2 Kings 15:5

And the Lord smote the king, so that he was a leper The more political history in Kings tells us nothing about the reason why Azariah was smitten. The Chronicler however says that the king's successes caused his heart to be lifted up, and he presumed to go into the temple, and to take upon him the priest's office of burning incense. He was withstood by the priest (also called Azariah) and by fourscore other priests, but in his anger he persisted, and then it was that the leprosy rose up in his forehead. Whereupon he hasted to go forth from the temple because the Lord had smitten him.

and dwelt in a several house The noun here is connected with the adjective that signifies -free" and which is used of manumitted slaves. It has been suggested that the meaning here is that the place was one where those lived who could no longer mix with their fellows, and take part in the ordinary business of life. But in that case the building would be a public one or it would not have been so called. It appears therefore better to consider that the house was -free" in the sense of -standing apart", not mixed up among other dwellings. It was perhaps some place in the country to which the king confined himself after the disease had broken out upon him. The R.V. gives -lazar-house" on the margin, but we must not suppose that the king went into a home devoted to such sufferers. He would live alone. The LXX. makes a sort of transliteration of the word but does not translate. The Vulgate has in domo libera seorsum.

For the English word -several" in the sense of -separate", cf. Pilkington's Works (Parker Society) p. 64 where the author speaks of people -buried not in hallowed churchyards by any bishops, but in a severalplace appointed for the same purpose without the city", and further down on the same page he describes a burial-ground as -an honest place to be kept severalfrom beasts and unreverent using the same".

the king's sonwas over the house R.V. household. From 1 Kings 4:6 where Ahishar is spoken of as being over Solomon's household, and 2 Kings 19:2 where the same office is assigned to Eliakim in the time of Hezekiah, it is clear that the post was one of great dignity, but it was in no way connected with a regency. Eliakim is mentioned as the most prominent person among those who were sent to confer with Rabshakeh, and to consult the prophet Isaiah, but the duties he performed were those of a subject. And though Jotham is here said to have judged the people of the land, we cannot from this conclude that he was joint ruler with his father.