2 Chronicles 26:18

2Ch 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.

Ver. 18. And they withstood Uzziah the king.] Wherein they became an example of courage and piety, to ministers especially, who must withstand the torrent of vices, and not spare to reprove the greatest, if need be; as Nathan did David, as John Baptist did Herod, as Ambrose did Theodosius. This emperor, when he was at Thessalonica, in revenge of certain of his judges slain there in an uproar and tumult of the people, made a great slaughter among them by his soldiers, who destroyed seven thousand of the citizens. Ambrose, bishop of Milan, heard hereof to his great grief; and when the emperor, afterwards returning to Milan, would have come, as his manner had been, to the holy assembly, he stoutly withstood him, saying, Quibus oculis intuebere templum illius qui est omnium Dominus, &c.? With what face canst thou look him in the face who is Lord of all? With what feet canst thou enter his house, whom thou hast so deeply displeased? How canst thou receive his body with those hands of thine so drenched in Christian blood? Or drink his blood with that mouth that commanded such an inhuman slaughter? Recede igitur, et ne conare novo scelere scelus ante editum augers, &c. Depart, therefore, and go not about to add one wickedness to another; but stand thou excommunicated, till by repentance thou hast obtained pardon of God, and given satisfaction to his offended people. The good emperor - who having been religiously bred, knew well what was fit for a king to do, and what for a bishop - returned hereupon to his palace, after that he had acknowledged the greatness of his sin, where also he spent eight months in weeping and lamentation; and then coming to Ambrose, he begged pardon and absolution; which after many rebukes, at length he obtained. {a}

It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah.] Chrysostom {b} much admiring this speech, Vide, saith he, libertatem: Vide mentem servire nesciam: Vide linguam caelos attingentem: Vide libertatera incoercibilem: Vide hominis corpus et angel; mentem, &c. See what a gallant spirit this man was of, and of what a bold speech; he had the body of a man, but the mind of an angel, &c.

{a} Theodoret.

{b} Hom. iv., De Verb. Isaiae.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2Ch 26:18. And they withstood Uzziah — Hebrew, stood up against Uzziah, not by force, or laying hands upon him to restrain him, for in the next verse we still find the censer in his hand; but only by admonition and reproof, which follows. Neither shall it be for thine honour, &c. — Expect that God will punish thee, or put some brand of infamy upon thee for this presumption. But this they express modestly, because they considered that he to whom they spake, though an offender, was their sovereign.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Though his zeal seemed to be good and also his intention, yet because they were not governed by the word of God, he did wickedly, and was therefore both justly resisted and also punished.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

(18) They withstood.—‘Amad ‘al, a late usage. (Comp. 1Ch_21:1.)

It appertaineth not unto thee, Uzziah, to burn incense.—Comp. the construction (1Ch_15:2).

Trespassed.—Done faithlessly (ma’al), 2Ch_26:16.

Neither shall it be . . . Lord God.—Literally, and not to thee (is it) for honour from Jehovah; i.e., thine act will not issue in honour, as thou thinkest, but in shame. Or, perhaps, And burning incense belongs not to thee as a prerogative from Jehovah (‘ên, not lô,’ would be more natural).

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18. the priests the sons of Aaron] Cp. 2Ch_13:10-11 and Num_16:40. neither shall it be for thine honour] A euphemism, a threat of danger and disgrace.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And Azariah the chief priest, and all the priests, looked upon him, and, behold, he was leprous in his forehead,.... He was leprous all over his body, no doubt, but it appeared in his forehead very remarkably, and was seen by them all, who, without doubt, informed him of his case, and of which he soon became sensible:

and they thrust him out from thence; the holy place, he being now unfit to be in a common dwelling house, or his own palace, and much less to be in the house of God:

yea, himself also hasted to go out, because the Lord had smitten him; fearing, should he continue there, that something worse would befall him; the Targum is, the Word of the Lord. The leprosy was a disease sent immediately from God, as the case of Miriam, and this of Uzziah, show; and so the Persians (d) had a notion, that those had it who sinned against the sun, and for that reason, and which they accounted and worshipped as God.

(d) Herodot. Clio, sive, l. 1. c. 138.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

To thee. For usurping spiritual authority, the king was opposed by the high priest; and God confirmed the sentence of the latter, by striking Ozias with the leprosy; on which account, the was not only cast out of the temple, but also lost his kingdom, being obliged to live apart; (Lev. xiii. 46,) and after death, he could not be buried with his ancestors. W.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

They withstood Uzziah; Heb. stood up against Uzziah; not by force, or laying hands upon him to restrain him, for in the next verse you still find the censer in his hand; but only by admonition and reproof, which here follows.

Neither shall it be for thine honour from the Lord God; expect that God will punish thee, or put some brand of infamy upon thee, for this presumption. But this they express modestly, and by a figure called meiosis, where more is meant than is expressed, because they considered that he to whom they spake, though an offender, was their lord and sovereign.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

18. They withstood Uzziah — Azariah and his assistants were too frail of zeal and respect for the law and service of Jehovah not to resist such high-handed offence.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They withstood. A somewhat more forcible rendering would be justified by the Hebrew text, such e.g. as, "They confronted Uzziah to his face," or "They stood in the way of Uzziah," since our "withstood" almost always conveys the idea of argumentative confronting only. There was expostulation here, as we are immediately told, but there was something else also, as ver. 20 makes very plain, "They thrust him out."

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Withstood - Hebrew. stood up against Uzziah, not by force, or laying hands upon him to restrain him, for in the next verse you still find the censer in his hand; but only by admonition and reproof, which follows. Neither, &c. - Expect that God will punish thee, or put some brand of infamy upon thee for this presumption. But this they express modestly, because they considered that he to whom they spake, though an offender, was their sovereign.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.