Bible Commentaries

2 Chronicles 26:1-23. The Reign of Uzziah (see notes on 2 Kings 14:21 to 2 Kings 15:7).—The Chronicler amplifies considerably the account of this reign in 2 K. which is very meagre: his additions are in all probability based, in the main, upon some historical source, since fuller records of this reign, which was one of the longest in the history of Judah, must have been in existence.

2 Chronicles 26:1. Uzziah: called Azariah in 2 Kings 14:21; 2 Kings 15:1, etc., which is probably a mistake; in 2 Kings 15:13; 2 Kings 15:30; 2 Kings 15:32; 2 Kings 15:34, and especially in the titles of the books of Am., Hos., Is., he is called Uzziah as here.

2 Chronicles 26:5. And he set himself to seek God . . . : but contrast with this 2 Kings 15:4 : the reference to the worship on the high places is omitted by the Chronicler.—God made him to prosper: the prosperity of Uzziah's reign is referred to in Isaiah 2:7 ff.; it is also brought out by the Chronicler in 2 Chronicles 26:6-15, which are not taken from 2 Kings.

2 Chronicles 26:6. Jabneh: not mentioned elsewhere in the OT called later Jamnia, the most important centre of Jewry for some time after the fall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 (pp. 38f.).—With the other names of places in these verses cf. Jeremiah 31:38, Nehemiah 2:13; Nehemiah 3:13; Nehemiah 3:19 ff.

2 Chronicles 26:16-21. The reason of Uzziah's leprosy, according to the Chronicler; in 2 K. only the fact of the leprosy is referred to.

2 Chronicles 26:22. did Isaiah . . . write: cf. Isaiah 1:1; Isaiah 6:1, though these merely mention Uzziah's name; it is not likely that the Chronicler was here referring to the Book of Isaiah; there may possibly have been some pseudepigraphic work bearing Isaiah's name which he had in mind.

2 Chronicles 26:23. With this contrast 2 Kings 15:7.