OZIANA (Azariah; Heb. 'Uzzijjah). — The tenth king of Judah after the schism of the northern tribes. He succeeded his father Amaziah (v.) at the age of sixteen and reigned for a little over thirty years (probably 769–738 or 737 BC). In 2 Kings 14:21; 15:1–7 he is also called Azariah, but the name Uzziah (O.) is more frequent (ibid., 15:13, 30–34; 2 Chronicles 26; Isaiah 6:1 and other prophets; Matt. 1:8).
The entire chapter of 2 Chronicles 26 describes the reign of Uzziah as one of the most flourishing and fortunate in the history of Judah.
He reconquered and rebuilt the port of Elath, an important commercial center on the Gulf of Elath (2 Kings 14:22; 2 Chronicles 26:2), after subduing the Edomites, who had rebelled under the reign of Amaziah (v. 2 Kings 14:7). He also conducted successful campaigns against the Meunites, Philistines, Arabs, and Ammonites (2 Chronicles 26:6–8). Contemporary with King Jeroboam II (v.), he maintained friendly relations with the Kingdom of Israel. He strengthened Jerusalem with similar fortifications and fortified other towns in the country. He organized a strong army under the command of skilled captains such as Maaseiah and Hananiah (2 Chronicles 26:9–15).
He promoted agriculture with important reclamation works, especially in the areas of pastoralism and viticulture, so much so that he earned the chronicler’s praise: “he loved the land” (ibid., 26:10). In this way, thanks also to the resumption of trade with the Red Sea through the reconquest of the port of Elath, the kingdom of Judah reached a high degree of prosperity, to which Isaiah 2:7 ff. seems to allude.
His successes, both domestic and foreign, were the reward for his zeal for the worship of Yahweh, to which he had been educated by his mother Jecholiah and by a prophet named Zechariah, who was his faithful advisor for many years (2 Chronicles 29:3–5). “As long as he sought Yahweh, God made him prosper” (ibid., 26:5). The worship on the high places (bamoth), however, was not eradicated (2 Kings 15:3–4).
In his later years, swollen with pride because of his power, he sought to intrude upon functions strictly reserved for the priesthood and to enter the inner sanctuary to burn incense on the altar of incense. He was immediately struck with leprosy, which forced him in his final years to withdraw from the court and public affairs (Flavius Josephus, *Antiquitates Judaicae*, IX, 10, 4, greatly amplifies and dramatizes the account of 2 Chronicles 26:16 ff.). For this reason, his son Jotham took over the administration; he was associated with his father in the kingship for the remaining eleven (or thirteen) years and reigned alone for another five (or three) years after Uzziah’s death (2 Kings 15:5).
Contemporaries of this king were the prophets Isaiah (6:1), Hosea (1:1), and Amos (1:1); the first began his prophetic ministry in the very year of Uzziah’s death (Isa. 6:1), and in the first chapters (ibid., 2–5) he likely alludes to the social conditions of the nation under this king (material prosperity of some, misery of others, moral decay). Amos (1:1) and Zechariah (14:5) mention a famous earthquake that occurred in the time of Uzziah, king of Judah, and Jeroboam II, king of Israel, though no other details about it are known.
It does not seem that Uzziah (or Azariah), king of Judah, is to be identified (as was once admitted even by some Catholics, e.g., A. Deimel, O. Hellmann, etc.) with a certain Azriyahu of Ja’udi, mentioned in the annals of Tiglath-Pileser III, by whom he was defeated and made tributary along with Menahem of Samaria and Rezin of Damascus. Most scholars now believe this refers to a namesake king of a small state in northern Syria, mentioned in the cuneiform inscriptions of Zincirli, discovered in 1902.