made in Jerusalem engines, invented by cunning men, to be on the towers and upon the bulwarks, to shoot arrows and great stones withal. And his name spread far abroad; for he was marvellously helped, till he was strong. 26:16 But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the LORD his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense. 26:17 And Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him fourscore priests of the LORD, that were valiant men: 26:18 And they withstood Uzziah the king, and said unto him, It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense unto the LORD, but to the priests the sons of Aaron, that are consecrated to burn incense: go out of the sanctuary; for thou hast trespassed; neither shall it be for thine honour from the LORD God. 26:19 Then Uzziah was wroth, and had a censer in his hand to burn incense: and while he was wroth with the priests, the leprosy even rose up in his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, from beside the incense altar. 26:20 And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead, and they thrust him out from thence; yea, himself hasted also to go out, because the LORD had smitten him. 26:21 And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house, being a leper; for he was cut off from the house of the LORD: and Jotham his son was over the king’s house, judging the people of the land. 26:22 Now the rest of the acts of Uzziah, first and last, did Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, write. 2:23 So Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the burial which belonged to the kings; for they said, He is a leper: and Jotham his son reigned in his stead.
Mentioned Again.
2 Kings 15:5 And the LORD smote the king, so that he was a leper unto the day of his death, and dwelt in a several house. And Jotham the king’s son was over the house, judging the people of the land. 15:6 And the rest of the acts of Azariah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 15:7 So Azariah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David: and Jotham his son reigned in his stead.
We are currently experiencing something similar. It may not have to do with violating the laws of the temple, but it does have to do with violating the Constitution and international norms that have grown up over time for the benefit of humanity.
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.” John Adams
John Adams foresaw the days we are in today.
The question is, what can be done? Who are the equivalents of the priests or valient men today who will stand against President Trump wanting to go back to a fruitless and pointless war that was unConstitutional from its beginning. The only thing war will bring is more death, destruction, and perhaps even a total shutting down of the world economy, at least for the west, but there will be repercussions everywhere.
The whole point of the Constitution is the balance of powers between the Legislative, Judicial, and Executive branch. This country was founded in a war to get rid of the power of a king deciding the future of the citizens. Power was to be put in the hands of “We the People” who would then delegate a portion of that power to those who would govern in accordance with the wishes of the people.
That no longer exists.
We are on the cusp of more fruitless, pointless, and unnecessary fighting. The world knows that it is fruitless, pointless, and unnecessary. It is damaging the world economy, the energy economy, of which we are all a part. The world exists as a whole and you cannot do damage to your neighbor without it reaping back on you. If you blow up all the oil the in Mideast, guess who ends up with no oil? The aggressor who blew up all the oil ends up with no oil. This is a dangerous power struggle with worldwide repercussions.
Experts will help us with the details. A weatherman will give us the details of exactly what is happening and how severe it will be. But the average person with common sense knows if it is likely to rain.
The only reason someone cannot understand is because of “The Emperor’s New Clothes” syndrome. All the king’s men were not able to tell the emperor he was naked.
Is there any way the equivalent of some priests, maybe in the military, can simply oppose President Trump as he wants to resume bombing? The war is lost. The world has changed. Things were better before President Trump (not Congress, as the Constitution requires) chose to go to war. To use a familiar expression, he pushed all the chips in the middle of the table and lost, but is still trying to recoup. At this point, to use a colloquial expression, it is the equivalent of sending “good money after bad”. But it is not good money. It’s blood money. It is taking the lives and livlihood of individuals and nations.
There is so much blood on the hands of the United States for its participation in providing money, intelligence, and weapons in wars that should never have been participated in…Iran and Ukraine.
Do one man or one man and his cohorts have the right to destroy the world?
Isaiah wrote this.
Isaiah 6:1 In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple.
Isaiah went on to write, among other verses, Isaiah 53, which describes the redemptive work of Jesus Christ.
53:1 Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.
3 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.
8 He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.
9 And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth.
10 Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
11 He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.
12 Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.