Azariah: The King who Accomplished Nothing (2 Kings 15:1-7)
Azariah: The King Who Accomplished Nothing
2 Kings 15:1-7
Today we are again in the Southern Kingdom. (Judah)
And we are with one of the more well-known kings of that kingdom.
Here we read his name is Azariah,
You probably know him better as Uzziah.
He is remembered because of his long tenure (52 years)
And because he was king during Isaiah’s prophecy.
Isaiah 6:1 “In the year of King Uzziah’s death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.”
It is this king that we are studying this morning.
(1) “In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah became king.”
And so we see that Azariah (Uzziah) is the son of Amaziah.
You remember him as “The Half-Hearted King”
And there are two things we learn about him here in the book of kings.
#1 HIS LEGACY
2 Kings 15:1-4
We already saw that he was Amaziah’s boy and the writer continues:
(2) “He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem.”
And then comes his appraisal
(3) “He did right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done.”
And I hope that sounds familiar.
For Jehoshaphat is now the third king with a similar appraisal.
He did right like his father before him.
That is also what it said about his father.
The problem was both his father and grandfather were imposters. They turned apostate and so doing right
According to all that his father did is no real commendation
And then we read the same discouraging truth about him
That we also read about his ancestors.
(4) “Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.”
So there it is again.
• That sin that God specifically forbade.
• That sin that was too much like the pagan religions.
And here we find Judah continuing to follow the pattern of the world
And worship under the high places.
AND THAT IS ALL THE WRITER OF KINGS MENTIONS
So in 52 years is that really all he accomplished?
WELL, NOT EXACTLY.
TURN TO: 2 CHRONICLES 26
(the entire chapter is about Uzziah / Azariah)
And notice all the good hat he did for Judah.
VERSES 1-3
There we find that “he built Eloth and restored it to Judah”
Eloth was a town in Edom that was formerly inhabited by Judah,
But which had been lost. And yet Uzziah got it back.
And then comes a long section.
12 verses on all the good that Uzziah did for Judah.
And it all started because he sought God.
VERSES 4-5
And so here is a king who sought God and was blessed because of it.
Look at all that he did.
VERSES 6-7
There Uzziah did something that had not been done in quite some time.
He brought much of the Philistine land under subjection.
And not just the Philistines
VERSE 8
It is apparent that the Ammonites wanted no part of warring with him
And so they sent him tribute and came under subjection to him.
And Scripture says, “his fame extended to the border of Egypt”
And so you can see that Uzziah
Was a dominant power in the area surrounding Israel.
If you continue we find more good news about him.
VERSES 9-13
There we see that Uzziah was a master of homeland security.
He fortified Judah in golden fashion.
Their cities were fortified
Their towers were fortified
Their resources were solidified
Their army was strengthened
(13) “Under their direction was an elite army of 307,500, who could wage war with great power, to help the king against the enemy.”
From a political stand point this king was on top of his game.
He extended the Judah’s borders and then made Judah safe.
And then we see more:
VERSES 14-15
He was also quite an inventor.
Inventing great weapons of war
To make any enemy brave enough to attack sorry for doing so.
And the writer says, “Hence his fame spread afar, for he was marvelously helped until he was strong.”
It sounds like a great time to live in Judah.
It was a prosperous time, it was a secure time.
Judah had plenty and they lived in relative peace and security.
And they did so for 52 years.
No wonder they killed Uzziah’s daddy when he came back from exile
And no wonder Isaiah is so down in the dumps when Uzziah died.
I mean this guy did a lot of good for Israel.
Yet you didn’t learn any of that about him from the writer of kings.
I’ve told you many times that 1 & 2 Kings
Is not a historical book, but a theological one
It was not written by kings and historians to preserve history,
It was written by men of God to make a theological point.
And the writer of kings is making a very strong point here.
Azariah / Uzziah did what many would consider
To be an enormous amount of good for the nation.
He enlarged the borders and made them secure.
He made Judah a great place to live for 52 years.
One commentary had this to say about him:
“Azariah was one of Judah’s most effective and influential kings. He expanded Judah’s territories southward to Elath, eastward so that the Ammonites paid him tribute, and westward by defeating the Philistines. He fortified Jerusalem and other parts of Judah, and reorganized the army. The combined territories of Azariah and Jeroboam approximated those of David and Solomon. After Jeroboam II’s death Azariah became even more powerful and was looked to for leadership by his neighbors who formed a coalition with him to resist the threat of Assyria.”
(Walvoord , John F. & Zuck, Roy, B. “The Bible Knowledge Commentary; Old Testament” [Chariot Victor Publishers – Colorado Springs, CO. 1985] pg. 567)
And isn’t that a flattering biography!
