What Does 2 Chronicles 26:23 Mean?
So Uzziah lay down with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the burial, which belonged to the kings; for they said, He is a leper; and Jotham his son reigned in his stead.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
So Uzziah slept with his fathers, and they buried him with his fathers in the field of the burial which belonged to the kings; for they said, He is a leper: and Jotham his son reigned in his stead.THE KEY
English separates “the kings” from “reigned,” but Hebrew joins them in one root: Uzziah’s condition marks his burial while kingship passes to Jotham.
THE MEANING
A title does not erase the body’s condition or prevent others from naming a person by it. This verse holds Uzziah as both a king and a metzora, while Jotham carries the reign forward in his place.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It undoes the belief that rank keeps suffering from shaping how others treat you: Uzziah’s kingship does not prevent his condition from marking his burial.
THE ROOT
מְלָכִים
melakhim
GROWS FROM
מלך
To rule, reign, or hold kingship.
“Kings” and “reigned” are forms of the same root: the identity and the act of rule share one seed. The verse places Uzziah among the kings even as his condition marks a boundary, then uses that same root for Jotham’s rule in his place.
ALSO GROWS
melekh: King
מֶלֶךְ
The person who holds the office of rule comes from the same root as the act of reigning.
malkhut: Kingship, kingdom
מַלְכוּת
The root extends from an individual ruler to the rule and realm that continue beyond him.
מְצֹרָע
metsora
GROWS FROM
צרע
To be afflicted with tzaraat, a biblical skin condition; the term does not necessarily mean modern Hansen’s disease.
The Hebrew word behind “leper” names a person through the condition of tzaraat. The verse records that this is how others identify Uzziah, and that the condition shapes where he is buried even while the text still places him among kings.
ALSO GROWS
tzaraʿat: A skin condition or affliction
צָרַעַת
This is the condition named by the root from which metzora is formed.
metsora: A person afflicted with tzaraat
מְצֹרָע
This is the personal designation repeated in the verse’s explanation of Uzziah’s burial.
THE PATTERN
A role or charge can pass from one bearer to another while the first person’s life and identity remain part of the story.
Then Solomon settled upon the throne of David his father, and his kingdom was set very firm.And he leaned his hands upon him, and gave him a charge, as the LORD commanded by the hand of Moses.And these things you heard from me among many witnesses, place beside steady people who will be able to teach others also.THE THREAD
And Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death, and settled in a loosened 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.This verse uses the same Hebrew word, מְצֹרָע (metsora), translated “leper,” and shows the separation during Uzziah’s life. It also says Jotham is already judging the people, so the next verse’s burial and succession carry forward both the boundary around Uzziah and the transfer of rule.
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