2 Kings - Chapter 15

We now come to King Azariah (also called Uzziah) who was listed in the genealogy of Jesus, after several Kings had been omitted. Azariah did what was good in the sight of the Lord, except for two major failings.  He did not remove the “High Places” – places set up for pagan worship; and he was struck down by leprosy by God.  We read about the reason for this in 2 Chronicles 26:

“But when he was strong his heart was lifted up, to his destruction, for he transgressed against the Lord his God by entering the temple of the Lord to burn incense on the altar of incense. So Azariah the priest went in after him, and with him were eighty priests of the Lord—valiant men. And they withstood King Uzziah, and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have trespassed! You shall have no honour from the Lord God.” Then Uzziah became furious; and he had a censer in his hand to burn incense. And while he was angry with the priests, leprosy broke out on his forehead, before the priests in the house of the Lord, beside the incense altar. And Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and there, on his forehead, he was leprous; so they thrust him out of that place. Indeed, he also hurried to get out, because the Lord had struck him.”

Azariah broke a general rule which God implemented with His people - that no king should also be a priest, and that the offices of prophet, priest, and king should not be combined in one man – until Jesus who was all three; a prophet, a priest and a King.