CROWNED | 2 Kings Chapter 15
- 2 days ago
- 13 min read
Week 8 / Day 36
Written by Matt Maldonado
READ
If you haven’t yet do so, go ahead and read 2 Kings 15 and then come back here for a time of discussion and reflection together.
REFLECTION
Anyone who knows me well knows that C.S. Lewis’s The Chronicles of Narnia holds a permanent place as my favorite book and film series of all time. For those unfamiliar with the story, it follows four young siblings who enter a magical world where a great Lion named Aslan fights to restore peace. In the famous first story, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Aslan ultimately defeats the White Witch alongside the children.
But in the sequel, Prince Caspian, they return to find Narnia in absolute ruins. The land is now ruled by the Telmarines, brutal conquerors whose royal court is completely driven by conspiracies and assassinations. In fact, young Prince Caspian, the rightful heir, is forced to flee for his life after his own treacherous uncle Miraz plots to murder him.
Caspian clings to the old stories of Narnia and blows the ancient horn in faith, but High King Peter lets his past glory get to his head. Instead of waiting on the true King, Aslan, Peter relies entirely on his own strategy, leading a disastrous castle raid that ends in total defeat.
Backed into a corner and panicking, Peter and Caspian are left on a dangerous knife-edge. They are so desperate that they are tempted to resurrect the White Witch herself to fight their battles instead of trusting the King who had already won the war.
Now, if you’ve read the book, you know the movie took some big creative liberties here, but as I was studying 2 Kings 15 this week, I realized this film perfectly captures the spiritual psychology of the ancient kings of Israel and Judah: When the pressure rises, human nature defaults to pride, panic, and compromise.
Just like High King Peter, we are prone to what I like to call “High King Syndrome”—running ahead of God out of pure desperation, forgetting that God is the true King, and acting like everything depends on us.
Let’s look back at verse 1 of today’s passage, where we meet a king, King Uzziah, who fell into this exact same trap.
King Uzziah of Judah, or as other translations call him Azariah, was the son of Amaziah from 2 Kings chapter 14 and became king at only 16 years old. Personally, I don’t know if I could imagine one of my school or youth students ruling a nation, but I guess it was a different time. Yet despite his young age, Uzziah’s reign lasted 52 years.
Within the first few verses, we see that he is described as doing what was pleasing in the eyes of the Lord, just like his father. But sadly, he was also just like his father in another way - He did not remove idol worship from the kingdom. Then, almost immediately after reading about his success, things take a tragic turn. In verse 5, we see that Uzziah was struck with leprosy by the Lord, and it remained with him until the day of his death.
If you know Jewish Law, you understand the seriousness of this. If someone had leprosy, they were isolated because they were considered unclean. They were separated from the community and forced to live apart from others. So Uzziah, after reigning for 52 years, spent the end of his life in isolation.
Now, if you simply read 2 Kings, you might think, “That’s sad,” and continue reading. But if you jump over to 2 Chronicles 26, we get a much fuller picture of Uzziah’s life and why God struck him with leprosy.
The first few verses of 2 Chronicles 26 set up Uzziah’s reign much like 2 Kings does, but immediately we see a difference in verse 4. We see that Uzziah was blessed to have a godly mentor named Zechariah.
Now, brace yourselves, because there is another Zechariah we are going to talk about in 2 Kings chapter 15, so don’t get them confused. But this Zechariah was a godly mentor who helped Uzziah seek God and truly taught him how to fear the Lord. Or, a better way to put it, he taught him what it meant to live with complete awe, reverence, and submission to the Lord.
In 2 Chronicles 26:5, it says:
“As long as the king sought guidance from the LORD, God gave him success.”
And he did. Uzziah sought the Lord, and because of that, God blessed him.
As you continue reading, you see that Uzziah became a great king. He built up the infrastructure, the agriculture, and the military in Judah until Judah became a force to be reckoned with. Then in verse 15 of 2 Chronicles 26, we read:
“His fame spread far and wide, for the LORD gave him marvelous help, and he became very powerful.”
