2 Kings 15 – “When Thrones Tremble”
Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.
Psalm 90:12, New International Version
The fifteenth chapter of 2 Kings reads like a battlefield report: six monarchs of Israel, two of Judah, four assassinations, one crippling disease, and the first appearance of the Assyrian super-power on Israel’s horizon. The chronicler gives each reign only a few breaths—yet behind the brevity lie decades of political intrigue and spiritual drift.
The style is intentionally terse. Ancient Near-Eastern royal annals were normally long celebrations of a king’s greatness. The biblical historian reverses the custom; by listing reign after reign with the same refrain—“He did not remove the high places”—the writer turns the genealogy of power into a lament over lost faithfulness.
(verses 1-7; cf. 2 Chron 26)
• A long reign, a shortened reach
Azariah reigns 52 years, yet lives his final decades in isolation,
stricken with tsaraʿat (the Hebrew word broadly covering skin
diseases, including what later translations call leprosy).
Archaeologists have identified a 1st-century slab inscribed, “Here were
placed the bones of Uzziah, king of Judah—do not open,” a quiet
testimony that the man behind the text was real.
• Pride turned inward
Chronicles supplies the missing motive: “After Uzziah became
powerful, his pride led to his downfall.” (2 Chron 26:16, New
International Version). He arrogated priestly duties and God struck him.
Isaiah will date his own vision—Isaiah 6—“in the year that King Uzziah
died,” hinting that national hope seemed to expire with the leprous
king. Yet Isaiah saw the true King “high and exalted.” Our earthly
heroes may fail; the throne of heaven never falters.
Cross-references: Leviticus 13 (regarding tsaraʿat); Proverbs 16:18; 1 Peter 5:5-6.
(verses 8-31)
Israel’s northern kingdom unravels through a dizzying carousel of rulers:
The Hebrew writer punctuates each account: “He did evil… walked in the ways of Jeroboam.” The verb “walk” (halak) reminds us that sin is a path before it is a deed; every regime chose the same old road.
Verse 19 marks a turning point in biblical history. Assyria’s Pul (probably the throne-name of Tiglath-Pileser III) flexes across the Fertile Crescent. From here to the exile the prophets will measure Israel’s faith by her response to this looming empire. Amos and Hosea preach in these very years, urging repentance while doors are still open.
For modern readers Assyria can feel like footnote material, yet to the Israelites it was the sound of oncoming boots. Archaeology has unearthed the colossal lamassu statues at Nimrud, panels depicting armies storming walls, and prisoners led with fish-hooks—imagery echoed in 2 Kings 17: “I will put hooks in your jaws.” History and Scripture interlock.
Both Azariah and Jotham are graded “good,” yet verse 35 repeats the ache of earlier chapters: “The high places, however, were not removed.” These rural shrines probably blended Yahweh worship with Canaanite ritual—convenient, patriotic, and tragically compromised. Covenantal obedience always demands inconvenient choices.
Questions for reflection:
• Where have I kept a “high place”—a cherished compromise—because
dismantling it would be socially or emotionally costly?
• How are my private altars shaping my public witness?
Patristic voices:
• Jerome viewed Uzziah’s leprosy as “the mark of heresy spreading
through the body.”
• Augustine read the fall of Israel as a mercy that drove desire toward
a heavenly city.
• Calvin noted, “God often upholds a kingdom for the sake of a single
righteous man,” hinting at the unseen intercessors of the era.
Examen of Influence
List the “thrones” you occupy—parent, manager, mentor, friend. Ask,
“Where might my hidden pride limit God’s reach through me, as leprosy
confined Uzziah?”
Intercessory Map-Praying
Place a map (digital or paper) before God. Pray over modern
“Assyrias”—nations exerting pressure on believers. Hold front-line
churches before the throne that never shakes.
Psalm-Linked Lament
Read Psalm 12 aloud (“Help, Lord, for no one is faithful anymore…”). Let
the brief reigns of 2 Kings 15 teach you how fleeting human promises
are—and how durable God’s.
Suggested hymn: “God of Grace and God of Glory” (Harry Emerson Fosdick, 1930). Its plea—“Save us from weak resignation to the evils we deplore”—mirrors Judah’s temptation to tolerate high places.
Sovereign Lord,
You sit above the circle of the earth while thrones below rise and
crumble.
Guard our hearts from the pride of Uzziah and the violence of
Menahem.
Teach us to tear down every private high place,
to walk in ways that honor Your name,
and to trust Your kingdom that cannot be shaken.
In the name of Jesus, the King eternal, we pray.
Amen.