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2 Chronicles 26 · a question people ask

Didn't Solomon burn incense too?

In the text

1 Kings says, "Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he built to the LORD three times per year, burning incense with them on the altar that was before the LORD" (1 Kings 9:25). In Hebrew burning incense there is the verb of 26:16 and 26:18, qatar. 2 Chronicles' own account of Solomon's offerings "three times per year" (8:13) says, "Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the LORD on the LORD’s altar which he had built before the porch" (8:12), and doesn't speak of incense. Here the priests tell Uzziah, "It isn’t for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense" (26:18). Neither book explains how 1 Kings 9:25 and 26:18 fit together, and these notes set them side by side without choosing.

The verses

“Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he built to the LORD three times per year, burning incense with them on the altar that was before the LORD. So he finished the house.”
1 Kings 9:25 · World English Bible
“Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the LORD on the LORD’s altar which he had built before the porch, even as the duty of every day required, offering according to the commandment of Moses on the Sabbaths, on the new moons, and on the set feasts, three times per year, during the feast of unleavened bread, during the feast of weeks, and during the feast of booths.”
2 Chronicles 8:12-13 · World English Bible
“They resisted Uzziah the king, and said to him, “It isn’t for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD, but for the priests the sons of Aaron, who are consecrated to burn incense. Go out of the sanctuary, for you have trespassed. It will not be for your honor from the LORD God.””
2 Chronicles 26:18 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 2 Chronicles 26

2 Chronicles 26: Helped until he was strong

2 Kings says only, "The LORD struck the king" (2 Kings 15:5). 2 Chronicles tells what came before: a king who "was marvelously helped until he was strong" (26:15) went into the temple to burn incense, and the leprosy broke out on his forehead "beside the altar of incense" (26:19).

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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions