clergy while often in Sweden the king appointed them, and eventually the situation had changed, but it remained in the Lutheran country that the state controlled the church. And to some extent it remains that way today in Germany and in the Scandinavian countries. Punishment [14:27] Uzziah’s But this was forbidden in the Old Testament, and so King Uzziah, when he went beyond his authority as King and decided he would take over the religious life and went right into the temple and began to offer incense, which only the priest was supposed to do, we read in the books of Kings and Chronicles, how the priest came in and rebuked him for it, and then he looked at him, and Uzziah's face had broken out with leprosy, and he hated how God had punished him in this way. So his face broke out with leprosy, and we read that he lived in his own house alone for the rest of his life. And how long that was, whether that was forty years or ten years or something like that, we don't know. Departure from the Lord [15:21] Uzziah’s But it would seem likely that Isaiah would pass by the palace where Uzziah lived alone. Nobody dared go near it for fear of catching leprosy but as Isaiah would pass and perhaps see Uzziah's face at the window, it would suggest to Isaiah the wonderful start that this man made as he seemed to be such a wonderful man, so true in following the Lord, and then the way in which he departed from the Lord and the terrible way in which the Lord punished him. And so it is thought by most interpreters that Isaiah says this not merely to tell us when this vision of God came to him, but to show something of the background in Isaiah's mind when it happened. There would be a tragic feeling that he would have, to think of one who started out so wonderfully and who failed so miserably. When you look back as I can on a good many years of friends and Christian workers, one cannot avoid sometimes having similar feelings as you think of individuals who have started out
clergy while often in Sweden the king appointed them, and eventually the situation had changed, but it remained in the Lutheran country that the state controlled the church. And to some extent it remains that way today in Germany and in the Scandinavian countries. Uzziah’s Punishment [14:27] But this was forbidden in the Old Testament, and so King Uzziah, when he went beyond his authority as King and decided he would take over the religious life and went right into the temple and began to offer incense, which only the priest was supposed to do, we read in the books of Kings and Chronicles, how the priest came in and rebuked him for it, and then he looked at him, and Uzziah's face had broken out with leprosy, and he hated how God had punished him in this way. So his face broke out with leprosy, and we read that he lived in his own house alone for the rest of his life. And how long that was, whether that was forty years or ten years or something like that, we don't know. Uzziah’s Departure from the Lord [15:21] But it would seem likely that Isaiah would pass by the palace where Uzziah lived alone. Nobody dared go near it for fear of catching leprosy but as Isaiah would pass and perhaps see Uzziah's face at the window, it would suggest to Isaiah the wonderful start that this man made as he seemed to be such a wonderful man, so true in following the Lord, and then the way in which he departed from the Lord and the terrible way in which the Lord punished him. And so it is thought by most interpreters that Isaiah says this not merely to tell us when this vision of God came to him, but to show something of the background in Isaiah's mind when it happened. There would be a tragic feeling that he would have, to think of one who started out so wonderfully and who failed so miserably. When you look back as I can on a good many years of friends and Christian workers, one cannot avoid sometimes having similar feelings as you think of individuals who have started out