Azariah (High Priest)

Biblical Record

Azariah is named only in 2 Chronicles 26:16–21. Within this single passage, verse 17 calls him "Azariah the priest," and verse 20 calls him "Azariah the chief priest," that is, the high priest, the head of the priesthood.

When his kingdom grew strong, Uzziah became proud. He entered the temple intending to burn incense himself upon the altar of incense, the altar inside the holy place on which incense was burned as an offering. Azariah then went in after the king, taking with him eighty valiant priests. He told the king the following (2 Chronicles 26:18):

• Burning incense to the LORD is not the king's task.
• That task belongs to the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense.
• Because the king has trespassed, he must leave the sanctuary; it will bring him no honor.

Uzziah, censer in hand, grew angry. At that moment leprosy broke out on his forehead. When Azariah and the priests saw it, they thrust the king out of the temple, and the king himself hastened to leave. Uzziah lived apart in a separate house until his death, and his son Jotham was over the royal household.

The text says nothing about Azariah beyond this episode, such as his family, birth, length of service, or death.

Significance Within Scripture

The regulations assigning the burning of incense to the descendants of Aaron appear in Exodus 30:7–8, Numbers 18:7, and elsewhere. Second Chronicles 26 is read as a scene in which a priest stands against royal power when it attempts to cross this boundary. The episode is sometimes mentioned alongside the account of Saul, who was not a priest, offering a burnt offering himself and being rebuked (1 Samuel 13).

The New Testament does not mention Azariah directly. However, Hebrews 7:13–14 states that of the tribe of Judah "no man gave attendance at the altar." The passage presupposes the Old Testament order that distinguished the tribe from which kings came from the tribe from which priests came.

Interpretation and Issues

• Confusion over the shared name: 2 Kings also refers to King Uzziah by the name "Azariah" (2 Kings 15:1 and elsewhere). As a result, the king and the high priest in this episode bear the same name. Several other people also share the name, such as Azariah (son of Oded).
• Identification with Azariahs in other records: Whether he is the same person as Azariah, the high priest of the house of Zadok in the time of Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 31:10), has not been settled. Because the reigns of Jotham and Ahaz intervene after Uzziah, many regard them as different individuals. First Chronicles 6:10 mentions an Azariah who "executed the priest's office in the temple that Solomon built." Some commentaries take this description as referring to the Azariah who withstood Uzziah, but this is not the established view.
• Church and state: The Reformed tradition has cited this passage in support of the principle that civil authority may not take up the ministry of the Word and sacraments. This discussion is treated further in the article Church and State.
• Translation: Among Korean Bible translations, the New Korean Revised Version renders Uzziah's disease as "leprosy," while the New Korean Standard Version renders it as "a malignant skin disease."