Under their command was an army of 307,500, who could make war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy. And Uzziah prepared for all the army shields, spears, helmets, coats of mail, bows, and stones for slinging. In Jerusalem he made machines, invented by skillful men, to be on the towers and the corners, to shoot arrows and great stones. And his fame spread far, for he was marvelously helped, till he was strong.But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the LORD his God and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense.
Pride goes before the fall. That is the story here in this section about King Uzziah, King of Judah. Uzziah went out to war against the Philistines. God gave him help to win those early wars. In the above passage we see God give him skills to develop weapons of war and battle instruments. However, that caused him to be lifted up in pride. Note how his ancestors, Solomon, stated this:
Pride goes before destruction,
and a haughty spirit before a fall.
If Uzziah would have spent as much time studying Solomon’s words as he did developing weapons of war, he may have had the peace Solomon enjoyed vs the battles he had to face. The story in Chronicles is very much about how leadership is often brought down by pride and arrogance. Uzziah is the perfect example of someone who trusted in his own strength and mistakenly thought it was his skills that put him in the position he was in. It was not his skill. It was God producing in him and protecting him. He failed to see that and took the glory himself. That glory resulted in shame. Self glory always ends up in shame.
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