2 Kings 15:7

So Azariah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David: and Jotham his son reigned in his stead.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Benson Commentary

2 Kings 15:7. They buried him with his fathers, &c. — Not in the very sepulchre of the kings, because he was a leper, (2 Chronicles 26:23,) but in the same field, and very near to the same place, where his ancestors lay interred.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

15:1-7 Uzziah did for the most part that which was right. It was happy for the kingdom that a good reign was a long one.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

The Lord smote the king, so that he was a leper - The circumstances under which this terrible affliction befel one of the greatest of the Jewish kings, are given at some length by the author of Chronicles (marginal reference), who supplies us with a tolerably full account of this important reign, which the writer of Kings dismisses in half-a-dozen verses.

A several house - "A house of liberation," or, freedom. On the necessity, under which the Law placed lepers, of living apart from other men, see marginal reference Jotham became regent in his father's room, and exercised the functions of judge (1 Kings 3:9 note), from the time that his father became a leper.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 15

2Ki 15:1-7. Azariah's Reign over Judah.

1-7. In the twenty and seventh year of Jeroboam—It is thought that the throne of Judah continued vacant eleven or twelve years, between the death of Amaziah and the inauguration of his son Azariah. Being a child only four years old when his father was murdered, a regency was appointed during Azariah's minority.

began Azariah … to reign—The character of his reign is described by the brief formula employed by the inspired historian, in recording the religious policy of the later kings. But his reign was a very active as well as eventful one, and is fully related (2Ch 26:1-23). Elated by the possession of great power, and presumptuously arrogating to himself, as did the heathen kings, the functions both of the real and sacerdotal offices, he was punished with leprosy, which, as the offense was capital (Nu 8:7), was equivalent to death, for this disease excluded him from all society. While Jotham, his son, as his viceroy, administered the affairs of the kingdom—being about fifteen years of age (compare 2Ki 15:33)—he had to dwell in a place apart by himself (see on [342]2Ki 7:3). After a long reign he died, and was buried in the royal burying-field, though not in the royal cemetery of "the city of David" (2Ch 26:23).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

No text from Poole on this verse.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

So Azariah slept with his fathers,.... Or died, when he had reigned fifty two years:

and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David; but not in the sepulchres of the kings, but in the field of the burial, or the burying ground which belonged to them, because he was a leper, 2 Chronicles 26:23. Benjamin of Tudela (p) places his grave near the pillar of Absalom, and the fountain of Siloah, near the brook Kidron:

and Jotham his son reigned in his stead; who reigned sixteen years; a further account of him, and his reign, we have in the latter part of this chapter, after the reigns of several of the kings of Israel.

(p) Itinerar. p. 43.

Geneva Study Bible

So Azariah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David: and Jotham his son reigned in his stead.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

7. and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David] His body, as appears from 2 Chron., was not laid with the rest of the kings in the royal sepulchre, but apparently in the same piece of land. ‘They buried him with his fathers in the field of burial which belonged to the kings: for they said; He is a leper’.

Jotham his son reigned] We can scarcely suppose that this notice would have been thus set down in the ordinary formula after Azariah’s death, if Jotham had been joint ruler all the time of his father’s leprosy. The smiting of the king must have been in the latter part of his reign. The conquests, buildings, agriculture, and military organization described by the Chronicler (see above on verse 4) must have needed many years to bring to the perfection they attained. Therefore, though Azariah’s reign was fifty-two years long, we need not think of him as a leper for more than the last ten years. As Jotham succeeded his father at twenty-five he would only have been fifteen when he was placed over the household. This may perhaps make ten years appear too long a time to assign to his father’s leprosy.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 7. - So Azariah slept with his fathers; and they buried him with his fathers in the city of David. Here again the writer of Chronicles is more exact. Azariah, he tells us (2 Chronicles 26:23), was not buried in the rock-sepulcher which contained the bodies of the other kings, but in another part of the field wherein the sepulcher was situated. This was quite consonant with Jewish feeling with respect to the uncleanness of the leper. And Jotham his son reigned in his stead. Jotham, already for some years prince regent, became king as a matter of course on his father's demise. 2 Kings 15:7

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

When Uzziah died, he was buried with his fathers in the city of David, but because he died of leprosy, not in the royal family tomb, but, as the Chronicles (2 Kings 15:23) add to complete the account, "in the burial-field of the kings;" so that he was probably buried in the earth according to our mode. His son Jotham did not become king till after Uzziah's death, as he had not been regent, but only the administrator of the affairs of the kingdom during his father's leprosy.