HISTORY REMEMBERS HIM WELL
BUT ETERNITY MIGHT NOT BE SO KIND TO HIM
WHY?
Of all that the writer of kings could mention about this king,
He mentioned only one thing about his reign.
(4) “Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.”
I hope you are picking up on the pattern
That the writer of kings is leaving.
If we go back to when the lineage was saved by Jehoiada the priest.
(Remember Athaliah tried to destroy the lineage)
We have 3 kings
Jehoash, Amaziah, Azariah / Uzziah
They reigned a total of about 96 years in Judah
But listen to what the writer of kings has been saying about all of them.
Jehoash
2 Kings 12:1-3 “In the seventh year of Jehu, Jehoash became king, and he reigned forty years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Zibiah of Beersheba. Jehoash did right in the sight of the LORD all his days in which Jehoiada the priest instructed him. Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.”
Amaziah
2 Kings 14:1-4 “In the second year of Joash son of Joahaz king of Israel, Amaziah the son of Joash king of Judah became king. He was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. And his mother’s name was Jehoaddin of Jerusalem. He did right in the sight of the LORD, yet not like David his father; he did according to all that Joash his father had done. 4 Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.”
And now Azariah
2 Kings 15:1-4 “In the twenty-seventh year of Jeroboam king of Israel, Azariah son of Amaziah king of Judah became king. He was sixteen years old when he became king, and he reigned fifty-two years in Jerusalem; and his mother’s name was Jecoliah of Jerusalem. He did right in the sight of the LORD, according to all that his father Amaziah had done. Only the high places were not taken away; the people still sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.”
CAN YOU TELL ME WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST THORN IN THE FLESH TO THE WRITER OF THE KINGS?
The high places
And of course it bothered him because it bothered God.
That is also why the writer of kings writes like he does.
It could easily be said:
• The writer of Chronicles spoke of his historical success
• The writer of Kings spoke of his eternal / spiritual success
In his silence the writer of kings is making a very strong point.
He could care less about all the political success that Azariah had, Because regardless of all the good that he did,
He did not change the spiritual direction of the nation,
And that rendered him a failure.
He did a lot of good, but neglected what mattered most.
Martin Luther once said:
“If I profess with the loudest voice and clearest exposition every portion of the truth of God except precisely that little point which the world and the devil are at that moment attacking, I am not confessing Christ, however boldly I may be professing Christ. Where the battle rages, there the loyalty of the soldier is proved; and to be steady on all the battlefield besides, is more flight and disgrace if he flinches at that point.”
(sited in: MacArthur, John; The Truth War, Fighting for Certainty in an Age of Deception; [Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, TN; 2007] pg. 26)
Luther’s point was simple.
If you stand for Christ everywhere but the place where He is being attacked then what kind of soldier are you?
• If you fail to mention drunkenness to the alcoholic…
• If you fail to mention adultery to the man in an affair…
• If you fail to speak of submission to the boisterous woman…
• If you fail to condemn worldliness to the ambitious…
It doesn’t matter how often you preach those things.
If you fail to do so in the heat of battle, then you aren’t much of a soldier.
That is the problem that the writer of kings had with Azariah.
So what if he fought good battles and made safe our borders.
He didn’t touch the area that will end up killing us
And that is our rebellion before God.
THE POINT?
It doesn’t matter how successful you are in this life
If you fail spiritually
All the writer of kings was looking for was the one king
Who would finally get rid of the high places
And until he found that king, he would crown no one a success.
AND THINK ABOUT THAT FOR A MOMENT IN YOUR LIFE.
HOW SUCCESSFUL ARE YOU?
Dads: You teach your son to throw a baseball or to catch a fish, or to change the oil in a car. But did you teach them to know the Lord?
Ephesians 6:4 “Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.”
Teachers: You teach your kids to read, and to write, and to pass the TAKS test, but do they know what really matters in life?
John 4:35 “Do you not say, ‘There are yet four months, and then comes the harvest’? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.”
Businessmen: You build an empire and accomplish daily tasks. The bottom line is always in the black and you have great security. But do you have treasure in heaven?
That was the problem with the rich young ruler.
Matthew 19:21-22 “Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property.”
Preacher: You have a nice looking church, with happy members and a steady budget. But will your people stand in the day of judgment?
