THE KING’S BUSINESS
1092
thoroughly fortified his capitol city with all manner of new implements of defense and offense. “And his name spread abroad; for he was marvelously helped, till he was strong." It was riot merely because of his skill as a general and a. warrior, nor because of the matchless equipment of his army, that his fame spread far and wide, it was rather because God was with him. The whole secret of it lay in the fact that he was “marvelously helped.” It may not be pos sible for all of us to have the same armies and equipment, but each one of us can have the same marvelous help from the same source and on the same conditions, viz., that we “Seek the Lord” (v. 5, cf. Eph. 6:10; Phil. 4:13). v. 16. “But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up to his destruction." Here and in the following verses we read one of the saddest stories of man’s failure -in all history. Uzziah’s strength had be came his ruin. Like many another, “when he was strong, his heart was lifted up.” Prosperity has ruined far more men than adversity ever did. It has been the ruin of countless men and women (cf. ch, 25:19; 32:25). Very few men, even in Christian work, can stand great prosperity. God marvelously helps many a preacher, and many an evangelist, and many a personal worker, and then he becomes puffed up be cause God has helped him; he thinks it is his own peculiar gifts that are the secret Of his power, then God is forced to set him ,aside. In the very dawn of Israel’s his tory, Jehovah had warned them that pros perity would lead to their ruin (Deut. 8:11-17; 32:13-15). Uzziah’s pride, con sequent upon God’s help, led “to his de struction” (cf. Prov. 16:18). Pride, con sequent upon God-given prosperity, has led to many a man’s destruction. “for he transgressed against the Lord his God, and went into the temple of the Lord to burn incense upon _ the altar of incense.” Utterly forgetting the ¡source of his power, Uzziah became filled with self- sufficiency) and neglectirig the work to which God had called him, and in which he had placed him, he took upon himself
goes on to do what it can for its own pro tection. v. 10. “Also he built towers in the des ert, and digged many wells; for he had much cattle, both in the low country, and in the plains : husbandmen alsor and vine dressers in the mountains, and in Carmel; for he loved husbandry.” Uzziah was a man of affairs as well as a successful war rior (cf. vs. 6 , 7 ; 1 Chron. 27:25-31). The description given here of his agricultural undertakings suggests that of Solomon’s efforts in the same direction (cf. 1 Kings 4:7-20; see also 1 Chron. 27:25-31). “He loved husbandry,” and encouraged agricul ture. Wise is the king and wise is the commoner, who loves husbandry. The husbandry of a Country lies at the founda tion of its real and permanent prosperity. vs. 11, 12. “Moreover, Uzziah had an' host of fighting men, that went out to war by bands, according to the number of their account by the hand of Jeiel the scribe and Maaseiah the ruler, under the hand o f Hananiah, one of thé king’s captains. The whole number of the chief of the fathers of the mighty men of valour were two thou sand and six hundred.” But while Uzziah loved husbandry, he was a true warrior and a wise general. His father, Amaziah, in the early days of his reign, had also had a large and conquering army (ch. 25:5-13), but in his later years, because of his being untrue to God, and adopting the false gods of the nations he conquered, he suffered overwhelming defeat (ch. 25:14-28). Uz ziah brought the army to a higher point of efficiency than it had reached in the last days of his father.- His army became the most effective fighting machine of the day. They “made war with mighty power” (v. 13). vs. 14, 15. “And Uzziah prepared for them throughout all the host shields, and spears, and helmets, and habergeons, and bows, and slings to cast stones. And he made in Jerusalem engines, invented by cunning men, to be on the towers and upon the battlements, to shoot arrows and great stones withal.” Uzziah equipped his army with the best weapons known in those days. He was the Krupp of his country. He
Made with FlippingBook - Online Brochure Maker