2. Eloth] So spelt in viii. 17 (= 1 Kings ix. 26), but “Elath” in Deuteronomy ii. 8; 2 Kings xiv. 22. In 2 Kings xvi. 6 the two forms are found side by side in one verse.
after that the king, etc.] The meaning seems to be it was after king Amaziah slept with his fathers that Uzziah his son restored Elath to Judah; and it is a natural inference that Uzziah was ruling in Jerusalem for some while before the death of Amaziah at Lachish left him sole and undisputed king. A considerable time may have elapsed between Amaziah’s flight and his capture as related in xxv. 27. Yet this is not very likely, and from the position of the present verse in Kings it would seem as though the statement in its original context should be interpreted thus: “he, Amaziah, built Eloth,” etc.; and the king referred to in the clause “after that the king slept with his fathers” is probably Jeroboam king of Israel (so Barnes on 2 Kings xiv. 22).
³Sixteen years old was Uzziah when he began to reign; and he reigned fifty and two years in Jerusalem: and his mother’s name was Jechiliah of Jerusalem.
3. Jechiliah] so the Kethīb; the Ḳerī Jecoliah agrees with the parallel passage of Kings.
⁴And he did that which was right in the eyes of the Lord, according to all that his father Amaziah had done.
4. his father Amaziah] This verse suits its original context in Kings, for Kings records nothing against Amaziah; it is out of place in Chronicles, for according to xxv. 14 Amaziah was an idolater.
5–10 (not in Kings).
The Prosperity of Uzziah.
5–10. It is probable that the Chronicler had old and genuine tradition to rely on for the account which he here gives of Uzziah’s prosperity—his wars against neighbouring tribes (verses 6–8), and his building activity (verses 8–10). Doubtless in the earlier years of Uzziah’s reign Judah was still suffering from the effects of the defeat inflicted by Joash of Israel. But the general accuracy of the picture of the reign is assured by such facts as (1) the stout resistance offered by Jerusalem to the Assyrians in Hezekiah’s time as contrasted with its capture by the Israelites in Amaziah’s reign (xxv. 23); (2) the frequency of metaphors from building implements and materials in the pages of the prophets of this period (e.g. Amos vii. 7 ff.); (3) the commercial activity and luxury of Jerusalem in the reign of Uzziah’s successor Ahaz—witness the writings of Isaiah, passim.
⁵And he set himself to seek God in the days of Zechariah, who had understanding[¹] in the vision[²] of God: and as long as he sought the Lord, God made him to prosper.
[¹] Or, gave instruction.