King Uzziah of Judah obeyed the law of the Lord, and, as the result, God blessed him and made his kingdom strong (2 Chronicles 26:1-15). “But when he was strong, he grew proud, to his destruction. For he was unfaithful to the LORD his God and entered the temple of the LORD to burn incense on the altar of incense” (verse 16, English Standard Version).

Azariah the high priest and 80 brave priests followed the king into the temple, confronted him, and informed him he had no right to offer the incense to the Lord. Uzziah became very angry, but as the priests courageously withstood him, leprosy broke out in his forehead. The priests rushed him out of the temple, and he himself hurried to leave. But he was an unclean leper the remainder of his life, had to live by himself (cf. Leviticus 13:1-3; Numbers 5:1-3), and his son Jotham reigned in his place (2 Chronicles 26:17-23).

King Uzziah, a descendant of David, was of the tribe of Judah (Matthew 1:2-9). The Lord did not specifically forbid one from Judah to function as a priest; He just said nothing about priests from the tribe of Judah (Hebrews 7:14). He commanded that priests in Israel were to be of the tribe of Levi and of the lineage of Aaron (Exodus 40:13-15; Numbers 26:58-59).

King Uzziah could not minister as a priest because the Lord God specified the tribe from which the priests were to come, and he was of the wrong tribe.

Why don’t churches of Christ have instrumental music in worship? It’s because in the New Testament the Lord tells us to sing in worship (Acts 16:25; Romans 15:8-9; 1 Corinthians 14:15; Ephesians 5:18-19; Colossians 3:16; Hebrews 2:11-12; James 5:13). He didn’t say play on an instrument, as He did under the Old Testament (cf. Psalm 150), and He didn’t just say “make music.” He specified that we sing in worship. Instrumental music is the wrong kind of music.

When the Lord specifies what He wants in worship, it is sin to introduce something else. Do you think you could convince King Uzziah now that it doesn’t make any difference how we worship?

- Meditate on These Things, April, 2025