Study Desk

Under them were 307,500 soldiers able to fight effectively for the king against his enemies.

In Jerusalem his inventors made equipment for shooting arrows and for throwing large stones from the towers and corners of the city wall. His fame spread everywhere, and he became very powerful because of the help he received from God.

But when King Uzziah became strong, he grew arrogant, and that led to his downfall. He defied the Lord his God by going into the Temple to burn incense on the altar of incense.

to resist him. They said, "Uzziah! You have no right to burn incense to the Lord . Only the priests who are descended from Aaron have been consecrated to do this. Leave this holy place. You have offended the Lord God, and you no longer have his blessing."

Uzziah was standing there in the Temple beside the incense altar and was holding an incense burner. He became angry with the priests, and immediately a dreaded skin disease broke out on his forehead.

For the rest of his life King Uzziah was ritually unclean because of his disease. Unable to enter the Temple again, he lived in his own house, relieved of all duties, while his son Jotham governed the country.

The prophet Isaiah son of Amoz recorded all the other things that King Uzziah did during his reign.

Uzziah died and was buried in the royal burial ground, but because of his disease he was not buried in the royal tombs. His son Jotham succeeded him as king.

Jotham became king at the age of twenty-five, and he ruled in Jerusalem for sixteen years. His mother was Jerushah, the daughter of Zadok.

He did what was pleasing to the Lord , just as his father had done; but unlike his father he did not sin by burning incense in the Temple. The people, however, went on sinning.

He fought against the king of Ammon and his army and defeated them. Then he forced the Ammonites to pay him the following tribute each year for three years: four tons of silver, fifty thousand bushels of wheat, and fifty thousand bushels of barley.

Jotham grew powerful because he faithfully obeyed the Lord his God.

The other events of Jotham's reign, his wars, and his policies, are all recorded in The History of the Kings of Israel and Judah.

He died and was buried in David's City and his son Ahaz succeeded him as king.

Ahaz became king at the age of twenty, and he ruled in Jerusalem for sixteen years. He did not follow the good example of his ancestor King David; instead, he did what was not pleasing to the Lord

burned incense in Hinnom Valley, and even sacrificed his own sons as burnt offerings to idols, imitating the disgusting practice of the people whom the Lord had driven out of the land as the Israelites advanced.

Because King Ahaz sinned, the Lord his God let the king of Syria defeat him and take a large number of Judeans back to Damascus as prisoners. The Lord also let the king of Israel, Pekah son of Remaliah, defeat Ahaz and kill 120,000 of the bravest Judean soldiers in one day. The Lord , the God of their ancestors, permitted this to happen, because the people of Judah had abandoned him.

Listen to me! These prisoners are your brothers and sisters. Let them go, or the Lord will punish you in his anger."

Because King Ahaz of Judah had violated the rights of his people and had defied the Lord , the Lord brought troubles on Judah.

When his troubles were at their worst, that man Ahaz sinned against the Lord more than ever.