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2 Chronicles 27 · a question people ask

What does "he didn't enter into the LORD's temple" mean?

In the text

The verse says he did right "according to all that his father Uzziah had done", and then, "However he didn’t enter into the LORD’s temple" (27:2). So the exception is to what his father had done, and the chapter before tells that Uzziah "went into the LORD’s temple to burn incense" (26:16). The priests told him, "It isn’t for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the LORD" (26:18), and he went out "because the LORD had struck him" (26:20). 2 Chronicles 27 says nothing more about it. It doesn't say whether Jotham went into the courts to worship, or why he stayed out of the temple, and these notes don't guess. It does say that "He built the upper gate of the LORD’s house" (27:3).

The verses

“He did that which was right in the LORD’s eyes, according to all that his father Uzziah had done. However he didn’t enter into the LORD’s temple. The people still acted corruptly. He built the upper gate of the LORD’s house, and he built much on the wall of Ophel.”
2 Chronicles 27:2-3 · World English Bible
“But when he was strong, his heart was lifted up, so that he did corruptly and he trespassed against the LORD his God, for he went into the LORD’s temple to burn incense on the altar of incense.”
2 Chronicles 26:16 · 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
“Azariah the chief priest and all the priests looked at him, and behold, he was leprous in his forehead; and they thrust him out quickly from there. Indeed, he himself also hurried to go out, because the LORD had struck him.”
2 Chronicles 26:20 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 2 Chronicles 27

2 Chronicles 27: He ordered his ways

The one thing Jotham didn't copy from his father is told with the same Hebrew verb and the same word for temple as his father's trespass: Uzziah "went into the LORD’s temple" (26:16); Jotham "didn’t enter into the LORD’s temple" (27:2). And 2 Chronicles gives the reason he became mighty: "he ordered his ways before the LORD his God" (27:6).

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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