So, you may be thinking, “What’s the deal? He was obedient to God. Why is the Lord going to punish him?” Hold on, because this is where everything changes. 2 Chronicles 26:16 says:
“But when he had become powerful, he also became proud, which led to his downfall.”
This right here is High King Syndrome in full effect. Just like High King Peter in Prince Caspian—who let his past victories get to his head and decided to launch a castle raid without waiting on Aslan—Uzziah lets his past military and structural success blind him and he begins to think his track record gives him special privilege. Almost as if he is saying: “Look at all I’ve done for God, so why can’t I run things my way?”
The verse continues:
“He sinned against the LORD his God by entering the sanctuary of the LORD’s Temple and personally burning incense on the incense altar.”
Now, if you have studied the Bible and Jewish Law, you know this is a big no-no. This job was meant for the priests who had gone through the process of being made ceremonially clean from sin. And can I just pause right here and get an Amen that we don’t have to do this to enter the Lord’s presence anymore? Because of Jesus, we have direct access to God.
But back to the story.
The priests tried to stop Uzziah. They reminded him of what the Torah said and the laws God had put in place all the way back to the time of Moses. But Uzziah became furious. Here he stood, angry at the very people trying to protect him from dishonoring God. You see, burning incense was an act of worship. It was meant to honor God and symbolize prayers ascending to heaven. And in my mind, I imagine Uzziah thinking: “I am so loved by God. I have been obedient. Look at how God has blessed me. Why can’t I approach His throne room and stand before Him? If I am a son of David, if I am called by You, why shouldn’t I have this authority?”
But as Uzziah stood there, his forehead suddenly broke out with leprosy. The priests rushed him out of the Temple, and this time he didn’t resist, because he finally realized what he had done. His pride had blinded him. And it was because of that pride that he was forced to live the rest of his life in isolation from people. His overconfidence in himself and his relationship with God cost him greatly. What a tragic ending for a young man who was obedient and blessed by God, only to throw it all away because he thought too much of himself.
Church, we can easily fall like Uzziah, so we must remind ourselves daily that we are blessed by a Father who gives us good things. We didn’t earn them; they are gifts from Him. Not even salvation is our own. Paul tells us in Ephesians:
“God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:8-10
This relationship with Christ is not about us. We have nothing to boast about because, like Uzziah, we may have been called to do His will, but that does not give us the right to demand anything from God or claim we deserve certain authority. However, Uzziah went to God’s throne room demanding and if we are honest, how often do we do the same thing? How often do we come into church, lift our hands in worship, and our first thought is: “God, bless me” before we ever stop and give Him the adoration He so beautifully deserves.
We must remember that He is the One who deserves the praise. The gift is simply that—a gift. And we must use what He has given us to honor Him, not just because we are commanded to be obedient, but because we love our Heavenly Father.
You know, I feel so sad for Uzziah. He lived the rest of his life in isolation knowing what he had done, but the Kingdom of Israel was living in an even greater kind of isolation. They weren’t isolated because of what God had done to them, they were isolated because they had chosen separation from God.
So, let’s jump back into chapter 15 and discover what happens when we choose separation from God. 2 Kings 15:8-31 takes us back to the northern kingdom of Israel, where we see several different kings come and go.
First, we meet King Zechariah, who was the son of Jeroboam II and just like his father, he followed in the same evil ways. He was also the last of Jehu’s descendants, fulfilling the word that God had spoken. But his reign didn’t last long as he was assassinated by a man named Shallum, who took command for about a month until he himself was assassinated by a man named Menahem.
Now, Menahem was a wicked king who proved his evilness by killing entire towns that ignored his authority. He even committed horrible pagan war crimes, like ripping open the stomachs of pregnant women and killing both mother and child.
