Stanley Arthur Cook

“ UZZIAH (Heb. for “Yah [weh] is [my] strength ”) , more correctly Azariah (Hebrew for “Yah [weh] helps ”) , son of Amaziah, grandson of Joash I., and king of Judah (2 Kings xiv. 22, xv. 1–7) . Of his long reign of fifty-two years little is recorded. ”

“ On the other hand, the interrelation of events in Palestine and Syria during this period combine with the sudden prominence of Judah (under Uzziah) and the subsequent anti-Judaean and anti-Assyrian coalition (against Ahaz) to suggest that Uzziah had been supported by Assyria (cf. Winckler, Keilinschr. u. d. Alte Test., 3rd. ed., p. 262) . In fact, since the Biblical evidence is admittedly incomplete, and to a certain extent insecure, the question of the identification of Azariah of Judah and Azriyau of Ja'udi may be reopened. See H. M. Haydn, Journ. ”

“ He recovered Elath at the head of the Aelanitic Gulf, evidently in the course of a successful campaign against Edom (a possible reference in Isa. xvi. 1) ; we read further in 2 Chron. xxvi. of great wars against Philistines, Arabians and Meunim, of building operations in Jerusalem (probably after the attack by Joash) , and of political and social reforms. ”