1 Timothy 4:16 “Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you.”
Charles Spurgeon would say:
“Now observe brethren, if I, or you, or any of us, or all of us, shall have spent our lives merely in amusing men, or educating men, or moralizing men, when we shall come to give our account at the last great day we shall be in a very sorry condition, and we shall have but a very sorry record to render; for of what avail will it be to a man to be educated when he comes to be damned? Of what service will it be to him to have been amused when the trumpet sounds, and heaven and earth are shaking, and the pit opens up and swallows the soul unsaved? Of what avail even to have moralized a man if still he on the left hand of the judge, and if still, ‘Depart, ye cursed,’ shall be his portion?”
And to any and all: So you gained the world and achieved all your goals and found every possible comfort. But will you keep your soul?
Matthew 16:26 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”
CAN YOU SEE WHAT MATTERS HERE?
There are many who would call Azariah
A great king for all that he did for Judah.
But he didn’t do for Judah the one thing they needed
And that was to lead them back to absolute commitment to God.
IT IS THE CALL TO BE SPIRITUALLY MOTIVATED,
NOT WORLDLY MOTIVATED.
I love what Paul told the Philippians
Philippians 3:17-21 “Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”
Of course you heard Paul beg us to walk with an eternal perspective.
But that is not all he said.
You may have noticed that Paul said that there are some who are “enemies of the cross of Christ”
Well, what does an enemy of Christ’s cross look like?
Paul gave 4 characteristics of such a person
“whose end is destruction”
“whose god is their appetite”
“whose glory is their shame”
“who set their mind on earthly things”
An enemy of Christ’s cross is one
Who focuses on this life and not the next.
Who does all his good here and not there.
That is the type of man Azariah was.
He accomplished great things politically,
But didn’t accomplish anything spiritually
That is why the writer of kings sees him as
“The King Who Accomplished Nothing”
That was his legacy.
But there is one other thing that the writer of kings did mention about him.
#2 HIS LIFE
2 Kings 15:5-7
Here is the other thing that the writer of kings records.
(5) “The LORD struck the king, so that he was a leper to the day of his death. And he lived in a separate house, while Jotham the king’s son was over the household, judging the people of the land.”
So really the only big characteristic of his life that the writer also mentions
Is that he was a leper.
Oh, and not just that he was a leper
But that he was a leper because “the LORD struck” him.
God did it to him.
WHY?
Well, that is also recorded in the book of 2 Chronicles
2 Chronicles 26:16-21 “But when he became strong, his heart was so proud that he acted corruptly, and he was unfaithful to the LORD his God, for he entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense. Then Azariah the priest entered after him and with him eighty priests of the LORD, valiant men. They opposed Uzziah the king and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron who are consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful and will have no honor from the LORD God.” But Uzziah, with a censer in his hand for burning incense, was enraged; and while he was enraged with the priests, the leprosy broke out on his forehead before the priests in the house of the LORD, beside the altar of incense. Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous on his forehead; and they hurried him out of there, and he himself also hastened to get out because the LORD had smitten him. King Uzziah was a leper to the day of his death; and he lived in a separate 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.”
Uzziah / Azariah was a leper because he was so full of pride
That he disregarded another command of God.
Only the priest did the work of the temple.
(You might remember that Saul was rejected as king
For offering a sacrifice he had no right to offer)
Azariah defied the commands of God
And God struck him as a leper until the day he died.
And that is the only other thing recorded by the writer of kings
And then his death is recorded.
(6-7) “Now 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? And Azariah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David, and Jotham his son became king in his place.”
He reigned 52 years and these 7 verses
Are all that the writer of kings has to say about him.
Really you could narrow it down into two main incidents.
• He didn’t remove the high places
• He was a leper until he died
Despite all that he accomplished and despite all the success
That the world would say that he had.
From a spiritual perspective he accomplished nothing.
I HOPE YOU GET THE POINT THIS MORNING
God’s definition for a successful life
And the world’s definition for a successful life
ARE TWO VERY DIFFERENT DEFINITIONS.
It all boils down to what type of an imprint
Are you trying to leave on this world?
• Are you seeking to make this world a healthier place?
• Are you seeking to make this world a safer place?
• Are you seeking to make this world a wealthier place?
• Are you seeking to make this world a more peaceful place?
• Are you seeking to make this world a more enjoyable place?
Or are you seeking to make this world
Something that is pleasing to the One who created it?
I want to challenge you to be the one who makes a spiritual impact.
Don’t be the man or woman who accomplished everything,
But who left the high places alone.
Be the one who finally had the courage and conviction
To confront that one area that was keeping people
From being what God wanted them to be.
I want to challenge you to make a spiritual difference,
Not only in your life, but in the world around you.
To quote the slogan of “One Life”
YOU HAVE ONE LIFE – DO SOMETHING
1 Corinthians 3:12-15 “Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire.”
