Good weekend to you my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
Usually with weekends comes relief from the burdens of the work week, right? So words like “RESPONSIBILITY” and “ACCOUNTABILITY” are words which normally aren’t an important part of ‘weekends’, but this weekend is different. This weekend I’m calling all of us, all over the world, to consider how important it is for all humanity, but especially those in significant leadership roles, to honor those two words with their lives. The news headlines EVERY day, from all around the world, call us to consider the actions and words of world leaders and evaluate how they are handling their responsibilities, and how accountable they are, and to whom?!
Come with me again back to Jerusalem in a moment of leadership crisis. King Uzziah has led the southern kingdom of Judah very well for much of his long kingship, but yesterday we watched as he made a serious mistake, a very significant lapse in good judgment. He entered the Holy Place of the Temple in Jerusalem, a sacred place which by God’s instructions was accessible only to the consecrated priests.
Even though Uzziah was King, the Temple Holy Place was not open to him at any time, under any circumstances. In addition, Uzziah had further defiled that sacred place by approaching the Altar of Incense with a golden censer in his hand, with the intent of engaging in the priestly privilege of offering incense on the Altar! While we might think this perhaps indicates a significant spiritual attempt by Uzziah, it was not! It was a prideful violation of the holy privilege of the consecrated priests.
As we saw yesterday the chief priest Azariah took his life in his hands by attempting to stop King Uzziah from entering, and when unsuccessful Azariah followed the King into the sacred Holy Place, along with 80 other priests and they confronted their King with these words: “It is not right for you, King Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD God. That is for the priests, the descendants of Aaron, who have been consecrated to burn incense. Leave the sanctuary for you have been unfaithful, and you will not be honored by the LORD God.” (2 Chron. 26:18) Those perhaps don’t sound like very strong words to you and me, but in that day they were very strong, especially when speaking to the King! I assume the chief priest anticipated the King would demand his execution immediately for such words!
The record tells us King Uzziah flew into a rage! But God was watching carefully, and suddenly those two words RESPONSIBILITY and ACCOUNTABILITY became very practical and painful! The record describes the shocking response by God with these words: “While King Uzziah was raging at the priests, before the altar of incense, LEPROSY broke out on his forehead! When Azariah the chief priest and all the other priests looked at Uzziah they saw he had leprosy on his forehead, so they hurried him out. Indeed, he himself was eager to leave, because the LORD God had afflicted him!” (2 Chronicles 26:19,20)
In those times that particular disease was a death sentence. It was presumed to be highly contagious, incurable and thus anyone with any skin disease which was suspected to be leprosy was assumed to be under a curse from God and immediately and permanently isolated away from everyone, including their family.
I doubt we can imagine the turmoil in both the palace and the Temple that day as King Uzziah rushed home, I’m sure attempting to wash away the leprosy spots and do so in privacy; while the priests also rushed to bath and re-consecrate themselves to God, pleading with God to protect them from the judgement God had poured out on King Uzziah. In very short order Uzziah realized what God had done by inflicting him with Leprosy and I’m sure by the end of that day a major change was made in the palace in Jerusalem. It is recorded with these words: “King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died! He lived in a separate house – leprous and banned from the Temple of the LORD. Jotham, his son, had charge of the palace and governed the people of the land.” (2 Chron. 26:21) I have that verse underlined in my Bible as a great warning to me! God takes RESPONSIBILITY and ACCOUNTABILITY very seriously and so should I! What about you my friends?
Yes, this means prince Jotham became co-regent King with his father King Uzziah for the rest of Uzziah’s life. We can assume Uzziah was never again seen in public and certainly not at any official or royal function. Likely Jotham came to Uzziah’s secluded residence, stood outside the house and spoke with his father perhaps through an open window, updating Uzziah on happenings in the kingdom and seeking advice from his father. But King Jotham was from that day forward the face and authority of the throne of Judah!
As we’ve seen before, the manner in which the people handled the death and burial of a King in those days was very significant and was an expression of their admiration or their contempt for their king. The record says: “Uzziah rested with his ancestors and was buried near them in a cemetery that belonged to the kings, for people said, “He had leprosy”. (2 Chron. 26:23) So King Uzziah, even though for several decades had led the nation so very well and they lived in a time of peace and prosperity, failed badly near the end of his life by allowing pride to cloud his judgment and the line he crossed with God in defiling the Temple sacred Holy Place resulted in radical and immediate judgment from God. In death his body would have been quickly and carefully wrapped and buried as quickly as possible, very likely with no fanfare and few spectators, not in the tombs of the kings, but in a separate place, perhaps even with an unmarked grave.
So my friends, what lessons do you and I draw from this remarkable man’s life and legacy? 52 years of leadership is a long time, in fact only one other king served Israel longer. But history tells us it may have been about 10 years that Uzziah lived in shame with leprosy before he died. I leave you to ponder this over the weekend my friends, what is God wanting us to understand about His view of RESPONSIBILITY and ACCOUNTABILITY, and I’ll see you right back here on Monday.
Today’s Scripture: 2 Chron. 26:16-23.
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Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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