UZZIA. (uz-zra), ( Heb. ooz-zee-yawl, called an Ashterathite, one of David's mighty men (I Chron. xi:44), B. C. UZZIAH (Heb. ooz-zee-yaw% strength of Jehovah).
1. A man also called AZARIAII, a king of Judah who began to reign B. C. 8o9, at the age of sixteen, and reigned fifty-three years, being, with the sole exception of Manasseh's, the longest reign in the Hebrew annals.
Uzziah was but five years old when his father was slain. He was sixteen before he was for malty called to the throne: and it is disputed by chronologcrs whether to count the fifty-two years of his reign from the beginning or from tht. end of the eleven intervening years.
(1) Reign. In the first half of his reign, Uz ziah behaved well, and was mindful of his true place as viceroy of the Divine King. He ac cordingly prospered in all his undertakings. His arms were successful against the Philistines, the Arabians, and the Ammonites. He restored and fortified the walls of Jerusalem, and planted on them engines for discharging arrows and great stones; he organized the military force of the na tion into a kind of militia, composed of 307,500 men, under the command of 2,60o chiefs, and di vided into bands liable to be called out in rota tion; for these lie provided vast stores of all kinds of weapons and armor,—spears, shields, helmets, breastplates, bows, and slings.
(2) Prosperity. Nor were the arts of peace neglected by him: he loved and fostered agri culture; and he also dug wells, and constructed towers in the desert, for the use of the flocks. At length, when he had consolidated and extended his power, and developed the internal resources of his country, Uzziah fell. His prosperity en gendered the pride which became his ruin.
(3) Usurps the Function of Priest. In the twenty-fourth year of his reign, incited probably by the example of the neighboring kings, who united the regal and pontifical functions, Uzziah, unmindful of the fate of Dathan and Abiram, dared to attempt the exercise of one of the prin cipal functions of the priests, by entering the holy place to burn incense at the golden altar. But, in the very act, lie was smitten with leprosy, and was thrust forth by the priests. He continued a leper all the rest of his life, and lived apart as such, the public functions of the government be ing administered by his son Jotham, as soon as