It’s truly astonishing how far they had separated themselves from God’s will and love. They had purposefully chosen to isolate themselves from God and these are the kinds of things that can happen when we say: “God, I don’t need You.” When humanity removes God from the picture, we don’t become more free, we become more broken.
So, if we keep reading, we see how God begins to use world history to further His plan. We are introduced to King Tiglath-Pileser of Assyria, who comes to collect tribute from Israel so they will not invade them. Well… not just yet.
Then Menahem’s son, Pekahiah, assumes the throne. And just like his father, he did evil in the Lord’s eyes. He was assassinated by Pekah, the son of the army commander, and guess what? He also did evil in the sight of the Lord.
This time, the Lord is reaching a point of judgment with Israel. The King of Assyria comes back and begins conquering parts of Israel, and the people begin to be exiled. In this section of Scripture, we see how sin and evil have completely corrupted the minds and hearts of people in this region. But now, let’s turn our attention back to Judah, where we meet Uzziah’s son, Jotham.
Jotham did what was pleasing in the Lord’s sight. And I love this little detail found in 2 Chronicles:
He did not enter the Temple of the Lord like his father did.
What a powerful contrast. Uzziah entered the Temple because he thought he deserved authority he had not been given. Jotham understood that God was the One truly on the throne. Unfortunately, like his father, he allowed the people to continue in their corrupt ways of idol sacrifice and worship. But still, he knew where his strength came from. He even helped rebuild the Temple gate. And if you flip over to 2 Chronicles 27, you see that he built up the military and the infrastructure of Judah. I love that it says:
“He became very powerful because he was careful to live in obedience to the LORD his God.”
Church, it can be easy for us to look back at these kings of Judah and Israel and think: “If they had only been obedient to the Lord, they could have radically changed the region for the better.” But it is not that simple. They were living in the middle of hostile kingdoms, surrounded by people who worshiped other gods and constantly fought against one another.
It reminds me so much of Prince Caspian. Caspian was raised in a hostile Telmarine culture that mocked Aslan and outlawed the old ways. Even when surrounded by cynics like Trumpkin the Dwarf, who didn’t believe Aslan was coming, Caspian held fast to the truth. He chose faith over the pressure around him. This is exactly what Jotham did. He stood firm in a hostile environment. He built up the kingdom. And he was careful to live in obedience to the Lord his God.
Now, while we may not live in warring kingdoms, we do live in a spiritual battlefield. Our lives are filled with constant struggles: family problems, jobs and finances, relationships, conflict with others, and especially attacks from the enemy. But if these attacks are not coming against us, that means the devil is not afraid of us. It means he has us right where he wants us.
Now, I’m not saying go looking for trouble. But what I am saying is that when there is movement in the Kingdom of God, Satan is going to try to throw a wrench into it. That is when we must remember the good things God has done for us. That is when we remember the places where we built altars—not physical altars, but moments of remembrance—where we can look back and say: “God was faithful there.”
Church, in the world we live in now, there is constant temptation, division, and distraction pulling our attention away from God. It is our job as men and women of God to take authority over our situation, put on the full armor of God, and stand firm in this evil day. We cannot be passive. Instead, like Jotham, we must keep our focus on God and His will for us. Yes, dark days come to each of us, but He is right there with us, and we must be careful to live in obedience to the LORD OUR GOD.
However, even though God is with us, that does not mean that the dark days still aren’t terrifying or that they can’t hurt us. For Jotham and his son Ahaz, as we read the last few verses of this chapter, these two men are faced with a choice. How will they handle the dark days ahead?
Unfortunately, Israel’s spiral of issues with Assyria did not stay contained within its own borders. Israel was not going to let Assyria conquer them without a fight, so they began making alliances with another nation called Syria, or as some translations call it, Aram.
2 Kings 15:37 says:
“In those days the LORD began to send King Rezin of Aram and King Pekah of Israel to attack Judah.”
