UZZIAH, Sylvester Hassell Uzziah, also called Azariah, succeeded to the throne of his father Amaziah, and had a long and somewhat prosperous reign. He reigned fifty-two years. He sought God in the days of Zechariah, another of the sixteen prophets whose writings are in the sacred canon. He fortified Jerusalem, increased his army, and became famous abroad. He permitted idolatry among the people, though he did not practice it himself.
Prosperity ruined him at last. He became so self-important that he attempted to officiate as priest in the temple, but Azariah, the chief priest, and eighty other priests, withstood him and thrust him out. And while he was wroth with them for so doing, leprosy rose up in his forehead, in the house of the Lord, beside the incense altar, and he himself hasted to go out, because the Lord had smitten him. He was a leper to the day of his death (2 Chron. 26). Joel prophesied during a part of his reign, and Isaiah the last year of it, while Hosea and Amos prophesied in Israel (2 Chron. 26; II King 15).” (Hassell’s History pg 128, 129)