Now, this is an interesting phrase because, at first glance, it sounds like God is wanting these two kingdoms to come against Judah and its kings, Jotham and his son Ahaz, who scholars believe ruled together during a co-regency. But I see it more as a test.
The thing is, if you know history, have read through the books of the prophets, studied Chronicles, or even jumped ahead in our series to chapter 16, you know that Israel and Syria were actually pressuring Judah to join them against Assyria. They were essentially saying: “Join us, or we will come against you.” So Jotham and Ahaz are left in what feels like a hopeless situation. They are stuck between a rock and a hard place. What do they do? How do they respond? Where do they turn?
If you flip over to Isaiah 7, you see that the king and people of Judah are terrified. And honestly, it makes sense. They were facing the possibility of war. They were facing powerful enemies. And they were afraid. But the deeper issue was that they had lost sight of God and had started turning toward idols. Yet Ahaz and Jotham had a foundation in God and even with that foundation, they were afraid.
Fear has a way of doing that. It causes us to forget what we know and to lose sight of who God is. So, the prophet Isaiah comes to speak to Ahaz and gives him a word from the Lord: Do not fear. God is in control.
For Judah and its kings, the problem this time wasn’t pride or overconfidence. The problem was panic. The question wasn’t: “Do I think I am powerful enough to handle this?” The question was: “What do I do when I am afraid?”
This reminds me again of Prince Caspian. When Caspian, Peter, and the Narnians were backed into a corner, completely overwhelmed, and terrified of Miraz’s incoming army, a Hag and a Werewolf came to them offering a quick, desperate shortcut.
They suggested resurrecting the evil White Witch. Their argument was simple: “When you are desperate, you do whatever it takes to win.” Even if it means making an alliance with darkness. Even if it means compromising everything you believe. Caspian and Peter had to stand against that temptation and refuse the shortcut. They had to trust that the true King was better than their panic. They had to remember that Aslan had not abandoned them.
Now, let’s turn back to the biblical story. Ahaz is given a word from God. The Lord tells him to ask for a sign to prove that He will protect them. But Ahaz refuses. He says that he does not want to test the Lord.
Now, on the surface, that sounds spiritual. It sounds humble. But the reality is that Ahaz had already made up his mind. He didn’t want to trust God, he wanted to trust his own solution. So Isaiah responds: “Fine. The Lord Himself will give you a sign.” And Isaiah 7:14 says:
“All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).”
How powerful is that? God was not only speaking about what He would do in that moment, He was speaking to every generation that would come after. He was saying: “My plan is bigger than your current problem and My promise is greater than your present fear. My Son, the Savior of the World, is coming. The One who would be called: Immanuel — God with us.”
Church, I don’t know if you are walking through a dark season right now. I don’t know what battle you are facing. Maybe it is fear. Maybe it is uncertainty. Maybe it is a situation where you feel completely backed into a corner. But we need to remember that this verse is more than just a Christmas song or a verse we read once a year. God is with us in every situation.
Just like Ahaz, God is saying: “Call on me and ask me! Don’t look to the world for answers. Don’t run to shortcuts. And don’t let fear drive you. For I am with you, and you can be in no better place.”
RESPOND
As we wind down our time today, here are a few questions for reflection.
Where have you experienced “High King Syndrome” in your life - trying to take control, relying on your own abilities, or moving ahead of God instead of waiting for His direction? What would it look like to surrender that area back to the true King?
Like Uzziah, it is possible to start with a heart that seeks God but slowly allow success, blessing, or spiritual accomplishments to create pride. What blessings, abilities, positions, or “successes” in your life are you most tempted to take credit for rather than recognize them as gifts from God?
When you find yourself backed into a corner by fear, uncertainty, or pressure, what is your natural response: panic, compromise, self-reliance, or surrender? What would change if, in those moments, you truly lived with the confidence that "Immanuel" - God with us - is present and working even when you cannot see the outcome?